School of Business

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Researcher : Bose I

Project Title:	Analysis of the dotcom bubble burst: a data mining approach
Investigator(s):	Bose I, Chau PYK, Yen BP
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG)
Start Date:	09/2004

Abstract:

To investigate the underlying msytery of the burst of the dotcom bubble; to collect and process data on the financial statements of several successful and unsuccessful dotcom companies; to use sophisticated data mining techniques to analyze the financial records; to use rule induction and neural networks; to duse data on financial ratios of the companies to predict which companies are likely to survive or fail in the future. Following the rigorous steps of data mining; to identify the key financial factors which lead to the dramatic rise and subsequent decline of the click-and-mortar corporations; to validate the research findings by conducting interviews of financial analysts.

Project Title:	Bandwidth Packing in Multi-Service Class Intranetworks with Guaranteed Delays
Investigator(s):	Bose I
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	06/2005

Abstract:

Intranetworks of today often suffer from congestion problems due to the tremendous increase in traffic in recent times as well as irrational allocation of bandwidth to support this increased traffic. One of the fundamental problems related to design of intranetworks is determination of which messages to route among a given list of messages and the routes to be used for delivering messages between communicating nodes so that the revenue generated from routing these messages is maximized. This is known as the bandwidth packing problem. The objective of this research is to use an optimization based approach for solving the bandwidth packing problem for message belonging to multiple service classes. This will involve selection of a target group of messages from a list of messages with different delay requirements provided by the users (from a few nanoseconds for real-time full motion video to a few minutes for e-mail), and determination of the best paths for routing these messages. To do so, the messages are prioritized based on the delay requirements specified by the users and only a selected group of messages are routed during a given period of time. Our goal is to find an ‘intelligent’ message selection and routing scheme that provides an efficient and ‘fair’ resource allocation mechanism and maximizes the revenue generated from the usage of the intranetwork.

Project Title:	Direct marketing in mobile telecommunications services: A data mining approach
Investigator(s):	Bose I
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	04/2007

Abstract:

For product advertising and promotions, there are two approaches that are used in practice: mass marketing and direct marketing. Mass marketing employs mass media to broadcast product related information to customers. The Direct Marketing Association defines direct marketing as “… communications where data are used systematically to achieve quantifiable marketing objectives and where direct contact is made, or invited, between a company and its customers and prospective customers”. Direct marketing is increasing in importance at present. According to a recent report, the total direct marketing advertising expenditure in 2005 was about US $161.3 billion. This resulted in US $1.85 trillion in increased sales in 2005 accounting for 7% of the US $26 trillion total sales in the US. With the advent of advanced and mature wireless technologies, people are increasingly embracing mobile ‘things’ as part of their lives. From the research done by Gartner Dataquest it is known that there will be more than one billion mobile service subscribers in the Asia-Pacific region. It is expected that the number will reach 1.4 billion in 2009. In US, it is expected that the market for mobile commerce will reach US $25 billion in 2006. Mobile direct marketing, as an application of mobile commerce, refers to any marketing activity conducted via mobile technologies. The hot mobile communications market in this world comes together with fierce competition. The key to survival in this competitive industry lies in knowing the customers better. Data mining models can assist marketers in knowing the interests, preferences, and attitudes of customers by analyzing customer related data collected by service providers. The objective of this research is to conduct rigorous analysis of mobile service data of customers collected from a mobile service provider in Hong Kong to provide better understanding of customers and to suggest suitable marketing plans that can satisfy their needs. We propose to use data mining models for this purpose based on the success of these models in direct marketing. Some of the questions that will be addressed are listed below. 1.Can we discover the profiles of mobile service customers from the usage and demographics data collected by mobile service providers? 2.How good are data mining models for determining the important distinguishing characteristics of mobile service customers? 3.Can we devise effective marketing plans that address the needs of the customers and increase the generation of revenues for the service providers?

List of Research Outputs

Bose I. and Leung A.C.M., A Comparative Study Of Anti-phishing Preparedness Of Hong Kong And Singapore Banks, IEEE International Conference On Engineering And Engineering Management. 2007, 1893-1897.

Bose I. and Luo J., A Comparison Of 3G Strategies Of Telecommunication Service Providers In China, International Conference On Electronic Commerce, Administration, Society, And Education. 2007.

Bose I. and Leung A.C.M., A Longitudinal Study Of Anti-phishing Preparedness Of Hong Kong Banks, International Conference On Web Engineering And Applications. New Delhi, Narosa Publishing House, 2007, 201-206.

Bose I., Are Hong Kong Banks Ready To Face Phishing Attacks?, Third International Multiconference Of Engineers And Computer Scientists. 2008.

Bose I., Are Hong Kong Banks Ready To Face Phishing Attacks?, Third International Multiconference Of Engineers And Computer Scientists. Hong Kong, China, IAENG, 2008, lxv.

Bose I., Associate Editor, International Journal Of Applied Decision Sciences. Geneve, Switzerland, Inderscience, 2007.

Bose I., Associate Editor, International Journal Of Data Analysis And Information Systems. Hershey, USA, IGI Global, 2008.

Bose I., Associate Editor, International Journal Of Strategic Decision Sciences. Hershey, USA, IGI Global, 2008.

Bose I. and Chen X., Context Sensitive Mobile Services, In: T. Y. Leng and H. Duh, Ubiquitous Computing: Design, Implementation And Usability. Hershey, USA, IGI Global, 2008.

Bose I., Kan C.P., Tsz C.K., Ki L.W. and Hung W.C., Data Mining For Credit Scoring, In: V. Ravi, Advances In Banking Technology And Management: Impact Of ICT And CRM. Hershey, USA, IGI Global, 2007, 309-323.

Bose I. and Wang J., Data Mining For Detection Of Financial Statement Fraud In Chinese Companies, International Conference On Electronic Commerce, Administration, Society, And Education. 2007.

Bose I. and Chen X., Detecting The Migration Of Customers Of Mobile Services Using Fuzzy Clustering, HKAIS Seminar Series at the City University Of Hong Kong. 2007.

Bose I. and Chen X., Detecting The Migration Of Customers Of Mobile Services Using Fuzzy Clustering, Proceedings Of The 6th Workshop On E-business. 2007, 656-667.

Bose I., Pal R. and Ye C., ERP And SCM Systems Integration: The Case Of A Valve Manufacturer In China, Information & Management. North-Holland, Elsevier, 2008, 45: 233-241.

Bose I., Editorial Advisory Board, In: John Wang, Advances In Information Systems And Supply Chain Management Book Series. Hershey, USA, IGI Global, 2008.

Bose I., Editorial Board, Information Resources Management Journal. Hershey, USA, IGI Global, 2008.

Bose I. and Lam W.C., Facing The Challenges Of RFID Data Management, International Journal Of Information Systems And Supply Chain Management. Hershey, USA, IGI-Global, 2008, 1: 1-19.

Bose I. and Leung A.C.M., Radio Frequency Identification For Customer Relationship Management, In: T. Blecker and G. Huang, RFID In Operations And Supply Chain Management: Research And Applications. Berlin, Germany, Erich Schmidt Verlag, 2008, 6: 273-288.

Bose I., Session Chair, IEEE International Conference On Engineering And Engineering Management. IEEE, 2007.

Bose I. and Fong M.C., Voice Over Internet Protocol: A New Paradigm In Voice Communication, In: M. Freire and M. Pereira, Encyclopedia Of Internet Technologies And Applications. Hershey, USA, IGI Global, 2007.

Fok W.W.T., Tam V.W.L. and Bose I., Asia-Pacific Financial Market Forecast by Computational Methodologies, In: W.W.T. Fok, V.W.L. Tam, H. Ng, I. Bose, 6th NTU International Conference on Economics, Finance and Accounting "Financial Engineering and Financial Intermediation". 2008NTU經濟金融會計國際研討會, Taiwan, 2008.

Leung A.C.M. and Bose I., A Study Of The Impact Of Announcements Of Phishing Attacks On Firm Value, Workshop On Information Security And Privacy. 2007.

Leung A.C.M. and Bose I., Impact Analysis Of Phishing Announcements On Market Value Of Hong Kong Banks, Third International Multiconference Of Engineers And Computer Scientists. Hong Kong, China, IAENG, 2008, 567-571.

Researcher : Carverhill AP

Project Title:	Non-parametric modelling of the term structure of interest rates, using Eurodollar futures
Investigator(s):	Carverhill AP
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding for New Staff
Start Date:	08/2002

Abstract:

To model the Term Structure of Interest Rates, that is the ways in which interest rates of various maturities move, and the equilibrium relationships between then, taking as data the Eurodollar futures prices, and using a non-parametric modelling approach.

Researcher : Chan CMK

Project Title:	Determinants of international joint venture termination
Investigator(s):	Chan CMK
Department:	Business & Economics Faculty
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	03/2006

Abstract:

Project Objectives One major objective of this project is to examine the direct reasons for international joint venture (IJV) termination. Previous studies identify a variety of factors that contribute to IJV termination in various environmental and organizational contexts (see Dhanaraj and Beamish, 2004 for review). Most of the studies examine how these factors affect the rate of terminated ventures over surviving ventures (i.e., a hazard rate) by employing an event history analysis or cross-sectional analyses (Gulati, 1998). However, they have rarely specified the direct causes of termination. The failure to examine the direct causes creates at least two critical problems: (a) the attempt to induce the direct causes of termination simply by the examination of contextual factors is inevitably subject to endogeneity problems (Shaver, 1998); and (b) the use of termination rate obscures the details of termination and does not provide any insights as to why IJVs are terminated, or what the critical reasons are that underlie termination. The second major objective is to build an integrated framework that incorporates two distinct perspectives of IJV termination. The first perspective suggests that IJV termination is inherently intended, and occurs when the initial purposes of the formation of the IJV are achieved. The second perspective suggests that IJV termination is inherently unintended, and occurs due to the emergence of ex-post conditions that hinder the operation of IJVs. Few studies have paid attention to the difference between the intended and unintended causes of IJV termination. This oversight has left a significant gap in the literature on both the theoretical and practical implications of IJV termination. Theoretically, research has failed to explain how IJV termination is linked to the formation and post-formation process of IJVs. Practically, research has provided limited insights regarding what kinds of IJVs, and under what conditions, are likely to successfully complete the initial purposes (intended termination) of their formation, or fail before achieving these purposes (unintended termination). The third objective is to explore host country specific effects on IJV termination. In this study we focus specifically on the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) restrictions on the likelihood of intended and unintended IJV termination. In many transitional economies and less developed countries, host country governments will impose FDI restrictions on foreign firms, including the access to local resources or markets, limits of foreign ownership, and local content provisions. Because of the FDI restrictions, foreign firms have to form partnerships with local firms to fulfill their purposes of FDI. In recent years, some host country governments lower or even remove the FDI restrictions on foreign firms. However, research has paid little attention to explaining whether and how much the change in policy towards inward FDI increases or decreases the likelihood of both types of IJV termination. References: Dhanaraj C, Beamish PW. 2004. Effect of equity ownership on the survival of international joint ventures. Strategic Management Journal, 25(3): 295-305. Gulati R. 1998. Alliances and networks. Strategic Management Journal, 19(4): 293-317. Shaver JM. 1998. Accounting for endogeneity when assessing strategy performance: Does entry mode choice affect FDI survival? Management Science, 44(4): 571-585.

Project Title:	Determinants of international joint venture termination
Investigator(s):	Chan CMK
Department:	Business & Economics Faculty
Source(s) of Funding:	Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG)
Start Date:	09/2006

Abstract:

1. To examine the direct reasons for intenational joint venture termination. 2. To build an integrated framework that incoporates two distinct persectives of international joint venture termination. 3. To explore host country sepcific effects on international joint venture termination.

