Search results

This paper seeks to examine the contributions of rehabilitation and redevelopment projects to the labour force of the construction industry in Hong Kong. Major projects from the private and public sectors were critically examined and the manpower requirements and the tangible benefits in terms of wages arising from urban renewal were forecast.

The forecast of the expected persons to be engaged in the construction industry is based on trend regression model. Time series data of construction sites, both private and public, and persons engaged in the past ten years were forecasted for linear trend process for the next three years. From this, a reasonable estimate of man‐days to be engaged and wages to be incurred in the construction industry in the future can be obtained.

The results provide evidence that the impacts are positive. About 19.4 million man‐days and an income of HK$16.4 billion (3.8 per cent of the nominal GDP of Hong Kong in 2008) are anticipated in the short run. To meet urban regeneration needs, the Government should develop various vocational skills and enhance motivation and job search.

There are potential risks of error arising from the use of assumptions, limited sample size and data from the secondary resources.

Urban renewal works can generate more jobs. The ratio of development projects to rehabilitation works in terms of producing job opportunity by the same amount of budget is about 1 to 4.7. To meet urban regeneration needs, the Government should develop various vocational skills and enhance motivation and job search for renewal works.

Urban renewal attracts and stimulates investment, creates employment opportunities and improves the built environment of cities. Also, public rehabilitation works can play a moderate role in stabilizing the economy and the labour market.

The major contributions of this paper are: the estimated labour and financial resources to undertake such renewal works; and the more significant impact of rehabilitation work identified.

Cross-border students – children who are permanent residents of Hong Kong but live on the mainland and travel across the border to school every day – have been an important social, educational and political issue in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, current discussions regarding this issue focus mainly on the group of students whose parents are Chinese residents and seldom examine the wider contribution of social, geo-political, global-economic and policy changes to the phenomenon. These shortcomings have limited the understanding of the role of the state and the varied needs of these child migrants from diverse family backgrounds. This paper aims to address these gaps.

It proposes to bring changing border and immigration policies in Hong Kong back into the current analysis and offers a case study of border history. It revisits publications on Hong Kong’s immigration and migration policies, official statistics and government policy papers and (re)constructs the border changes that took place during the period from 1950 to 2013, which led to the rise and complexity of cross-border students.

This critical historical review offers two important findings: First, it reveals how the government, through its restrictive and liberalized border regulations, has constrained and produced different types of cross-border families. Second, it shows that cross-border students come from diverse family configurations, which have adopted cross-border schooling as a family strategy.

These findings underscore the importance of historical perspective, the wider context in migration studies, the centrality of the state in migrant families and a differentiated understanding of child migrants.

The paper aims to explore the extent to which the legal experience of minority shareholder actions in Hong Kong supports the sociological model of the Chinese family firm as developed by Wong Siu‐lun and reports some preliminary findings for the period 1980‐1995.

This paper is based upon the analysis of 275 minority shareholder petitions in the High Court of Hong Kong between the years 1980 and 1995 inclusive. It also draws upon material from a questionnaire sent to law firms involved in those petitions and interviews with members of the Hong Kong judiciary with experience of hearing minority shareholder cases, members of the legal profession and accounting and company secretarial professions directly or indirectly involved in the administration of companies in Hong Kong and regulators.

The findings indicate that the problematic early, emergent stage of the model as described by Wong Siu‐lun is quite accurate. Whilst there is considerable support for some aspects of the model of the Chinese family firm, the experience indicates a number of complex dynamics at play, some of which the model does not take into account. However, the findings, at least by implication, do point to the cohesive strength of the Chinese family firm with occasional fault lines resulting in some “disputes” of earthquake proportions which may rumble on in some cases for years.

The findings demonstrate the usefulness of lifecycle modeling of the family and other type of corporate firm. It also demonstrates some of the complex subtleties at play. The findings also have implications for the law matters thesis of La Porta et al.

This is one of the first studies to actually examine the legal experience of minority shareholder protection in a particular jurisdiction (Hong Kong) by examining the petitions and writs actually filed and relating them to a sociological model of the Chinese Family firm.

Using consumption value theory, this study aims to examine the impact of tourists’ perceived consumption value dimensions of tea beverages offered by Hong Kong (HK)-style cafés, including taste value, price value, health value and emotional value, on tourists’ memorable experience (ME), satisfaction and revisit intention.

Using an online survey, this study collected 225 usable data from tourists who had experience in visiting HK-style cafés. Partial least squares–structural equation modelling was used to examine the importance of tourists’ value dimensions, including taste value, price value, health value and emotional value, on tourists’ ME, satisfaction and revisit intention.

The results revealed that taste value, price value, health value and emotional value are significant predictors of tourists’ ME in HK-style cafés, which in turn drive their satisfaction and revisit intention.

