Sotiris Tsolacos, Stephen Lee and Hoi Tse
This study aims to examine the impact of “space-as-a-service” (SAAS) provision on office rents in the UK and quantify premia to office rents.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the impact of “space-as-a-service” (SAAS) provision on office rents in the UK and quantify premia to office rents.
Design/methodology/approach
Using hedonic modelling techniques the authors are able to quantify the impact of a number of SAAS features on office rents in the City of London using CoStar data. The authors control for the quality of the buildings by focussing on five-star buildings, rated by CoStar, as these buildings are more likely to incorporate SAAS features.
Findings
Using data on 317 transactions in 37 City of London Office buildings over the period 1 November 2004–15 July 2020, the authors find that tenant exclusive mobile applications (MAPPS) and a public terrace or rooftop command a rent premium of around £13 and £6.5 per sq. ft per annum, respectively. However, other SAAS features such as conferencing facilities, on-site fitness centre and touch down space have no significant impact on office rents. The impact of exclusive MAPPS varies with size of net lettable area.
Research limitations/implications
The SAAS real estate model is an emerging trend in the office market. As it grows in importance more research questions will have to be investigated. The present study raises awareness of the need to specify SAAS features and form a rating system that will facilitate future research on the subject.
Practical implications
The conclusion from the present investigation is that only two SAAS features have a positive impact on office (tenant exclusive mobile apps and a public terrace or rooftop), which suggest that these two features may form the basis of any future SAAS rating system. These two SAAS components should carry more weight in valuations and pricing.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that attempts to quantify the impact of SAAS features on office rents.
Details
Keywords
Xueyong Tu and Bin Li
Online portfolio selection sequentially allocates wealth among a set of assets and aims to maximize the investor’s cumulative return in the long run. Various existing algorithms…
Abstract
Purpose
Online portfolio selection sequentially allocates wealth among a set of assets and aims to maximize the investor’s cumulative return in the long run. Various existing algorithms in the finance and accounting area adopt an indirect approach to exploit one asset characteristic through the channel of assets’ expected return and thus cannot fully leverage the power of various asset characteristics found in the literature. This study aims to propose new algorithms to overcome this issue to enhance investment performance.
Design/methodology/approach
We propose a parameterized portfolio selection (PPS) framework, which directly incorporates multiple asset characteristics into portfolio weights. This framework can update parameters timely based on final performance without intermediate steps and produce efficient portfolios. We further append L1 regularization to constrain the number of active asset characteristics. Solving the PPS formulation numerically, we design two online portfolio selection (OLPS) algorithms via gradient descent and alternating direction method of multipliers.
Findings
Empirical results on five real market datasets show that the proposed algorithms outperform the state of the arts in cumulative returns, Sharpe ratios, winning ratios, etc. Besides, short-term characteristics are more important than long-term characteristics, and the highest return category is the most important characteristic to improve portfolio performance.
Originality/value
The proposed PPS algorithms are new end-to-end online learning approaches, which directly optimize portfolios by asset characteristics. Such approaches thus differ from existing studies, which first predict returns and then optimize portfolios. This paper provides a new algorithmic framework for investors’ OLPS.
Details
Keywords
Hoi-Lam Ma and Wai-Hung Collin Wong
Risk management is crucial for all organizations, especially those in the global supply chain network. Failure may result in huge economic loses and damage to company reputation…
Abstract
Purpose
Risk management is crucial for all organizations, especially those in the global supply chain network. Failure may result in huge economic loses and damage to company reputation. Risk assessment usually involves quantitative and qualitative decisions. The purpose of this paper is to apply fuzzy logic to capture and inference qualitative decisions made in the House of Risk (HOR) assessment method.
Design/methodology/approach
In the existing HOR model, aggregate risk potential (ARP) is calculated by the risk event times the risk agent value and its occurrence. However, these values are usually obtained from interviews, which may involve subjective decisions. To overcome this shortcoming, a fuzzy-based approach is proposed to calculate ARP instead of the current deterministic approach.
Findings
Risk analyses are conducted in five major categories of risk sources: internal, global environment, supplier, customer and third-party logistics provider. Moreover, each category is further divided into different sub-categories. The results indicate that the fuzzy-based HOR successfully inferences the inputs of the risk event, risk agents and its occurrence, and can prioritize the risk agents in order to take proactive decisions.
Practical implications
The proposed fuzzy-based HOR model can be used practically by manufacturers in the global supply chain. It provides a framework for decision makers to systematically analyze the potential risks in different categories.
Originality/value
The proposed fuzzy-based HOR approach improves the traditional approach by more precise modeling of the qualitative decision-making process. It contributes to a more accurate reflection of the real situation that manufacturers are facing.