Project Title:	Institutional Development and Foreign Affiliate Performance
Investigator(s):	Chan CMK
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	03/2007

Abstract:

One major objective of this project is to develop the institutional perspective of the performance of foreign affiliates of multinational corporations (MNCs). Previous studies drawing from the industrial organization economics perspective and the resource-based view of the firm suggest that the industry structure and a firm’s resources and capabilities are the primary determinants of foreign affiliate performance (e.g., Chang, 1995). However, these studies have ignored the influences of institutional environments. As foreign affiliates cannot be immune from the host country institutional contexts in which they are embedded (Kostova and Zaheer, 1999; Peng, 2002; Westney, 1993), this oversight has left a significant gap in the literature on the theoretical implications of foreign affiliate performance. The second major objective is to examine how host country institutions influence MNCs’ risk and return of investment in the host country. Recent studies suggest that host country institutions do matter in influencing foreign affiliate performance (Christmann et al., 1999; Makino et al., 2004), but they merely provided empirical evidence on the extent to which the country effects explained the variation in foreign affiliate performance by employing the variance component analysis. As each host country constitutes a distinct institutional environment (Kostova and Zaheer, 1999) and has its own economic, political, and social institutions that affect the profitability of engaging in business activities (Khanna and Rivkin, 2001; North, 1990), little is known about in which country the variation in foreign affiliate performance is lesser (or greater) and the level of foreign affiliate performance is higher (or lower). The third objective is to examine the influences of the level of institutional development on foreign affiliate performance. As the extent to which institutions are well developed varies across countries, their influences may also differ from country to country. Research has provided limited insights regarding how the level of institutional development of a host country influences the level of and the variation in foreign affiliate performance in the host country and the extent of this influence.

List of Research Outputs

Chan C.M.K. and Makino S., Legitimacy and multi-level institutional environments: Implications for foreign subsidiary ownership structure, Journal of International Business Studies. 2007, 38(4): 621-638.

Researcher : Chan DKW

Project Title:	Public disclosure, stock price efficiency and investment efficiency
Investigator(s):	Chan DKW
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG)
Start Date:	08/2003

Abstract:

To study a model that integrates the corporate public disclosures and investment decisions with a stock market in which information acquisition is costly and prices are partially revealing. The analysis focuses on the link between corporate investment decisions and stock-price formation; to disclose decisions are studied in a setting in which an IPO firm chooses the level of public disclosure to trade off the effects of public disclosure on the cost of capital and investment efficiency. An equilibrium is derived in which the level of public disclosure, the amount of private information production, the amount of investment and the cost of capital are all linked to specific characteristics of the firm, of the information traders, and of the market. Comparative static results will be studied. Empirical and policy implications will be discussed; to examine the link among public disclosures, private information production, the cost of capital, and investment efficiency.

Project Title:	Pre-audit information, outsourcing and perceived auditor independence
Investigator(s):	Chan DKW
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG)
Start Date:	01/2006

Abstract:

To identify a possible benefit of ICS outsourcing (e.g. the outsourcing of the design and implementation of internal control system), namely the flow of information from the client to its external auditor about the ICS quality that helps to better coordinate the audit effort and the ICS quality. Pae and Yoo (2001) point out that when there is asymmetric information regarding the ICS quality when audit fees are set between the client and the auditor, an efficiency loss due to a a suboptimal allocation of audit effort and ICS quality is inevitable. Outsourcing the ICS to an external auditor, who will also conduct the audit, will thus solve this asymmetric information problem and reduce the efficiency loss due to coordination failure. More importantly, I want to show that this informational benefit remains significant even when the auditor is a less cost-effective ICS provider, and is perceived to be less independent when it also provides ICS services to the same audit client; to determine the conditions under which the client will choose to outsource its ICS.

List of Research Outputs

Chan D.K.W. and Gao J., Earnings Management, Incentive Contracts, Private Information Acquisition and Production Efficiency, 2008.

Researcher : Chan W

List of Research Outputs

Chan W., Yim B.C.K. and Lam S.S.K., How Does Customer Participation Drive Performance Outcomes? The Salience of Value Cocreation and Culture, Marketing Scholar Forum VI, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, Beijing, June 18-20.. 2008.

Researcher : Chang EC

Project Title:	Equilibrium and welfare under short-sales constraints
Investigator(s):	Chang EC
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG)
Start Date:	10/2005

Abstract:

The overall goal of this project is to examine the role of short-sales constraints in securities markets. Our basic idea is that constraining short sales has two separatc effects on asset pricing, influencing both the allocational efficiency and the informational efficiency of the financial market. First, limiting some investors' holdings to be nonnegative is equivalent to forcibly increasing total demand for stocks. Doing this drives equilibrium prices upward and result in a non-Pareto optimal asset allocation. Second and more important, short-sales constraints also decrease the informativeness of the market price. In equilibrium, this increased "information risk" has the effect of decreasing current security prices, which load to higher future returns to compensate the additional risk. To accomplish this objective, we will develop an equilibrium model to analyze the effect of short-sales constraints on market price, price dynamics, investors' behavior and welfare, etc.

Project Title:	The price impacts of imposing short-sales constraints
Investigator(s):	Chang EC
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG)
Start Date:	01/2007

Abstract:

To investigate the impact of re-imposing short-sale restriction on common stock prices by examining more than 400 sample events in the Hong Kong stock market from 1998 to 2005 ; to investigate whether or not the documented price impact is related to the extent of dispersion of investor opinions ; to examine the impact of re-imposing short-sale restriction on stock price volatility and skewness ; to investigate whether or not short-sales constraints affect the correlation structure between skewness and contemporaneous and lagged stock returns, firm size and other proxies for dispersion of investor opinions.

List of Research Outputs

Chang E.C., 期貨市場的發展與經濟貢獻:回顧與前瞻, 2007 Annual Conference of the Financial Engineering Association of Taiwan and Taiwan Futures Exchange 10th Anniversary Seminar, Taipei. 2007.

Chang E.C., An open Q&A discussion with Prof. Harry M. Markowitz (Nobel Prize Winner) following Live Video Conference, organized by the Superfund Asset Management Inc (USA). 2007.

Chang E.C., 相信中國相信中國制造, China Economic Leaders of the Year,「四海論道」,organized by the CCTV. 2007.

Chang E.C., How to develop a world-class futures market in Taiwan, the Annual Conference of the Financial Engineering Association of Taiwan and Taiwan Futures Exchange 10th Anniversary Seminar, Taipei. 2007.

Chang E.C., 由國際經驗看金融創新對中國金融市場與經濟發展的影響, Peking University Shenzhen Forum. 2007.

Chang E.C., Cheng J.W. and Yu Y.H., Short-Sales Constraints and Price Discovery: Evidence from the Hong Kong Market, In: Chang E.C., Cheng J.W. and Yu Y.H., Journal of Finance . 2007, 62: No. 5, 2097-2121.

Chang E.C., 中資與台資企業在港掛牌上市之比較, Taiwan Financial Services Roundtable (TFSR). 2008.

Chang E.C., The Prospects and Challenges of Taiwan's Futures Industry, Taiwan Futures Exchange, Taipei. 2007.

Chang E.C., 衍生性金融商品與金融創新, lecture series organized by 申銀萬國證券公司 for a group of managers from Shanghai. 2007.

Researcher : Chau MCL

Project Title:	Searching and Analyzing Blogs for Competitive Advantages
Investigator(s):	Chau MCL
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	01/2006

Abstract:

Blogs, or Weblogs, have become increasingly popular in recent years. Blog is a Web-based publication that allows users to add content periodically, normally in reverse chronological order, in a relatively easy way. Blogs combine personal Web pages with tools to make linking to other pages easier, as well as to post comments and afterthoughts (Blood, 2004). Instead of having a few people being in control of the topics of discussion (like in traditional Internet forums), blogs basically allow anyone to express their ideas and thoughts freely. Many free blog hosting sites are available. Sites like www.blogger.com, www.xanga.com, and www.livejournal.com, are a few examples.Many bloggers use blogs as a personal diary to keep a documentary of their daily lives. In addition, bloggers usually freely express their interests, views, and comments in blogs. One example of these comments is information about new products on the market or customers' image of a company. This is particularly popular for electronic or IT products. For example, every time when a new model of iPod (the portable digital audio player produced by Apple Computer) was out on the market, many bloggers expressed opinions towards the new product in their blogspaces. Another example is the case of Dell Computer. Recently, many bloggers have started to talk about their unpleasant experiences with Dell's customer service on their blogs. These bloggers further share their experiences through commenting on each other's blogs, which often amplifies their dissatisfaction towards the company. As blogging is becoming increasingly popular, it has become a major channel for consumers to express their views and it is important for companies to monitor and analyze customers' opinions and impressions towards their products and images. However, manually examining the large amount of blogs on the Web is a very time-consuming and mentually-exhausting process. Previous research has shown that much useful business intelligence information on the Web could be located and extracted automatically by software using various artificial intelligence techniques, such as text mining, document clustering, and document visualization (Chen et al., 2002; Chau et al., 2005). However, most of these techniques have not been applied to blog analysis. The proposed project investigates the use of noun phrasing, document classification, document clustering techniques in analyzing blogs. In the proposed approach, a Web spider (Web search agent) will first search the blogosphere for any blogs relevant to a company of interest. Noun phrasing techniques will first be applied to extract significant users' comments or opinions from these blogs. Document classification techniques will then be used to classify these comments into positive or negative comments (Romano et al., 2000). Document clustering and visualization techniques based on the self-organizing map algorithms, which have been shown to be effective in our previous research (Chen et al., 2002; Chau et al., 2005), will be applied on these documents to perform content analysis. The analysis results will be presented to the users in a graphical display. We suggest that such information can provide significant insight about a company's image and products. Experiments and user studies will be conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed system.

Project Title:	Analysis and Visualization of Web Search Queries
Investigator(s):	Chau MCL
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	01/2007

Abstract:

There has been a significant amount of research in the area of Web search query logs analysis. For example, the AltaVista study and the Excite study have been widely cited. It is important to analyze Web search logs to investigate how people are searching for infomraiton on the Web and the findings can be applied to improving search engine design and assisting useres in information retrieval. Most of the earlier Web log studies have focused on basic statistical and characteristic analysis of the search queries, such as the search topics, the average query length, the number of queries per sessions, and so on. In recent years, there are more studies on the mining of search queries, such as query classification (Pu et al., 2002; Shen et al., 2005). However, there are two major areas that can be improved. First, only a few data mining techniques have been applied. There are many other data mining and text mining techniques that have not been tested on search query logs. Second, these projects were mostly focused on data characteristics or technical issues, but did not focus on how the results should be presented to users in real search tasks. The proposed project is to address these issues by applying some new techniques on Web query logs and studying how this can assist users in their search tasks. We propose to develop three modules based on search query logs available, such as the Excite query logs, the AOL query logs, and the Timway query logs (Chau et al., 2006). The three modules are (a) QuerySpace, (b) QueryTree, and (c) Query Map. The QuerySpace is a similarity network for simple query suggestion based on spreading activation. The QueryTree is a visualization tool for exploring the query network using a tree metaphor. The QueryMap is a two-dimensional display for query clusters based on neural network. These three methods are chosen because of their wide successes in previous text and Web retrieval research and their ability to help users in real tasks by query analysis and visualization. Experiments and user studies will be conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed system.

List of Research Outputs

Chau M.C.L. and Chen H., A Machine Learning Approach to Web Page Filtering Using Content and Structure Analysis, Decision Support Systems. 2008, 44(2): 482-494.

Chau M.C.L. and Sugumaran V., Editorial: Special Issue on Advances in e-Business Research - Papers from the Fifth Workshop on Electronic Business (WEB 2006), International Journal of Electronic Business . 2008, 6(1): 1-3.

Chau M.C.L., Chau P.Y.K. and Hu P.J., Incorporating Hyperlink Analysis in Web Page Clustering, Proceedings of the Sixth Workshop on E-Business (WEB 2007). 2007.

Chau M.C.L., Representation of Web Search Results Using Glyphs, Bentley College, USA. 2007.

Chau M.C.L., Qin J., Zhou Y., Tseng C. and Chen H., SpidersRUs: Creating Specialized Search Engines in Multiple Languages, Decision Support Systems. 2008, 45(3): 621-640.

Chau M.C.L. and Xu J., Studying Customer Groups from Blogs, Proceedings of the Sixth Workshop on E-Business (WEB 2007). 2007.

