Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992.

Social capital is becoming a core concept in economics, political science, sociology and public policy. Trust, norms and social networks, constitute the three major components of social capital. These three factors interact together and play a significant role in transactions between people and organizations. However, there is no consensus about the influence of social capital on transaction costs. Some researchers have stated that social capital could reduce transaction costs associated with adapting, monitoring and enforcing transactions; some have analyzed the negative impacts of social capital on transaction costs; and still some have focused on transaction costs in the formation of social capital. Using organizations as the unit of analysis and concentrating on trust, this paper analyzes how trust, the central concept of social capital, impacts transaction costs in inter-organizational transactions. At the same time, it is argued that trust building is costly, and some activities that constitute transaction costs help to form a mutual-trust between organizations. Further, the paper points out that transaction costs and trust differ depending on the characters of transactions. The paper also studies the lock-in effects of trust on inter-organizational relationships and the role of intermediaries to mitigate the negative impacts. Finally, the paper intends to find policy and strategy implications for organizations and government to build a healthy and vigorous transaction environment. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning

Industrial parks have played an indispensible role in boosting economic and industrial development. However, further development has been impeded by the shortage of land resources and by duplicate investments on common physical assets and services. This thesis proposes the concept of Supply Hub in Industrial Park (SHIP) as a public provider of warehousing and transportation services shared by manufacturing enterprises located within an industrial park. This research investigates four typical scenarios. The first scenario explores SHIP’s storage capacity pooling effect. Inventory models are built to simulate the supply chain in a typical industrial park: with and without SHIP. Under demand variations, two rules are presented for SHIP’s space allocation: the proportional dispatching rule (PDR), and the backorder cost priority dispatching rule (BPDR). The simulation results show that the industrial park can benefit from SHIP’s storage capacity pooling especially under complementarily seasonal or identically volatile demand pattern. BPDR is more beneficial than PDR to the industrial park, SHIP, and the manufacturer with the largest backorder cost rate. The second scenario evaluates SHIP’s value in consolidating shipments via numerically comparing the supply chain with SHIP with the traditional one. Genetic algorithm is used to solve the models developed for the two supply chains. Numerical outcomes show that the industrial park can obtain significant cost savings from applying SHIP. The cost reductions increase with the size of the supply chain, the vehicle capacity, and the rates of fixed transportation cost and holding costs of finished products at manufacturers. The third scenario investigates SHIP’s storage pricing strategies. A bilevel model is proposed to optimize SHIP’s decision on storage pricing, and individual manufacturer’s decisions on replenishment and delivery. A dynamic storage pricing depending on the storage length is adopted. The bilevel model is solved in closed-form in special cases. Through numerical experiments, SHIP is found to gain more profit by using the dynamic storage pricing than the constant one. It is observed that SHIP could not gain profit improvement by raising its delivery charge. Contrary to intuition, SHIP attracts more space demands from large production-scale manufacturers when charging higher on delivery or when the public warehouse’s delivery charge is lower, and more demands from small manufacturers when the market storage price is lower. The fourth scenario discusses how SHIP and manufacturers interact to optimize their decisions on shared transportation pricing and cycle-time, and raw material delivery schedules. A bilevel model is proposed to study this problem. The theoretical analysis of the model indicates that the SHIP’s storage price is the key in determining each partner’s behaviour. For comparison, a bilevel analytical model is constructed for direct transportation. The numerical outcomes show that SHIP’s profit may not always increase with the vehicle capacity. Manufacturers make more delivery orders when SHIP charges a significantly high storage price or the holding cost rate at manufacturers is significantly low. Sharing transportation service may bring benefits to SHIP and manufacturers with large demands. / published_or_final_version / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Thesis (M.U.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-97) Also available in print.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 107-109).

Strong trust based relationships are one of the pillars of the communitarian model of industrial districts. District literature calls upon trust in order to explain several elements of the model. The existence of trust may explain how a highly fragmented and essentially local value chain reduces transaction costs compared with an integrated firm. It may also allow for closer ties where up to date pertinent information and innovative ideas are transferred between firms. Trusting, long term relationships and district networks are also evoked in the literature as being, in themselves, sources of competitive advantage. Yet despite large sections of district literature calling upon trust to explain the existence and efficiency of industrial districts, few scholars have investigated empirically the sources of trust in local ties. In depth semi-directive interviews with small firm managers in the Arve Valley industrial district near Geneva were analysed in order to examine the context and quality of intra-district relationships (mainly supplier and peers) which were then ompared with extra-district links with clients. The sources of trust are analysed by applying Möllering’s (2006) model of trust based on reason, routine and reflexivity. Findings indicate that managers rely more on a rational calculation of partner’s motives than ‘blind’ adherence to local, historical norms of behaviour. This finding contributes to the view that districts are organizational fields where agents possess large amounts of information about markets, technologies and partners. Managers also demonstrate a willingness to maintain local links over the long term, thus ensuring a crucial element of their firms’ competitive advantage and will adjust their behaviour accordingly. This thesis contributes to district literature by examining detailing the existence and foundations of close intra-district ties created between managers mobilising resources based on cognitive, organisational and geographical proximities. A major contribution to trust literature is the 5 analysis and discussion of the complex interplay between the three antecedents outlined in Möllering’s model in the creation of local trust and proposes that while trust decisions in information rich districts are based more on rational calculation than on local norms and institutions, other trust decisions (with external clients), in the absence of sufficient information are founded on very different bases. This comparison of the foundations of trust in two different contexts highlights the role of identity and routine in the ‘leap of faith’ or suspension of doubt that is trust.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--Si li Zhongguo wen hua xue yuan. / Cover title. Mimeo. copy. Includes bibliographical references.