Buyers-to-shoppers ratio of shopping malls: A probit study in Hong Kong

Buyers-to-shoppers ratio (i.e. conversion rate) has long been one of the commonly adopted metrics in assessing retail performance of shopping malls, but it is almost always relied on interviews, consumer surveys, and questionnaires. These methods are intrinsically problematic in ascertaining the trustworthiness of the responses. This paper is probably the first objective study on the buyers-to-shoppers ratio based on actual observations in shopping malls in Hong Kong. A probit model is used to study factors affecting the ratio. The results show that consumer-surveys seriously over-estimate the ratio. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.postprin

Higher CMM levels attained by QA certified software developers

[Abstract]: This paper addresses the question: is higher capability maturity associated with adoption of Quality Assurance (QA) certification? To assess the extent of adoption of third-party QA certification by Australian software developers, a survey of 1,000 software developers was recently conducted. The questionnaire also included an assessment of their capability maturity based on the capability maturity model (CMM). Cynics who criticise the value of QA certification may be surprised by the strong association found between adoption of QA certification and capability maturity

O DESEMPENHO DO BRASIL NO MERCADO INTERNACIONAL DE PEDRAS PRECIOSAS

Este trabalho analisa a inserção brasileira no mercado internacional de pedras preciosas, um setor de grande importância para o País, embora ainda pouco estudado. A metodologia escolhida consiste no cálculo de alguns indicadores de competitividade internacional, capazes de evidenciar os principais elementos condicionantes do desempenho brasileiro nesse setor. Os resultados encontrados confirmam o potencial do setor, em termos de vantagens comparativas no mercado internacional. Os efeitos observados na decomposição das exportações estão ligados, basicamente, à dinâmica dos principais mercados de destino e também ao crescimento do comércio mundial. Destaca-se, adicionalmente, que apesar da alta informalidade no setor e da falta de informações sistematizadas observa-se recente esforço de reorganização da atividade. Esse movimento, iniciado em instâncias governamentais, visa incentivar o País a participar mais ativamente dos fluxos internacionais de pedras de maior valor agregado, gerando empregos, renda e maior desenvolvimento interno. This work analyzes the Brazilian insertion in the international market of precious stones, which is important to the Country, although it is still little studied. The methodology consists in calculating some indicators to measure the international competitiveness, that are able to indicate the main elements to the development of that Brazilian`s section. The results obtained have confirmed the potential of that section, in terms of comparative advantages at the international market. Decomposition of the exports trend in different components has shown that the exports are linked basically to the main export markets` dynamics, and also to the rate of growth in the world market. Additionally, it can be said that, in spite of the high informality and the lack of systematized information, recent effort has been observed to reorganize the activity. That initiative at the government instances intents to motivate entrepreneurs to participate more actively to the international markets, adding value to their export products, generating new jobs, higher income and internal development.Comércio internacional, pedras preciosas, competitividade, International trade, precious stones, competitiveness, International Relations/Trade, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Australian software developers embrace quality Assurance Certification

[Abstract]: This paper details a research project undertaken to assess the extent of adoption of quality assurance (QA) certification by Australian software developers. A brief history of government QA policy, the catalyst in the sudden interest in certification, is included. Primary data for the study were gathered from a survey of 1,000 Australian software developers, and were used to determine the extent of adoption of QA certification by Australian developers, their organisational characteristics, capability maturity and perceptions regarding the value of QA certification. Secondary data from the JAS-ANZ register of certified organisations enabled validation of survey responses and extrapolation of QA certification adoption. Major findings of the study revealed that 11 percent of respondents are certified to ISO 9001 or AS 3563, seven percent are in progress and 21 percent plan to adopt QA certification. It also revealed that specialist developers are adopting QA certification at twice the rate of in-house developers. Other factors found to be associated with adoption of QA certification are large development groups, developers with government or overseas clients, organisations with whole- or part-foreign ownership, and organisations undertaking corporate TQM initiatives. From the findings, detailed implications are drawn for managers and policy analysts

Creativity for Sale

This project focuses on a business plan and template for developing proposals for potential clients. This covers the history of Creative Problem Solving (CPS); the effectiveness of CPS training; an example design of a workshop; business plan; memorandum of understanding; contract; and a template for fees. This project will add to the richness of the department, and create opportunities for our faculty, alumni, and current students to consult while spreading the CPS process and creativity around the world

Analysis of market areas of mega malls in Istanbul

After 1980?s, restructuring of Istanbul has occurred in many fields and the increased number of mega malls is one of the most interesting aspects of the transformation of business facilities. Increase in the number of products as a result of globalization, advantages of the multistore shopping supported by the recreational facilities and increase in the income of the people and car use results in the development of mega malls mostly in the periphery of the city. These shopping facilities have attractive environments and have many advantages with respect to street shopping. Downtown areas of Istanbul held their dominant positions by reasons of the pulling power built up during the mass transportation era. After the construction of the periphery highways, subcenters have started to develop and while some of the mega malls fill the gap in retail trade in these new centers, some others create new subcenters by themselves. This study investigates the market areas of the mega malls with respect to their location in different zones of Istanbul and by taking into consideration different variables such as distance, our ownership, socio-economic and demographic characteristics of customers. The results of the research are that several of the potential locations are not served by the existing malls. Further research is suggested by doing simulation studies in order to evaluate the alternative location for the new malls.

Politics and Urban Development Focus on Jakarta’s Shopping Center Trajectory

"City of consumerism" seems to be an appropriate moniker for Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. Over the past few years, Jakarta has transformed from an administrative town where both state and local public authorities exercise policy and development strategy — into an economic empire of the nation. Economic indicators pointed out that the economic development in the metropolitan region is massive; 6 percent economic growth, rising middle-class’ purchasing power, and increasing foreign property investment. Urban scholars have highlighted that this urban transformation is much influenced by modern world-class city aspiration driven by the private sectors who are able to display grandiose modern projects and influence the policy makers. One of the many phenomena that shows this urban revolution is the booming of shopping center development in the metropolitan region. Currently, Jakarta Metropolitan Region has 153 shopping centers, supplying more than 5 million square meter retail spaces to the 30 million metropolitan population. I argue that the enormous number of shopping center operated in the city comes as the result of the shifting urban development focus towards neoliberalism bounded to an intricate economic, political, and ideological system of the nation. Using urban historical framework and the mapping techniques, I seek to analyze the urban transformation through the shopping center perspective. I further evaluate series of implications — supported by data and facts — that emerge from the shopping center deployment

Property price relationship with direct accessibility to seamless shopping mall

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2010.Includes bibliographical references (p. 122-124) and index.published_or_final_versio

Curved Gabor Filters for Fingerprint Image Enhancement

Gabor filters play an important role in many application areas for the enhancement of various types of images and the extraction of Gabor features. For the purpose of enhancing curved structures in noisy images, we introduce curved Gabor filters which locally adapt their shape to the direction of flow. These curved Gabor filters enable the choice of filter parameters which increase the smoothing power without creating artifacts in the enhanced image. In this paper, curved Gabor filters are applied to the curved ridge and valley structure of low-quality fingerprint images. First, we combine two orientation field estimation methods in order to obtain a more robust estimation for very noisy images. Next, curved regions are constructed by following the respective local orientation and they are used for estimating the local ridge frequency. Lastly, curved Gabor filters are defined based on curved regions and they are applied for the enhancement of low-quality fingerprint images. Experimental results on the FVC2004 databases show improvements of this approach in comparison to state-of-the-art enhancement methods