Chau M.C.L., Cheng R. and Kao C.M., Uncertain Data Mining: An Example in Self-Organizing Maps, The 1st Workshop on Data Mining of Uncertain Data (DUNE 2007). 2007.

Chau M.C.L. and Xu J., Using Web Mining and Social Network Analysis to Study the Emergence of Cyber Communities in Blogs, In: H.Chen, E. Reid, J. Sinai, A. Silke, and B. Ganor, Terrorism Informatics: Knowledge Management and Data Mining for Homeland Security. Springer, 2008.

Chau M.C.L., Fang X. and Yang C.C., Web Searching in Chinese: A Study of a Search Engine in Hong Kong, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. 7, 2007, 58: 1044-1054.

Cheung Y.M. and Chau M.C.L., Hong Kong Chapter Report, IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine. 2008, 3(2): 18-20.

Fang X., Sheng O.R.L. and Chau M.C.L., ServiceFinder: A Method Towards Enhancing Service Portals, ACM Transactions on Information Systems. 2007, 25(4).

Roussinov D. and Chau M.C.L., Combining Information Seeking Services into a Meta Supply Chain of Facts, Journal of the Association for Information Systems. 2008, 9(3).

Xu J., Wang G., Li J. and Chau M.C.L., Complex Problem Solving: Identity Matching Based on Social Contextual Information, Journal of the Association for Information Systems. 2007, 8(10): 525-545.

Yang C.C., Chen H., Chau M.C.L., Chang K., Lang S.D., Chen P.S., Hsieh R., Zeng D., Wang F., Carley K., Mao W. and Zhan J., Proceedings of the Intelligence and Security Informatics Workshops, PAISI, PACCF and SOCO 2008. Springer, 2008.

Zeng D., Wei D., Chau M.C.L. and Wang F., Chinese Word Segmentation for Terrorism-related Contents, Proceedings of the Pacific Asia Workshop on Intelligence and Security Informatics (PAISI 2008). Springer, 2008.

Researcher : Chau PYK

Project Title:	Investigating acceptance of digital certificate technology by business organizations: a comparative study
Investigator(s):	Chau PYK
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG)
Start Date:	09/2003

Abstract:

To develop and test a variant (factor) model to investigate and explain acceptance of digital certificate technology (DCT) and other possible factors affecting website/e-commerce acceptance by individual users; to conduct a comparative study of the above model with data collected in both Hong Kong and the United States.

List of Research Outputs

Chan I. and Chau P.Y.K., Eliciting knowledge management research themes and issues: Results from a focus group study, International Journal of Knowledge Management Studies. 2008, 2(2): 175-197.

Chau M.C.L., Chau P.Y.K. and Hu P.J., Incorporating Hyperlink Analysis in Web Page Clustering, Proceedings of the Sixth Workshop on E-Business (WEB 2007). 2007.

Chau P.Y.K., Associate Editor, Journal of the AIS. 2007-present, 2007.

Chau P.Y.K. and Ho C.K.Y., Developing consumer-based service brand equity via the Internet: The role of personalization and trialability, Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce. 2008, 18(3): 197-223.

Cheung P.K., Chau P.Y.K. and Au A.K.K., Does knowledge reuse make a creative person more creative?, Decision Support Systems. 2008, 45(2): 219-227.

Researcher : Chen X

List of Research Outputs

Bose I. and Chen X., Context Sensitive Mobile Services, In: T. Y. Leng and H. Duh, Ubiquitous Computing: Design, Implementation And Usability. Hershey, USA, IGI Global, 2008.

Bose I. and Chen X., Detecting The Migration Of Customers Of Mobile Services Using Fuzzy Clustering, HKAIS Seminar Series at the City University Of Hong Kong. 2007.

Bose I. and Chen X., Detecting The Migration Of Customers Of Mobile Services Using Fuzzy Clustering, Proceedings Of The 6th Workshop On E-business. 2007, 656-667.

Researcher : Enright MJ

Project Title:	Hong Kong's competitiveness: a quantitative approach
Investigator(s):	Enright MJ, Newton J
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Low Budget High Impact Programme
Start Date:	11/2000

Abstract:

To further develop and test a research methodology that can generate quantitative measures o the determinants of competitiveness at the industry level; to use this methodology to determine Hong Kong's position relative to its main competitors for a series of industries, identifying the SAR's strengths and weaknesses on an industry by industry basis; to use the above information to inform public policy and firm strategy within Hong Kong.

List of Research Outputs

Broadfoot R.C. and Enright M.J., Different Futures for China, In: W. John Hoffmann and Michael J. Enright, China Into the Future: Making Sense of the World's Most Dynamic Economy. Singapore, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 2008, 44.

Enright M.J. and Venkata Subban S., An Organizing Framework for MNC Subsidiary Typologies, Management International Review. 2007.

Enright M.J., China Into the Future: What Comes Next?, Executive Forum. Hong Kong, The Executive Forum, 2008.

Enright M.J., China Into the Future, American Chamber of Commerce, Beijing. Beijing, 2008.

Enright M.J., China Into the Future, British Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong. Hong Kong, 2008, 15.

Enright M.J., China Into the Future, Foreign Correspondents' Club, Beijing. 2008.

Enright M.J., China's Competitiveness: Threats and Opportunities, 10th Annual Conference of the Competitiveness Institute. Portland, Oregon, The Competitiveness Institute, 2007, 20.

Enright M.J., China's Economy Into the Future, In: W. John Hoffmann and Michael J. Enright, China Into the Future: Making Sense of the World's Most Dynamic Economy. Singapore, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 2008, 37.

Enright M.J., China's Rise: Implications for Africa, Gordon Institute of Business Science Seminar. Johaqnnesburg, South Africa, Gordon Institute of Business Science, 2008, 35.

Enright M.J., City-Regions and the Rise of the Yangtze River Delta, International Symposium on Regional Development of the Yangtze River Delta. Shanghai, China, Government of Shanghai, 2007, 29.

Enright M.J., Greater Pearl River Delta Update, Intercham Meeting. Hong Kong, 2007.

Enright M.J., Hong Kong's Competitiveness: A Multidimensional Approach, Activity Level Competitiveness, Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre. Hong Kong, Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre, 2007, 55.

Enright M.J. and Scott E.E., Hong Kong's Competitiveness: A Multidimensional Approach, Activity-Level Competitiveness, Hong Kong, Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre, 2007, 54 pages.

Enright M.J., Hong Kong: Ten Years After, CSIS- Hong Kong ETO Conference: Hong Kong on the Move. Washington, DC, 2007.

Enright M.J., Racing with the Dragon: Globalization, Competitiveness, and the Rise of China, Standard Bank of South Africa Conference. Johannesburg, South Africa, Standard Bank of South Africa, 2008, 100.

Enright M.J., Regional Development in China, IMA-Asia Forecasting Meeting. Hong Kong, IMA-Asia, 2007, 42.

Enright M.J., Regional Powerhouse: The Greater Pearl River Delta and the Rise of China, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Singapore. 2007.

Enright M.J., Regional Powerhouse: The Rise of the Greater Pearl River Delta, Washington State-China Business Council. Seattle, Washington, Washington State China Business Council, 2007, 34.

Enright M.J., Shanghai, the Yangtze River Delta, and China's Development, Bay Area Council/ Asia Society Conference. Shanghai, China, Bay Area Council/ Asia Society, 2007, 15.

Enright M.J., The Future of Competitiveness?, 10th Annual Conference of the Competitiveness Institute. Portland, Oregaon, The Competitiveness Institute, 2007, 15.

Enright M.J. and Scott E.E., The Greater Pearl River Delta, 5th edition. Hong Kong, Invest Hong Kong, 2007, 152.

Enright M.J., Urbanization and Foshan's Development, Government of Foshan. Foshan, China, 2007.

Enright M.J., What's in the Balance?, Australian Business Foundation: A Decade of Discovery. Sydney, Australia, Australian Business Foundation, 2007, 15.

Hoffmann W...J... and Enright M.J., In: W. John Hoffmann and Michael J. Enright, China Into the Future: Making Sense of the World's Most Dynamic Economy (editor). Singapore, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 2008, 318.

Tam K., Strange R., Newton J. and Enright M.J., Location-specific Advantages and Regional Competitiveness: a Study of Financial Services MNEs in Hong Kong , In: John Dunning and Philippe Gugler, FDI, Location, and Competitiveness. Netherlands, Elsevier, 2007.

Researcher : Farhoomand AF

List of Research Outputs

Farhoomand A.F. and Huang M. , "Does IT Payoff?", Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems, Montreal, Canada, Nominee for Best Paper. 2007.

Farhoomand A.F., CEO Knowledge Management Symposium, HKGCC. 2008.

Farhoomand A.F., From Creative Industries to Creative Economy, 2008.

Farhoomand A.F. and Yen B.P., GO-Business: competition in the newly deregulated government electronic trading service market, Center of Asia Business Cases, The University of Hong Kong. 2008.

Farhoomand A.F., Nominee for Best Paper - International Conference on Information Systems 2007, 2007.

Farhoomand A.F., Opening up the Software Industry, 8th Congress on the Management of e-Business. 07/2007, 2007.

Farhoomand A.F., Outstanding Teacher Award (UG), 2007.

Farhoomand A.F., “Opening up of the Software Industry”, Communications of the AIS. AIS, AIS, 2007, Volume 20, Article 49..

Researcher : Fong MC

List of Research Outputs

Bose I. and Fong M.C., Voice Over Internet Protocol: A New Paradigm In Voice Communication, In: M. Freire and M. Pereira, Encyclopedia Of Internet Technologies And Applications. Hershey, USA, IGI Global, 2007.

Researcher : Gao J

List of Research Outputs

Chan D.K.W. and Gao J., Earnings Management, Incentive Contracts, Private Information Acquisition and Production Efficiency, 2008.

Researcher : Han J

Project Title:	A Market-Based Test of the MID Forecasts -- Hybrid of Point and Range Forecasts
Investigator(s):	Han J
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	11/2005

Abstract:

