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The prices of construction resources (construction cost) have been increasing faster than construction output prices (construction price) in Hong Kong since the mid‐1970s, giving rise to a long‐term divergence between the two price trends. As the difference has existed for quite a long time, it cannot be adequately explained by a short‐term change in supply and demand conditions. The present paper introduces the major indices that reflect the trends of the prices of construction resources and outputs in Hong Kong. It also attempts to explain, from an economic point of view, the major factors which contributed to the divergence between the long‐term trends of the prices of construction resources and outputs. One of the conclusions is that, for the past 25 years, the productive efficiency of the Hong Kong building industry has benefited from and been greatly upgraded by imported construction technologies, as well as by a burgeoning quality of human resources. The data and examples quoted in the present paper are sided towards building construction. Therefore, the scope of investigation of this paper, strictly speaking, is confined to the building industry, and does not include the building services and civil engineering subsectors. However, because of the higher degree of mechanization and faster technological progress in the civil engineering and building services subsectors, the present author believes that the results and conclusions should also be applicable to the whole construction industry.

A distinctive feature of mortgages as assets is the existence of prepayment risk, typically viewed as a borrower’s call option to pay the outstanding mortgage balance at any time during the term. While previous research identified important causes for prepayment, these studies are mostly based on fixed‐rate mortgages, with little work on variable‐rate or floating‐rate mortgages and even less work on prepayment in countries other than the USA. This paper presents an analysis of prepayment based on the historical aggregate pre‐payment experience of a sample of variable rate mortgages in Hong Kong, which func‐tions under a Currency Board Mechanism that determines exogenously the level and term structure of interest rates. With variable rate mortgages, it is expected that there will not be a prepayment incentive with decreases in interest rates, unlike the case with fixed‐rate mortgages. However, we argue that observed interest rate movements remain a key factor that affects prepayment decisions, because current interest changes influence expected future interest rates. Furthermore, drawing on quasi‐rational and behavioral economics concepts, we expect the effect on prepayment of expected upward movement in interest rates to be stronger than that of expected downward movements. Empirical evidence from the adjustable rate residential mortgage sample from Hong Kong supports these expected relationships.

Purpose – This chapter aims to explore the strategies used by the Hong Kong government to respond to the adult worker model and the male-breadwinner model; and to explore the views of women on the desirability of these strategies. The male-breadwinner model posits that men work full-time outside the home and women take on domestic work. The adult worker model suggests that women and men should be equally expected to participate in formal employment.

Design/methodology/approach – This chapter analyses the policy measures used by the Hong Kong government to support women in their participation in formal employment and the local work-based pension scheme (the Mandatory Provident Fund) as well as other policy measures that offer potential for enabling family care providers to accumulate resources for secure retirement. Additionally, it draws on semi-structured interviews with 30 Hong Kong young women to examine their views on the extent to which the government supports them to save pension incomes.

Findings – This study shows that the Hong Kong government uses a ‘weak action strategy’ to respond to the adult worker model and the male-breadwinner model, and that this strategy fails to meet women’s diverse preferences for their roles in the labour market and the family.

Originality/value – Based on a newly developed framework, this study examines the responses made by the government to both the male-breadwinner model and the adult worker model. It sheds new insights into possible ways of assisting women to achieve secure retirement .

This paper supplements and extends consideration of quantitative models with application to building (costs and) prices by examining human elements inherent in modelling. In considering the concepts of modelling, attention is focused on the recently developed sociology of science, which questions the traditional perspective of total separation of a reality from the observer—the ‘objective’ basis of scientific positivism. It is argued that human activities are fundamental in, and inseparable from, reality and so, they are integral in modelling. The aim of modelling should be to enhance understanding and knowledge rather than to secure inert objectivity. Application to modelling of prices of building projects investigates how prices are formulated, which prices are commonly modelled and the impact of the decision‐makers involved. It is concluded that new models are required, perhaps developed through methodological pluralism, which identify people‐oriented variables and assumptions explicitly. Further, the models should be stochastic and with sound bases in theories of economics and human behaviour to ensure that users are aware of the major variabilities in the processes modelled and so, by realistically informing, promote better decision making.

The process of managing the design and construction of a project on behalf of a client may be analysed using project management theory based on a contingency approach. The analysis provided by this approach, whilst useful for understanding the interaction of the parts of the system, the functions of project management and the effectiveness of the organization structure, may be limited by not incorporating an economic explanation of how a project organization structure is chosen. The transaction cost approach to the study of economic organization may provide a theoretical basis for such an explanation. This approach holds that an understanding of transaction cost economizing is central to the study of organizations as it determines whether functions are provided by the market or by hierarchy. This paper seeks to explore the relationship between these two powerful approaches in explaining the structuring and management of project organizations on behalf of clients and to explain the benefits of combining these approaches in furthering construction project management theory.

