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The purpose of this paper is to explore the emergence of civil disobedience (CD) movements in Hong Kong in the context of the notion of civil society (CS).

The paper begins by rigorously defining the notion of CD, as well as the concept of CS and tracing its development in Hong Kong over the past several decades. By using a model of CS typology, which combines the variables of state control and a society’s quest for autonomy (SQA), the paper aims to outline the historical development of CD movements in Hong Kong. It also discusses the recent evolution of CS and its relationship with CD movements, particularly focusing on their development since Leung Chun-ying became the Chief Executive in 2012. Finally, by using five cases of CD witnessed in the past several decades, the relationship between the development of CS and the emergence of CD in Hong Kong has been outlined.

Four implications can be concluded: first, CD cannot emerge when the state and society are isolated. Second, the level of SC and the scale of CD are positively related. Third, as an historical trend, the development of SQA is generally in linear progress; SQA starts from a low level (e.g. interest-based and welfare-based aims) and moves upwards to campaign for higher goals of civil and political autonomy. If the lower level of SQA is not satisfied, it can lead to larger scale CD in future. Fourth, the CD movement would be largest in scale when the state-society relationship confrontational and when major cleavages can be found within CS itself.

This paper serves to enrich knowledge in the fields of politics and sociology.

This article aims to examine one aspect of Chinese culture, guanxi. Guanxi, “special relationships” has long been employed to facilitate business in China. The authors ask whether this is likely to continue in the rapidly changing environment. China's long history of insularity has created a culture and business environment considered to be uniquely based on Confucian values. Yet in the last couple of decades China has opened its doors to globalisation. These forces, in conjunction with what many see as Confucian dynamism of Chinese entrepreneurship, have generated economic growth levels in excess of 11 per cent per annum. This blending of the old and the new raises questions about how practices may be changing.

The authors employed a survey of two groups; middle managers in Hong Kong and young middle class in mainland China. These groups represent the modern, Hong Kong as westernised; the old, but with new perspectives, the affluent middle classes of present day China. Open‐ended questions about perceptions of understanding and use of guanxi were asked.

The research finds many contrasts between the respondent groups. The Hong Kong respondents did not really understand guanxi, but still thought it important in China. The mainland group both understood and used guanxi, but similarly to the Hong Kong group, did not like it or enjoy its use. Both groups saw a diminishing application of guanxi as China's regulatory and market environment improves.

The paper establishes that guanxi persists and may remain essential in China. However guanxi will work in conjunction with markets and regulations, rather than as a replacement.

We combine insights from the strategic management and international business literatures in order to explore the moderating role of business group characteristics on the link between innovation and internationalization in the context of the pharmaceutical sector in India. We test our three hypotheses on a sample of 219 Indian pharmaceutical firms affiliated with business groups, over a five-year period (2005–2010) in a panel of 1,096 firm-year observations. Results indicate that, contrary to our contention, research expenditure is negatively associated with export intensity, implying that firms in the Indian pharmaceutical sector may face a trade-off between investing in innovation and international expansion. As expected, business group characteristics significantly impact the strength of the relationship between innovation and internationalization. Theoretical and practitioner implications are discussed.

In construction, the involvement of complex human interactions and incompatible interests among negotiating parties would pose as an obstacle in any negotiation process. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of face in governing the behaviour of negotiating parties.

This paper identified the generic types of face-saving tactics used by construction negotiators, investigated the tactic-outcome relationships and examined the effects of face-inducement factors on these relationships with the use of moderated multiple regression (MMR).

A taxonomy of face-saving tactics has been developed by employing the technique of principal component of factor analysis. The results suggest that the use of face-saving tactics in construction negotiation would statistically result in an achievement of mutual agreement, maintenance of harmony and avoidance of offending situations. The MMR models finally affirm that some tactic-outcome relationships would significantly depend on the face-inducement factors.

This research highlights the usefulness of face-saving tactics in construction negotiation.

The findings revealed that these tactics can help facilitate the achievement of mutual agreement, maintain harmony and avoid offending situations. In this connection, an awareness of the proper use of face-saving tactics is worth-noticing in order to have successful dealings in negotiating project disputes.

In construction, there are some distinct features which may influence the use of face-saving tactics and the behaviour of project dispute negotiators. The findings of this research would provide an insight into promoting proactive and collaborative project dispute resolution.

In Hong Kong, a balcony is often perceived as a “green” provision in modern residential buildings. However, how the market values the benefits of balconies is seldom studied due to the difficulty in separating such benefits from other associated effects such as view enjoyment and security concerns. This paper attempts to study the implicit value of a balcony, the green effects of balconies on the prices of residential properties, and the effect of security concerns on balconies situated on lower floors. A sample of transactions in a private housing estate in Hong Kong has been studied. The sample contains apartments with and without balconies. A balcony is found to have a positive effect on the value of a property irrespective of the quality of the view. The negative effects of air and noise pollution on property prices are also found to be highly significant. Although security concerns are found on the low stories of a building, the provision of a balcony does not aggravate the hazard. Finally, the log‐linearity assumption in the empirical price model is relaxed by applying the Box‐Cox transformation to the continuous variables.

Drawing on institutional and transaction cost theories, the purpose of this paper is to examine the location choice for a sample of 522 foreign affiliates of Turkish multinational enterprises (MNEs).