This proposed study has two objectives. The first objective is to investigate the properties of a new management earnings forecast disclousre form that is a hybrid of a point forecast and a range forecast. The second objective is to examine the characteristics of firms that use this earnings forecast disclosure form. An example of this type of hybrid forecast (hereafter, MID forecast) comes from Echelon Corporation, a company listed on NASDAQ, in its inter-quarter conference call stating: "I expect GAAP earnings per share for Q3 2003 to be 8 cents per share, plus or minus 1 cent per share" (FD [FAIR DISCLOSURE] WIRE, 26 August 2003). This MID forecast contains both the properties of a point forecast (i.e., provision of best estimate) and a range forecast (i.e., lower and upper limits). Though Han and Tan (2005) have investigated the effects of the MID forecast, their findings are based on a laboratory experiment and cannot be generalized. Furthermore, no study has documented the characteristics of firms issuing such MID forecasts. It would be worthwile to examine whether these characteristics vary systematically from those of firms issuing more traditional forecast disclosure forms. The first objective of this research is to assess whether stock price reaction differs among forecast forms, both at the moment of management earnings forecast and at the moment of actual earnings announcement. Since the MID forecast is viewed as hybrid of point and range forecasts, the three forecast forms (point, MID, and range) are to be investigated in the present study. Han and Tan (2005) limit their tests to the settings where the management forecast news are negative and where the actual earnings fall within the (implied) limits of the range (MID) forecast. We extend their findings by examining situations when the management forecast news are either positive or negative, and when the actual earnings fall within or outside of the (implied) limits. Based on prior experimental research by Han and Tan (2005), we expect the stock price reactions to forecast forms depend on whether the management forecast news/total earnings news are positive or negative -- at the moment of management forecast/actual earnings announcement, stock price reaction is most negative for the point forecast, followed by the MID forecast, then by the range forecast if the management forecast news/total earnings news are negative (Gregory et al. 1993; Boles and Messick 1995; Sullivan and Kida 1995; Blount et al. 1996).The second objective of this research is to investigate the characteristics of firms that issue such MID forecasts. Given that a MID forecast contains the same basic information as the range forecast (lower limit, midpoint, upper limit), it is interesting to investigate why firms prefer one forecast form to the other. One possibile reason lies in prior research that suggests that manager's interpretation of the results affects investors' reaction, holding constant the earnings news (Schrand and Wather 2000; Bowen et al. 2003; Krische 2005). The MID forecast gives the manager more flexibility to interpret the actual EPS result. The midpoint and the higher and lower endpoints are all available in a MID forecast; in contrast, only the two endpoints (but not the midpoint) are available in a range forecast. Suppose actual EPS happens to fall within the forecast range but in the upper end (i.e., it is higher than the midpoint), then a manager issuing a MID forecast can strategically make the actual EPS appear better by emphasizing the midpoint (e.g., by announcing that "the result turns out to be better than our expectation"). In contrast, if the management forecast is in the range form, the manager can only comment that "the result is in line with our prior expectation" (not "better than expectations"). On the other hand, managers using the MID forecast form can still enjoy the bufferring ability provided by the two endpoints which are implied in the MID forecast. In other words, managers issuing MID forecasts potentially enjoy the benefits of issuing a range forecast and a more precise point forecast, depending on the actual earnings. This suggests that MID forecasts are more likely to be used by those firms with more volatile earnings.We intend to hand-collect the sample of MID forecasts from Dow Jones & Reuturs (Factiva.com). The matching sample of point and range forecasts are to be obtained from the FirstCall database. Cross-sectional regressions are to be performed and variables are formed following prior research. ReferencesBlount, S., M. Thomas-Hunt, and M. Neale. 1996. The price is right - or is it? A reference point model of two-party price negotiations. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 68 (October): 1-12.Boles, T., and D. Messick. 1995. A reverse outcome bias: the influence of multiple reference points on the evaluation of outcomes and decisions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 61 (March): 262-275. Bowen, R., A. Davis, and D. Matsumoto. 2003. Do firms strategically emphasize performance metrics in their earnings press releases? Working Paper, University of Washington Business School.Gregory, R., S. Lichtenstein, and D. MacGregor. 1993. The role of past states in determining reference points for policy decisions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 55: 195-206.Han, J. and H. T. Tan. 2005. Investors' reactions to management forecast forms. Working Paper, Nanyang Technological University.Krische, S. 2005. Investors' evaluations of strategic prior-period benchmark disclosures in earnings announcements. The Accounting Review 80 (1): 243-268.Schrand, C., and B. Walther. 2000. Strategic benchmarks in earnings announcements: the selective disclosure of prior-period earnings components. The Accounting Review 75 (2): 151-177.Sullivan, K. and T. Kida. 1995. The effect of multiple reference points and prior gains and losses on managers' risky decision making. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 64 (October): 76-83.

Researcher : Hung KHK

Project Title:	Conspicuous consumption, cultural values, economic development: a cross-cultural investigation
Investigator(s):	Hung KHK
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Small Project Funding
Start Date:	11/2003

Abstract:

To examine two antecedents and a modifier that could help explain differences in conspicuous consumption.

Project Title:	Materialistic value and status brand consumption among generation cohorts in China
Investigator(s):	Hung KHK
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG)
Start Date:	09/2005

Abstract:

By examining a transitional economy, we extend the literature on materialism by examining the effects of institutional changes such as changes in ideology and social institutions on the consumer's materialistic orientations; Using China as our focus, we examine the effects of institutional changes as encapsulated in catacysmic events that took place in China over the past half century; we extend the materialism construct to include dimensions relevant to buying and possessing status products in a hiearchical taste culture.

List of Research Outputs

Hung K.H.K., Li Y. and Belk R.W., "Glocal Understandings: Female Readers' Perceptions of the New Woman in Chinese Advertising", Journal of International Business Studies. 2007, 39(1): (forthcoming).

Hung K.H.K. and Tse D.K.C., "Reflexive Learning in a Multi-brand Virtual Community: Salience, Contrasts, and Rules", manuscript under review at, Journal of Consumer Research. 2007.

Researcher : Kwan MML

Project Title:	Managing the software development process: a knowledge management approach
Investigator(s):	Kwan MML
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Other Funding Scheme
Start Date:	05/2000

Abstract:

To apply knowledge management techniques to software development; to develop measurement framework for software development based on knowledge management perspective.

Researcher : Lam SSK

Project Title:	Transformational leadership on team performance: a cross-cultural study
Investigator(s):	Lam SSK
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG)
Start Date:	09/2006

Abstract:

(1) To examine the effect of transformational leadership on performance at the team level, (2) to investigate the mediating effects of group cohesion and collective efficacy on the process of transformational leadership to team performance, and (3) to compare the process linking transformational leadership and team performance across two different cultures - Chinese and North American.

List of Research Outputs

Chan W., Yim B.C.K. and Lam S.S.K., How Does Customer Participation Drive Performance Outcomes? The Salience of Value Cocreation and Culture, Marketing Scholar Forum VI, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, Beijing, June 18-20.. 2008.

Researcher : Lam WC

List of Research Outputs

Bose I. and Lam W.C., Facing The Challenges Of RFID Data Management, International Journal Of Information Systems And Supply Chain Management. Hershey, USA, IGI-Global, 2008, 1: 1-19.

Researcher : Lau AHL

Project Title:	Game theoretic two-echelon supply chain models using a stochastic and asymmetric-information framework
Investigator(s):	Lau AHL
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG)
Start Date:	01/2005

Abstract:

To assume different demand-curve forms and consider as linear, iso-elastic and hybrid; to recognize the real-world prevalence of stochasticity and information-asymmetry in the players' knowledge of the market demand curve and of the manufacturing cost; to compare the manufacturing-Stackelberg and fixed-percentage-markup assumptions in defining the players' gaming relationship.

Project Title:	Supply chain contracts for asymmetric-information channels where the manufacturer is not dominant
Investigator(s):	Lau AHL
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG)
Start Date:	01/2007

Abstract:

In the next couple of years we will extend our current preliminary efforts in the following directions; Component A: For a channel in which the dominant player is the retailer, we will develop "practical" contracts that the dominant retailer can design/implement to improve his own and/or the supply-chain's profits. When possible, these practical contract will be benchmarked by "theoretically optimal" contracts (e.g. a "menu of contracts") - which we will also try to derive using methodologies developed in the economics ("mechanism design" and "bargaining theory") literature. However, the "theoretically optimal" contracts are typically very complicated and unlikely to be practically implementable in the foreseeable future - hence the need to develop alternative "practical" contracts.

List of Research Outputs

Lau A.H.L. and Lau H., An Improved (Q,R) Formulation when the Stockout Cost is Incurred on a Per-Stockout Basis, International Journal of Production Economics. 2008, 111(2): 421-434.

Lau A.H.L., Lau H. and Wang J., Inherent Motivation for a Retailer not to Share Cost and Market Information Before a Supply Contract is Committed, 22nd European Conference on Operation Research in Prague, Czech Republic. 2007.

Lau A.H.L., Lau H. and Zhou Y.W., Quantity Discount and Handling-Charge Reduction Schemes for a Manufacturer Supplying Numerous Heterogeneous Retailers, International Journal of Production Economics. 2008, 113: 425-445.

Researcher : Leung ACM

List of Research Outputs

Bose I. and Leung A.C.M., A Comparative Study Of Anti-phishing Preparedness Of Hong Kong And Singapore Banks, IEEE International Conference On Engineering And Engineering Management. 2007, 1893-1897.

Bose I. and Leung A.C.M., A Longitudinal Study Of Anti-phishing Preparedness Of Hong Kong Banks, International Conference On Web Engineering And Applications. New Delhi, Narosa Publishing House, 2007, 201-206.

Bose I. and Leung A.C.M., Radio Frequency Identification For Customer Relationship Management, In: T. Blecker and G. Huang, RFID In Operations And Supply Chain Management: Research And Applications. Berlin, Germany, Erich Schmidt Verlag, 2008, 6: 273-288.

Leung A.C.M. and Bose I., A Study Of The Impact Of Announcements Of Phishing Attacks On Firm Value, Workshop On Information Security And Privacy. 2007.

Leung A.C.M. and Bose I., Impact Analysis Of Phishing Announcements On Market Value Of Hong Kong Banks, Third International Multiconference Of Engineers And Computer Scientists. Hong Kong, China, IAENG, 2008, 567-571.

Researcher : Li B

List of Research Outputs

Zhou K.Z. and Li B., How does strategic orientation matter in Chinese firms? , Asia Pacific Journal of Management . 2007, 24(4).

Researcher : Li D

List of Research Outputs

Li D. and Lu Y., Does Trade Credit Really Help? Evidence from China, Seminar, School of Management, Fudan University. 2008.

Researcher : Li Y

List of Research Outputs

Hung K.H.K., Li Y. and Belk R.W., "Glocal Understandings: Female Readers' Perceptions of the New Woman in Chinese Advertising", Journal of International Business Studies. 2007, 39(1): (forthcoming).

Researcher : Lu JZ

Project Title:	Valuation allowance for deferred tax assets and earnings management
Investigator(s):	Lu JZ
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Small Project Funding
Start Date:	11/2002

Abstract:

To examine empirically whether managers use the valuation allowance for deferred tax assets to take a "big bath" when they report earnings below the previous year's; to examine whether managers use the valuation allowance to increase reported income in the hope to loosen the debt covenant restrictions; to examine whether managers use the valuation allowance to meet analyst forecast.

List of Research Outputs

Liu Q. and Lu J.Z., Corporate governance and earnings management in the Chinese listed firms: a tunneling perspective, Journal of Corporate Finance . 2007, 13: 881-906.

Researcher : Lu Y

List of Research Outputs

Du J., Lu Y. and Tao Z., FDI Location Choice: Agglomeration vs. Institutions, International Journal of Finance and Economics. 2008, 13: 92-107.

Du J., Lu Y. and Tao Z., Property Rights, Firm Scope and Firm Performance, IOMS Summer Workshop 2007, Shanghai University of Economics and Finance. 2007.

Du J., Lu Y. and Tao Z., Property rights protection and firm horizontal scope, China summer institute. 2008.

Du J., Lu Y. and Tao Z., What is special about China's transition to market economy, an invited talk at mckinsey (Hong Kong). 2008.

Li D. and Lu Y., Does Trade Credit Really Help? Evidence from China, Seminar, School of Management, Fudan University. 2008.

Li G. and Lu Y., Geographic Concentration and Vertical Disintegration: a Causality Study, IOMS Summer Workshop 2007, Shanghai University of Economics and Finance. 2007.

Li G. and Lu Y., Happiness and Development: The Effect of Mental Well-being on Economic Growth, Seminar, Department of Economics, City University of Hong Kong. 2008.

Li G. and Lu Y., Happiness and Development: The Effect of Mental Well-being on Economic Growth, Seminar, Department of Economics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. 2008.

Lu Y., Png I. and Tao Z., Do institutions not matter in China? Evidence from enterprise-level productivity growth, Seminar, School of Economics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. 2008.

Lu Y., Economic Institutions and Firm Behaviors: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Firms, Seminar, School of Economics, Chongqing University. 2007.

Researcher : Luo J

List of Research Outputs

Bose I. and Luo J., A Comparison Of 3G Strategies Of Telecommunication Service Providers In China, International Conference On Electronic Commerce, Administration, Society, And Education. 2007.

