Search results

This bibliography contains references to papers, conference proceedings, theses and books dealing with finite strip, finite prism and finite layer analysis of structures, materially and/or geometrically linear or non‐linear.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a research synthesis of substantive findings drawn from studies of educational leadership and management in Hong Kong between 1995 and 2014. The goal of the research synthesis was to identify and elaborate on key trends identified by scholars who studied educational leadership in Hong Kong over the past two decades. The synthesis drew upon on relevant articles published in eight “core international journals” specializing in educational leadership and management.

The study first identifies a clearly delimited body of relevant literature comprised of empirical, non-empirical and review/synthesis types of studies in a total of 161 published research articles from the eight journals. Information concerning the nature of the studies as well as substantive findings was extracted from each of the articles. The findings were then initially coded in preparation for data analysis. Synthesis of substantive findings was accomplished by cross-article comparative mapping aimed at identifying key themes in the literature. Findings within four of the most robust themes were then synthesized and reported.

The synthesis highlights the challenges faced in Hong Kong’s efforts to reshape its education in a multi-faceted quest for quality education in the twenty-first century. A variety of inter-related issues emerged as policymakers and education administrators sought to implement a full plate of imported globally recognized education reforms. Analysis of the research from this period yielded four robust themes: “leadership development,” “leadership for learning,” “organizational change,” “multi-level performance focus.” The findings also further highlight the impact of “education policy borrowing” on system-level efforts to revamp the structural conditions in which school leaders operate and reshape managerial, as well as teaching and learning processes in schools.

Although the scope of the sources included in the review are highly representative of the “Hong Kong literature” of the past two decades, the authors note that it was not an “exhaustive” review of all potential sources.

Prior research by Hallinger and Bryant (2013b) had identified Hong Kong as having produced the largest volume of literature in educational leadership and management in Asia. This paper represents the first systematic review of research findings that emerged in the recent educational leadership literature produced in Hong Kong. Therefore, although the authors make no claims of generalizability to other parts of Asia or even to China as a whole, the paper offers insight into how global trends have reshaped the practice of educational leadership in one East Asian society.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the development process of the fire whirl in the fixed-frame facility and focus on the impacts of the fire whirl’s vortex core on the formation and flame structure of the fire whirl.

The complex turbulent reacting flame surface is captured by the large eddy simulation turbulence closure coupled with two sub-grid scale (SGS) kinetic schemes (i.e. the chemistry equilibrium and steady diffusion flamelet). Numerical predictions are validated thoroughly against the measurements by Lei et al. (2015) with excellent agreements. A double maximum tangential velocity refinement approach is proposed to quantify the vortex cores’ instantaneous location and region, addressing the missing definition in other studies.

The numerical results show that the transition process of the fire whirl is dominated by the vortex core movement, which is related to the centripetal force. The unsteadiness of the fully developed fire whirl was found depending on the instantaneous fluctuation of heat release rate. The steady diffusion flamelet scheme is essential to capture the instantaneous fluctuation. Furthermore, the axial velocity inside the vortex core is the key to determining the state of fire whirl.

Due to intensive interactions between buoyant fires and ambient rotating flow, the on-set and formation of fire whirl still remain largely elusive. This paper focused on the transition process of fire whirl between different development stages. This paper provides insights into the transition process from the inclined flame to the fire whirls based on the centripetal force.

This paper presented and compared two SGS kinetic schemes to resolve the fire whirl development process and the unsteadiness of its vortical structures. The modelling framework addresses the shortcoming of previous numerical studies where RANS turbulence closure and simplified combustion kinetics was adopted. Numerical results also revealed the fire whirl transition process and its relationship to centripetal force.

The purpose of this study is to identify driving factors and a quantitative model for implementing public-private partnership (PPP) projects in Ethiopia as a case study in emerging economies.

A review of the literature and semi-structured interviews were carried out to identify driving factors affecting the implementation of PPP projects in the Ethiopian context. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey within three months, with 59 validated responses; mean score technique and factor analysis were conducted. The fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) method was applied to develop a driving index (DI) for implementing infrastructure PPP projects. Finally, a comparative analysis of top-five drivers was conducted between four emerging economies.

Mean values show that all driving variables are important. Through factor analysis, 22 identified driving variables were grouped into six factors, namely, benefit for public and private sectors, attention of private sector, social development, cost reduction, management ability of public sector and ability of private sector. The FSE method constructs a DI and shows that benefit for public and private sectors is the most crucial factor for PPP implementation in the context of Ethiopia. Apart from this, most driving forces for adopting PPP projects in these countries related to financial problems.

This study is one of the first integrate driving factors for PPP implementation. The index provides the decision-makers with a comprehensive tool to assess the needs of PPP implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how international business (IB) researchers can benefit from meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) by introducing a statistically rigorous approach (i.e. two-stage meta-analytic structural equation modeling or TSSEM) and comparing it with a conventional approach (i.e. the univariate-r approach). The illustration and comparison present a methodological overview of MASEM that will assist IB researchers in selecting an optimal method.

In this paper, the MASEM method is elaborated upon, and methodological issues are addressed, by comparing the TSSEM and the univariate-r approaches using an empirical illustration. In this illustrative example, which is based on transaction cost economics, the effects of a firm’s internal factors on its levels of commitment in an international entry strategy are examined.

