Search results

This paper aims to provide useful information and suggestions for future improvement in relation to China's construction industry and market. With China's rapid economical development and its entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO), much attention has been paid to the China construction business opportunities. However, not much information is available on the history, practices and business cultures of the Chinese construction industry.

Through literature review and interviews with industry professionals, this paper discusses the Chinese construction industry in terms of its market and management practice with a focus on tendering processes, contract management, project on‐site supervision and occupational health and safety (OHS) issues. It also discusses the challenges that face the Chinese construction industry.

China has gone over a long way in construction tendering, contract management and OHS. Its current practice is in the right direction. However, further development and improvements are necessary.

This paper provides useful information to Chinese construction personnel for future improvement. This paper also provides useful information to overseas companies who are planning to enter China's construction market in the near future.

The paper aims to provide insight into the opportunities and impact of political risks in China and selected Asian countries on opportunities in infrastructure projects under public‐private partnership (PPP) schemes.

The impact of political risks on PPPs was investigated through an international survey among senior staff of international lenders, investors, insurers, and legal and financial advisors from the public and private sector. The surveyed political risk categories base on the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency Convention and literature review. They comprise six categories: currency inconvertibility and transfer restriction, expropriation, breach of contract, political violence, legal, regulatory and bureaucratic risks, and non‐governmental action risks. The survey evaluation uses fuzzy sets and non‐parametric statistics.

The findings comprise rankings of political risk factors within China and Asian countries as well as rankings of these countries with respect to the risk categories and rankings of future PPP opportunities over time. Also, survey comments are discussed.

The survey response rate is relatively low with 29 respondents. This is attributed to the specialized nature of the survey questions and topic area. It also indicates that political risks are little understood and paid attention to, though significant in impact. Owing to the chosen evaluation methods for small sample sizes, the results are robust and show high correlations with market data.

The results provide insight into the impact of political risks and the perceived magnitude of each risk category. It supports decision makers prioritizing and analyzing country risks.

The value and originality is in the use of a fuzzy‐coded survey scale to quantify perceptions on single political risk factors across China and Asian countries with focus on PPP infrastructure projects. The paper demonstrated that robust results from small sample sizes can be derived with the employed methods.

This chapter examines the development of accounting thought and practices in China with the purpose of illustrating its relevance to current accounting policies and practices. The review indicates that changes in accounting in China did not usually occur completely and easily. Over the past three decades, while Chinese accounting has gradually moved toward the Anglo-American model, convergence has presented unique features in China. For example, the review suggests that the accounting reforms in China have been heavily government-driven and that uniform accounting systems still remain. Chinese regulators maintain a cautious attitude toward the application of fair value and professional judgment, which are essentially the center of the Anglo-American accounting system. Furthermore, Chinese accounting regulators have a different view of business combinations from the IASB and have developed alternative accounting methods for those transactions. China’s departure from IFRS reflects its politico-economic context and essentially challenges the IASB’s goal of achieving international accounting convergence. China’s approach to internationally acceptable practices is likely to have implications for the effectiveness of the imported ideas.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the risk perception of project sponsors in financing of public–private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects in India.

The methodology used is survey questionnaire that seeks the perception of risk managers in PPP projects. Rating and relative ranking of risk at various phases of PPP project have been analyzed and supplemented by unstructured interviews.

This paper shows that the perception of project sponsors for various levels of project risk categories differ significantly in PPP infrastructure projects. The practices of assessing risk and handling differ among the financing institutions. The ranking of risks shows a disagreement among respondents for relative importance. The project financiers that include major banks and financial institutions funding for the PPP infrastructure projects perceive risks differently, and their disagreement on the relative importance of risks may create a sub-optimality in risk management, and the essence of project sponsorship may be lost.

This paper examines the perceptions of the various risks involved in PPP infrastructure project financing. The authors emphasize on the infrastructure projects in the transportation and energy sector that are undertaken in the PPPs. This research can further be extended to the other infrastructure sectors such as roads, shipping and communication.

Experiences reveal that risk perception profoundly influence the implementation of infrastructure projects involving PPPs. To ensure smooth implementation and success of PPP infrastructure projects, the project sponsors must align, synchronize and develop consensus on the various funding and non-funding risks into the project curriculum.

The PPP infrastructure projects carry huge investment and are of strategic importance to the nation and society. In order that the provision of infrastructure which can be most economically and efficiently delivered through PPPs, the risk concordance assumes crucial importance.

The authors believe that this research may provide new direction to the visible and invisible misbalances in risk postures of project partners, which has been a cause of concern to the government and policymakers in India in the recent times.

Research on purchasing managers and their skills requirements supports the training and education of purchasing professionals. This paper offers an in-depth analytical review of the purchasing skills reported in the supply chain management (SCM) literature. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the most important skills and factors that influence these skills.

