Key competitiveness indicators for new real estate developers

Purpose – The paper aims to explore the key competitiveness indicators (KCIs) that provide the guidelines for helping new real estate developers (REDs) achieve competitiveness during their inception stage in which the organisations start their business. Design/methodology/approach – The research was conducted using a combination of various methods. A literature review was undertaken to provide a proper theoretical understanding of organisational competitiveness within RED's activities and developed a framework of competitiveness indicators (CIs) for REDs. The Delphi forecasting method is employed to investigate a group of 20 experts' perception on the relative importance between CIs. Findings – The results show that the KCIs of new REDs are capital operation capability, entrepreneurship, land reserve capability, high sales revenue from the first real estate development project, and innovation capability. Originality/value – The five KCIs of new REDs are new. In practical terms, the examination of these KCIs would help the business managers of new REDs to effectively plan their business by focusing their efforts on these key indicators. The KCIs can also help REDs provide theoretical constructs of the knowledge base on organisational competitiveness from a dynamic perspective, and assist in providing valuable experiences and in formulating feasible strategies for survival and growth.

Money laundering and FATF compliance by the international community

This paper examines the anti-money laundering systems of Australia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA), the extent to which they have implemented the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations, and how compliance with these recommendations is affected by local cultural and economic factors. The paper makes use of FATF evaluation reports to compare the countries’ compliance; it examines some of the underlying cultural considerations and culture-specific ethical issues that affect the extent of compliance, and how cultural and ethical considerations may affect good governance. The findings indicate that the UK and the USA are the most advanced with regards to their compliance with the FATF recommendations and Australia and the UAE less so. The UAE is in particular found to be least compliant. We relate this finding to previous work on how a country’s legal and financial systems develop in line with its religion, culture and socio-economic situation, and examine how such local factors have affected the UAE’s financial and anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) systems. This research will be of interest to policy-makers and government agencies involved in addressing money laundering and its successful detection and prosecution.

Architecture for a free subjectivity : Deleuze and Guattari at the Horizon of the Real

Architecture for a Free Subjectivity reformulates the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze's model of subjectivity for architecture, by surveying the prolific effects of architectural encounter, and the spaces that figure in them. For Deleuze and his Lacanian collaborator Félix Guattari, subjectivity does not refer to a person, but to the potential for and event of matter becoming subject, and the myriad ways for this to take place. By extension, this book theorizes architecture as a self-actuating or creative agency for the liberation of purely "impersonal effects." Imagine a chemical reaction, a riot in the banlieues, indeed a walk through a city. Simone Brott declares that the architectural object does not merely take part in the production of subjectivity, but that it constitutes its own.

Signalling layout for fixed-block railway lines with real-coded genetic algorithms.

Signalling layout design is one of the keys to railway operations with fixed-block signalling system and it also carries direct effect on overall train efficiency and safety. Based on an analysis to system objectives, this paper presents an optimization model with two objectives in order to devise an efficient signalling layout scheme. Taking into account the present railway line design practices in China, the paper describes steps of the computer-based signalling layout optimisation with real-coded genetic algorithms. A computer-aided system, based on train movement simulator, has also been employed to assist the optimisation process. A case study on a practical railway line has been conducted to make comparisons between the proposed GA-based approach and the current practices. The results illustrate the improved performance of the proposed approach in reducing signal block joints and shortening minimum train service headway.

Power network in loop : a paradigm for real-time simulation and hardware testing

This paper discusses a new paradigm of real-time simulation of power systems in which equipment can be interfaced with a real-time digital simulator. In this scheme, one part of a power system can be simulated by using a real-time simulator; while the other part is implemeneted as a physical system. The only interface of the physical system with the computer-based simulator is through data-acquisition system. The physical system is driven by a voltage-source converter (VSC)that mimics the power system simulated in the real-time simulator. In this papar, the VSC operates in a voltage-control mode to track the point of common coupling voltage signal supplied by the digital simulator. This type of splitting a network in two parts and running a real-time simulation with a physical system in parallel is called a power network in loop here. this opens up the possibility of study of interconnection o f one or several distributed generators to a complex power network. The proposed implementation is verified through simulation studies using PSCAD/EMTDC and through hardware implementation on a TMS320G2812 DSP.

