Codes of conduct in Hong Kong organisations

This paper first reviews the literature on the role of codes of conduct for organisations in Hong Kong in their attempts to manage increasingly complex ethical problems and issues. It shows that, although valuable foundations exist upon which to build, research and understanding of the subject is at it's embryonic stage. Social Psychology literature is examined to investigate what lessons those concerned with the study of ethics may learn and the work of Hofstede, as seminal in the area of work-related values, is emphasised in this context.Following Hofstede's proposals for strategies for operationalizing¹ constructs about human values, a content analysis² was conducted on a pilot sample of codes provided by Hong Kong organisations. The results show three clearly identified clusters of organisations with common formats. The first group, described as Foreign Legal, emphasises legal compliance, has criteria for invoking penalties and consists of foreign-owned, large multinational organisations. Companies in the second cluster have codes which, except in the case of a couple of larger organisations, mainly follow the Independent Commission Against Corruption's (ICAC) standard format. The third cluster, described as the Bank Network, also appear to largely conform to a format: the Hong Kong Banking Association's guidelines.Further analysis conducted here of the Hong Kong codes indicates the important role of emic teleological values³, such as trust and reputation, amongst indigenous organisations, rather than the amorality suggested by an earlier study (Dolecheck and Bethke, 1990). These results support the proposition that Hong Kong ethical perspectives are culture bound⁴, as there appear to be different emphases than revealed in an American study (Stevens, 1994), which identified an emphasis in the US codes upon introverted organisational issues and a failure to espouse deontological values⁵.The conclusion is that designing a research programme on business values in Hong Kong requires reference to studies of values in cross-cultural psychology generally and to Hofstede's work in particular. It also supports the need for indigenous research and models in this field which avoid the ethnocentrism inherent in much Western theory and research.     

Religious Business Ethics as Interpretation: A Jewish Perspective

This paper examines the method of Jewish business ethics. MichaelWalzer, in his work, Interpretation and Social Criticism (1987), suggeststhree common and important approaches to moral philosophy. He labels thesethe path of discovery, the path of invention, and the path ofinterpretation. The first part of this paper argues that Jewish businessethics is best thought of in terms of interpretation. Without question, thereligious ethicist immediately recognizes Walzers metaphor of the moralworld as a home occupied by a single family over many generations... as his own. Ethical arguments from a Jewish perspective must of necessityhave a lived-in quality and always make reference to and are based on thememory-laden objects and artifacts. The second part of the paper exploressome of the implications of Jewish business ethics as interpretation.     

Mind Engineering for Value-Based Order

This paper tries to trace the background of the modern business paradigm. A business mind dominating the social mind has been the root cause of unethicality in an order, according to this paper. The solution could come from the liberation of the social mind through a process of mind engineering at the individual level. The paper suggests an active mechanism to inculcate values through a systematic process of mind engineering.     

Acccounting and Volksgeist – Teritorial Claims on Accounting Regulation

In this paper, it is argued that international diversityin the rules governing corporate accountability is afunction of the desire to preserve local jurisdictionsby maintaining national distinctiveness. Successiveattempts at regulatory harmonisation in Europe havemet considerable resistance, starting with Savignysappeal to the spirit of the people (Volksgeist)and ending with the notion of subsidiarity. In thispaper, territorial claims on regulation are exploredin the context of the rules governing asset revaluation,where there are still almost as many required methodsof accounting in the European Union as there aremember states. The paper rejects the conventionalexplanation that such differences are culture-bound,and instead suggests that the continued existence ofnational rules in accounting reflects the pursuit ofautonomy by individual states and the self-interestof national regulators.     

Division of Labour and the Locus of Inventive Activity

This paper argues that modularity of knowledge andtechnologies has important implications for the locusof inventive activities. This is because modularityallows for a separation of the innovation process intwo main activities: The production of basic(standardised) modules, and their combination toproduce variants of technologies or product designsthat are better suited to the special needs ofindividual users or markets. This gives rise to adivision of labour whereby the production of moduleswill be performed by specialised upstream suppliers(who enjoy economies of scale), while the combinationof modules will be performed by firms furtherdownstream or by the users themselves. We then suggestthat this pattern can explain a variety of phenomenasuch as why users co-produce their innovations, andhow small regions can support innovative activitydespite the apparent efficiency advantage of largerregions.     

A New Subgraph of Minimum Weight Triangulations

In this paper, two sufficient conditions for identifying a subgraph ofminimum weight triangulation of a planar point set are presented. Theseconditions are based on local geometric properties of an edge to beidentified. Unlike the previous known sufficient conditions for identifyingsubgraphs, such as Keils-skeleton and Yang and Xus double circles, The localgeometric requirement in our conditions is not necessary symmetric withrespect to the edge to be identified. The identified subgraph is differentfrom all the known subgraphs including the newly discovered subgraph:so-called the intersection of local-optimal triangulations by Dickerson etal. An O(n3) time algorithm for finding this subgraph from a set ofn points is presented.     