This study focusses on a single context: HK-style cafés. Future research may enhance the generalisability of the findings by replicating the model in other countries with diverse cultures.

Tourism marketers may strengthen tourists’ ME, satisfaction and revisit intention by promoting tea beverages as well as HK-style cafés. Tourism marketers are recommended to communicate taste value, price value, health value and emotional value of HK-style tea beverages, which in turn encourages tourists to learn about the features of tea beverages. Subsequently, it drives tourists’ ME and satisfaction, thereby strengthening their intention to revisit.

This study contributes to the tourism marketing literature by providing an understanding of the role of tea beverage value in driving tourists’ ME, satisfaction and revisit intention. By empirically testing a research model, this study confirms that specific consumption value elements of tea beverages, namely, taste value, price value, health value and emotional value, are critical drivers in driving tourists’ ME, satisfaction and revisit intention.

Purpose: This paper contains an evaluation of the results from a survey on ISO 9000 certified hotels in Egypt. This study is focused on factors influencing the choice of the registration agency; problems with registration agencies; satisfaction level with the registration agencies and the use of training and consultancy in achieving the certification. Design/methodology/approach: Postal survey was used in this study to gather the required data from a sample size of 40 certified large hotels in Egypt. The sample was drawn from a list provided by ISO 9000 certification office in Egypt. A response rate of 60 per cent was achieved. Findings: The certified hotels in Egypt performed well in their registration process and benefited from ISO implementation. They were using their registration agencies for private consultancy and it has been recommended that they should avoid using their registration agencies for private consultancy as this creates conflict of interest and constitutes a violation of ISO 62. Originality/value: Adds to the body of knowledge concerning the ISO 9000 registration agencies in the service sector with particular focus on Egypt.

Due to lack of motivation, individuals often fail to perform regular exercise. In view of this, we developed a virtual trainer system (VTS) to encourage users to perform simple exercise routines regularly.

A design science approach is adopted to develop a VTS to motivate users to exercise. Study findings are based on a field experiment with 91 participants recruited from a university in Hong Kong.

Outcome-oriented reminders foster stronger perceived risks of health and perceived value of exercises, whereas virtual trainer attractiveness has insignificant effect. Perceived value of exercises is positively related to exercise participation, which has a positive relationship with work productivity.

The findings answer question of how to motivate people to continue exercising.

Findings provide insights for fitness companies to design online exercise training for users.

VTS can promote regular exercise and healthy life.

This research shows that interactive virtual agents can motivate users to exercise regularly. It contributes to the burgeoning research on the use of IT artifacts for improving exercise participation and provides practical insights into VTS designs.

Examines the tenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

This paper investigates the relationship between generic marketing strategies and organisational designs of the Hong Kong clothing manufacturing firms. It also studies the strategic deployment adopted by firms with different marketing approaches in response to the MFA. It was hypothesised that there are generic marketing strategies that characterised clothing manufacturing firms (H1); there is a relationship between the marketing strategies and the organisations of a clothing manufacturing firm (H2); organisational characteristics determine a clothing firm's approaches toward generic marketing strategies (H3); and marketing‐oriented clothing companies tend to cope better with the challenges of the MFA than less marketing‐oriented ones (H4). The findings partially supported the first and second hypotheses but rejected the last two.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the complex, intricate relationships between the central (intended) curriculum, teachers’ perceived curriculums, and the enacted/assessed curriculum in classroom contexts. To do this, the authors have used Hong Kong’s new core senior-secondary liberal studies (LS) curriculum as a case study, with a special focus on its key pedagogical component – inquiry teaching/learning.

This study’s objects are two teachers (from two local schools), each with a LS teacher’s education. Documentary analysis, lesson observation, and focus interviews were used to triangulate data for interpretation and analysis.

The findings illuminate: how LS teachers’ perceptions of inquiry teaching/learning relate to and align with the advocacy embodied in the intended curriculum, the relationships between teachers’ perceptions and practices of inquiry learning and teaching, and how this aspect of the intended curriculum reform can be made more relevant to the classroom context.

This paper contributes to the under-researched area of curriculum gaps and (mis)alignments in Hong Kong’s LS curriculum reform.

Given the susceptibility of cross‐cultural interaction to misunderstandings and disagreements, conflict management may be especially useful for helping employees develop quality leader relationships with their foreign managers. One hundred and eleven Chinese employees from various industries in Shanghai were interviewed on specific incidents where they had a conflict, defined as incompatible actions, with their Japanese manager or American manager. A qualitative analysis of the incidents and statistical tests of the data supported the hypotheses that a cooperative approach to conflict, rather than competitive or avoidance approaches, help Chinese employees and their foreign managers strengthen their relationship and improve their productivity. Cooperative conflict management may be an important way to overcome obstacles and develop an effective leader relationship across cultural boundaries.