This paper aims to examine the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) in China by investigating Hong Kong’s manufacturing industries established in Guangdong province…
Abstract
This paper aims to examine the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) in China by investigating Hong Kong’s manufacturing industries established in Guangdong province, and to compare the difference between market‐oriented and export‐oriented, and between capital intensive and labor intensive FDI in investment decision making. A questionnaire survey is used to verify our argument. It is found that most of Hong Kong’s manufacturing investments are labor‐intensive and export‐oriented. The most important determinants of Hong Kong’s manufacturing investment in China are cheap labor and land, stable political environment, government incentive policies and high investment return. The most important location‐specific advantages are geographical proximity to Hong Kong, better preferential treatment, good infrastructure, and absence of language barrier. It is also found that export‐oriented FDI tends to be efficiency‐seeking while market‐oriented FDI appears to be resource‐seeking.
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Xiaohe Wu, Alain Yee Loong Chong, Yi Peng and Haijun Bao
This study uses a systematic review to explore the potential causes of previous findings related to e-government acceptance research. By identifying the most frequently used…
Abstract
Purpose
This study uses a systematic review to explore the potential causes of previous findings related to e-government acceptance research. By identifying the most frequently used, best, promising or worst factors that affect the acceptance of e-government, this research presents a research agenda for e-government researchers.
Design/methodology/approach
Through conducting a systematic review following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) procedure, this research first selected 109 papers. Subsequently, this research analyzed the predictors and linkages of e-government acceptance by adopting a weight-analysis method proposed by Jeyaraj et al. (2006).
Findings
The results first revealed the five most frequently used predictors and five best predictors of e-government acceptance at a comprehensive level. Furthermore, this study summarized the best predictors affecting the acceptance of e-government from the perspectives of adopter types and e-government stages. The results also illustrated the promising and the worst predictors influencing e-government acceptance.
Originality/value
The contribution of this research is twofold. First, this study identified the linkages between e-government acceptance at the individual and organizational levels and between different e-government development stages. Second, this research provided a research direction that could offer useful insights for future e-government studies.
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Adaptive reuse of building assets is an important approach to sustainability. Adapting a building for new uses often involves complex factors in the decision-making process…
Abstract
Purpose
Adaptive reuse of building assets is an important approach to sustainability. Adapting a building for new uses often involves complex factors in the decision-making process, particularly in conservation areas. The paper aims to show an evaluation process of the adaptive reuse potential of historic buildings that are subject to change in the Grand Canal area, a world heritage site in Hangzhou, China.
Design/methodology/approach
For this purpose, a model has been established with aggregated views of professionals on the degree to which a variety of factors affect the buildings’ potential for adaptive reuse. The model intends to help prioritise some of the buildings in the area for adaptive reuse, which is important for effective allocation of public resources. Interviews with professionals, analytic hierarchy process and the Delphi method have been used to establish the evaluation model. It is then applied to the Grand Canal area to generate indices for buildings’ adaptive reuse potential and the ranking of priority. The indices are generated through public scoring of historic buildings against the variables and calculated through the model.
Findings
The paper concludes that the evaluation process is an effective way to engage the public in the decision-making process and to balance conflict interests of various stakeholders in the management of historic building assets in conservation areas.
Originality/value
The research has proposed an evaluation model to help set priority of buildings subject to adaptive reuse and to help distribute public fund effectively. It facilitates wide public engagement in the decision-making progress of adaptive reuse of historic buildings.
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Patrick S. Poon, Lianxi Zhou and Tsang‐Sing Chan
This paper aims to examine the institutional and social determinants, and consequences of social entrepreneurship with respect to China's rural enterprises. It also attempts to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the institutional and social determinants, and consequences of social entrepreneurship with respect to China's rural enterprises. It also attempts to provide a conceptual framework concerning how rural Chinese enterprises act as social entrepreneurial institutions and contribute to both business development and social welfare of local communities.
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual framework is developed through a critical review of literature and an integration of multiple disciplinary studies, with a focus on the perspectives of institutional governance, managerial networks, and market orientation.
Findings
The study identifies three framework layers for the development of China's rural enterprises, which are fundamentally driven by market preserving authoritarianism, local state corporatism, community culture, social entrepreneurship and market orientation.
Practical implications
The proposed framework can help contribute to the theoretical development of strategic issues of social entrepreneurship in transitional economies. It may also provide insights about local state governance, ownership structures and market competition in China.
Originality/value
As China's rural enterprises are widely regarded as a phenomenon related to the core nature of a “socialist market economy”, an ideology embraced since the beginning of Chinese social‐economic reforms, a study of institutional and entrepreneurial nature of this kind serves as a stepping stone for understanding the emerging phenomenon of the country's social entrepreneurship, which is characterized by open market mechanisms and socialist legacies.
