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In common with many other cities in the world, Hong Kong has a large number of older and less well‐maintained buildings which, for predominantly economic reasons, are still highly utilised by a variety of mixed and non‐compatible uses. In these circumstances, a comprehensive approach to ensuring high standards of property management is essential, but recently a series of disastrous fires have highlighted some of the difficulties of managing property in this environment. The Government’s response to fire disasters has been to enact additional fire safety legislation. While the promotion of a safer environment in older buildings is to be applauded, it is arguable that such an approach merely addresses the symptoms ‐ the fires ‐ and not the underlying cause ‐ the management of such buildings. An examination of property management practice in Hong Kong indicates there are two important systemic factors which influence the standards and quality of services provided. The first is the way in which the property management industry is currently structured, the barriers to entry and the lack of regulation of property managers. The second is the way in which the responsibilities and relationships between owners and property managers are dictated by the method of ownership in multi‐ownership property. It is the impact that this method of ownership has on the twin issues of safety and property management which is examined in this paper.

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/02637479810202883. When citing the article, please cite: Hilary Davies, Megan Walters, (1998), “Do all crises have to become disasters? Risk and risk mitigation”, Property Management, Vol. 16 Iss: 1, pp. 5 - 9.

To examine how the allocation of property rights in multiple‐ownership buildings in Hong Kong creates an environment in which the optimization of asset value may be difficult to achieve and in this situation how owners chose to overcome the associated problems of collective action decision making to resolve issues of building management.

An institutional approach, drawn from the literature on common property and collective action, is used to examine the management of multiple‐ownership property. The paper uses a hedonic pricing model to empirically test whether, in such circumstances, management is reflected in property price and which mode of governance owners prefer as a mechanism for resolving problems of collective action.

The institutional arrangements for co‐ownership and use of multiple‐ownership property assets in Hong Kong have resulted in an “anticommons” environment, in which individual owners are in a position to veto action in relation to the property. In the absence of mandatory management the study indicates property prices are increased in those cases where owners have chosen to resolve the difficulties of collective decision making by forming incorporate owners' groups and employing professional management services.

The outcome of the empirical work is the result of an initial study carried out in one district in Hong Kong and may not be generalised. In the future, the approach will be extended to other areas.

In the absence of a regulatory environment which ensures the management of multiple‐ownership property assets, owners may be better advised to formalise arrangements through the formation of incorporate owners' groups and appointment of professional property management agents.

The paper assesses the implications of an anticommons environment for the management of multiple‐ownership property in Hong Kong. Examines arrangements for collective decision making and demonstrates influence of management on property price.

One of the key issues to emerge from disaster literature is that, regardless of the nature of the disaster, there exist both internal and external pre‐conditions that cause an incident to become a disaster. While it may be difficult for governments to exert control over internal preconditions, it is possible to provide a regulatory environment which exerts control over external preconditions. Increasingly governments are moving towards the adoption of performance ‐ rather than prescriptive‐based codes in the provision of legislation. By examining a number of disastrous fires which have taken place in Hong Kong, the paper traces the prescriptive approach adopted by the Government towards forming fire safety legislation and considers whether performance codes would provide a more appropriate regulatory environment.

Hong Kong is a wealthy part of China, home to some of the tallest buildings, on some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Yet the living and working conditions of its residents are a cause for concern following a spate of fires and falling debris from poorly maintained blocks of residential and commercial flats, which have resulted in multiple fatalities. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has set up a number of initiatives to examine fire and building repairs, after the result of its own survey of 27,000 private buildings found the majority to be unsafe with respect to fire safety. Looks at the role of government in reducing the social cost of the real estate management system. Based on a theory of collective action between flat owners, using a transaction cost approach, identifies the formal laws and informal social culture in the management system of high rise property. Develops a framework to show how government intervention would alter the high transaction costs of collective action and reduce social costs.

This paper discusses the problems for facilities managers in measuring the contribution of property towards the primary task, taking into account the different goals of the various stakeholders within the organisation. It suggests that the types of performance measures used to measure the property resource should reflect the culture of the primary task, rather than reflecting traditional property measures found in investment property management. A case study of a project undertaken for the Estates Management Department of the Mass Transit Railway Corporation of Hong Kong is reviewed, where measures of customer satisfaction were devised to measure property performance, in accordance with the culture of the primary task of the organisation.