Policy Imperatives for the International Economy and for Financial Markets in the Emerging World Order

The world economy today is swept by unprecedented rates of change, complexity, interconnectedness, and uncertainty. For the first time since the 1930s, issues of the international economy and financial markets are playing a pivotal role in discussions of foreign and domestic policy. However, even as the revolutionary trends in the international economy and in world finance are in the offing, it is important to realize that the problems of mankind are primarily economic and social, not financial or political. While the trends towards liberalization of economic policies and integration of financial markets might seem to point toward the ultimate triumph of the magic of the market and free enterprise, a little reflection will reveal a number of undercurrents, dilemmas, and difficult choices waiting to be resolved. This article identifies the structural and human dimensions of these challenges in the form of thirteen Policy Imperatives aimed at the creation of modified versions of financial markets to make them more humane and less vulnerable to failure.     

Examining the link between social responsibility and decision styles

The paper examines the factors that influence socially responsible decision making by individuals. The study found four social responsibility styles: Playing it Safe, Weather The Storm, Problem to Solve, and Hope it Goes Away. These styles describe individuals on the basis of decision style, propensity for risk, and coping style. The styles explain why people with different values might come to the same decision in the same circumstances.     

On Integrality, Stability and Composition of Dicycle Packings and Covers

Given a digraph D, the minimum integral dicycle cover problem (known also as the minimum feedback arc set problem) is to find a minimum set of arcs that intersects every dicycle; the maximum integral dicycle packing problem is to find a maximum set of pairwise arc disjoint dicycles. These two problems are NP-complete.Assume D has a 2-vertex cut. We show how to derive a minimum dicycle cover (a maximum dicycle packing) for D, by composing certain covers (packings) of the corresponding pieces. The composition of the covers is simple and was partially considered in the literature before. The main contribution of this paper is to the packing problem. Let be the value of a minimum integral dicycle cover, and * () the value of a maximum (integral) dicycle packing. We show that if = then a simple composition, similar to that of the covers, is valid for the packing problem. We use these compositions to extend an O(n³) (resp., O(n⁴)) algorithm for finding a minimum integral dicycle cover (resp., packing) from planar digraphs to K_3,3-free digraphs (i.e., digraphs not containing any subdivision of K_3,3).However, if , then such a simple composition for the packing problem is not valid. We show, that if the pieces satisfy, what we call, the stability property, then a simple composition does work. We prove that if = * holds for each piece, then the stability property holds as well. Further, we use the stability property to show that if = * holds for each piece, then = * holds for D as well.     

Vietnam’s economy: Achievements and perspective

In last several years, Vietnams economy has reached significant achievements. Those are clearly seen by analyzing economic growth, economic structure transformation, trade and investment and Vietnams economy competitiveness. However, in the process of development, Vietnams economy is still facing many difficulties and challenges. Vietnam is accelerating speed of innovation process, is active and quicker in international economic integration in order to complete the economic – social objectives in the period of 2001–2005 with annual average economic growth rate of 7.5%.     

Beyond New Public Management. Answering the Claims of both Politics and Society

New Public Management held the promise of changing traditional bureaucracies into a results-oriented and transparent form of government. Though many of the principles of NPM are being implemented as a way of thinking about government it has been largely discredited. This paper gives examples from Switzerland and The Netherlands where the premises of NPM have either explicitly or implicitly been rejected. The paper concludes by suggesting reasons that led to the decline of NPM and concludes by offering a conceptual restart of public administrative reform. This is based on a constructive mix between aspects of NPM and traditional administration, leading to a New Public Administration.     

Efficient Heuristics for Orientation Metric and Euclidean Steiner Tree Problems

We consider Steiner minimum trees (SMT) in the plane, where only orientations with angle , 0 i – 1 and an integer, are allowed. The orientations define a metric, called the orientation metric, , in a natural way. In particular, ₂ metric is the rectilinear metric and the Euclidean metric can beregarded as metric. In this paper, we provide a method to find an optimal SMT for 3 or 4 points by analyzing the topology of SMT's in great details. Utilizing these results and based on the idea of loop detection first proposed in Chao and Hsu, IEEE Trans. CAD, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 303–309, 1994, we further develop an O(n²) time heuristic for the general SMT problem, including the Euclidean metric. Experiments performed on publicly available benchmark data for 12 different metrics, plus the Euclidean metric, demonstrate the efficiency of our algorithms and the quality of our results.     

A New Era in Governmental Reform: Realizing Community

The good government models of the 1990s realized a focus that included reinventing, reengineer-ing, rethinking, quality, empowerment, and devolution of the organization. These organizational reform ideologies sought to increase involvement, improve productivity, manage performance, and drive results. One essential key that has been disregarded in these government models is the involvement of community in the decision-making process. This paper points to the importance of involving and empowering citizens in the decision-making process, particularly in regard to community justice based on the notion of restorative justice system. Community justice, a modern day reform movement with international proportions, is based on the principles of empowering community, repairing harm caused by a crime or disturbance, and reducing risk to the community.     

