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This paper aims to make a systematic review of the manpower prediction model of the construction industry. It aims to determine the forecasting model's development trend, analyse the use limitations and applicable conditions of each forecasting model and then identify the impact indicators of the human resource forecasting model from an economic point of view. It is hoped that this study will provide insights into the selection of forecasting models for governments and groups that are dealing with human resource forecasts.

The common search engine, Scopus, was used to retrieve construction manpower forecast-related articles for this review. Keywords such as “construction”, “building”, “labour”, “manpower” were searched. Papers that not related to the manpower prediction model of the construction industry were excluded. A total of 27 articles were obtained and rated according to the publication time, author and organisation of the article. The prediction model used in the selected paper was analysed.

The number of papers focussing on the prediction of manpower in the construction industry is on the rise. Hong Kong is the region with the largest number of published papers. Different methods have different requirements for the quality of historical data. Most forecasting methods are not suitable for sudden changes in the labour market. This paper also finds that the construction output is the economic indicator with the most significant influence on the forecasting model.

The research results discuss the problem that the prediction results are not accurate due to the sudden change of data in the current prediction model. Besides, the study results take stock of the published literature and can provide an overall understanding of the forecasting methods of human resources in the construction industry.

Through this study, decision-makers can choose a reasonable prediction model according to their situation. Decision-makers can make clear plans for future construction projects specifically when there are changes in the labour market caused by emergencies. Also, this study can help decision-makers understand the current research trend of human resources forecasting models.

Although the human resource prediction model's effectiveness in the construction industry is affected by the dynamic change of data, the research results show that it is expected to solve the problem using artificial intelligence. No one has researched this area, and it is expected to become the focus of research in the future.

The impact of a mixture of positive and negative media coverage on long-run hotel survival remains unknown. This paper aims to investigate how the mixed positive and negative media coverage, namely, inconsistent media coverage, influences long-run hotel survival.

A yearly panel data set covering 792 news-reported hotels in Guangdong province of China, over the period 2010–2020, is analyzed using an inconsistency analysis framework consisting of text mining and survival analysis. The estimates of exponential models on the same observations and Cox estimates on alternative observations are used for robustness checks.

The inconsistency calculation method proposed here can measure the controversy degree well. There exists a U-shaped relationship between inconsistency of media coverage and hotel longevity, and hotel survival is significantly reduced only when the degree of inconsistency is within the range of 17.8%–53.6%. The U-shaped relationship is moderated by negative hotel image and by online media coverage on hotel operation strategy topics.

This study provides suggestions for hotel managers to use media coverage inconsistency to increase long-run hotel survival in the digital era.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first to investigate long-run hotel survival factors from the perspective of media coverage inconsistency. It also proposes a method to calculate the degree of media coverage controversy, which helps to quantify the relationship between the degree of inconsistency and hotel survival.

This research aims to propose a comparative environmental analysis of conventional and prefabricated construction techniques utilizing a building information modelling (BIM) technique.

A set of indicators are selected to assess the environmental emissions throughout the construction life cycle, based on BIM platform. An existing project involving ten apartment buildings in Shanghai is selected as a case study.

The results reveal that prefabricated construction demonstrates environment-friendly performance with some exceptions of acidification and mineral resource consumption. Environmental impacts can also be further reduced by increasing the projected area ratio and percentage of project prefabrication.

Overall, the proposed method can be used to identify relevant environmental merits and for decision-making of appropriate construction techniques in building construction projects.

For parts of the time on a typical construction site concrete pour, the site placing crew is idle waiting for the arrival of the next truckmixer delivery, whereas for other periods, truckmixers are idle on site waiting to be unloaded. Ideally, the work of the crew should be continuous, with successive truckmixers arriving on site just as the preceding truckmixer has been emptied, to provide perfect matching between site and concrete plant resources. However, in reality, sample benchmark data, representing 118 concrete pours of 69 m³ average volume, illustrate that significant wastage occurs of both crew and truckmixer time. The purpose of this paper is to present and explain the characteristics of the wastage pattern observed and provide further understanding of the effects of the factors affecting the productivity of this everyday routine site concreting system.

