Executive Development in Hong KongChow, Irene; Kelley, Lane
1994 Management Research News
doi: 10.1108/eb028390
While many of the major economies of the world such as Japan, the United States, England, and Germany are caught in the jaws of a major recession and large international corporations from industry after industry are going through a period of not just low profits but operating at significant losses, the Hong Kong economy is on a roll. It is being driven by its important symbiotic relationship to the 1990's economic miracle, the People's Republic of China which has experienced a GDP increase of 12.8 last year and 14.1 in the first quarter this year, 1993 which has grown rapidly to be the largest exporter to the US market for twelve different products and is now the US's number two deficit in imports versus exports. Hong Kong is playing a major role in that growth Hong Kong employers now employ more than 3,000,000 employees in the PRC which interestingly, is more than they employ in Hong Kong. Little Hong Kong, with a population of just over 5.5 million, is the biggest player of the foreign direct investors in China today, larger than even Japan or the US. Hong Kong's GDPCapita surpassed that of Great Britain this year and its government just announced as this is being written salary increases for the next fiscal year of 10.66 surely one of the highest in the world in this time of economic recession throughout most of the developed economies the index of its stock market, the Hang Sang Index, has increased in value in the first half of this year nearly 40. Hong Kong is definitely on a roll but it also has serious problems especially in terms of the topic of this article, Management Development. Week after week, there are over 100 pages of employment ads in its major newspaper, The South China Morning Post. The purpose of this article is to describe the unique features and problems in Hong Kong's development of its executive pool.
Understanding Customers' Views An Example of the Use of Repertory Grid TechiqueGoffin, Keith
1994 Management Research News
doi: 10.1108/eb028391
Repertory grid technique is a wellknown and important tool for market research. Frost and Braine 1967 went as far as to say In our view, the Repertory Grid represents an approach of such fundamental importance that we regard it as having as much potential in market research as any technique since the invention of the questionnaire. Grid technique has typically been used for identifying ideal product attributes. This article, however, gives an example of how the method was successfully used to investigate customers' views on a complex concept.
A Survey of Current College Alcohol Abuse Programmes, Attitudes, and Training NeedsSharma, Sarla
1994 Management Research News
doi: 10.1108/eb028392
College students and their alcohol use have been the subject of numerous studies over the last three decades and have received an increasing amount of attention Engs, 1977 Hanson and Engs, 1984 Gadaleto and Anderson, 1986 Downs, 1987 Thompson and Wilsnack, 1987 Janosik and Anderson, 1989 Tryon, 1992. Studies on student alcohol use began appearing in the literature in the mid1970's Penn, 1974 Rouse and Ewing, 1978 Newton, 1978. Subsequent studies SchellerGilkey, Gomberg, and Clay, 1979 Heritage, 1979 O'Connell and Patterson, 1989 have documented consistently high levels of alcohol consumption and a serious abuse problem on college campuses. Although some studies Condon and Carman, 1986 Hanson and Engs, 1986 indicate that overall consumption has reached a plateau, Gonzalez 1986 reported that 89 of male students and 86 of female students surveyed drank alcohol, and many suffered from alcohol related problems. Further, both recent survey data Eigen, 1991 and participantobserver studies Moffatt, 1989 suggest that collegiate drinking is a very serious health concern. Moffatt found that to a great extent college students' lives revolved around the acquisition and consumption of alcohol and constituted students' favourite collective activity. Surveys revealed that no other population group in the United States has a more serious drinking problem than does the college student population Gonzalez, 1986. Both men and women drink more as they progress through the college, and those who drink more also experience more alcoholrelated problems Gonzalez, 1989.