The purpose of this paper is to examine the two decades since Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty, assessing developments against the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the two decades since Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty, assessing developments against the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, the international agreement under which Hong Kong was transferred from British to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997, and which first set out China’s “basic policies” toward Hong Kong.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper’s analysis of developments focuses particularly on areas of controversy, from the extent to which Hong Kong has enjoyed a “high degree of autonomy” to basic rights and freedoms and the legal and judicial systems.
Findings
It argues that on the whole, the policies set out in the Joint Declaration have been well implemented: Hong Kong has retained its separate systems since 1997, including rule of law and an independent judiciary, basic rights and freedoms, and separate government and social systems. However, especially since the “occupy” movement of 2014, questions about the sustainability of the “one country, two systems” arrangement have come to the surface.
Originality/value
The paper is distinctive in its assessment of developments against the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine British policy towards Hong Kong from the protests of 2019 through political controversies in 2020.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine British policy towards Hong Kong from the protests of 2019 through political controversies in 2020.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper offers a foreign policy analysis based on a chronological account of the public interventions made by London from April 2019 to the passage of the national security law in the middle of 2020. It discusses the factors which contributed to the UK's positions and looks in more detail at an issue which relates to the British colonial legacy: the status of British National (Overseas) passport holders.
Findings
The paper argues that the UK's policy was influenced by a combination of factors: developments in Hong Kong, the implications of and perceptions about its historical position as the former colonial power, the growing influence of lobby groups in the UK and Hong Kong (especially in agenda setting), and (to a lesser extent) the UK's wider relations with China. In trying to balance these, British policy tended to be reactive rather than strategic. London generally took positions sympathetic to the protest movement and political opposition, characterised in the paper as “soft partisanship”, shifting to clear opposition to Beijing's approach when the National Security Law was announced.
Social implications
The paper helps to understand international policy towards Hong Kong.
Originality/value
The paper offers the first account of British policy towards Hong Kong during this period and adds to the limited existing literature on the UK's Hong Kong policy over recent years. This case study sheds light on wider questions of international perceptions of developments in Hong Kong during a tumultuous period in the city's history and informs broader studies of foreign policymaking.
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This study reviewed a body of empirical research on Carole Pateman's democratic spillover thesis, which argues that democratic participation in the workplace spill over into…
Abstract
This study reviewed a body of empirical research on Carole Pateman's democratic spillover thesis, which argues that democratic participation in the workplace spill over into political participation. The review revealed significant variance in defining and measuring of workplace democracy and participation among quantitative empirical studies on the spillover thesis. The review also discovered that majority of the reviewed studies omitted higher level participation as a predictor, and political efficacy, which is a mediating mechanism between workplace participation and political behaviors, in testing the hypotheses. Suggestions for future research and limitations are discussed.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine economic relations between Hong Kong and the UK, especially since 2012, in order to shed light on the management of Hong Kong’s external…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine economic relations between Hong Kong and the UK, especially since 2012, in order to shed light on the management of Hong Kong’s external relations.
Design/methodology/approach
The context for the research is discussion of “grey areas” between Hong Kong’s external relations and foreign affairs. Research is based on textual analysis of British and some Hong Kong policy documents, government statements and media reports, as well as personal discussions with many involved in UK-Hong Kong ties.
Findings
The paper finds that the UK-Hong Kong economic relationship is managed autonomously, demonstrating Hong Kong’s external economic affairs and bilateral exchanges being practised with a high degree of autonomy. It also shows the importance that the British government attaches to its economic relationship with Hong Kong in its own right, and the likely increase in that importance as Brexit unfolds.
Originality/value
The paper engages in detailed analysis of economic relations between the UK and Hong Kong, in contrast to most post-1997 studies which have focused on Hong Kong’s ties with the USA or European Union.
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This case provides information about the start-up of a successful landscaping/snow plowing business by a high school student. A description of some of the characteristics of the…
Abstract
Synopsis
This case provides information about the start-up of a successful landscaping/snow plowing business by a high school student. A description of some of the characteristics of the entrepreneur, his method of gaining start-up funds, and suggestions about the way he focused himself on his goals offer food for thought to students about the start-up process and selection of an appropriate form of business ownership.
Research methodology
Primary research.
Relevant courses and levels
This case is designed for use by undergraduates in introduction to entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial finance, or introduction to business classes. It can be introduced early in the term to encourage discussion of launching a business.
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In a best-case scenario, both organisations and their employees gain from technological changes by staying up to date on developing digitalisation. However, opportunities to learn…
Abstract
Purpose
In a best-case scenario, both organisations and their employees gain from technological changes by staying up to date on developing digitalisation. However, opportunities to learn and use modern technologies may not be shared equally in the workplace. Employee groups can be divided between those with and without access to new technologies. This study aims to examine the extent to which the position of an employee may be associated with the opportunity to work with robots.
