Search results

It is well known that the traditional net present value (NPV) approach fails to take account of the multiple effects arising from the interactions of the operating and strategic flexibility during the course of a project. Option pricing theory (OPT) has been successfully applied in the valuation of both financial and real investments in the last two decades. However, it is still a relatively new approach in the valuation of real estate investments. This paper thus attempts to extend the application of OPT to the valuation of real estate development projects, providing insights into rectifying the limitations of traditional approaches. The paper starts with an overview of the development of OPT relating to real estate investments. It then examines the appraisal method adopted by the Government for Hong Kong Disneyland and explores the real options that may create added value to the project. A binomial option pricing model is proposed that estimates the potential values of the project with those options available. The study concludes that OPT is superior to NPV approach on the valuation of real estate investments in that it enhances upside potential as well as reducing downside risk.

This research paper examines the post-military landscape of the Victoria Barracks regarding the high-density urbanism in Hong Kong from the 1970s to the 2000s. The article first interprets the concept of post-military landscape according to the ideology and urbanism of the then Hong Kong society. It then studies three plans of the Victoria Barracks of different stages, showing contestations between domestic, commercial and administrative powers in controlling the military redevelopment. Several contemporary architectural projects on the site will also provide an alternative view of the transformation according to the local economic laissez-faire policy. Its influence to the unsatisfactory heritage protection leads to the disappearance and false representation of the identity of this particular military and cultural heritage.

This paper identifies and discusses that parks, as one kind of open space, must be open not only for some people, but for everyone, including those with special needs such as visually impaired people. The paper further identifies a number of key directions for the policy, design and management of park environments and facilities that will promote openness and social inclusion.

The study was qualitative in nature. Case study approach on park environments and facilities was adopted. Used site studies, field observations, interviews with the government officials and professionals of planners, designers and management were conducted. Direct interviews with the visually impaired people were conducted during the field observation. Some of them were also invited to participate in participatory research workshops to give comments and suggestions on the design and management of park environments and facilities.

Open spaces are important and necessary for all. However, visually impaired people are always indirectly excluded from open spaces such as parks, which are important for the quality of urban life. Three areas that require attention to improve the accessibility of parks: ways of identifying and approaching the parks; overall environmental setting of the parks; and facilities inside the parks. Assistance to visually impaired people can be further categorized into information provided in advance and information provided on-site.

Further case studies are expected to be conducted in other kinds of open space and other cities in order to generate a more comprehensive understanding related to the topic. Continuous studies are also necessary since the park environments and facilities are changing all the time. With the users ' participation, in particular those with special needs, in research is important.

The findings provide reference and direction for the governments, designers and managment to plan, design and manage parks for the needs of visually impaired people. The findings also advocate inclusive and universal approach in planning, implementation and management of parks.

The findings identify that visually impaired people most of the time are indirectly excluded from accessing parks as well as other open spaces.

Although the paper was based on a case study in Hong Kong, its practical and social implications are also important to other places. Although barrier-free concept and requirement have been enforced in many places for some years, people with special needs (in particular visually impaired people) still face a lot of “barriers” in their daily life. The findings provide insights for researchers and also policymakers, designers and management to review the needs of the visually impaired.

Smart card-based E-payment systems are receiving increasing attention as the number of implementations is witnessed on the rise globally. Understanding of user adoption behavior of E-payment systems that employ smart card technology becomes a research area that is of particular value and interest to both IS researchers and professionals. However, research interest focuses mostly on why a smart card-based E-payment system results in a failure or how the system could have grown into a success. This signals the fact that researchers have not had much opportunity to critically review a smart card-based E-payment system that has gained wide support and overcome the hurdle of critical mass adoption. The Octopus in Hong Kong has provided a rare opportunity for investigating smart card-based E-payment system because of its unprecedented success. This research seeks to thoroughly analyze the Octopus from technology adoption behavior perspectives.

Cultural impacts on adoption behavior are one of the key areas that this research posits to investigate. Since the present research is conducted in Hong Kong where a majority of population is Chinese ethnicity and yet is westernized in a number of aspects, assuming that users in Hong Kong are characterized by eastern or western culture is less useful. Explicit cultural characteristics at individual level are tapped into here instead of applying generalization of cultural beliefs to users to more accurately reflect cultural bias. In this vein, the technology acceptance model (TAM) is adapted, extended, and tested for its applicability cross-culturally in Hong Kong on the Octopus. Four cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede are included in this study, namely uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualism, and Confucian Dynamism (long-term orientation), to explore their influence on usage behavior through the mediation of perceived usefulness.

TAM is also integrated with the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) to borrow two constructs in relation to innovative characteristics, namely relative advantage and compatibility, in order to enhance the explanatory power of the proposed research model. Besides, the normative accountability of the research model is strengthened by embracing two social influences, namely subjective norm and image. As the last antecedent to perceived usefulness, prior experience serves to bring in the time variation factor to allow level of prior experience to exert both direct and moderating effects on perceived usefulness.

The resulting research model is analyzed by partial least squares (PLS)-based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. The research findings reveal that all cultural dimensions demonstrate direct effect on perceived usefulness though the influence of uncertainty avoidance is found marginally significant. Other constructs on innovative characteristics and social influences are validated to be significant as hypothesized. Prior experience does indeed significantly moderate the two influences that perceived usefulness receives from relative advantage and compatibility, respectively. The research model has demonstrated convincing explanatory power and so may be employed for further studies in other contexts. In particular, cultural effects play a key role in contributing to the uniqueness of the model, enabling it to be an effective tool to help critically understand increasingly internationalized IS system development and implementation efforts. This research also suggests several practical implications in view of the findings that could better inform managerial decisions for designing, implementing, or promoting smart card-based E-payment system.

