bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Technology strategy and China's technology capacity building
Authors: de Meyer Arnoud 
Published: June 2008

PurposeChina has the potential to become a major source of innovation for the world. The scientific investment is in place and rapidly growing. But in order to reap the benefits of this investment its organisations will have to become better at managing innovation. One of the key elements of innovation management is the determination and implementation of a sound technology strategy. The purpose of this paper is to offer a framework and a detailed overview of what it entails to develop and implement a technology strategy.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology adopted is observation and literature survey.FindingsThe paper emphasizes the alignment of the strategy with the organisational competencies and the strategic context, as well as the capacity to manage risk. The attention is also drawn on the need to find better ways for intellectual property protection, leveraging the Chinese market to explore opportunities for innovative ideas and the need to create less hierarchical organisations, that enable creative thinking.Originality/valueThis paper is an original summary of a wide range of research results on technology strategy.
Evolving learning strategies for latecomers
Authors: Xie Wei , Li‐Hua Richard 
Published: June 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the rise and the fall of China's local handset manufacturers, to explore the issue of how learning strategies of latecomers evolve in relation to changing environmental features and their own technology accumulation.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs a case study approach.FindingsAs latecomers approach technology frontiers, learning strategies need to change timely. After latecomers gain their initial foothold in the domestic market, R&D and innovation capabilities become vital for maintaining their margins and sustaining their growth. This paper illustrates that latecomers should use the relatively strong case flow for their long‐term efforts on innovative capability building, which were generated from their initial market success.Originality/valueThis paper provides a systematic analysis on the rise and the fall of China's local handset manufacturers, less addressed by previous studies. This paper has following contributions: it identifies factors contributing to the rise and the fall of China's local handset manufacturers. These findings will act as an effective checklist for Chinese managers to design competitive strategies against multinationals. Second, it identifies that distribution channels can act as a source of competitive advantages for latecomers to compensate for their technology disadvantages at early stage. It is less addressed by previous studies in the field of technological learning. This finding may be of interest to managers in large catching‐up countries with home market advantages such as India, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia.
Building a major transport infrastructure in Hong Kong in the historical context of the 1997 retrocession
Authors: Dufour Yvon , Steane Peter , Wong Lawrence 
Published: June 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to look into the fate of a troubled initiative in one of Hong Kong's economic engines – the container handling industry – that was developed in the midst of the discussions between Beijing and London leading towards the historical 1997 handover.Design/methodology/approachBased on a qualitative in‐depth analysis of a longitudinal case study, the impact of the historical context is shown.FindingsThe data suggest that the forecasting gaps are residual of prolonged decision‐making processes featuring a diversity of stakeholders pursuing their respective agendas and making the best of the opportunities presented by powerful contextual events such as the historical 1997 restoration.Research limitations/implicationsA few aspects of the forecasting process make a difference in the likelihood that the traffic forecasts will prove more accurate: improving the interconnectedness of the forecasting tasks; eliminating the problem of assumption drag; and developing knowledge in sociopolitical forecasting.Originality/valueThe value of this longitudinal case study lies in showing that major transport infrastructure forecasts are neither a deceptive nor meaningless series of projections to cool down potential opposition, as argued by the proponents of the political approach. Building a major transport infrastructure takes place through a nest of multifarious and unpredictable processes, intertwined with patterns of other strategic decisions and actions undertaken either by the public or by the private organizations involved, and influenced by major contingencies and historical contextual events over time.