Details
Keywords
Hoi Ching Cheung, Yan Yin Marco Lo, Dickson K.W. Chiu and Elaine W.S. Kong
This study examines academic librarians' perceptions and attitudes toward Internet of Things (IoT) applications in Hong Kong academic libraries and the problems and possible…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines academic librarians' perceptions and attitudes toward Internet of Things (IoT) applications in Hong Kong academic libraries and the problems and possible improvements in using IoT technologies to strengthen library services.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative research used video conferencing software for semi-structured, one-on-one interviews. Participants were given introductory material about the IoT and asked to complete an interview. The data were analyzed using inductive theme clustering for this study.
Findings
The analysis identified three themes: perception about applying IoT technology to the library, problems and improvements in using IoT. Participants were generally optimistic about the potential benefits of IoT for improving library operations and providing personalized services. However, they also expressed concerns about privacy and security, errors and extra efforts for information literacy training. They suggested improvements such as incorporating facial recognition technology, advanced RFID technology and collections identification technology to enhance user experience.
Originality/value
Most studies examined users' views rather than librarians' on IoT applications, which few studies cover, especially in East Asia.
Details
Keywords
Veronica Hoi In Fong, Xueying (Linda) Lin, IpKin Anthony Wong and Matthew Tingchi Liu
This study aims to use organizational fashion to underscore a novel phenomenon in which products, services and practices fade in and out of the tourism/hospitality setting within…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to use organizational fashion to underscore a novel phenomenon in which products, services and practices fade in and out of the tourism/hospitality setting within a specific time frame. Drawing from the fashion theoretical strands in organization research, this paper studies how fashion has been conceptualized, operationalized and then diffused among tourism/hospitality enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative case design was used. A total of 37 semistructured in-depth interviews with executives of innovative tourism/hospitality companies (e.g. restaurants, hotels, theme parks and travel agencies) were conducted. This paper focuses on the organizational fashion phenomenon in which organizational trendsetters with creative, “hot” products/services have emerged prominently in the marketplace.
Findings
This inquiry illustrates a social phenomenon concerning the organizational fashion setting process by integrating existing production practices among different organizational suppliers in the hospitality sector. Different cases in the study show that fashion consists of a series of hybrid, paradoxical processes. These include conceptualization (conventionalization vs novelty, and personalization vs conformity), operationalization (bundling vs unbundling, and learning vs relearning) and diffusion (framing vs co-framing, and adaptation vs alteration).
Research limitations/implications
Throughout the three continuous processes, service design and identity development for consumption, as well as value creation and knowledge transformation for production, are carried out according to the decision of what is “hot” and what is “out” at a particular time. In essence, fashion helps to explain why hospitality institutions imitate specific innovations to take advantage of popular trends in the consumer market, as well as how such trends vanish eventually.
Originality/value
This research contributes the insight that organizations use fashion as a managerial initiative to translate their organizational goals and improvise nascent products and services. The fashion processes can be triggered by microlevel individual organizations and are spread through a series of social interactions to become macrolevel phenomena in a recurring manner.
Details
Keywords
Lawrence Wai‐Chung Lai and Pearl Yik‐Long Chan
This paper uses a probit model to analyse 100 observations in terms of three hypotheses about the formation of owners’ corporations in high‐density private housing estates in Hong…
Abstract
This paper uses a probit model to analyse 100 observations in terms of three hypotheses about the formation of owners’ corporations in high‐density private housing estates in Hong Kong within the context of Mancur Olson’s group theory. The findings do not reject the theory, revealing that it is more likely for an older urban estate with fewer owners to form owners’ corporations. The discussion includes a brief introduction to Olson’s group theory and the development of the probit analysis. Some speculative thoughts about public participation in local level urban management and planning are offered in the conclusion.
Details
Keywords
IpKin Anthony Wong, Hoi In Veronica Fong and Matthew Tingchi Liu
This paper aims to investigate customers' perceptions of four service quality aspects – service environment, service delivery, game service, and food service – in the casino…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate customers' perceptions of four service quality aspects – service environment, service delivery, game service, and food service – in the casino setting among Chinese players.
Design/methodology/approach
The study examined the proposed model through a 2(gambler type: leisure versus hardcore)×2(gender: male versus female) multivariate analysis of variance of the four casino service quality aspects.
Findings
Based on a sample of leisure and hardcore casino players, the results show significant differences between the two types of patrons on the four casino service dimensions. In addition, significant gender‐by‐player interaction is revealed.
Research limitations/implications
This study sheds new light on the understanding of the direct and moderating roles of gender and type of casino players on service evaluation in the literature. The research findings should be interpreted with caution as the results are derived from a Vegas‐like casino in Macau among a mass‐market Chinese casino clientele.