Markov modelling of the IEEE 802.11 DCF for real-time applications with periodic traffic

Popular wireless network standards, such as IEEE 802.11/15/16, are increasingly adopted in real-time control systems. However, they are not designed for real-time applications. Therefore, the performance of such wireless networks needs to be carefully evaluated before the systems are implemented and deployed. While efforts have been made to model general wireless networks with completely random traffic generation, there is a lack of theoretical investigations into the modelling of wireless networks with periodic real-time traffic. Considering the widely used IEEE 802.11 standard, with the focus on its distributed coordination function (DCF), for soft-real-time control applications, this paper develops an analytical Markov model to quantitatively evaluate the network quality-of-service (QoS) performance in periodic real-time traffic environments. Performance indices to be evaluated include throughput capacity, transmission delay and packet loss ratio, which are crucial for real-time QoS guarantee in real-time control applications. They are derived under the critical real-time traffic condition, which is formally defined in this paper to characterize the marginal satisfaction of real-time performance constraints.

Momentum and seasonality in Chinese stock markets

In this paper, we follow Jegadeesh and Titman's (1993, Journal of Finance) approach to examine 25 momentum/contrarian trading strategies using monthly stock returns in China for the period from 1994 to 2007. Our results suggest that there is no momentum profitability in any of the 25 strategies. In contrast, there is some evidence of reversal effects where the past winners become losers and past losers become winners afterward. The contrarian profit is statistically significant for the strategies using short formation and holding periods, especially for the formation periods of 1 to 3 months and the holding periods of 1 to 3 months. The contrarian strategies can generate about 12% per annum on average. Moreover, we follow Heston and Sadka (2008, Journal of Financial Economics) to investigate where there is any seasonal pattern in the cross-sectional variation of average stock returns in our momentum/contrarian strategies. There is no evidence of any seasonal pattern, and the results are robust to different formation and holding periods.

Real-time simulation for power systems based on parallel computing - an empirical study

Abstract Computer simulation is a versatile and commonly used tool for the design and evaluation of systems with different degrees of complexity. Power distribution systems and electric railway network are areas for which computer simulations are being heavily applied. A dominant factor in evaluating the performance of a software simulator is its processing time, especially in the cases of real-time simulation. Parallel processing provides a viable mean to reduce the computing time and is therefore suitable for building real-time simulators. In this paper, we present different issues related to solving the power distribution system with parallel computing based on a multiple-CPU server and we will concentrate, in particular, on the speedup performance of such an approach.

Globalisation and corporate real estate strategies

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of globalisation on corporate real estate strategies. Specifically, it seeks to identify corporate real estate capabilities that are important in a hypercompetitive business climate. ---------- Design/methodology/approach: This paper utilises a qualitative approach to analyse secondary data in order to identify the corporate real estate capabilities for a hypercompetitive business environment. ---------- Findings: Globalisation today is an undeniable phenomenon that is fundamentally changing the way business is conducted. In the light of global hypercompetition, corporate real estate needs to develop new capabilities to support global business strategies. These include flexibility, network organization and managerial learning capabilities. ---------- Research limitations/implications: This is a conceptual paper and future empirical research needs to be conducted to verify the propositions made in this paper. ---------- Practical implications: Given the new level of uncertainty in the business climate, that is, hypercompetition, businesses need to develop dynamic capabilities that are harder for competitors to imitate in order to maintain what is considered a “momentary” competitive advantage. The findings of this paper are useful to guide corporate real estate managers in this regard. ---------- Originality/value:– This paper is original in two ways. First, it applies the strategic management concept of capabilities to corporate real estate. Second, it links the key challenge that businesses face today, i.e. globalisation, to the concept of capabilities as a means to maintain competitive advantage.