Optimal Augmentation of a 2-Vertex-Connected Multigraph to a k-Edge-Connected and 3-Vertex-Connected Multigraph

Given an undirected multigraph G = (V, E) and two positive integers and k, we consider the problem of augmenting G by the smallest number of new edges to obtain an -edge-connected and k-vertex-connected multigraph. In this paper, we show that the problem can be solved in Õ(mn²) time for any fixed and k = 3 if an input multigraph G is 2-vertex-connected, where n = |V| and m is the number of pairs of adjacent vertices in G.     

On Shortest k-Edge-Connected Steiner Networks in Metric Spaces

Given a set of points P in a metric space, let l(P) denote the ratio of lengths between the shortest k-edge-connected Steiner network and the shortest k-edge-connected spanning network on P, and let r = inf l(P) P for k 1. In this paper, we show that in any metric space, r 3/4 for k 2, and there exists a polynomial-time -approximation for the shortest k-edge-connected Steiner network, where = 2 for even k and = 2 + 4/(3k) for odd k. In the Euclidean plane, and .     

The Elevation of the Elite: Historical Trends and Complicity of the Masses

A small group of citizens wields significant influence in the corporate, political, and military realms of American society. This group is known in the literature as the elite. Looking at the disparity between the elite and the masses of society in terms of education, wealth, and political power, one might surmise a conspiracy against fundamental democratic principles of equality, justice, and economic fair play. This article addresses non-conspiratorial cultural-contextual factors of history, social structure, media, psychology, education, and the marketplace contributing to the elites existence. It is concluded that non-conspiratorial factors play a primary role in their rise to global influence.     

A comparative study of U.S. and Iraqi students

This study uses a sample comprised of U.S. students and Iraqi students to determine if differences occur over ethical perceptions based on cultural/demographic issues. Irrespective of demographics, the results of this study indicate significant cultural differences between Iraqi students and American students with regard to selected ethical issues concerning graduate education. Specifically the differences occurred in the students' perceptions of winning is everything, selling one's soul, logic before emotion, and pander to professors. Iraqi students consistently viewed these beliefs as more necessary for success in their graduate education than did their American counterparts.     

Contracting Out and Trust in the Public Sector: Cases of Management from Hong Kong

Contracting out generates competition and market discipline that is expected help reduce cost and improve the quality of the services. Several problems were detected in contract management of the Hong Kong Housing Authority and they were related to decision-making, monitoring, evaluation and the system of accountability. An examination based on the principal-agent perspective reveals several pitfalls of contracting out in the public sector. A lack of coordination, eagerness to cut costs by accepting the lowest tender bids, improper project supervision, and inadequate manpower resulted in serious problems. This paper suggests a more careful approach to the award of contracts, monitoring and quality assurance as well as the inculcation of a spirit of trust and cooperation between the principal and agent, instead of the customary adversarial approach.     

An Edge-Splitting Algorithm in Planar Graphs

For a multigraph G = (V, E), let s V be a designated vertex which has an even degree, and let _G (V – s) denote min{c _G(X) | Ø X V – s}, where c _G(X) denotes the size of cut X. Splitting two adjacent edges (s, u) and (s, v) means deleting these edges and adding a new edge (u, v). For an integer k, splitting two edges e ₁ and e ₂ incident to s is called (k, s)-feasible if _G(V – s) k holds in the resulting graph G. In this paper, we prove that, for a planar graph G and an even k or k = 3 with k _G (V – s), there exists a complete (k, s)-feasible splitting at s such that the resulting graph G is still planar, and present an O(n ³ log n) time algorithm for finding such a splitting, where n = |V|. However, for every odd k 5, there is a planar graph G with a vertex s which has no complete (k, s)-feasible and planarity-preserving splitting. As an application of this result, we show that for an outerplanar graph G and an even integer k the problem of optimally augmenting G to a k-edge-connected planar graph can be solved in O(n ³ log n) time.     

Ethical Futures and Public-Private Partnerships: Peering Far Down the Track

This article employs an institutional perspective in formulating predictions about the ethical futures of privatization partnerships. Although this paper focuses on ethical concerns in the U.S. public sector, it incorporates a multinational dimension in (a) comparing the meaning of privatization among societies and (b) probing privatization financing in the global economy. Five assumptions that flow from institutional reasoning are made explicit as supports for subsequent predictions. The institutional logic shifts privatization conversation away from conventional debate about competition and efficiency toward centralizing forces in both sectors in response to globalization. In that regard, this study identifies the systemic erosion of (local) community integrity as the key privatization problem of the future.