The most fundamental requirement of a habitable building is that its occupants can live in it healthily and safely. However, given the proliferation of building‐related accidents recently in Hong Kong, the extent to which our buildings have fulfilled this basic requirement is doubtful. For the benefit of the entire society, more public information on building quality is needed. Aims to address this issue.

This paper extends the Ho et al. assessment model to evaluate the combined health and safety performance of residential buildings in Hong Kong. The model consists of a set of performance‐based objectives and can be translated into a hierarchy of parameters concerning the quality of building design, building management, and the surrounding environment. A total of 99 residential buildings in two urban areas, namely Mongkok and Tsimshatsui, were assessed with the help of a simple and user‐friendly performance indicator called the Building Quality Index (BQI).

The comparative analysis showed that the overall health and safety performance varied significantly with building age and development scale. Building location did not matter in overall performance, but became relevant in disaggregate performances regarding the external environment and building management approaches.

In theory, building management and building location are not related. Further research is needed to disentangle the management effect from the location effect.

The assessment method is a simple and cost‐effective screening tool for mass building assessment at the city level. It can also be used for classifying buildings into different grades in respect of health and safety, providing incentives to building owners, developers, and government bodies to improve the living environment.

The study contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between building performance and its physical characteristics, including location, age, and development scale, in a densely populated high‐rise urban area.

Fluctuations in the tender price index have an adverse effect on the construction sector and the economy at large. This is largely due to the positive relationship that exists between the construction industry and economic growth. The consequences of these variations include cost overruns and schedule delays, among others. An accurate forecast of the tender price index is good for controlling the uncertainty associated with its variation. In the present study, the efficacy of using an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for tender price forecasting is investigated. In addition, the Box–Jenkins model, which is considered a benchmark technique, was used to evaluate the performance of the ANFIS model. The results demonstrate that the ANFIS model is superior to the Box–Jenkins model in terms of the accuracy and reliability of the forecast. The ANFIS could provide an accurate and reliable forecast of the tender price index in the medium term (i.e. over a three-year period). This chapter provides evidence of the advantages of applying nonlinear modelling techniques (such as the ANFIS) to tender price index forecasting. Although the proposed ANFIS model is applied to the tender price index in this study, it can also be applied to a wider range of problems in the field of construction engineering and management.

There has been considerable debate in the construction management (CM) literature as to which research methodology is the most appropriate to CM research problems. This paper contributes to that debate by suggesting that postmodernity and multi‐level research can extend the scope of CM theory. It is argued that if CM researchers are to effectively solve the problems that the construction industry faces, then they need to adopt a robust methodological approach that takes account of both ontological and epistemological viewpoints. It is proffered that only then will we fully understand phenomena that influence organizational and project performance in construction.

Over the last several decades, businesses have faced mounting pressures from diverse stakeholders to alter their corporate operations to become more socially and environmentally responsible. In turn, many firms appear to have responded by implementing more sustainable practices — measuring, documenting, and publishing annual CSR or sustainability reports to showcase how they are addressing important issues in this area, including: resource stewardship, waste management, greenhouse gas emission reductions, fair and safe labor practices, amongst other stakeholder concerns. And yet, research in this domain has not yet systematically examined whether businesses have, on the whole, changed their practices in tandem with the important changes in its institutional context over time. Have corporate CSR initiatives, in fact, been growing over the last 25 years or has the increased attention to CSR actually been much ado about nothing? In this chapter, we review the empirical literature on CSR to uncover that common measures of CSR such as the KLD do not support the concept that CSR practices have increased substantively over the last 25 years. We supplement this historical review by modeling the growth curves of CSR implementation in practice and find that the pace of positive change has indeed been glacial. More alarmingly, we also look at corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR) and find that, contrary to expectations, businesses have become more, not less, irresponsible during this same time period. Implications of these findings for theory are presented as are suggestions for future research in this domain.

Hong Kong is one of the most dynamic property markets in the world, and now provides the economic gateway to China. Using style analysis, the level of direct property in Hong Kong property company performance is shown to be approximately 15 per cent over 1984‐2000, with the level of direct property increasing to approximately 25 per cent in recent years. The level of direct property in Hong Kong property company performance is significantly below that seen for the USA, Europe and Australia. This highlights a number of key strategic property investment issues over 1984‐2000, relating to the level of direct property in Hong Kong property company performance. Also assesses the level of direct property at the individual property company level, as well as the property company sector level, further emphasising the strategic role of Hong Kong property companies in an investment portfolio. This research complements the previous research by Brown and Chau on excess returns in the Hong Kong property market, as well as highlighting the issues and role of both direct and indirect property for inclusion in diversified investment portfolios; these being key areas of Gerald Brown's extensive property research agenda.