Analytical algebraic models have been developed applicable to both serial and circulating truckmixer dispatch policies. The models connect crew idle time, truckmixer waiting time, truckmixer round trip time, truckmixer unloading time and truckmixer numbers. The truckmixer dispatch interval is another parameter included in the serial dispatch model. The models illustrate that perfect resource matching cannot be expected in general, such is the sensitivity of the system to the values applying to those parameters. The models are directly derived from theoretical truckmixer and crew placing time-based flow charts, which graphically depict crew and truckmixer idle times as affected by truckmixer emptying times and other relevant parameters.

The models successfully represent the magnitudes of the resource wastage seen in real life but fail to mirror the wastage distribution of crew and truckmixer time for the 118 pour benchmark. When augmented to include the simulation of stochastic activity durations, however, the models produce pour combinations of crew and truckmixer wastage that do mirror those of the benchmark.

The basic contribution of the paper consists of the proposed analytical models themselves, and their augmented versions, which describe the site and truckmixer resource wastage characteristics actually observed in practice. A further contribution is the step this makes towards understanding why such an everyday construction process is so apparently wasteful of resources.

This paper aims to examine the UK’s small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) policies under Margaret Thatcher’s era in the 1980s, with a view to understand the success stories, historical development and the structures of Chinese family business through a case study of See Woo Holdings Ltd.

The authors have achieved the objective on the study of the SMEs policies under Margaret Thatcher through critical evaluation of the historical literatures, books, journals and newspapers. The study on overseas Chinese business and the case of See Woo Holdings Ltd. is mainly through the research of the Chinese overseas in the UK and Southeast Asia, and the companies report from the Companies House in the UK. The authors have used the latest 2011 UK Census statistics and academic reports to locate the most current demographic changes and Chinese business characteristics in the UK and the Northeast of England.

First, the UK’s SMEs policies under Margaret Thatcher were quite receptive towards the ethnic business. Second, the case of See Woo Holdings Ltd. indicates that family business networks are still one of the characteristics of Chinese business. Finally, the broader UK’s SMEs policies play an important role in this case study.

The authors provide a tentative linkage between the UK’s SMEs policies under Margaret Thatcher and Chinese family business. In addition, the case study of See Woo Holdings Ltd. improves the current understanding of Chinese family business with a clearer picture about their structure, practice, characteristics and development.

Within the tertiary Institution where I am employed there is a real and concerted effort to engage meaningfully as a Treaty ¹ partner with the local Iwi (tribe) ² through a formal arrangement. ³ However the institution often inadvertently finds itself crossing the ‘cultural boundary’ of what or how Indigenous and local Iwi knowledge systems and practices fit within its tertiary systems. This chapter explores some of the challenges that have arisen between Iwi and the Institution. In particular it examines the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the Institute has with the four Arai-Te-Uru Rūnaka (tribal councils) that saw the creation of a Kaitohutohu ⁴ position at Senior Management level. From this came the establishment of a Kōmiti Kawanataka (Treaty of Waitangi Committee) and the writing of the Māori Strategic Framework (MSF). All staff are required under the MoU to action the MSF within their teaching and learning as well as in their service provision. The Institute has established internal training to assist staff with how they can implement the MSF. Training is offered at zero cost and staff have a two-year window of opportunity to enrol in and complete it.