Recruiting high‐tech managerial talents in China: an institutional perspective
Authors: Rovai Serena 
Published: June 2008

PurposeThe paper is part of the growing research on human resource management (HRM) in foreign multinational companies (MNCs) operating in the PRC. The purpose of this paper is to examine the critical role played by the host contextual factors on recruitment policies adoption for foreign high‐tech corporations operating in the PRC. In particular, the paper analyses the influence of institutional factors on “talent recruitment” and related policies and practices. In this perspective, the institutionalization theory was instrumental in explaining the degree to which recruitment policies and practices have been adapted, or not, to the host country environment or are more similar to those of multinational's headquarters and related standardised practices. The paper reviews the diverse studies related to people management in China and it stresses the lack of research for talents recruitment and selection in the PRC despite the critical situation in the local labour market.Design/methodology/approachThis is an empirical paper based on a case‐study and field interviews.FindingsThis paper aims to provide an exploration of the main challenges and key issues for foreign high‐tech MNCs in recruiting managerial talents in the local labour market. It stresses the importance of the institutional context and its interaction with recruitment policies and practices. In particular, the study provides an overview of how the institutional environment has affected the transfer and adoption of specific recruitment policies in China and has resulted in an «adjustment» of their global HRM policies.Research limitations/implicationsAs a result of opportunistic contacts and time‐constraints, this research is limited to western MNCs operating in China. However, it would be relevant to investigate the situation for talent recruitment and selection in local Chinese private companies in relation to the on‐going transformation and growing presence of those companies in the local labour market. Furthermore, the study only focuses on high‐tech MNCs without considering the situation and possible diverse variables and scenarios arising in diverse industrial companies.Originality/valueThe paper is of value in that it confirms that now‐a‐days, as in the past, despite the on‐going institutional transformation –, i.e. the approval of a new labour law – foreign high‐tech MNCs recruitment policies and practices in China are still affected by a coercive isomorphism despite the still limited influence of a mimetic and normative isomorphism through the dissemination of best practices by top business organisations and HRM consulting firms in the market. More specifically, the paper emphasises the negative role of the existing labour system – evolving from the system derived from previous China‐specific centrally planned economy – and the fact that it prevents transfer and complete implementation of globally standardised HRM policies in China for an effective recruitment of high‐tech managerial profiles in high‐tech MNCs.
Chinese foreign workers in Singapore's construction industry
Authors: Sui Pheng Low , Jun Ying Liu , Shan Shan Soh 
Published: June 2008

PurposeThere is little understanding of the pressure, loneliness and homesickness, the workers from Mainland China faced when working overseas in a foreign land like Singapore. The families which the workers left behind in Mainland China when they work in Singapore were also neglected. The purpose of this paper is to examine the wider social aspects relating to Chinese foreign workers in the Singapore construction industry.Design/methodology/approachThe research process was based on a questionnaire survey of Chinese construction workers in Singapore. A questionnaire with 45 questions was designed in which the information solicited included the socio‐demographic characteristics of the respondents, the reasons behind their trans‐national migration behaviour, the impact of this migratory behaviour on the workers and their families in Mainland China, and the workers' perceptions of and feelings towards working overseas. In total, 65 fully completed questionnaires were analyzed and reported in the study.FindingsSupporting the family was the overarching reason for Chinese construction workers to work in Singapore. However, they were unhappy in Singapore owing to: feeling of homesickness, loneliness, long working hours, overtime work and a lack of understanding, empathy and appreciation from the locals.Originality/valueThis paper has taken the first step in exploring the neglected aspects of Chinese construction workers in Singapore. It provides a set of recommendations on how the relevant government authorities, employers and non‐governmental organizations can pay more attention to the emotional and psychological needs of these foreign workers. It also provides a better understanding of these workers to help raise public acceptance of them in society.
The effect of individual factors on the transfer of human resource management knowledge in Chinese subsidiaries
Authors: Wang‐Cowham Cindy 
Published: June 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of individual factors on the transfer of human resource management (HRM) knowledge in Chinese subsidiaries of multinational corporations, and to explore the relationships between individual factors and introduce the concept of joint effect‐integrated capability.Design/methodology/approachBased on the notion that certain factors can affect knowledge transfer (KT), this paper examines the effect of four factors, i.e. cultural difference and adaptability, language and communication, working relationship, and motivation and willingness, on the transfer of HRM knowledge. The paper is based on an empirical study of 22 individual HR professionals from 21 Chinese subsidiaries. Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews conducted between January and April 2004 and an exploratory data analysis was carried out with the assistance of Nvivo software.FindingsThe study has found that Chinese HR managers have the ability of all four factors to facilitate the transfer of HRM knowledge. The findings further suggest that integrated capability‐joint effect could be generated from the four factors and affect the transfer process jointly. When the capability is positive, it facilitates the transfer. Conversely, when the capability is negative, it impedes the transfer.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings not only extend the understanding of the effect of single factor on KT, but also the interrelationship between individual factors, their joint effect‐integrated capability and the transfer process.Originality/valueExisting research has concentrated on studying the effect of single factor on KT, knowledge management by and large. There is little research investigating the correlations between individual factors. This paper addresses this gap and introduces the concept of joint effect, integrated capability.