Practical implications
The findings extend service research by illuminating perceptual differences in different casino service quality dimensions in the Asian leisure milieu. Casino operators should take customers' gender and player type into account and design service offerings that are more attractive to female and leisure consumers, as they represent a large potential casino clientele.
Originality/value
The findings extend the customer contact model and further the understanding in regard to the service quality perception in the burgeoning casino gambling industry in the Far East.
Details
Keywords
Wei-Lun Chang and Vladlena Benson
In the global migration crisis COVID 19 had devastating consequences. Workers were confined to their locations due to travel restrictions and working from home became “working…
Abstract
Purpose
In the global migration crisis COVID 19 had devastating consequences. Workers were confined to their locations due to travel restrictions and working from home became “working away from home” for millions of migrant workers. Mobile financial services emerged as key to livelihood of the mobile remittance recipients. It is essential for service providers to gain insights of users' motives to use mobile remittance services.
Design/methodology/approach
This study proposed the model by extending unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model and integrating by perceived cost (PC) and perceived security (PS). Based on the survey data (n = 344) the proposed model was tested using analysis of variance (ANOVA) analysis.
Findings
The findings reveal that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, PC and PS affect the users' behavioral intention (BI) to use mobile remittance applications. Social influence nonsignificantly affects the BI and there is no significant influence of facilitating conditions on user behavior.
Originality/value
The volume of migrant workers preCOVID 19 reached 3.5% of the global population, the shear number of unprotected workers plunged into devastation by the COVID-19 impact is huge to cause an economic meltdown. Under the pandemic crisis conditions, the findings provide several practical implications on how service providers could improve their products and services to increase mobile remittance applications usage.
Details
Keywords
Hoi-Lam Ma, Zhengxu Wang, S.H. Chung and Felix T.S. Chan
The purpose of this paper is to study the impacts of time segment modeling approach for berth allocation and quay crane (QC) assignment on container terminal operations efficiency.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the impacts of time segment modeling approach for berth allocation and quay crane (QC) assignment on container terminal operations efficiency.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors model the small time segment modeling approach, based on minutes, which can be a minute, 15 min, etc. Moreover, the authors divided the problem into three sub-problems and proposed a novel three-level genetic algorithm (3LGA) with QC shifting heuristics to deal with the problem. The objective function here is to minimize the total service time by using different time segments for comparison and analysis.
Findings
First, the study shows that by reducing the time segment, the complexity of the problem increases dramatically. Traditional meta-heuristic, such as genetic algorithm, simulated annealing, etc., becomes not very promising. Second, the proposed 3LGA with QC shifting heuristics outperforms the traditional ones. In addition, by using a smaller time segment, the idling time of berth and QC can be reduced significantly. This greatly benefits the container terminal operations efficiency, and customer service level.
Practical implications
Nowadays, transshipment becomes the main business to many container terminals, especially in Southeast Asia (e.g. Hong Kong and Singapore). In these terminals, vessel arrivals are usually very frequent with small handling volume and very short staying time, e.g. 1.5 h. Therefore, a traditional hourly based modeling approach may cause significant berth and QC idling, and consequently cannot meet their practical needs. In this connection, a small time segment modeling approach is requested by industrial practitioners.
Originality/value
In the existing literature, berth allocation and QC assignment are usually in an hourly based approach. However, such modeling induces much idling time and consequently causes low utilization and poor service quality level. Therefore, a novel small time segment modeling approach is proposed with a novel optimization algorithm.
Details
Keywords
Xiaopeng Deng, Sui Pheng Low, Xianbo Zhao and Tengyuan Chang
The purpose of this paper is to explore the micro-level variables contributing to political risks in international construction projects.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the micro-level variables contributing to political risks in international construction projects.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 25 micro-level variables were identified from the literature review, and a questionnaire survey was performed with 138 professionals from both academia and industry. Then, the Spearman rank correlation was used to test whether there was agreement on ranking between the two respondent groups. Furthermore, the 25 variables were grouped into six underlying factors through the exploratory factor analysis.
Findings
The results indicated that the most critical variables were “project desirability to the host country,” “relationship with governments,” “misconduct of contractors,” “public opposition to the project,” “experiential knowledge of political risks” and “advantageous conditions of contract.” In addition, the opinions within each group were consistent and there was no significant disagreement on the rankings of variables between academics and practitioners. However, the academic and practitioner groups held different opinions on some individual variables. The impact direction of the variables was associated with confusion among the respondents.
Originality/value
The findings presented in this paper can help international construction enterprises effectively manage political risks in international construction projects.