Researcher : Mao C

Project Title:	Does Regulation FD Benefit Investors? New Evidence from a Latent Variable Model
Investigator(s):	Mao C
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	08/2006

Abstract:

In this study we investigate the effect of Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD) on investors' information environment by using a latent variable model. Reg FD, effective October 23, 2000, prohibits managers from privately disclosing material information to securities markets professionals such as financial analysts. The SEC commissioners believed Reg FD would prevent managers from providing material information to select investors, who then traded profitably at the expense of less informed investors. The opponents argue, however, that Reg FD curtailing the flow of information from managers to analysts would reduce the amount of information to investors. Previous studies have also found inconsistent evidence in investigating the impact of Reg FD on the capital market's information environment by examining price reactions to corporate disclosures and the properties of earnings forecasts. Eleswarapu et al. (2002); Gadarowski and Sinha (2002); Heflin et al. (2003); Shane, Soderstrom, and Yoon (2001) found significantly lower return volatility around earnings announcements in the post-FD period, conjecturing that prices contain more information about upcoming earnings. Controlling for decimalization which occurred in January 2001, however, Bailey et al.(2003) found no incremental effect of FD on return volatility around earnings announcements. Thus, it is difficult to unambiguously attribute changes in the overall price impact to Reg FD because other confounding factors may cause differences in price between pre- and post-FD periods. The present study tries to bring new evidence to the Reg FD literature by using a latent variable model to investigate Reg FD's effect on information dissemination and information production. Indirect measures in the previous studies such as changes in return volatility could capture inherent price variability, changes in interest rates, growth opportunities and any changes in the market unrelated to the impact of Reg FD on the information environment. The advantage of a latent variable model is that it provides a direct measure of the investors' information environment, which therefore, reduces the possibility of effects contributed by factors other than Reg FD. In addition to our understanding of the effect of Reg FD on investors' information environment, the present study adds to the analyst forecast literature by investigating the effect of Reg FD on analysts' forecasts. The previous studies generally examine the accuracy of analyst forecasts between the pre- and post- Reg FD periods. Three studies (Bailey et al (2003) ; Heflin et al. (2003) and Shane et al (2001)) found no change in forecast accuracy, whereas the other two (Agrawal and Chadha (2003) and Mohanram and Sunder (2001)) found a decrease in forecast accuracy after FD. Further, Gintschel and Markov (2003) found the average price impact of the analyst's report on the day it is issued declined after FD. Using the latent variable to proxy for the market's expectation of earnings, our study adds to this literature from a new perspective by "observing" the difference between analyst forecasts and the market's expectation of earnings after FD. This difference implies the impact of the Reg FD to the dependence of investors on analysts' information, which is impossible to observe without the latent variable model. To study the effect of Reg FD on the investors' information environment, we first construct an identified system of equations which treats the unobservable market's earnings expectation as a latent variable. We then solve the system and calculate explicitly unknown variables including variance of unexpected earnings and variance of analysts' forecasts deviation from the market's expectation of earnings (Mao (2006)). If the variance of unexpected earnings increases after Reg FD, then it implies that Reg FD does not improve investors' information environment since investors' information about earnings becomes less accurate after Reg FD. Otherwise, if variance of unexpected earnings decreases after Reg FD, then it implies that Reg FD improves investors' information environment based on the more accurate investors' information after Reg FD. Similarly, if the deviation between analyst forecasts and the market's expectation of earnings increases, it implies that Reg FD reduces analysts' impact on investors and vice versa. We could examine whether changes in variance of analysts' forecasts deviation from the market's expectation of earnings vary systematically across brokerage houses and analysts. Gintschel and Markov (2004) argue that analysts working at prestigious brokerages and analysts relatively more optimistic about the prospect of a firm are likely to have received privileged access to information before Reg FD. If we find the changes in variance of analysts' forecasts deviation from the market's expectation of earnings vary across brokerage houses and analysts, it will increase our confidence in contributing the changes to Reg FD rather than to confounding circumstances. We could also examine whether variance of unexpected earnings and variance of analysts' forecasts deviation from the market's expectation of earnings vary with book-to-market ratios. Analysts are more likely to have required and received specific, firm-internal knowledge for high growth firms, therefore, finding the changes vary with growth and non-growth firms will support our argument about Reg FD.

Researcher : Newton J

Project Title:	Location-Specific Advantage: the role of locational factors in foreign direct investment (FDI) decisions.
Investigator(s):	Newton J
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Small Project Funding
Start Date:	02/2007

Abstract:

This study is based on the contention that the study of locational attributes as a critical element in the process of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is not only important for firms and locations alike, but remains a neglected area in contemporary International Business literature. The principal objective, therefore is to address this gap in the literature, and to do so in a way that will enhance not only our understanding of locations in general, but also our understanding specifically of Hong Kong as a location for the multinational firms making FDI decisions. The study will refine and further test a framework for the analysis of location-specific advantages to complement the far better researched areas of the ownership and internalization advantages of multinational firms and hence make a contribution to the dominant paradigm in the international business literature (the OLI paradigm). The study will develop quantitative measures of the strengths and weaknesses of Hong Kong as a key location in Asia for multinationa firms with the measures differentiated by sector. The focus will be on service sector multinationals, partly because of the dominance of the service sector in the Hong Kong economy and partly because the main focus of the OLI paradigm has traditionally been on the manufacturing sector. The results will make a contribution to the literature, provide an assessment of Hong Kong's strengths and weakness in for multinational investments and verify a methodology that will be readily available for further research on Hong Kong's competing locations in the Region.

List of Research Outputs

Tam K., Strange R., Newton J. and Enright M.J., Location-specific Advantages and Regional Competitiveness: a Study of Financial Services MNEs in Hong Kong , In: John Dunning and Philippe Gugler, FDI, Location, and Competitiveness. Netherlands, Elsevier, 2007.

Researcher : Ng SH

Project Title:	Industrial Relations and The Changing Hong Kong Environment: A Study of Trade Unions and Their Future Prospects In Hong Kong
Investigator(s):	Ng SH
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Centre of Asian Studies - General Award
Start Date:	09/2003

Abstract:

To update the situation of trade unions in Hong Kong with respect to their size/membership, industry, and political affiliations; to examine post-1997 trade union policy with respect to economic and political developments in Hong Kong; to assess the effectiveness of government labour market policies from the perspectives of trade unions and identify their possible role and involvement.

List of Research Outputs

Ng S.H. and Ip O.K.M., Hong Kong Working Class and Unions Organisation: A Historical Glimpse, China Perspectives. France, 2007, no.2: 68-78.

Ng S.H. and Ip O., Human Resource Management and Employment Practices in the Hong Kong Power Supply Industry: the challenge of industrial de-regulation and business re-structuring, International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management. Inderscience Enterprises Ltd., 2008, 8, No.1/2: 111-138.

Ng S.H. and IP O...K...M..., Labour and Society, In: Joseph Y,S. Cheng, The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in its First Decade. Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong Press, 2007, 443-92.

Ng S.H. and Lee G., Workers’ Industrial Militancy and Dependency Upon The State Lever: The Paradox of Industrial Relations In Hong Kong, International Academy of Business and Economics in South Stockholm University. 2008.

Researcher : Ng TWH

Project Title:	Organizational Embeddedness and Occupational Embeddedness across Career Stages
Investigator(s):	Ng TWH
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	01/2007

Abstract:

This study is to examine the factors that may promote individuals’ organizational and occupational embeddedness. Embeddedness is a relatively new theoretical construct within the organizational sciences. It is proposed by scholars to explain why people do not change jobs even when there is a societal norm for mobility today and when there are opportunities to make such moves. The theoretical focus of this construct is originally on “job” (that is, embeddedness in one’s job position). Expanding the scope of this line of research, I examine why people are embedded in their organizations and occupations. Another central thesis of the current article is that organizational embeddedness and occupational embeddedness develop in largely parallel fashion, yet there are still some factors that uniquely promote either organizational embeddedness or occupational embeddedness. I also suggest that a major force that underlies the divergence of organizational embeddedness and occupational embeddedness is career stage. That is, the factors that result in organizational embeddedness and occupational embeddedness vary across early, mid, and late career. Definition of embeddedness. Embeddedness is the totality of forces that keep people in their current employment. These forces include fit, links, and sacrifice. Fit is the extent to which people’s jobs fit with their skills and values. The stronger the perceived fit, the more embedded the person will be. Links refers to the extent of ties individuals have with other people and activities at work (e.g., friendship ties or task interdependence). The more links one has, the more embedded one is. Sacrifice is the ease with which links can be broken—what people would have to give up if they left their positions (e.g., pension or insurance benefits). The greater the sacrifice in leaving, the more embedded the individual will be. These three components—fit, links, and sacrifice—guide me to identify the major factors that promote embeddedness. Why are people embedded in their organizations and occupations? Many factors may promote individuals to be embedded in their organizations and occupations. These, for instance, include career exploration behaviors. Exploration behaviors are likely to allow individuals to locate an organization or occupation that fits with their skills and values, promoting embeddedness. Another potential factor is socialization. Organizational socialization is the process by which newcomers become familiar with the values, abilities, and behaviors that are essential for proper job performance. Socialization, therefore, increases individuals’ fit with the work environment and enhances embeddedness. . The number and strength of social ties may also directly increase “links” and, therefore, organizational and occupational embeddedness. Having more friends may make individuals feel less inclined to leave. The quantity and quality of mentoring may be another “links” factor that increases organizational and occupational embeddedness. Individuals may want to stay in their organizations and occupations in order to maintain the mentoring relationship. Investment in skills may increase organizational and occupational embeddedness as well because individuals may have spent a great deal of time and efforts in those investments. Thus, this factor is related to the “sacrifice” component of embeddedness. Similarly, the number of weekly work hours may also increase embeddedness. Because individuals often anticipate rewards in the future when they work for long hours, they may be less likely to leave the organization and occupation. Being married or/and having children may be “links” factors that increase both organizational and occupational embeddedness. This is because individuals may not want to have major career chances that would interrupt family members’ lives. Salary and promotions accumulated in career may also be a “sacrifice” factor that embeds individuals to stay. Changing to another organization or occupation may not allow individuals to attain the same salary and job level. Leadership activities at work may also expand individuals’ “links” at work, making them feel obligated to stay. The pension fund and insurance benefits may also increase individuals’ sacrifice in leaving the organization or occupation. Are the factors embedding individuals in the organization and occupation the same? Some of the factors discussed above may affect only organizational embeddedness or occupational embeddedness. Conversely, some other factors may affect both. Thus, in order to enhance our understanding of the topic of embeddedness, I will examine in the study which factors are likely to affect which types of embeddedness. For instance, being married or having children may disincline individuals to change organizations and occupations, promoting both organizational and occupational embeddedness. On the other hand, investments in occupational skills may only embed individuals to the occupation, but not in the organization. In fact, when individuals have generalizable occupational skills, they can easily switch to other organizations within the same occupation. Finally, socialization may only increase organizational embeddedness but not occupational embeddedness because the content of most socialization programs is organization- rather than occupation-related. Are these factors different across career stages? Individuals undergo multiple stages of career development—growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance, and eventual disengagement with the job, occupation, or even labor market. Furthermore, the number of roles individuals play and the salience attached to those roles vary across career stages. As individuals progress in their careers, they are likely to have to play different roles both at work (e.g., protégé, manager, leader, pensioner) and outside of work as well (e.g., son, husband, father, community leader). As the number of roles and the salience of different roles change, the collection of forces that embed individuals in their organizations and occupations change over time, too. For instance, career exploration behaviors and socialization may only influence embeddedness for those individuals in the early career stage. Early-career individuals often actively explore different career opportunities and undergo intense socialization by employers. On the other hand, career success may be more likely to influence embeddedness for individuals in the mid-career than others. Research suggests that mid-career is often the period within which individuals achieve the most career attainments. Pension funds and medical insurance may be more likely to affect embeddedness for late-career individuals because they are concerned with retirement and health issues more so than others.

List of Research Outputs

Eby L.T., Allen T.D., Evans S.C., Ng T.W.H. and DuBois B., Does mentoring matter? A multidisciplinary meta-analysis comparing mentored and non-mentored individuals , Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, San Francisco . 2008.

Eby L.T., Allen T.D., Evans S.C., Ng T.W.H. and DuBois B., Does mentoring matter? A multidisciplinary meta-analysis comparing mentored and non-mentored individuals , In: Mark Savickas, Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2008, 72: 254-267.

Feldman D.C. and Ng T.W.H., Motivation for engaging in training and career development , In: Ruth Kanfer, Gilad Chen, & Richard Pritchard, Work motivation: Past, present, and future . Routledge Academic, 2008, pp.384.

Ng T.W.H., Sorensen K.L., Eby L.T. and Feldman D.C., Determinants of job mobility: A theoretical integration and extension , In: John Arnold, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology . 2007, 80: 363-386.

Ng T.W.H., Butts M.M., Vandenberg R.J., Dejoy D.M. and Wilson M.G., Investigating the relationship between coworker support and felt job stress: Moderating effects of role ambiguity and work overload., Annual Academy of Management meeting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (OB Division). 2007.