The MASEM method can help IB researchers to test and build on IB theories by synthesizing findings in the extant literature because this method reflects the theoretical complexity of IB (e.g. intercorrelationships among factors). Comparing the two approaches of MASEM, it is found in this study that due to its statistical rigorousness TSSEM has methodological advantages in helping IB researchers test theoretical models.

This is the first study to introduce MASEM into the discipline of IB strategies. In this paper, the authors introduce an advanced research method and illustrate two ways of using it.

Looks at consumer research in Greater China including Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Maps out the contributions within this area and guides future research. Examines the state of the art over the 1979‐97 period, with particular emphasis on the topics that have been researched, the extent of the theory development in the field and the methodologies used in conducting research. Uses content analysis to review 75 relevant articles. Suggests that, while a considerable breadth of topics have been researched, there remains much to be done, there is further room for theoretical development in Chinese consumer behaviour studies; and the methodologies used need improvement and further refinement.

Although scholars have investigated how social entrepreneurs create and develop social enterprises in the penurious stable environment, how they are created in the penurious unstable environment has yet been overlooked. The purpose of this paper is to address this research gap by exploring how internally displaced individuals, despite the lack of resources, create and develop a social enterprise to serve the other displaced population in the war and conflict zones.

Underpinned by a biographical research design, in-depth interviews with internally displaced individuals who have created social enterprises in the war and conflict zones were undertaken. Three social entrepreneurs were chosen for this study from three different social enterprises that are created by internally displaced individuals to serve the other internally displaced people of three different countries, namely, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Syria.

The single and cross-case analysis found that internally displaced individuals deploy bricolage strategy, for example, reconfiguration of pre-existing resources and competencies (both internal and external), to start up a social venture in the war and conflict zones. They utilise pre-existing internal resources, mainly human capital, and external resources, through a frugal approach towards resources acquisitions. The authors also found that the displaced social entrepreneurs utilise resources of other displaced individuals, for example, networks, volunteers, local knowledge and financial supports mainly from older arrivals, and develop their own enterprise ecosystem within the host location to co-create and co-develop social enterprise and social values for all of them.

The findings show that internally displaced individuals utilise bricolage strategies to create and develop socially entrepreneurial venture to serve other internally displaced individuals in the war and conflict zones. As the findings are based on three case studies, for confirmatory approach, a quantitative study with a large sample size is necessary. Furthermore, as the differences in economic, cultural and linguistic in between the home and host locations can have impact on the creation and the development of a social venture, they should be considered in the future studies.

This study contributes to the limited literature and studies on social entrepreneurship, specifically, to the context of unstable penurious environment. It also contributes to the literature on bricolage by extending its application from penurious stable environment to the penurious unstable environment. By exploring what and how internal and external resources are utilised to create and develop a socially entrepreneurial venture in a war and conflict zones, this study has added value to the literature on not only bricolage but also entrepreneurship in war and conflict zones.

In response to growing concerns over the negative consequences of Internet addiction on adolescents’ mental health, coupled with conflicting results in this literature stream, this meta-analysis sought to (1) examine the association between Internet addiction and depressive symptoms in adolescents, (2) examine the moderating role of Internet freedom across countries, and (3) examine the mediating role of excessive daytime sleepiness.

In total, 52 studies were analyzed using robust variance estimation and meta-analytic structural equation modeling.

There was a significant and moderate association between Internet addiction and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, Internet freedom did not explain heterogeneity in this literature stream before and after controlling for study quality and the percentage of female participants. In support of the displacement hypothesis, this study found that Internet addiction contributes to depressive symptoms through excessive daytime sleepiness (proportion mediated = 17.48%). As the evidence suggests, excessive daytime sleepiness displaces a host of activities beneficial for maintaining mental health. The results were subjected to a battery of robustness checks and the conclusions remain unchanged.

The results underscore the negative consequences of Internet addiction in adolescents. Addressing this issue would involve interventions that promote sleep hygiene and greater offline engagement with peers to alleviate depressive symptoms.

This study utilizes robust meta-analytic techniques to provide the most comprehensive examination of the association between Internet addiction and depressive symptoms in adolescents. The implications intersect with the shared interests of social scientists, health practitioners, and policy makers.

The purpose of this paper is to draw on social exchange theory and heuristic–systematic model to examine how peer-to-peer (P2P) lending firms can enhance their customer acquisition by achieving mobile social media popularity.

Content data collected from multiple sources (websites and mobile applications) were employed to validate the research model.

The mobile social media popularity of P2P lending firms positively influences their customer acquisition. Furthermore, the heuristic cues (i.e. source credibility and content freshness) and the systematic cue (i.e. transaction relevance) potentially affect the firms’ mobile social media popularity.

Mobile social media is not only a platform for firms’ image-building but a critical means of acquiring actual customers. The appropriate use of heuristic–systematic cues in a mobile interface is useful for firms to achieve high user popularity despite the challenges derived from the mobile context.

To achieve higher user popularity in the competitive online world, firms should dedicate greater effort in determining the adequate heuristic–systematic cues designed for the interface of their mobile social media account. The effect of popularity can then help the firms acquire more customers.

This study extends the understanding of social exchange in the context of mobile social media accounts and enriches the knowledge on business value of mobile social media popularity. This paper also contributes to the literature by relating heuristic–systematic cues to firms’ mobile social media popularity.