Connecting people and resource consumption in real time

The authors currently engage in two projects to improve human-computer interaction (HCI) designs that can help conserve resources. The projects explore motivation and persuasion strategies relevant to ubiquitous computing systems that bring real-time consumption data into the homes and hands of residents in Brisbane, Australia. The first project seeks to increase understanding among university staff of the tangible and negative effects that excessive printing has on the workplace and local environment. The second project seeks to shift attitudes toward domestic energy conservation through software and hardware that monitor real-time, in situ electricity consumption in homes across Queensland. The insights drawn from these projects will help develop resource consumption user archetypes, providing a framework linking people to differing interface design requirements.

Real estate 2.0 : towards a value ecology?

This paper anatomises emerging developments in online community engagement in a major global industry: real estate. Economists argue that we are entering a ‘social network economy’ in which ‘complex social networks’ govern consumer choice and product value. In the light of this, organisations are shifting from thinking and behaving in the conventional ‘value chain’ model--in which exchanges between firms and customers are one-way only, from the firm to the consumer--to the ‘value ecology’ model, in which consumers and their networks become co-creators of the value of the product. This paper studies the way in which the global real estate industry is responding to this environment. This paper identifies three key areas in which online real estate ‘value ecology’ work is occurring: real estate social networks, games, and locative media / augmented reality applications. Uptake of real estate applications is, of course, user-driven: the paper not only highlights emerging innovations; it also identifies which of these innovations are actually being taken up by users, and the content contributed as a result. The paper thus provides a case study of one major industry’s shift into a web 2.0 communication model, focusing on emerging trends and issues.

The embodied hybrid space : designing ubiquitous computing towards an amplification of situated real world experiences

The emergence of mobile and ubiquitous computing technology has created what is often referred to as the hybrid space – a virtual layer of digital information and interaction opportunities that sit on top of and augment the physical environment. Embodied media materialise digital information as observable and sometimes interactive parts of the physical environment. The aim of this work is to explore ways to enhance people’s situated real world experience, and to find out what the role and impact of embodied media in achieving this goal can be. The Edge, an initiative of the State Library of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and case study of this thesis, envisions to be a physical place for people to meet, explore, experience, learn and teach each other creative practices in various areas related to digital technology and arts. Guided by an Action Research approach, this work applies Lefebvre’s triad of space (1991) to investigate the Edge as a social space from a conceived, perceived and lived point of view. Based on its creators’ vision and goals on the conceived level, different embodied media are iteratively designed, implemented and evaluated towards shaping and amplifying the Edge’s visitor experience on the perceived and lived level.

V2V/V2I augmented maps : state-of-the-art and contribution to real-time crash risk assessment

A number of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are currently being released on the market, providing safety functions to the drivers such as collision avoidance, adaptive cruise control or enhanced night-vision. These systems however are inherently limited by their sensory range: they cannot gather information from outside this range, also called their “perceptive horizon”. Cooperative systems are a developing research avenue that aims at providing extended safety and comfort functionalities by introducing vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) wireless communications to the road actors. This paper presents the problematic of cooperative systems, their advantages and contributions to road safety and exposes some limitations related to market penetration, sensors accuracy and communications scalability. It explains the issues of how to implement extended perception, a central contribution of cooperative systems. The initial steps of an evaluation of data fusion architectures for extended perception are exposed.

Legislative proposals to codify directors' liability for insolvent trading in Hong Kong : a 10-year journey

Hong Kong is a modern global city with a reputation for well-regulated financial markets, but for years, the government had been trying to enact laws on corporate rescue procedures with relatively little success. It is under the pretext of the Global Financial Crisis, the threat of a future economic meltdown gave the Hong Kong government the impetus to revisit this issue. This third attempt to codify statutory obligations on directors’ liability for insolvent trading has been criticised for either setting the standards too high or low for directors trading whilst insolvent. There is also some reservation given the beliefs and values of directors in Chinese family-owned and controlled companies. These companies would most likely trade out the difficult times. Nevertheless, this does not negate from the fact that the enactment of corporate rescue procedures in Hong Kong in 2010 is a momentous achievement for the Hong Kong government.