Risk and uncertainty are part of the everyday operating environment for all organisations. Occasionally the risks may be sufficient to generate a crisis which, if left unattended, can become a disaster. The key person in an organisation who is often charged with the responsibility of recovering the supporting services that will enable the business to start functioning again is the facility manager, in charge of all property management functions. What should facility managers be aware of in terms of the characteristics of risk and crises and organisational culture that will affect their ability to plan for disaster recovery? Describes some features and characteristics of crises that could become disasters and discusses the features of organisations (such as tight‐coupling and interdependency) that can affect their exposure to risk ‐ crisis‐prone or crisis‐prepared ‐ and suggests some crisis‐mitigating strategies that could be adopted by property managers. Concludes that organisations can become crisis‐prepared, if they adopt a range of strategies, such as providing good feedback on previous incidents, setting up a formal safety organisation, inculcating safety culture norms and beliefs about the importance of safety, devolving decision making but retaining monitoring by experienced staff, training and educating to create an environment of constant awareness and hence reliability. The end product should be that those unpredictable everyday minor crises do not escalate to become disasters.

This paper aims to address the potential of hunting humans as sport tourism activity in the twenty-second century. The paper explores past and current trends related to sport hunting, animal extinction, human violence and the normalisation of violence via fictional media. This paper paints a provocative picture of society with the aim of encouraging dialogue across the wider community regarding the challenges facing society in relation to practices related to sport hunting and tourism.

This paper takes a scenario narrative approach in presenting potential discussion on the future of sport hunting as a tourism activity. The importance of narrative writing as a method to research is its ability in telling a story to the reader. By embracing diverse philosophical methods, this research draws on past and current trends via secondary data sources to justify the future scenario narrative.

This paper presents interesting insights into the future of sport hunting and its potential relationship to tourism. However, considering the following quote, “Yet another uncertainty is that predictions themselves can alter the future – which, of course, is part of the motivation behind futurism” (Larson, 2002, p. 5), this paper concludes with a sobering message, if previous research as well as the ideas presented here are to become a future reality, one where humans hunt each other for sport, are we content to allow this to happen? Or do we want to encourage debate to ensure we create better futures?

This paper offers original and novel research within the sport-tourism literature by taking a futures perspective and applying a scenario narrative approach. The paper offers original insight into attitudes towards sport hunting and its future potential, moving away from its traditions of hunting animals to hunting humans. This paper encourages debate around a taboo-subject, by drawing on a popular past-time, sport. Death is also universal, and by aligning the topic with sport and as a hunting activity, this paper is offering original approaches to addressing difficult questions that need to be asked.

Within the “wicked” concept of ageing, this paper aims to primarily model an integrated approach to identifying and evaluating opportunities that deliver innovative outcomes in Ageing Well Practice, Health and Economic Policy and Research Actions using a collaborative and entrepreneurial mindset. The strategic focus is on a “Boomer” (user)-driven and facilitated Network – that brings together health professionals, research specialists, technologists, ageing well providers, “encore” career specialists, life-style providers, community groups, wealth creation specialists and industry innovators to streamline the progression of identified concepts to valued users and markets and enhance the economy.

Using the unit of analysis for innovation, i.e. the “added-value” as perceived by the user and not simply a product or a technology, the identified “opportunity-outcome” will embed a new service concept or intervention, which embraces and promotes ageing well, independent living or resident-centred care in the community and delivers direct and indirect economic benefits.

The authors model a point of differentiation in facilitating existing ageing well policies in the community, through a focus on an integrated and multi-dimensional collaborative framework that can deliver user value and contributes to community and economic benefits.

Generalising results without a commercial business case from this single strategic viewpoint requires caution. The positive outcomes from this innovation collaborative concept can be used to guide further policy development and business investment in ageing well needs.

Such an integrated innovation collaborative structure provides the capacity to identify ageing well opportunities, to contract enterprises, both SMEs’ and larger companies, for development of the opportunities into user-valued outcomes, to network venture resources and deliver these outcomes to a sustainable market of ageing well citizens.

The Ageing Well Innovation collaborative framework identifies practical ways to integrate new concepts of ageing participation to be realised by the increasing number of “Boomers”. It provides a self-managing process for linking individuals, public and private parties to maximise information and ideas flow, and engagement of the skilled resources in the Boomer group.

The innovation collaborative structure proposed is not simply novel but is a targeted focus on entrepreneurship and innovation applied strategically to the needs of ageing boomers and community needs. The added-value is in the demonstrated enhancement to effective innovation outcomes in community ageing and the economy.