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Chunjiao Jiang and Pengcheng Mao
The purpose of this paper is to examine how Si-shu, a traditional form of local, private education grounded in classical instruction, responded to the rapid modernization of…
Abstract
Purpose:
The purpose of this paper is to examine how Si-shu, a traditional form of local, private education grounded in classical instruction, responded to the rapid modernization of education during the late Qing dynasty and early Republic of China and to explain why these schools, once extraordinarily adaptable, finally disappeared.
Design/methodology/approach:
The authors have examined both primary and secondary sources, including government reports, education yearbooks, professional annals, public archives, and published research to analyze the social, political and institutional changes that reshaped Si-shu in the context of China's late-19th- and early-20th-century educational modernization.
Findings:
Si-shu went through four stages of institutional change during the last century. First, they faced increased competition from new-style (westernized) schools during the late Qing dynasty. Second, they engaged in a process of intense self-reform, particularly after the Xinhai Revolution of 1911. Third, they were marginalized by the new educational systems of the Republic of China, especially the Renxu School System of 1922 and the Wuchen School System of 1928. Finally, after the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, they were considered remnants of feudal culture and forcibly replaced by modern schools.
Originality/value:
This paper brings hitherto unexplored Chinese sources to an English-speaking audience in an effort to shed new light on the history of traditional Chinese education. The fate of Si-shu was part of the larger modernization of Chinese education – a development that had both advantages and disadvantages.
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D. Kirk Davidson, Kanji Tanimoto, Laura Gyung Jun, Shallini Taneja, Pawan K. Taneja and Juelin Yin
The origins of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been widely attributed to the work of scholars, and business managers as well, in North America and Western Europe…
Abstract
The origins of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been widely attributed to the work of scholars, and business managers as well, in North America and Western Europe. Inevitably, however, as the economic interaction of individual firms and entire nations has grown over the past several decades — call it globalization — so too has the concept and the practice of CSR spread throughout the world. It is certainly time to explore how CSR is being incorporated into the practice of business management in other regions and other countries. Therefore, in this chapter we will focus on Asia: specifically on Japan, South Korea, India, and China. It is interesting for academicians to understand how CSR is being absorbed and adapted into the business cultures of these four countries. Perhaps of even greater importance, it is vital that business managers know what to expect about the interaction between business and society as well as the government as their commercial activities grow in this burgeoning part of the world.
For each of these four countries, we will provide an overview of the extent to which CSR has become a part of the academic community and also how it is being practiced and incorporated in everyday management affairs. We will see that there are very significant differences among these countries which lead to the natural question: why? To answer this question, we will use an eight-part analytical framework developed specifically for this purpose. We will look at the history, the dominant religious beliefs, the relevant social customs, the geography, the political structures, the level of economic development, civil society institutions, and the “safety net” of each country. As a result of this analysis, we believe, academicians can learn how CSR is absorbed and spread into commercial affairs, and managers can profit from learning more about what to expect when doing business in this increasingly important region.
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Jamal A. Al‐Khatib, Stacy M. Vollmers and Yusin Liu
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of Chinese executives' preferred ethical ideologies and Machiavellianism on their perceived appropriateness of negotiation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of Chinese executives' preferred ethical ideologies and Machiavellianism on their perceived appropriateness of negotiation tactics as they operate in a nation transitioning from a planned economy to a market economy.
Design/methodology/approach
A self‐administered survey of a sample 300 Chinese managers with budgetary and personnel responsibilities in Tianjin, China was obtained for the purpose of the present study. A series of regression analyses were conducted to test the proposed relations.
Findings
Results from the regression analyses provided partial confirmations for the proposed relationships. Idealism influenced perceptions of false promises, traditional competitive bargaining, and attacking an opponents' network. Perceptions of traditional competitive bargaining, attacking an opponent's network, and inappropriate information gathering were significantly influenced by relativism. Machiavellianism influenced perceptions of traditional competitive bargaining and misrepresentation of information.
Research limitations/implications
Given the existing impediments to sampling and data collection in China, the sampling method used is non‐probabilistic, which calls for consideration of the results as exploratory. The present study's sample is drawn from the Northeastern region of China and since ethical beliefs and orientation in China varies by region, the results of the present study cannot be generalized to the total population of China.
Originality/value
The present study aims to provide the following contribution. First, as most studies in the negotiation ethics literature are focused in Western cultural contexts, this study attempts to fill this gap by investigating the negotiation ethical values of executives from Eastern culture. Second, global firms' executives can better understand the ethical mindset of their Chinese counterparts and utilize this knowledge to efficiently and effectively manage the negotiation process with their counterparts in this important market. Third, public policymakers and researchers can also benefit from this study by understanding the external validity and the degree of ethnocentrism of not only their own code of ethics but also the validity of a universal code of ethic.