Among developing countries, the Republic of China in Taiwan (hereinafter Taiwan) has been experiencing economic growth accompanied by improving income distribution. Between 1964 and 1980, the average annual growth rate of the real gross national product was 9.92 per cent (Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD), 1982, p. 23). In the same period, the income ratio between the top 20 per cent and the bottom 20 per cent of families dropped from 5.33 to 4.17 and the Gini coefficient decreased from 0.36 to 0.30 (CEPD, 1982, p. 54; Directorate‐General of Budget Accounting and Statistics, 1980, (DGBAS), p. 44). To put it somewhat dif‐ferently, in 1964 the lowest fifth of households received 7.71 per cent of total personal income, and the highest fifth 41.07 per cent. But in 1980, the income share of the lowest fifth increased to 8.82 per cent while that of the highest fifth decreased to 36.80 per cent. The condition of greater equality in income distribution appears more obvious in the capital city of Taipei. In 1981, for instance, its Gini coefficient was estimated to be only 0.28 (Taipei Bureau of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, 1981, (TBBAS), P. 24).

This paper aims to explore the importance of meaningful participation for Indigenous peoples within the complex and highly political context of mining and mineral extraction. The aim is to consider the multi-dimensional nature of the mining context that takes into account the discursive landscape that frames the often disparate perspectives of corporate, state and Indigenous communities.

The paper is a conceptual offering that examines the complex environment within which “meaningful participation” between mining corporates and Indigenous communities operate.

This paper highlights the multi-dimensional nature of a proposed relationship between the mining corporates, the state and the Indigenous Māori community within New Zealand. The facilitation of “meaningful participation” requires that any negotiated agreement is undertaken within a framework of meaning that makes sense to the Indigenous community, in addition to the appropriate legislative and corporate initiatives to be in place.

The paper highlights the complex considerations that must be included in any form of negotiation between mining corporates and Indigenous peoples to achieve meaningful participation in the form that it was intended under international accords. While recognising the different contextual circumstance of Indigenous peoples around the world, this paper illustrates a pathway towards meaningful participation that takes into account economic, socio-cultural and environmental variables.

Assesses the effects of the Asian economic crisis on Taiwan and identifies some reasons why it has been less dramatically affected than other Asian countries. Discusses its actual and planned policies aimed at strengthening the economy further by maintaining currency stability, improving competitive strengths in both hi‐tech industries and manufacturing, entering new export markets, stimulating domestic demand and reforming financial institutions and regulations. Recognizes the political threats it faces but believes that increasing trade with and investment in China has reduced them.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the effects of successful adoption of information technology (IT)-enabled services to be provided in the proposed smart cities of India from end-user-experience perspective.

This paper has taken a sincere endeavor to understand to what extent the success of the smart cities depends on the users’ experience of the IT-enabled services, the backbone of smart cities, and how using IT-enabled services can improve the quality of the users’ lifestyle. Initially, few hypotheses have been developed from literature review, followed by structured questionnaires. Once the data were collected, they were analyzed using different statistical tools. This paper will be useful for the policymakers, specifically those who are involved in technology and IT-governance-related areas, in policymaking for the proposed smart cities in India.

This study tries to find how the IT-enabled services would transform the lives of residents both socially and technologically; to what extent the prospective citizens will be engaged to use the modern services; to what extent the threat of privacy and security issues affects the overall performance of the proposed smart cities of India; and how gaining trust of the citizens could help in successful adoption of IT services. This paper tries to find out few of these questions from the city residents’ perspective.

This study is undertaken keeping Indian smart cities in perspective. However, in India, the proposed smart cities are in different states. In fact, the respondents selected by the authors are not the true representatives of the whole population, which is spread covering all parts of India. This paper could have implications for policymakers in drafting the smart city policy in India especially from IT-governance and user-experience perspective.

As this study discusses proposed smart cities of India from IT-enabled services and from the citizens’ perspective, it will have a huge practical implication once these smart cities become operational in India.

This study discusses the IT-enabled services expected to be provided to the citizens of the proposed smart cities of India. As the paper discusses about the citizens’ perspective and the proposed smart cities of India, it definitely has social implications especially since the study is related to the citizens of proposed smart cities of India.

The research reported in this manuscript is the outcome of in-depth study on proposed Indian smart cities especially from IT adoption and from users’ perspective. Very few studies have been carried out on proposed Indian smart cities from IT adoption perspective and how that could improve the lifestyle of the residents.