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To identify the non‐legal factors that may affect the quantum of compensation determined by the Lands Tribunal and to examine the impacts of the non‐legal factors identified on the quantum of compensation.

Data are chosen from judgments made by the Lands Tribunal from 1980 to 2005. A total of 52 cases are studied. The amount of compensation granted is treated as the dependent variable. A number of factors such as the size of the claimant's claim in relation to the government's offer are used in turn as independent variables. Multiple regression analysis is then used in studying the functional relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. The expression demonstrates whether the independent variables are positively or negatively correlated with the dependent variable, as well as the extent of the correlation.

It is found that the factors: the ratio of the applicant's claim to the government's offer, the appointments of counsel and theirs seniorities are significant factors affecting the amount awarded by the Lands Tribunal, while the appointment of qualified general practice surveyor as expert witnesses and their respective seniorities are insignificant factors. Among the three significant factors, the ratio of the applicant's claim to the government's offer and the seniorities of counsel have positive impacts on the amount awarded by the Lands Tribunal as expected while surprisingly, the appointment of counsel has a negative impact on the quantum of compensation awarded by the Lands Tribunal.

The first limitation is the relatively small sample size. Hence, there is a question of representativeness of the empirical result. Secondly, the variability of some of the factors is also insufficient, such as the seniority of counsel. Thirdly, there is a possibility of other forms of human bias in the decisions of the Lands Tribunal, which may not be possible to be quantified and taken into account in the model.

The paper will surely arouse the interest of legal academics and practitioners in the study of judicial behaviour which is a most non‐existent in Hong Kong and rare in UK.

The paper is the first one in the area relating to courts in Hong Kong. It is expected to be controversial amongst the judiciary, the legal and the surveying profession and has started a page in the study of judicial behaviour in the Lands Tribunal.

This paper seeks to describe the development of a web‐based system for managing and assessing suppliers, presenting the system design and interface of the prototype and discussing the applicability of the system.

In this paper critical assessment criteria and factors for managing supplier quality (MSQ) were identified through literature review and a mail survey of manufacturers in Hong Kong. Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process methodology, a self‐assessment model comprising these criteria and factors was developed. Industry experts were invited to determine the relative weighting of these criteria and factors. A software was developed to support the assessment system.

The findings in this paper identified criteria addressed strategic alliance, supplier development and supplier monitoring. The critical factors encompassed buyer‐supplier partnership, technology and information sharing, sourcing strategies, supplier evaluation and motivation, and issues on performance measurement and improvement. A self‐assessment model comprising these criteria and factors was developed.

The paper shows that in future work, more best practices of supplier management will be identified to enrich the knowledge base of the system in order to further develop the assessment system to an expert system.

The findings in this paper were incorporated to develop a prototype web‐based system for self‐assessment with promising industrial validation results.

In this paper, a novel self‐assessment system was developed for supplier quality management. It is of great value for quality management theory and practice.

This study examines the impact of ownership structure on firm financial performance, for 146 manufacturing firms listed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) for the period 2003–2012.

The theoretical background of the present study is based on the agency theory. Ownership structure is measured by institutional shareholdings, insider shareholdings, foreign shareholders and government shareholdings, while return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), market-to-book ratio (MBR) and Tobin's Q (TQ) are used as proxies of corporate financial performance. The dynamic panel generalized method of moments (GMM) method is employed to cater for the issue of endogeneity.

We find that institutional ownership exerts a significant positive impact on ROE and MBR, which suggests that institutional investors play a significant role in improving the financial performance of the sample Pakistani. Furthermore, the results reveal a significant positive relationship of insider ownership with ROA, ROE, MBR and TQ, which is consistent with the prediction of agency theory that concentration of insider ownership aligns the interest of shareholders with those of the managers and hence improves performance. A significant positive association of government shareholdings with ROA and ROE was also found. Therefore, policymakers may encourage government ownership in firms, which can help to improve corporate financial performance.

The present study contributes to the existing literature on ownership structure and corporate financial performance in an emerging market like Pakistan. It is worth mentioning that the institutional setup and corporate governance structure in Pakistan is yet at an evolving stage. Findings of this study may provide useful insights to corporate managers and investors about the relationship between ownership structure and financial performance of firms from the manufacturing sector in Pakistan.