Ng T.W.H. and Butts M.M., Organizational efforts to lower turnover and the role of locus of control , Annual Academy of Management meeting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (HR Division) . 2007.

Ng T.W.H. and Feldman D.C., The effect of contract replicability on organizational commitment as a function of age, work experience, and career stage , In: Mark Savickas, Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2008.

Ng T.W.H. and Feldman D.C., The relationship of age to ten dimensions of job performance , In: Steve Kozlowski, Journal of Applied Psychology. 2008, 93: 392-423.

Ng T.W.H. and Sorensen K.L., Toward a further understanding of the role of social support at work: A meta-analysis. , In: Yehuda Baruch, Group and Organization Management . 2008, 33: 243-268.

Researcher : O'Connor NG

Project Title:	The Cost Effectiveness of Organizational Responses to Voluntary Employee Turnover
Investigator(s):	O'Connor NG
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	11/2006

Abstract:

This proposal brings together human resources management and accounting streams of research to examine voluntary employee turnover. Although this problem has a great deal of relevance in China as the economy modernizes, the problem has not been examined from both an HR and an accounting perspective. The first stream of research this proposal draws upon is the HR literature, and can be summarized: - Most studies into voluntary employee turnover have focused upon individual level determinants of turnover. - Some studies into voluntary employee turnover have looked the effect of HR policy choices as a means of reducing employee turnover. - While HR studies have developed routine methods for determining the various human resource turnover cost components, no study has linked these costs to particular human resource management policies for the purpose of determining the cost effectiveness of such policies The second stream of research this proposal draws upon can be summarized: - Accounting systems typically measure costs along functional lines and have yet to examine the traceability of turnover costs to particular policies and procedures in the organization, thus; - Accounting systems do not report costs according to various objectives (i.e., reducing human resource turnover), as a result; - There is very little awareness of the costs of turnover, especially in labor intensive service and manufacturing industries.

List of Research Outputs

O'Connor N.G. and Hempel P., Bernard Watch Company: Unravelling The Cost Of Voluntary Employee Turnover, The University of Hong Kong, Asia Case Research Centre, 2007.

O'Connor N.G. and Hempel P., Bernard Watch Company: Unravelling The Cost Of Voluntary Employee Turnover - A Teaching Note, The University of Hong Kong, Asia Case Research Centre, 2007.

O'Connor N.G., Building Your Social Capital, RESCOM Real Estate Agency, Mildura. 2008.

O'Connor N.G., Creating Alignment with Non-Financial performance measures, Fudan University. 2008.

O'Connor N.G., Creating Alignment with Non-Financial performance measures, HKICPA. 2007.

O'Connor N.G., Disscussant of paper titled: Adoption of the concept of a BSC within NSW health and Hunter New England Health: An Exploration of Staff Attitudes , Global Management Accounting Research Symposium. 2008.

O'Connor N.G., Editorial Board Member, Advances in Management Accounting. 2007.

O'Connor N.G., Editorial Board, In: Blackwell, Abacus. 2007.

O'Connor N.G., Editorial Board, Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Organizational Change. 2007.

O'Connor N.G., Failure, The University of Hong Kong. 2007.

O'Connor N.G., Performance Consequences of the “Fit” between Management Accounting and Control Systems and the Environment: A Study of Transitional-Economy Firms , City University of Hong Kong. 2008.

O'Connor N.G., Performance Consequences of the “Fit” between Management Accounting and Control Systems and the Environment: A Study of Transitional-Economy Firms , MacQuarie University. 2008.

O'Connor N.G., Performance Consequences of the “Fit” between Management Accounting and Control Systems and the Environment: A Study of Transitional-Economy Firms , The University of Hong Kong. 2007.

O'Connor N.G., Subjective Performance Measurement: The Effects of Measurer Observability and Performance Measures, Latrobe University. 2008.

O'Connor N.G., The Performance Consequences of the Fit between Environment and Management Control Systems: Evidence from Publicly-Listed Chinese Firms, AAA Management Accounting Section meeting. 2008.

O'Connor N.G., The Performance Consequences of the Fit between Environment and Management Control Systems: Evidence from Publicly-Listed Chinese Firms, EAA Annual Meeting. 2008.

O'Connor N.G., The Performance Consequences of the Fit between Environment and Management Control Systems: Evidence from Publicly-Listed Chinese Firms, Global Management Accounting Symposium. 2008.

Researcher : Qiu C

List of Research Outputs

Qiu C. and Yeung C., Mood and Comparative Judgment: Does Mood Influence Everything and Finally Nothing?, Journal of Consumer Research. 2008, 34: 657-669.

Researcher : Tao Z

Project Title:	Investment externality and performance of breach remedies
Investigator(s):	Tao Z
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG)
Start Date:	10/2003

Abstract:

To incorporate investments with external effects into standard holdup models; to investigate how breach inducement activities affect the relative performance of expectation damages and specific performance; to investigate the differences between breach inducement activities and co-operative investments in terms of their impacts on the performance of breach remedies.

Project Title:	Property rights, information asymmetries, and access to bank loans: evidence from private enterprises in China
Investigator(s):	Tao Z
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	01/2005

Abstract:

The main objective of this project is to utilize a unique data set on private enterprises in China to empirically investigate the relative importance of property rights protection and information asymmetries in determining the access to bank loans.

Project Title:	Institutional Quality and Location of Foreign Direct Investment
Investigator(s):	Tao Z
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	01/2007

Abstract:

As an integral part of the globalization process, foreign direct investment (FDI) has substantially changed the landscape of the world economy in the past few decades. Attracting FDI inflow is placed at the top of the agenda for most countries. What determines where FDI goes has long remained an intriguing question to academics and policy-makers. There is still much debate about what factors and policies most influence the location decisions of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the global marketplace. The conventional view puts much emphasis on the impact of market size, taxes, trade policies, exchange rate and interest rate policies, production costs, infrastructure adequacy, financial system development, etc. on FDI location choices. Recently, more attention has been paid to the institutions of the FDI recipient countries. Institutional strength refers to rule of law, government efficiency, property rights protection and government interference with business operations. The objective of this proposed research is to investigate the impact of regional institutional quality on FDI location choice by employing the firm-level foreign-invested enterprise (FIE) data from China. China has emerged as the largest FDI recipient country in the world. FDI is widely acclaimed as one primary engine for China's economic growth. China is also a vast country with substantial regional disparity in institutional quality as well as infrastructure, industry agglomeration, production costs and human capital endowments. This rich variation across regions makes China an ideal platform to study the impact of institutions on FDI location choices. Our initial study of US FDI location choice in China shows that regions with stronger institutional strength are more appealing to US-based FIEs. In the proposed study, we will conduct empirical analysis of the effects of regional institutions on FDI location choice for various major FDI source countries/areas that include Hong Kong, Taiwan, European Union (EU), Japan, Korea as well as US. These source countries/areas display a large variation in their distance to China in culture and institutions. We argue that cultural and/or institutional proximity to China may help reduce the negative impact of weak regional institutions because FIEs from those source countries/areas that are culturally and/or institutionally closer to China are more capable of coping with local government institutions and business environment.

List of Research Outputs

Bai C.E., Tao Z. and Tong S., Bureaucratic Integration and Regional Specialization in China , China Economic Review. 2007.

Du J., Lu Y. and Tao Z., FDI Location Choice: Agglomeration vs. Institutions, International Journal of Finance and Economics. 2008, 13: 92-107.

Du J., Lu Y. and Tao Z., Property Rights, Firm Scope and Firm Performance, IOMS Summer Workshop 2007, Shanghai University of Economics and Finance. 2007.

Du J., Lu Y. and Tao Z., Property rights protection and firm horizontal scope, China summer institute. 2008.

Du J., Lu Y. and Tao Z., What is special about China's transition to market economy, an invited talk at mckinsey (Hong Kong). 2008.

Lu J. and Tao Z., Determinants of Entrepreneurial Activities in China, Journal of Business Venturing. 2007.

Lu Y., Png I. and Tao Z., Do institutions not matter in China? Evidence from enterprise-level productivity growth, Seminar, School of Economics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. 2008.

Zhou L., Tao Z., Xie D. and Song F.M., Contributions to Modern Economics Research: in honor of Professor Gregory Chow, In: Lin ZHOU, Zhigang Tao, Danyang Xie, and Min Song, Shanghai, Shanghai People's Press, 2008.

Researcher : Tse DKC

Project Title:	Business and Law theme
Investigator(s):	Tse DKC, Pan Y, Liu Q, Arner DW, Booth CD, Hsu BFC
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding for Strategic Research Theme
Start Date:	05/2005

Abstract:

The business and the law teams hold different aspirations because their core strengths vary. The Business team, in particular in its research in the China market area has been recognized amongh the world bests in its output quality and number. The challenge for the business team is to ensure its leading scholarship role in this area of emerging global significance. The Law team has established institutional framework and posed to become a world's premier regional center for research in China's legal reform and continuous development. It specializes in reform of corporate and financial law, with a continuing focus in the areas of financial institutions and markets, WTO/corporate and commercial law, and corporate insolvency and restructuring, all with a focus on contemporary China. The two teams seek to maintain an open forum and will collaborate with colleagues who are interested in the area to achieve the highest levels of academic excellence in our own research.

List of Research Outputs

Hung K.H.K. and Tse D.K.C., "Reflexive Learning in a Multi-brand Virtual Community: Salience, Contrasts, and Rules", manuscript under review at, Journal of Consumer Research. 2007.

Researcher : Venkata Subban S

Project Title:	Performance drivers: an integrated approach - theory and evidence
Investigator(s):	Venkata Subban S, Enright MJ
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding for New Staff
Start Date:	06/2004

Abstract:

To offer a new framework for linking conceptual drivers and carry out an empirical test of the framework.

Project Title:	Subsidiary Typologies & MNC Strategy: Conceptual Framework and Empirical Investigation
Investigator(s):	Venkata Subban S, Enright MJ
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	05/2006

Abstract:

A number of typologies exist in the international business literature that attempt to capture the strategic and organizational roles subsidiaries play in the overall network. However, there is little integration of the theoretical propositions as well as the empirical results. The works on subsidiary types tend to generate relatively simple and easy to understand typologies in individual papers, but when taken together as a body of research, often confuse as much as they clarify. Our objective is to provide an integrative framework and subject this framework to a series of empirical tests over a sample of multinational firms based in the Asia-Pacific Region. Key Issues: Subsidiary typology research has tended to have followed distinctive patterns, both conceptually and empirically. o On the conceptual side, typologies are often generated as second-order effects from observed or idealized strategies for managing international operations, with subsidiary types corresponding to their roles in different types of international strategies. Typologies are also generated by focusing on one or two key variables that are posited to distinguish among subsidiaries, resulting in two, three, or four-part typologies that may be subject to further investigation. o On the empirical side, one pattern involves the extensive use of case studies. Another involves a limited research frame with larger samples of companies, but focused on subsidiaries in a small number of host nations or on companies from a small number of home nations.There are a number of problems with each of these patterns which restrict the research frame and integration of the results. For instance, on the conceptual side, common approaches suffer from the fact that the questions, "What types of international strategies are there?" and "What types of subsidiaries are there?" are certainly linked, but they are not the same question. In such formulations, the postulated roles of subsidiaries and, therefore the different subsidiary types, are limited by the conceptualization of the strategies. On the empirical side, the prominence of case studies suffers from the fact that while case studies are useful starting points for theory building, the case study approach may lead researchers to focus on subsidiary types that might be idiosyncratic to their case frame. We will address these issues in this study by building on a new organizational framework. The work is significant because it tries to offer a new way to think about subsidiary roles and strategy of multinational enterprises. Further, managerial implications will be generated as to how subsidiary roles impact overall strategy.

