Thesis (M. Hous. Man.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-84).

Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes special report study entitled: Pedestrian movement system along Argyle Street. Includes bibliographical references.

One of the key factors that determines the success of a shopping centre is how efficient are its human resources utilized to maximize its value. This study investigates how corporate business strategies, as reflected in the perceptions and beliefs of shopping centre managerial staff, affect management efficiency, which is defined as efficiency of human resource utilization in shopping centre management. We measure the management efficiency of a shopping centre’s management by comparing inputs and outputs using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The inputs are defined as the different types of human resources utilized to manage a shopping centre, while outputs are measured by the rental value per floor area holding a range of exogenous factors constant. These exogenous factors include location attributes and physical characteristics of the shopping centres. Data on inputs and the beliefs and perceptions of managerial staff at different levels were collected by questionnaire surveys followed up by telephone calls and interviews. We collected data from 106 shopping centres located along the Mass Transit Railway lines. At the strategic level, we found that management that focused on satisfying the needs of shoppers rather than those of tenants was more efficient. However, whether management adopted a centralized or decentralized approach to shopping centre management had no impact on management efficiency. Management that aimed to maximize short term rental income and that which focused on achieving longer term branding effects had similar levels of management efficiency. For leasing and marketing management, we found that management that focused on achieving a planned optimal tenant mix was more efficient. Contrary to most people’s beliefs, management that believed in maximizing customer flow was less efficient. Our empirical data also suggested that the professional qualifications of leasing and marketing staff were not important as far as the efficiency of shopping centre management was concerned. At the operational level of property and facilities management, we found that shopping centres were more efficiently managed if management at this level believed that professional qualifications were important for property and facilities management, which was in sharp contrast with the findings for leasing and marketing management. We also found that management that aimed to control costs within budget and that which aimed to create value did not differ significantly from each other in terms of management efficiency. Finally, although property and facilities management were at the technical level of overseeing the physical structure, management that believed in satisfying users’ needs more than merely maintaining the physical conditions of the property tended to achieve higher management efficiency. / published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Shopping centres play an important role of Hong Kong people’s lifestyle, as they are not just places for shopping but also for community and social activities. They can provide products and services including entertainment, supermarket, dining, daily products and also other special services. However, the overall standard for shopping centre declines over time. To deal with aged properties, shopping renovation project is a possible solution. In this paper, the needs and importance of the shopping centre renovations are assessed. From the source of existing literature, the needs of shopping centre renovations come from the failure to meet the customer satisfactions and the lack of competitiveness against other shopping centres. Renovation projects can provide improvement to the existing facilities and enhance the overall value of the shopping centres. Renovation works do not only extend the building life and make the building more desirable and economically valuable, but they can be treated as a tool to fulfill some special objectives decided by the developers. For the next objective, upon the completed renovation projects by the Link REIT, their outcomes are assessed. To achieve this objective, seven criteria leading to shopping centre success are introduced. They are accessibility, visibility, anchor tenants, design and layout, size, tenant mix, trade mix and environment. The overall performance for pre renovation and pro renovation are measured based on these criteria and their substantial factors. For quantitative measurement, questionnaires are used for the measurement and there is an overall improvement recorded as shown by increment of scores in the seven criteria. For qualitative measurement, in-depth interviews are applied and detail ways for improvement are collected. Finally, this research investigates the area of improvement and further suggestions will be advised in future projects. They include regular communication with target groups (tenants and shoppers), continuous minor improvements applied to the completed projects to slow down performance backslide and also the enhancement of social responsibility towards different stakeholders. / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

This item was digitized as part of the Million Books Project led by Carnegie Mellon University and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Cornell University coordinated the participation of land-grant and agricultural libraries in providing historical agricultural information for the digitization project; the University of Arizona Libraries, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the Office of Arid Lands Studies collaborated in the selection and provision of material for the digitization project.

The issue of the protection of the small retailers in shopping centers deserves to be addressed since those retailers do not always have the economical weight to negotiate their leases on an equal footing with their landlords. In Canada and France, this situation is not dealt the same way: where Canada relies on contractual freedom to balance the interests involved, France is very protective. This thesis aims to study and compare those two regimes and tries to determine whether small retailers need protection.

No description available.

This dissertation critiques, develops and applies a form of spatial semiotics, specifically topological semiotics, as a means of interpreting and analyzing the design, operation, use and ideological issues of West Edmonton 'Mega'-Mall (WEM) in the context of postmodern culture. Doing so promotes an understanding of the theoretical and analytical utility and limitations semiotics and postmodernism may hold for landscape studies, while furthering our knowledge about the design and social life of multi-purpose, indoor environments. Drawing from several key geographical concepts (landscape, place, placelessness), semiotic notions (icon, language, myth, sign, signification), postmodern issues (heterotopia, the crisis of interpretation, the linguistic turn), and empirical data (on-site observations, off-site questionnaires, secondary academic, government and corporate studies), the concepts of placial icon, simulated landscape and elsewhereness are developed to critique a "way of seeing" and explain what was viewed at the mega-mall. WEM's postmodern, heterotopic milieu of myths and elsewhereness is argued to collapse due to the mall's dual role as tourist centre/civic centre, making WEM an unoriginal, placeless, homotopic nowhere. Despite their theoretically overburdened and methodologically underdeveloped status, semiotics and postmodernism are shown to be useful catalysts for posing questions and initiating criticisms relevant to contemporary social theory, landscape studies and substantive social issues.

The issue of the protection of the small retailers in shopping centers deserves to be addressed since those retailers do not always have the economical weight to negotiate their leases on an equal footing with their landlords. In Canada and France, this situation is not dealt the same way: where Canada relies on contractual freedom to balance the interests involved, France is very protective. This thesis aims to study and compare those two regimes and tries to determine whether small retailers need protection.

No description available.