This paper employs a systematic literature review methodology. Two databases, Scopus and Web of Science, are searched for relevant articles. The selected journal articles are used as sources to obtain a view not only on the relevant purchasing and supply management (P/SM) skills, but also on factors that emphasize certain P/SM skills. This paper also summarizes the ten skills ranked as most important (often described as the “top ten”) among the sample articles.

The paper highlights the essential skills for purchasing professionals, verified both by their frequent appearances in rankings and by citation frequency in the literature. Generic managerial skills, such as communication, cost analysis, teamwork, problem-solving, negotiation, influencing, and persuasion, as well as information technology skills, received the most attention in the literature and rankings of the “top ten” P/SM skills. This paper provides a refined categorization of purchasing skills, which have merged recently with other discussed skills, such as political and entrepreneurial ones, into this categorization. This paper identifies factors that affect purchasing managers’ skills requirements.

This paper presents a structured overview of 57 peer-reviewed articles from high-quality journals about purchasing skills. The review contributes to the purchasing skills literature by showing the most relevant skills and the factors that influence skills requirements. These factors also provide arenas for further research related to purchasing skills.

The purpose of this paper is to provide the historical background of genealogical records and analyze the value of Chinese genealogical research through the study of names and genealogical resources.

The paper examines the historical evolution and value of Chinese genealogical records, with the focus on researching the Islamic Chinese names used by the people living in Guilin. The highlight of this paper includes the analysis and evolution of the Islamic Chinese names commonly adopted by the local people in Guilin. It concludes with the recommendations on emphasizing and making the best use of genealogical records to enhance the research value of Chinese overseas studies.

The paper covers the history of Islam and describes how the religion was introduced into China, as well as Muslims' ethnicity and identity. It also places focus on the importance of building a research collection in Asian history and Chinese genealogy.

This research study has a strong subject focus on Chinese genealogy, Asian history, and Islamic Chinese surnames. It is a narrow field that few researchers have delved into.

The results of this study will assist students, researchers, and the general public in tracing the origin of their surnames and developing their interest in the social and historical value of Chinese local history and genealogies.

The study of Chinese surnames is, by itself, a particular field for researching the social and political implications of contemporary Chinese society during the time the family members lived.

Very little research has been done in the area of Chinese local history and genealogy. The paper would be of value to researchers such as historians, sociologists, ethnologists and archaeologists, as well as students and anyone interested in researching a surname origin, its history and evolution.

The purpose of this study is to explore how nationalistic appeals may affect consumers’ perception and purchasing of targeted brands. Qualitative historical data from old China (1900–1949) reveal that social movement groups can adopt nationalistic appeals assisted by meaning framing – defined as a creative interpretation of symbols, designs, behaviors, social events and cultural identities to serve social and political goals – to shape consumers’ attitudes toward foreign brands. After examining the mechanisms and processes underlying consumer boycotts from 1900 to 1949, the responsive strategies of affected foreign companies are illustrated.

Critical historical research method is applied to historical data and historical “traces” from China’s corporate documents, memoirs, posters, advertisements, newspapers and secondhand sources documenting Chinese boycotts from 1900 to 1949.

Consumers may pursue interests beyond economic interests. Nationalistic appeals can mobilize consumer boycotts against foreign brands that were perceived to support or relate to targeted countries. Political framing of certain events shapes consumers’ perceptions and concomitant brand choices.

Although differences between historical and current contexts may require tailoring past marketing strategies to current conditions, past strategies can inform current and future strategies.

Strategies adopted by foreign companies in old China (1900–1949) can help contemporary companies design effective marketing strategies for a hostile marketplace infused with nationalistic appeals and competing interests.

Although local companies can adopt economic or political nationalism to realize their economic goals, it represents a double-edged sword that can harm national brands.

A historical analysis of nationalistic business appeals in pre-1949 China can inform the counterstrategies modern companies adopt to overcome consumer boycotts.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a survey on research in fabric and cloth simulation using mass spring model. Also in this paper some of the common methods in process of fabric simulation in mass spring model are discussed and compared.

This paper reviews and compares presented mesh types in mass spring model, forces applied on model, super elastic effect and ways to settle the super elasticity problem, numerical integration methods for solving equations, collision detection and its response. Some of common methods in fabric simulation are compared to each other. And by using examples of fabric simulation, advantages and limitations of each technique are mentioned.

Mass spring method is a fast and flexible technique with high ability to simulate fabric behavior in real time with different environmental conditions. Mass spring model has more accuracy than geometrical models and also it is faster than other physical modeling.

In the edge of digital, fabric simulation technology has been considered into many fields. 3D fabric simulation is complex and its implementation requires knowledge in different fields such as textile engineering, computer engineering and mechanical engineering. Several methods have been presented for fabric simulation such as physical and geometrical models. Mass spring model, the typical physically based method, is one of the methods for fabric simulation which widely considered by researchers.