Project Title:	An investigation of performance effects: the levels and persistence of locational, industry and firm effects
Investigator(s):	Venkata Subban S, Enright MJ
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG)
Start Date:	01/2007

Abstract:

Purpose: Factors that explain firm performance have been studied empirically in strategic management. These factors are broadly categorized as external (macro-economy, industry) and internal (firm-level) factors that are relevant for firm performance. In this study, we attempt to expand the understanding as to the factors driving firm performance using empirical methods. The two key issues addressed in this study will be the following: (1) Expanding the existing model by including variables that capture the effects of country, regional, trade blocs and other geographical agglomerations, (2) Examining the level of persistence of these factors and the time frame over which these factors lose their impact on firm performance

List of Research Outputs

Enright M.J. and Venkata Subban S., An Organizing Framework for MNC Subsidiary Typologies, Management International Review. 2007.

Researcher : Wan EW

List of Research Outputs

Wan E.W. and Sternthal B., Regulating the Effects of Depletion through Monitoring, In: Judith M. Harackiewicz, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 2008, 34: 32-46.

Researcher : Wang J

List of Research Outputs

Bose I. and Wang J., Data Mining For Detection Of Financial Statement Fraud In Chinese Companies, International Conference On Electronic Commerce, Administration, Society, And Education. 2007.

Lau A.H.L., Lau H. and Wang J., Inherent Motivation for a Retailer not to Share Cost and Market Information Before a Supply Contract is Committed, 22nd European Conference on Operation Research in Prague, Czech Republic. 2007.

Researcher : Wang J

List of Research Outputs

Bose I. and Wang J., Data Mining For Detection Of Financial Statement Fraud In Chinese Companies, International Conference On Electronic Commerce, Administration, Society, And Education. 2007.

Researcher : Wang Y

List of Research Outputs

Wang Y. and Yen B.P., Relational Study of Information Technology and Production Management – The Case of Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) between Mainland China and Hong Kong, Proceedings of 11th Pacific-Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS), July 3-6, 2007. AIS.

Wang Y. and Yen B.P., Web Structure Reorganization to Improve Web Navigation Efficiency, 11th Pacific-Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS), July 3-6, 2007. AIS.

Researcher : Wong RMK

List of Research Outputs

Lo A.W.Y. and Wong R.M.K., Tax Compliance and Audit Adjustment—An Investigation of the Transfer Pricing Methodologies, In: Lynn Kopon, International Tax Journal. CCH, 2007, Sep/Oct: 67-78.

Lo A.W.Y., Wong R.M.K. and Firth M., Tax and Financial Reporting Incentives for Income Shifting: An Empirical Analysis of the Transfer Pricing Behavior of Chinese-listed Companies, 19th Asian-Pacific Conference on International Accounting Issues 2007.

Researcher : Wong RYC

Project Title:	Institute of economics and business strategy
Investigator(s):	Wong RYC
Department:	V-C's Office
Source(s) of Funding:	Areas of Excellence Scheme
Start Date:	11/1999

Abstract:

To study economic and business issues of strategic significance, to advance the frontiers of both theoretical and applied knowledge in this area and to have an impact on policy decisions and business practices through research, education and public information.

Researcher : Xu D

List of Research Outputs

Chang S. and Xu D., Spillovers and competition among foreign and local firms in China, In: Richard A. Bettis, Will Mitchell, and Edward J. Zajac, Strategic Management Journal. Wiley, 2008, 29: 495-518.

Delios A., Xu D. and Beamish P.W., Within-country product diversification and foreign subsidiary performance, In: Lorraine Eden, Journal of International Business Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, 39: 706-724.

Su Y., Xu D. and Phan P.H., Principal-principal conflict in the governance of the Chinese public corporation, In: Anne Tsui, Management and Organization Review. Blackwell, 2008, 4: 17-38.

Xu D. and Lu J.W., Technological knowledge, product relatedness, and parent control: The effect on IJV survival, In: A. G. Woodside, Journal of Business Research. Elsevier, 2007, 60: 1166-1176.

Researcher : Xu J

Project Title:	Evolution of Market Confidence and the Joint Dynamics of Volatility and Volume
Investigator(s):	Xu J
Department:	Sch of Economics & Finance
Source(s) of Funding:	Small Project Funding
Start Date:	11/2005

Abstract:

The dynamcis of volatility and volume has been found very difficult to explain. Extesnive empirical work have ducumented that 1) volaitlity is asymmetric (Black (1976), Christie (1982), Pindyck (1984), French, Schwert, and Stambaugh (1987), Campbell and Hentschel (1992), Bekaert and Wu (2000), etc.), 2) volaitlity is clsutered (Engle (1982), Bollerslev (1986), etc.), 3) volatility and volume are positively correlated (Karpoff (1987), Lo and Wang (2000), etc.), 4) volume and volatility share similar degree of persistence (Bollerslev and Jubinski (1999), Lobato and Velasco (2000), etc.). These patterns are found to be robust across time and markets.In contrast to the extensive empirical documentations, the finance literature has seen surprisingly scarcity of theoretical work to explain these well documented empirical patterns. Already proposed explanations are found to be insufficient to explain these patterns. In their review of the volatility clsutering literature, Bollerslev, Engle, and Nelson (1994) contrasted the explosion of descriptive volatility research with "the apparent lack of any structural dynamic economic theory explaining the variation of higher order moments", which remains to be correct until today. For other patterns, existing explanations are proposed to explain one or two of them but cannot explain all these patterns simultaneously. Even worse, empiral tests that are designed to investigate their explanatory power produced mixed evidence and provided at best weak support. For asymmetric volatility, the most venerable explanations are the "leverage effect" (Black (1976), Christie (1982)) and "volatility feedback" (Pindyck (1984), Campbell and Hentschel (1992)). These two explanations have been found to be insufficient to explain observed volatility movements (Christie (1982), Poterba and Summers (1986), Schwert (1989), Bekaert and Wu (2000)). For co-persistence of volatility and volume, the mixture of distributions (MDH) hypothesis (Clark (1973), Epps and Epps (1976), Tauchen and Pitts (1983)) is the only well established explanation that has ever been proposed, but empirical tests pointing to contradicting conclusions (Lamoureux and Lastrapes (1994), Richardson and Smith (1994), Anderson (1996)).This project will propose a novel explanation for all four volatility-volume patterns within a unified framework. Specifically, this project link the dynamcis of volatility and volume to the evolution of market confidence. The link is made possible through the negative correlation between the confidence in prior beliefs and the sensitivity to new information. That is, if one is more confident in her prior belief, she is less sensitive to newly observed information. This logic also applied to financial markets as the collection of investors who participate in the market. For financial markets, market confidence can be generally defined as the average confidnece of market participants. So the key issue is to identify the mechanism according to which market confidence evolves and the mechanism according to which the evolution of market confidence is manifested in the movements of volatility and volume. Particularly, it is essential to identify how market confidence co-move with market prices since asymmetric volatility concerns the dynamics of volatility conditional on price movements.

Project Title:	Momentum and Contrarian Trading by Heterogenously Confident Investors
Investigator(s):	Xu J
Department:	Sch of Economics & Finance
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	05/2007

Abstract:

Recent finance studies pay increasing attention to investor behavior. A subset of these studies concern investor behavior toward past price movements (see, for example, Seyhun (1992), Keim and Madhavan (1995), Grinblatt, Titman, and Wermers (1995), Bohn and Tesar (1996), Rozeff and Zaman (1998), Choe, Kho, and Stulz (1999), Nofsinger and Sias (1999), Grinblatt and Keloharju (2000, 2001), Froot, O'Connell, and Seasholes (2001), Lakonishok and Lee (2001), Badrinath and Wahal (2002), Goetzmann and Massa (2002), Griffin, Harris, and Topaloglu (2003), and Piotroski and Roulstone (2005)). Accumulating evidence showes that different types of investors display different behavior toward past price movements. That is, while some investors tend to buy past price winners (be momentum chasers), some others tend to buy past price losers (be contrarians). In particular, it it found that:1) insiders are contrarians (see, for example, Seyhun (1992), Rozeff and Zaman (1998), Lakonishok and Lee (2001), Piotrosky and Roulstone (2005));2) institutional investors tend to be momentum chasers while individuals (households) tend to be contrarians (see, for example, Grinblatt, Titman, and Wermers (1995), Nofsinger and Sias (1999), and Griffin, Harris, and Topaloglu (2003));3) foreign investors are momentum chasers while domestic investors, particularly households, tend to be contrarians (see, for example, Bohn and Tesar (1996), Choe, Kho, and Stulz (1999), Grinblatt and Keloharju (2000, 2001), and Froot, O'Connell, and Seasholes (2001)).In contrast with the accumulating empirical documentation of who are contrarians and who are momentum chasers, structural explanations are rarely seen. Notable exceptions are Brennan and Cao (1997) and Brennan, Cao, Strong and Xu (2005). Both studies studies momentum behavior of foreign investors in the context of international investment flow. To the best of my knowledge, there is until now no theoretical studies on momentum and contrarian behavior within the group of domestic investors.This proposed project aims at understanding the driving forces behind momentum and contrarian behavior of different groups of investors. Specifically, the project links momentum and contrarian behavior to heterogeneity in investors' confidence. It is proposed that heterogeneity in confidence not only helps explain why traders trade in general, but also helps explain why some traders buy price ups while some others buy price downs. The intuition is that heterogenenous confidence implies heterogenous sensitivity to new inforamtion. Such heteroegnous sensitivty will causes relative changes in subjective and lead to trading. Particularly, less confident traders are more sensitive to new information. Thus they buy price ups and sell price downs because their asset valaution increases (decreases) more with a piece of good (bad) news. On the other hand, more confident traders are less sensitive to new information. They trade in the opposite dierction when they believe that those less confident traders overreact to the new information thus push price too high (low) with a piece of good (bad) news. The key issue for empirical examination is to identify who are more confident traders and who are less confident traders. My reading of the literature suggests that heterogenenous confidence have the potential to serve as a unified frameowrk to explain all the three findings about momentum and contrarian behavior stated above. More precisely, insider, individual, institutional and foreign investors display momentum or contrarian behavior in a way that is consistent with the relative strength of their beliefs.

Researcher : Ye C

List of Research Outputs

Bose I., Pal R. and Ye C., ERP And SCM Systems Integration: The Case Of A Valve Manufacturer In China, Information & Management. North-Holland, Elsevier, 2008, 45: 233-241.

Researcher : Yen BP

Project Title:	Accessibility of web information systems - a structural analysis approach
Investigator(s):	Yen BP
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Research Initiation Programme
Start Date:	03/2002

Abstract:

To propose a performance index, accessibility, to measure and improve the information retrieval.

Project Title:	Analysis of tradeoffs between page accessibility and page popularity in web design
Investigator(s):	Yen BP
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	02/2004

Abstract:

To analyse the tradeoff between design force (accessibility) and demand force (popularity) so as to assess and improve the preformance of information retireval in Web navigation.

List of Research Outputs

Farhoomand A.F. and Yen B.P., GO-Business: competition in the newly deregulated government electronic trading service market, Center of Asia Business Cases, The University of Hong Kong. 2008.

Luo Z., Tan Z., Ni Z. and Yen B.P., Analysis of RFID Adoption in China, IEEE International Conference on e-Business Engineering (ICEBE 2007), 24-26 October 2007, Hong Kong, China.. IEEE, 2007.

Wang Y. and Yen B.P., Relational Study of Information Technology and Production Management – The Case of Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) between Mainland China and Hong Kong, Proceedings of 11th Pacific-Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS), July 3-6, 2007. AIS.

Wang Y. and Yen B.P., Web Structure Reorganization to Improve Web Navigation Efficiency, 11th Pacific-Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS), July 3-6, 2007. AIS.

Yen B.P., Associate Editor, Information and Management. 2007.

Yen B.P., Associate Editor, International Journal of Modeling and Simulation. 2007.

Yen B.P., Associate Editor, Journal of Electronic Commerce Research . 2007.

Yen B.P., Editorial Board, Asian Case Research Journal. 2008.

Researcher : Yim BCK

Project Title:	Customer participation in services: conceptualization, measurement, and Impacts on service outcomes across different cultures
Investigator(s):	Yim BCK, Tse DKC
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG)
Start Date:	10/2005

Abstract:

To discern the meaning and dimensionality of the construct-customer participation in services; to empirically investigate impacts of multiple participation facets on service outcomes (quality evaluation, customer satisfaction, etc.) within an integrative framework that incorporates antecedents as well as the mediating role of perceived benefits/costs; to compare the process linking multiple participation facets and service outcomes across two different cultures - Chinese and North American.