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Xiaojuan Liu, Yinrong Pan and Yutong Han
There is a wealth of value hidden in regional cultural heritage, but its preservation status is not optimistic. This study introduces a method that focuses on the inherent…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a wealth of value hidden in regional cultural heritage, but its preservation status is not optimistic. This study introduces a method that focuses on the inherent cultural value of regional cultural heritage to preserve it by value construction and release.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the great value of regional cultural heritage due to spatial adjacency and temporal continuity, this paper focuses on its inherent cultural value to explore the preservation path and chooses Shichahai cultural heritage digital resources for a case study. This paper draws lessons from the narrative method of ancient Chinese historiography, constructs a cultural space and tells cultural stories. A linked data organization model for digital resources is created to construct a conceptual cultural space. Then, the space is materialized by linked dataset creation. The authors tell cultural stories discovered from the space, which are presented by various user interfaces using visualization technologies.
Findings
A cultural space promotes the development of a fine-grained description of regional cultural heritage and aids in relationship discovery to enhance the value construction ability. Additionally, storytelling via interactive user interfaces is helpful in the utilization and dissemination of knowledge extracted from a cultural space and enhances the value release of regional cultural heritage. In this way, a path with the inherent cultural value of regional cultural heritage as the core is established, and preservation is achieved.
Originality/value
This study focuses on the inherent cultural value of regional cultural heritage and proposes a new path to preserve these resources. This approach will enrich research on the preservation of regional cultural heritage and contribute to the construction and release of its cultural value.
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Sandeep Kumar Reddy Thota, C. Mala and Geetha Krishnan
A wireless body area network (WBAN) is a collection of sensing devices attached to a person’s body that is typically used during health care to track their physical state. This…
Abstract
Purpose
A wireless body area network (WBAN) is a collection of sensing devices attached to a person’s body that is typically used during health care to track their physical state. This paper aims to study the security challenges and various attacks that occurred while transferring a person’s sensitive medical diagnosis information in WBAN.
Design/methodology/approach
This technology has significantly gained prominence in the medical field. These wearable sensors are transferring information to doctors, and there are numerous possibilities for an intruder to pose as a doctor and obtain information about the patient’s vital information. As a result, mutual authentication and session key negotiations are critical security challenges for wearable sensing devices in WBAN. This work proposes an improved mutual authentication and key agreement protocol for wearable sensing devices in WBAN. The existing related schemes require more computational and storage requirements, but the proposed method provides a flexible solution with less complexity.
Findings
As sensor devices are resource-constrained, proposed approach only makes use of cryptographic hash-functions and bit-wise XOR operations, hence it is lightweight and flexible. The protocol’s security is validated using the AVISPA tool, and it will withstand various security attacks. The proposed protocol’s simulation and performance analysis are compared to current relevant schemes and show that it produces efficient outcomes.
Originality/value
This technology has significantly gained prominence in the medical sector. These sensing devises transmit information to doctors, and there are possibilities for an intruder to pose as a doctor and obtain information about the patient’s vital information. Hence, this paper proposes a lightweight and flexible protocol for mutual authentication and key agreement for wearable sensing devices in WBAN only makes use of cryptographic hash-functions and bit-wise XOR operations. The proposed protocol is simulated using AVISPA tool and its performance is better compared to the existing methods. This paper proposes a novel improved mutual authentication and key-agreement protocol for wearable sensing devices in WBAN.
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The purpose of this paper is to use parking behavior as a direct measure of delayed gratification, a cultural trait recognized by scholars as contributing to people's economic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use parking behavior as a direct measure of delayed gratification, a cultural trait recognized by scholars as contributing to people's economic success. Backing into a parking space requires more time and effort, but it will enable the driver to exit more easily, safely, and quickly in the future. The author argue that people who park their cars back-in embody a culture of delayed gratification, and societies with a higher back-in parking rate tend to have better economic performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The author tested the hypothesis using parking and economic data from the BRIC countries, Taiwan, and the USA.
Findings
Results show that there is a strong positive relationship between back-in parking and labor productivity gains. The author also found that back-in parking positively correlates with economic growth, savings rate, and educational attainment.
Originality/value
This is the first study that uses parking behavior to predict economic performance. The feasibility of collecting parking behavior data across countries provides a new and viable way to overcome the limitation of relying on attitudinal or experimental data to measure the culture and behaviors of delayed gratification. The author therefore call for a collective effort to establish a “Global Parking Index.” Such an index will help us better understand parking behavior and how it may relate to socioeconomic performance such as learning, saving, and investing.