Multinational enterprises in China, East Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe
Authors: Chantasasawat Busakorn , Fung K.C. , Iizaka Hitomi , Siu Alan 
Published: June 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether multinational corporations moving into China have a negative impact on the extent of foreign firms moving into other developing countries in East Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.Design/methodology/approachThe paper controls for a comprehensive set of determinants of why multinational enterprises enter the economies of East Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe and then adds and examines the instrumented foreign direct investment flows into China to proxy the impact of China on these other economies.FindingsIt was found that the multinational enterprises entering into China stimulate investment in east Asia, but have no significant effects on multinational enterprises entering into Eastern Europe and Latin America.Research limitations/implicationsOwing to data constraints, it was not possible to examine if these conclusions hold for different sectors such as the automobile and electronics sectors.Practical implicationsGovernments in developing countries should focus on increasing their attractiveness to multinational enterprises. Policies such as lowering of the corporate tax rates should help.Originality/valueThe paper includes a very comprehensive set of factors and then uses foreign direct investment flows into China as a proxy for the impact of China on other economies.
Interdependence of income between China and ASEAN‐5 countries
Authors: Lau Evan , Po Lee Koon 
Published: June 2008

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to empirically examine the interdependence of income between China and ASEAN‐5 countries by using the real gross domestic product (GDP). Besides answering this important policy question, the paper is also concerned with ascertaining the causal direction between China and the ASEAN‐5 income.Design/methodology/approachThe paper resorts to the standard time series econometrics analysis. These includes the unit root, cointegration and the Granger causality tests in order to test the causal interplay and interdependence of income between ASEAN‐5 and China for the estimation period from 1960 to 2003 obtained from the Penn World Table (PWT) 6.2.FindingsEmpirical results are found to support the strong interdependence of income between China and ASEAN‐5 countries. Further, the causality experiment suggests that China is the key factor in connecting (equilibrium point) the ASEAN‐5 region, where China in one‐way or another marks the resemblance of the income amongst these economies.Originality/valueThe paper is of value in that it highlights the issue of interdependence of income especially in developing countries. With the increasing interest of economic integration around the globe especially the China‐ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA), the interdependence and synchronization movements of income between member countries is an important characteristic for suitability towards the regional common currency goal.
Modeling the impact of coal‐to‐liquids technologies on China's energy markets
Authors: Huang Haixiao , Fletcher Jerald J. , Sun Qingyun 
Published: June 2008

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to evaluate the impact of China's current coal‐to‐liquids (CTL) activities on its coal and oil markets from 2005 to 2025.Design/methodology/approachA partial equilibrium multi‐equation model of China's oil and coal markets is developed based on data obtained from the existing literature. The impact of CTL technologies on China's oil and coal markets is evaluated using computer simulations by solving the model under scenarios with and without CTL production.FindingsThe simulation results show that on average, the planned CTL activities will decrease crude oil prices by 5.73 percent and China's oil imports by 6.09 percent and increase China's domestic oil supply by 9.26 percent over the 20 year period. Also, China's demand for oil will increase by 0.35 percent on average, suggesting that CTL production will slightly stimulate China's demand for oil because of the drop in oil prices. China's demand for coal will also increase by 1.02 percent because of the additional demand for coal created by CTL production. Surprisingly, both coal prices and China's coal supply will decline by 0.51 percent while the demand for coal and coal supply of the rest of the world will be reduced by 1.63 percent and 0.28 percent, respectively.Originality/valueThe paper is the first study on the implication of CTL conversion from an economist's point of view. It applies an economic model to quantify the impacts of such technology on overall energy prices and supplies.
Economic growth and resource allocation: the case of China
Authors: Wong Kar‐yiu 
Published: June 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the factors of growth of a developing country such as China. Because of the existence of domestic distortions, the traditional approach of using the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) to represent economic growth of the economy is not appropriate. This paper seeks to estimate how a change in resource misallocation may affect the measured growth rate of GDP.Design/methodology/approachUsing provincial data for four southern provinces of China for the years from 2000 to 2004, the paper considers two hypothetical cases, one in which labor allocation is fixed, and one in which labor allocation is assumed to be optimal both before and after growth. The growth factors for GDP in these two hypothetical cases are compared with the observed growth factors.FindingsThis paper argues that the growth rate of GDP has overestimated the growth rate of the economy in this period. It can thus be said that the degree of the distortion caused labor misallocation decreases over time in this period.Research limitations/implicationsBecause of limitations of data, this study treats each province as one sector, producing one homogeneous product, although the same methodology can be applied to more than one sector in each province. Furthermore, the present work assumes constant external prices.Practical implicationsThe present study shows the importance of removing distortions in the economy, and how an improvement in the efficiency may raise the GDP of the economy.Originality/valueThe methodology and approach introduced here are quite new and are useful in assessing the implications of distortions on production and welfare.