List of Research Outputs

Chan W., Yim B.C.K. and Lam S.S.K., How Does Customer Participation Drive Performance Outcomes? The Salience of Value Cocreation and Culture, Marketing Scholar Forum VI, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, Beijing, June 18-20.. 2008.

Researcher : Zhang H

Project Title:	Value relevant properties of smoothed earnings
Investigator(s):	Zhang H
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding for New Staff
Start Date:	11/2003

Abstract:

To investigate whether earnings smoothing is associated with higher valuations per dollar of earnings and attempts to provide an explanation for the widely reported business practice of earning smoothing.

Researcher : Zheng L

Project Title:	CEO turnover and succession: an analysis of Chinese publicly listed companies
Investigator(s):	Zheng L
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding for New Staff
Start Date:	03/2004

Abstract:

To examine chief executive officer (CEO) turnover and succession decisions in Chinese publicly listed companies.

Project Title:	Has the information advantage of "being local" changed post Regulation Fair Disclosure?
Investigator(s):	Zheng L
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	01/2005

Abstract:

A widely accepted notion among practitioners is that investors have better information about nearby firms than distant ones (Coval and Moskowitz, 2001). Coval and Moskowitz (2001) documented that active mutual fund managers earn substantial abnormal returns in local holdings. In this proposed project, we will examine whether the "information advantage" coming from "being local" changed post Regulation Fair Disclosure (Regulation FD). Regulation FD prohibits selective disclosures. If mutual fund managers gain the information advantages because local management provides more detailed information to them, we expect that the information advantage and the abnormal returns diminish after the Regulation FD. We also expect that mutual funds adjust their portfolio due to the diminishing information advantages, showing less preference for local stocks. If, on the other hand, the information advantage is mainly from the skills of mutual fund managers in analyzing publicly available local information, we would not expect a significant change before and after the passage of Regulation FD.

Project Title:	The valuation impact of reconciling pro forma earnings to GAAP earnings
Investigator(s):	Zheng L, Zhang H
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG)
Start Date:	09/2006

Abstract:

To investigate whether there is any mis-pricing associated with pro forma earnings disclosure; to investigate whether voluntary reconciliations between GAAP earnings and pro forma earnings reduce the extent of the mis-pricing associated with pro forma earnings; to investigate whether the introduction of Regulation G, which mandates that companies quantitatively reconcile pro forma earnings with GAAP earnings, leads to more accurate security pricing

Researcher : Zhou KZ

Project Title:	The Effects of Innovation and Imitation Strategies on High-Tech Venture Success: A Contingency Perspective
Investigator(s):	Zhou KZ
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	12/2005

Abstract:

The importance of innovation in new product developments is well recognized, in that developing and bringing to market innovative products ahead of competitors can generate various benefits in economic, preemptive, technological, and behavioral factors (e.g., Lieberman and Montgomery 1998; Zhou, Yim, and Tse 2005). A successful innovator therefore can outsell even superior late entrants, build a large market share, and enjoy a sustainable competitive advantage (Robinson and Min 2002). From this perspective, firms should always invest heavily in R&D and speed new products to market, i.e., an innovation strategy is key to long-term success. Some researchers, however, posit that the benefits of innovation and early market entry may have been oversold. Golder and Tellis (1993), for example, find that market pioneers continue to be market share leaders in only 4 of the 50 product categories in their study. The average market share of pioneers is only 10%, and their failure rate is 47%. In comparison, late market entrants enjoy low failure rates (8%) and large average market shares (28%). Schnaars (1994) shows that late entrants overtake pioneers in various markets, including high-tech industries such as personal computers and cameras, as well as low-tech categories such as food processors, ballpoint pens, and light beer. According to this view, firms can exploit the innovator’s efforts in developing the products and markets and then overtake it with their improved products (Shankar, Carpenter, and Krishnamurthi 1998; Zhou and Nakamoto 2005). That is, an imitation strategy is a wiser choice for firms that want to gain a competitive advantage. To address this hotly debated issue, this project compares the effects of innovation and imitation strategies on performance and examines their contingency across different market conditions in China. We propose that which strategy is more effective depends on the dynamics of external environments, namely, increasingly uncertain market demand, rapidly changing technology, and intensified competition as well as firm-level charateristics such as technology capacity and market capacity. We will develop the specific hypotheses in light of China’s unique market characteristics.

Project Title:	Learning across Boundaries: A Contingency View of External Learning and Firm Performance
Investigator(s):	Zhou KZ
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Small Project Funding
Start Date:	12/2006

Abstract:

Organizational learning as a potential source of competitive advantage can occur both within and across firms. Although both internal and external learning are important to firm success (Schroeder et al., 2002), some researchers have cautioned that merely learning from its own experience can put a firm at risk of falling into “competency traps,” in which it enjoys greater efficiency but suffers from an inability to adapt to fast changing environments (Levinthal and March, 1993; March, 1991). To handle market turbulence, firms must actively learn from others to avoid path dependency and gain new insights. However, others researchers disagree and suggest that learning from others is unlikely to provide a source of competitive advantage, because information external to the firm is generally available to all players in the market and thus is not rare, non-imitable, or unsubstitutable (Barney, 1986, 1991). This controversy regarding the merits of external learning suggests that it may not enhance performance unconditionally. However, despite growing interest in this area, few studies have assessed the contingency effects of external learning on firm performance. The literature has identified two types of contingencies. First, it suggests considering the specific research context because external learning may have a different role in stable versus changing environments. For example, emerging economies experience dramatic changes in their social, legal, and economic institutions, which challenge organizational theories and practices created in developed countries (Zhou et al., 2005). However, most organizational learning researchers have conducted studies in developed markets, leaving the role of external learning in emerging economies largely unexplored. Second, within each research context, researchers must consider the effects of contextual variables. In their extensive review, Gnyawali and Stewart (2003) indicate that few studies directly explore the boundary conditions of external learning and therefore recommend that further research should identify particular sets of environmental factors, as well as organizational variables, that may enhance or limit the effects of external learning on firm performance. To fill these research gaps, this study examines how external learning affects firm performance in China, as the fast-changing nature of the Chinese market offers a rich context to study the role of external learning in emerging economies. Using Cohen and Levinthal’s (1990) absorptive capacity perspective, the study assesses how the effects of external learning are contingent on organizational factors and environmental conditions.

Project Title:	On the road to social relations: examining social and economic origins of relational governance in China
Investigator(s):	Zhou KZ
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Competitive Earmarked Research Grants (CERG)
Start Date:	01/2007

Abstract:

This project advances a comparative framework to study the origins and effectiveness of relational governance in China. In particular, we examine the following questions: (1) Is the development of relational governance promoted by shadow of the past (social theory), shadow of the future (game theory), or exchange hazards (transactional cost economics)? (2) How does the legal system moderate the development of relational governance? (3) What is the impact of relational governance on exchange peformance?

List of Research Outputs

Li J.J., Poppo L. and Zhou K.Z., Do Managerial Ties in China Always Produce Value? Competition, Uncertainty, and Domestic vs. Foreign Firms, Strategic Management Journal. 2008, 29.

Poppo L., Zhou K.Z. and Ryu S., Alternative Origins to Interorganizational Trust: An Interdependence Perspective on the Shadow of the Past and the Shadow of the Future, Organization Science. 2008, 19: 39.

Zhou K.Z. and Poppo L., Exchange Hazards, Trust, and Contracts in China: The Contingent Role of Legal Enforceability, Academy of International Business 2008 annual conference. 2008.

Zhou K.Z. and Li B., How does strategic orientation matter in Chinese firms? , Asia Pacific Journal of Management . 2007, 24(4).

Zhou K.Z., Poppo L. and Yang Z., Relational Ties or Customized Contracts? An Examination of Alternative Governance Choices in China, Journal of International Business Studies. 2008, 39: 526-534.

Zhou K.Z. and Wu F., The Role of Strategic Flexibility on Knowledge Exploitation and Exploration, American Marketing Association 2008 Winter Conference. 2008.

Researcher : Zhou W

List of Research Outputs

Zhou W., Large is beautiful: Horizontal mergers for better exploitation of business shocks, Journal of Industrial Economics. 2008, 56: 68-93.

Researcher : Zhou X

Project Title:	Implicit relational theoires: Content, structure, and generalizability
Investigator(s):	Zhou X
Department:	School of Business
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	03/2007

Abstract:

Although recent research has clearly demonstrated that individual relationships between managers and employees have a critical impact on leader effectiveness (Brower, Schoorman, &Tan, 2000; Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995), there has been a lack of attention to the content of these Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) relationships and the implicit theories that affect people’s relationship ratings (Uhl-Bien, 2003). The concept of implicit theory has been found to be particularly relevant in dyadic functioning because people use implicit theories as a basis for interpreting the behaviour of their dyad partners. Implicit theories are also used as a foundation for generating one's own behaviour, and as a cognitive framework for evaluating the quality of relationships (Lord & Maher, 1991). Implicit Relational Theory (IRT) represents the cognitive structure or schema that specifies the prototypical characteristics that individuals expect to see in high-quality LMX relationships. They are reflected in the expectations that leaders and followers bring into the LMX relationship and these expectations will undoubtedly affect the course of the developing leader/follower exchange (London, 1995). People's implicit relational schemas are generated and defined over time as a result of social events, interpersonal interactions, prior experience with leaders, and cultural influences (Uhl-Bien, 2003). Given that people have different exposure to and experiences with leaders, there may be interesting and important differences in their expectations about what constitutes an effective LMX relationship. Therefore, the current study is design to assess the content and structure of IRTs, as well as whether there is systematic variation of IRTs across perceiver characteristics. The question of IRTs generalizability is of particular interest as recent advances in sociocognitive psychology suggest that mental representations such as implicit theories are context-sensitive, dynamic states rather than static entities as it was initially assumed (Smith, 1998). Recently proposed connectionist models of leadership perceptions (e.g., Lord, Brown, & Harvey, 2001) have emphasized the role of contextual constraints in implicit leadership theories and have suggested that leadership prototypes are likely to exhibit variations across (as well as within) individuals as a function of different contexts. In addition to variation based upon context, however, implicit relational theories may also vary based upon personal characteristics. One reasonable expectation is that IRTs may vary across the perceiver’s sex. Because sex is a variable that may be reflective of differences in socialization history and experiences with leaders, it is possible that men and women structure their perceptions of LMX relationships differently (Offermann, Kennedy, & Writz, 1994). Also plausible is that, since implicit theories should exhibit variations across individuals on the basis of experience (Brown & Lord, 2001), it would be reasonable to assume that young and less experienced students might have different conceptions of what constitutes an ideal LMX relationship than would people with more experience and more exposure to organizational leaders and business environments. Consequently, it seems quite possible that worker IRTs may contain additional unique elements that are not represented in student-generated IRTs. Finally, leaders and their subordinates may have different expectations about what they want to achieve through dyadic LMX interactions (Uhl-Bien, Graen, Scandura, 2000) and, as a result, differ significantly in their implicit relational theories. This last possibility has actually been suggested in the LMX literature. Gerstner and Day (1997) concluded that leaders might have a more complex, multidimensional view of exchange quality than do members and that the antecedents of LMX may be different (or at least differentially important) for leaders and members. The current research project will examine the generalizability of IRTs by focusing on three main areas: (1) The consistency of IRTs across men and women, (2) Whether IRTs vary in student as compared to professional samples, and (3) Whether supervisors and subordinates have different implicit relational theories. The proposed research will yield information about both factor stability and differences in the level of ratings across the three demographic categories mentioned above. This project will also serve as the first step in a series of investigations on IRTs by establishing basic knowledge of IRT content and structure in the Chinese culture. The next rational step is to replicate the procedure in the US culture and then test the generalizability of IRT frameworks across these two cultures. Years of cross-cultural research have shown that the cultural values that a person subscribes to plays an important role in the formation of his/her normative beliefs about what attitudes and behaviors are appropriate in working relationships and when these elements are important (Triandis, 1994). Therefore, it can be anticipated that substantially different IRTs may be found in different cultural groups.

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