This study examines the relationship between quality and quantity of open space in residential areas and the sense of community of Chinese older adults in Hong Kong.

A survey was conducted with 257 adults aged 55 and over in Kwun Tong, Hong Kong. The quality of open space was assessed from four dimensions: social and recreational facilities, entrance, location and environment. Geographic information system (GIS) was used to evaluate the quantity of open space in terms of size and amount.

The result shows that the environment has a strong influence on the sense of community, while the quantity of open space does not. The results provide urban planners with evidence for open space planning in the future. Urban planners should consider building more people-oriented environment; such as green areas instead of merely increasing the size, amount and facilities of open space. The Hong Kong Government also needs to review the current standardised planning guideline in order to maximise the social connection of older adults.

This cross-sectional study tried to understand the relationship between the quality and quantity of open spaces and sense of community in Chinese older adults in Hong Kong. It is one of the few studies to simultaneously examine both the quality and quantity of open spaces when studying its relationship with sense of community.

This paper attempts to assess the parking reliability with taking into account drivers' travel choice behaviors under various traffic conditions. Apart from the well-known travel-time reliability, a parking reliability is newly defined as the probability that the drivers' average searching time for parking is less than a given threshold. This is particularly important under conditions of shortage of parking spaces in urban areas. A Monte Carlo simulation approach, which incorporates a combined trip distribution and assignment model with explicit elastic demand function, is proposed to estimate the two reliability measures of road network (i.e. travel-time and parking reliabilities). A numerical example is used to illustrate the applications of the reliability measures and the proposed approach.

This study aims investigate the status of applying technology in car parking facilities. It also examines the factors affecting the deployment of these technologies as they improve the efficiency and convenience of car parking facilities amidst changing transport needs in Asian smart cities.

A comprehensive literature review informs the relationships between car park provisions and the traffic congestion problem. A typology covering different technological solutions is then formulated. The factors affecting the use of two such common technologies (i.e. mechanical car parks and intelligent information systems) are examined in two emerging smart cities in Asia with the aid of a desk-top study for Singapore and a survey covering over 600 samples (including users and non-users, as both groups are important to derive influencing factors) in Hong Kong.

The extent to which mechanical car parks may help relieve the space shortage problem depends on their relative costs and the facility management performance. For real-time vacancy information systems, their wide spread use depends on drivers’ age and past parking experience.

Due to geographical constraints, only two Asian cities (Singapore and Hong Kong), where the use of smart technologies is flourishing, are included in the study. The survey on car parking apps is preliminary due to their relative short deployment in Asia. It is expected that the phenomena will quickly spread in the region as more smart cities are developed.

By expounding on the development of modern parking technologies in smart cities, the important influence of car parks as a strategic facility toward solving traffic congestion and environmental problems is brought to the attention of policy makers, in particular the influencing factors affecting strategies to promote the use of parking apps.

Guaranteed maximum price (GMP) and target cost contracting (TCC) with a pain‐share/gain‐share arrangement have been adopted to integrate the construction delivery process and motivate service providers to seek continuous improvements in project outcomes. However, there is still a lack of research evidence to evaluate the levels of success and lessons learned from these innovative procurement strategies. Based on the analysis of a series of in‐depth interviews on the perceptions of various relevant experienced industrial practitioners, this paper aims to explore the key attributes of GMP/TCC including the underlying motives, perceived benefits, potential difficulties, critical success factors, key risk factors involved and optimal project conditions for adopting GMP/TCC. The research findings are useful in assisting key project stakeholders in minimising the detriments brought about by potential difficulties in and maximising the benefits derived from implementing GMP/TCC concepts. The study is also significant in contributing to new knowledge and practical information of GMP/TCC applications and implementation, in both a national and international context.

This chapter traces one student teacher's (Joan) experiences of learning to teach English as a second language in a cross-cultural context during a teaching practicum in Hong Kong. The school-based practicum is a core component of many initial teacher education programmes. During this induction period, usually an 8-week block, student teachers are placed in local schools to learn how to integrate theories into practice in real teaching situations. Specifically, I uncover how Joan grappled with the tensions and complexities of teaching young learners from a different cultural and linguistic background, in a small elementary school situated in the borderland between Hong Kong (an autonomous region of China) and Shenzhen (a province of Mainland China).

Critical incidents from Joan's practicum experiences were analysed to uncover how she dealt with the tensions and dilemmas in confronting difference and marginalising practices while learning to teach English as a second language (ESL) in the practicum school. Implications on how to develop initial teacher education programmes so that student teachers learning to teach across cultural contexts can be encouraged to explore, confront and ‘deal with the emotional terrain of understanding difference’ will be discussed (Boler & Zembylas, 2003, p. 123; Zembylas, 2010).

Activity‐Based Costing (ABC) is a relatively new accounting system that has received a substantial amount of publicity and is heavily marketed by consulting firms. In light of this, we surveyed companies in 1999 to evaluate the adoption of ABC in Hong Kong. We set out to investigate factors that might lead to its adoption and also surveyed whether companies are satisfied with the new system. Our findings reveal a low adoption rate of ABC. There is directional support for companies with diverse product lines and those facing intense competition using activity‐based costing. Companies that have adopted ABC report high satisfaction with the new system. Overall, activity‐based costing has made limited inroads in Hong Kong. The reasons for this are not readily apparent.