Design/methodology/approach
Health-care work was chosen as an exemplary context of emerging robotisation. To gain correlative evidence on how the position and technology orientation of an employee associate with access to care robots, the study used online survey data collected from Finnish care workers (N = 226).
Findings
Workplace hierarchies were found to play a significant part in robotisation. Management experience increased the probability for an employee to have access to care robots, but this position did not differentiate between the employees in their aspiration to use care robots. Individual interest in technology was associated with robot use only among care workers with no management experience, whereas managers’ access to robots did not depend on their personal interests.
Originality/value
This study brings new information about the equity of robot-use opportunities in workplaces. Distinctive to care robots was the significant number of motivated non-users. Thus, adding to the categories of “have-bots”, “have-nots” and “want-nots”, this study introduces an important group of “want-bots”.
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To fill the gap in the existing literature on the 20th anniversary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the purpose of this paper is to critically reflect upon…
Abstract
Purpose
To fill the gap in the existing literature on the 20th anniversary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the purpose of this paper is to critically reflect upon the continuities and changes of the city’s relations with the world.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper has adopted a generic approach to shed light on the factors behind the evolution of the international status of Hong Kong from a by-product of geopolitics to a global city in its own right, to understand how the city has been perceived by traditional western partners after 1997 and to investigate how China has made use Hong Kong’s international status.
Findings
It has shown that Beijing’s strategy toward Hong Kong has been marred by the inherent tensions between “becoming Chinese” and “remaining global.” The official discourse of functionalism, according to which economic and professional ties are both the most acceptable and therefore the least resisted pathways available for the development of Hong Kong’s external relations, has the opposite effect of expanding Beijing’s control over the city.
Originality/value
In contrast to the HKSAR Government’s belief that Hong Kong will certainly benefit from the emergence of China, the city has found itself on a shorter leash than ever. It has therefore pinpointed the pitfalls of the logic of functionalism which has dominated the existing literature as much as the policy-making process.
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This paper aims to look at the development of economic theory into what Aristotle called a “theoretical science” and the subsequent rejection of practical wisdom. Since business…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to look at the development of economic theory into what Aristotle called a “theoretical science” and the subsequent rejection of practical wisdom. Since business education is largely based on economic theory, this has an effect on management and other business disciplines.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper examines how the philosophical preconceptions that underlie economic theory greatly influence the development of economic theory and policy. The approach is to use the history of economic ideas to get a deeper understanding of current economic ideas and issues.
Findings
The paper finds that the attempt to turn economics into a hard science forced economists to adopt an overly narrow view of the human person, to exclude ethics from their analysis and to ignore historical and social context; that is the real economy. Following this research agenda turned economics into a mere defense of laissez‐faire ideology, and led to the promotion of economic policies that are harmful to society, such as the deregulation of the financial services industry in the 1990s that set the stage for the financial meltdown and economic crisis of 2008.
Practical implications
The paper shows that economic theory that excludes ethics, and takes an overly narrow view of the human person, weakens the effectiveness of economic analysis. Including ethics and a more valid philosophical anthropology leads to better analysis and policy.
Social implications
A more realistic and ethically grounded economic analysis will have a great effect on society for it will take away the common argument that ethical considerations need to be ignored in economic analysis and policy.
Originality/value
The paper's originality is in using the insights of the Catholic social thought tradition, specifically its view of the human person, to promote a broader approach to economics.
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This study examines Pateman's “spillover thesis” that democratic participation in the workplace will “spill over” into political participation. It applies a latent class analysis…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines Pateman's “spillover thesis” that democratic participation in the workplace will “spill over” into political participation. It applies a latent class analysis (LCA) to identify patterns of political behavior and uses workplace participation and political efficacy as predicting variables of political behavior patterns.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyzed the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) in 2014 General Social Survey (GSS) data. This study applied a LCA to identify distinct patterns in people's political behaviors and did a multinomial regression analysis to predict the patterns with workplace participation and political efficacy.
Findings
The study found partial support for the spillover thesis. Among three distinct political behavior patterns, two active patterns were associated with political efficacy. However, the mediation from workplace participation to political participation through political efficacy was not supported. Respondents involved in workplace units that collectively make work-related decisions were more likely to be active in political behaviors, but only one set of political activities. Higher political efficacy was found to lead to more active overall political participation of both patterns.
Originality/value
Unlike the previous studies of democratic spillover, which treated political behaviors either as independent types of behaviors or as a summative index of such binary coded variables, this study addressed such shortcomings of the previous studies by providing a more complex picture of political behavior patterns and their relationship with workplace participation. Future research can build on this unique methodological endeavor to explore a holistic picture of how workplace practices can influence politics and democracy through individual workers.