Binary logistic regressions are conducted to test a number of hypotheses on the functional relationships between the hypothesized effect of variables and location choice of Turkish MNEs based on a secondary data drawn from official sources.

In general, the findings provide support for the majority of the study's hypotheses and tend to confirm the theoretical perspectives adopted. The level of political constraints, the level of knowledge infrastructure in the host country market, subsidiary density, industry R&D intensity and subsidiary size are found to have the expected impact on the Turkish MNE's location choice among geographic alternatives. No support is found for the impact of ownership mode of subsidiary and the group affiliation on Turkish MNEs' location choice for their subsidiaries.

The paper focuses on Turkish MNEs and the findings may not be generalizable to other emerging country (EC) MNEs. Also, the classification of geographic location into developed versus emerging countries may be too crude.

In general, the paper posits that Turkish MNEs have a motive of strategic asset seeking to enhance their global competitiveness when they enter developed countries, whereas they simply attempt to exploit their firm‐specific advantages or competencies when they access emerging countries.

Given the increasing number of EC MNEs entering other emerging and developed markets, this paper adds to the understanding of the determinants of location strategies of Turkish MNEs by identifying key regional characteristics that lead Turkish MNEs to select particular locations, among the several geographic alternatives.

The side effects of disguised bribes are hidden by their apparent good consequences (as pseudo-gifts). The aim of the chapter is to unveil to what extent pseudo-gifts (as disguised bribes) could distort the cultural, social, and communicational functions of gift-giving practices. We will firstly describe how disguised bribes could be analyzed from a Sartrean perspective, given that Sartre’s notion of bad faith could help to better understand the three basic kinds of substantive loss which follow from disguised bribes: (a) the loss of commonalities (the cultural function of gift-giving as distorted by disguised bribes: Malinowski’s notion of culture): we will analyze the phenomenon of guanxi; (b) the loss of social bonds (the social function of gift-giving as distorted by disguised bribes: Durkheim’s notion of culture); (c) the loss of communicability, and the arising of an empty truth (the communicational function of gift-giving as distorted by disguised bribes: Jaspers’ notion of truth claims). Gift-giving practices are culturally rooted. This is the first level of analysis (surface). Seizing the social and moral function of gift-giving practices unveils the second level of analysis (beneath-the-surface). Describing the communicational function of gift-giving practices opens the door to the third level of analysis (exchanges of truth claims). Bribery is the distortion of those basic functions of gift-giving practices. We are then facing an empty truth (the communicational function of culture is distorted).

Any concept of disguised bribes must be empirically tested. The way the cultural, social and communication functions of gift-giving practices are distorted could vary from one culture to another. Future research could check how such distortions arise in given societal cultures. It could then distinguish the side effects of disguised bribes, either from a cultural viewpoint, or from social perspective, or even from a communicational pattern of reference. Unveiling the multiple ways of distorting gift-giving practices could help decision-makers to better understand the frontiers between bribery and gift-giving. Emphasizing the various functions of gift-giving practices, from a philosophical and sociological perspective, could allow business decision-makers to raise their ethical awareness.

The long‐standing urban decay problem in Hong Kong continues to receive attention from the government and concerned organisations. However, little attention is paid to the financial benefits that can be achieved after old buildings are rehabilitated. This study seeks to evaluate and quantify the value enhancement of aging buildings resulting from rehabilitation.

Using the direct sales comparison method, the study critically examines over 80 sample buildings across Hong Kong. Residential properties with rehabilitation completed in the public sector are chosen as samples for numerical analysis.

The results show that: the capital value of the sample buildings after rehabilitation increased by an average of 35.6 percent; the overall appreciation rate of the sample buildings (35.6 percent) exceeds that of other buildings in the same district (20.8 percent); the average price increase of the sample buildings (25.7 percent after adjustment) is greater than that of Type B (40‐69.9 square meters) buildings (18.9 percent) in Hong Kong; positive growth in transaction volume is evidenced from the sample buildings in four districts; and, on average, the benefit to cost ratio of rehabilitation per unit is 10.9 and the net benefit per square foot is HK$461.4 (or US$59.2).

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

The analysis is of relevance in confirming the value enhancement arising from rehabilitation and the findings provide a motive for the industry and public for rehabilitation.

The significance of this study is the quantification of the positive effect of rehabilitation.

There has been a growing public concern over the importance of building management in apartment buildings. However, people's views toward the effects of building management on building performance have long been divergent due to a lack of empirical study. This study aims to empirically test the relationship between building management regimes and the conditions of private apartment buildings in Hong Kong.

An assessment scheme was developed to assess the health and safety conditions of 134 apartment buildings. Multiple regression models were then applied to analyze the effect of building management regimes on building conditions. The optimal functional form of the regression models was selected using Box‐Cox transformation.

The empirical results suggested that the presence of incorporated owners and property management agents (PMA) are significant factors in enhancing building conditions.

The sample was confined to single block buildings located in one particular district in Hong Kong. Further research is needed to validate the findings in estate‐type developments as well as those in other districts.

The empirical results assisted building owners in determining which management regimes to adopt should they want better building conditions. The government may also consider giving more support to owners by incorporating them and employing PMAs to create a pleasant living environment for society.

Our study is the first in the literature to provide an empirical test reconciling the divergent views toward the effects of building management with the conditions of buildings.