Classification confidence weighted majority voting using decision tree classifiers
Authors: Tóth Norbert , Pataki Béla 
Published: June 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide classification confidence value to every individual sample classified by decision trees and use this value to combine the classifiers.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed system is first theoretically explained, and then the use and effectiveness of the proposed system is demonstrated on sample datasets.FindingsIn this paper, a novel method is proposed to combine decision tree classifiers using calculated classification confidence values. This confidence in the classification is based on distance calculation to the relevant decision boundary (distance conditional), probability density estimation and (distance conditional) classification confidence estimation. It is shown that these values – provided by individual classification trees – can be integrated to derive a consensus decision.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed method is not limited to axis‐parallel trees, it is applicable not only to oblique trees, but also to any kind of classifier system that uses hyperplanes to cluster the input space.Originality/valueA novel method is presented to extend decision tree like classifiers with confidence calculation and a voting system is proposed that uses this confidence information. The proposed system possesses several novelties (e.g. it not only gives class probabilities, but also classification confidences) and advantages over previous (traditional) approaches. The voting system does not require an auxiliary combiner or gating network, as in the mixture of experts structure and the method is not limited to decision trees with axis‐parallel splits; it is applicable to any kind of classifiers that use hyperplanes to cluster the input space.
Intelligent water drops algorithm
Authors: Shah‐Hosseini Hamed 
Published: June 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test the capability of a new population‐based optimization algorithm for solving an NP‐hard problem, called “Multiple Knapsack Problem”, or MKP.Design/methodology/approachHere, the intelligent water drops (IWD) algorithm, which is a population‐based optimization algorithm, is modified to include a suitable local heuristic for the MKP. Then, the proposed algorithm is used to solve the MKP.FindingsThe proposed IWD algorithm for the MKP is tested by standard problems and the results demonstrate that the proposed IWD‐MKP algorithm is trustable and promising in finding the optimal or near‐optimal solutions. It is proved that the IWD algorithm has the property of the convergence in value.Originality/valueThis paper introduces the new optimization algorithm, IWD, to be used for the first time for the MKP and shows that the IWD is applicable for this NP‐hard problem. This research paves the way to modify the IWD for other optimization problems. Moreover, it opens the way to get possibly better results by modifying the proposed IWD‐MKP algorithm.
Design of optimal spacecraft‐asteroid formations through a hybrid global optimization approach
Authors: Alisa Maddock Christie , Vasile Massimiliano 
Published: June 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a methodology and experimental results on using global optimization algorithms to determine the optimal orbit, based on the mission requirements, for a set of spacecraft flying in formation with an asteroid.Design/methodology/approachA behavioral‐based hybrid global optimization approach is used to first characterize the solution space and find families of orbits that are a fixed distance away from the asteroid. The same optimization approach is then used to find the set of Pareto optimal solutions that minimize both the distance from the asteroid and the variation of the Sun‐spacecraft‐asteroid angle. Two sample missions to asteroids, representing constrained single and multi‐objective problems, were selected to test the applicability of using an in‐house hybrid stochastic‐deterministic global optimization algorithm (Evolutionary Programming and Interval Computation (EPIC)) to find optimal orbits for a spacecraft flying in formation with an orbit. The Near Earth Asteroid 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4) is used as the case study due to a fly‐by of Earth in 2029 leading to two potential impacts in 2036 or 2037. Two black‐box optimization problems that model the orbital dynamics of the spacecraft were developed.FindingsIt was found for the two missions under test, that the optimized orbits fall into various distinct families, which can be used to design multi‐spacecraft missions with similar orbital characteristics.Research limitations/implicationsThe global optimization software, EPIC, was very effective at finding sets of orbits which met the required mission objectives and constraints for a formation of spacecraft in proximity of an asteroid. The hybridization of the stochastic search with the deterministic domain decomposition can greatly improve the intrinsic stochastic nature of the multi‐agent search process without the excessive computational cost of a full grid search. The stability of the discovered families of formation orbit is subject to the gravity perturbation of the asteroid and to the solar pressure. Their control, therefore, requires further investigation.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to both the field of space mission design for close‐proximity orbits and to the field of global optimization. In particular, suggests a common formulation for single and multi‐objective problems and a robust and effective hybrid search method based on behaviorism. This approach provides an effective way to identify families of optimal formation orbits.