Jane W. Moy

The career choice of business graduates: SMEs or MNCs?

To promote SME growth, it is essential to attract young, educated minds to work for them. Recent graduates often view employment in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) as a “second choice”, and prefer to work for multinational corporations )MNCs). This study uses a job attributes model to address the inability of SMEs to attract business graduates. The first part of the study investigates the importance of nine job attributes to graduates in initial job selections, and their perceptions of these attributes offered by SMEs and MNCs. The second part of the study reports that SME employer perceptions of the attractiveness of these attributes are very much different from those of the graduates. Finally, recruitment packages of SMEs and MNCs are compared, and attributes such as job security and long‐term career prospects are found to be better in SMEs, thus suggesting that SME owners must communicate more effectively with graduates.

Minimizing deviations from the group mean: A new linear programming approach for the two-group classification problem

Abstract This paper proposes a new linear programming approach to solve the two-group classification problem in discriminant analysis. This new approach is based on an idea from cluster analysis that objects within the same group should be more similar than objects between groups. Consequently, it is desirable for the classification score of an object to be nearer to its mean classification score, but further from the mean classification score of the other group. This objective is accomplished by minimizing the total deviation of the classification scores of the objects from their group mean scores in a linear programming approach. When applied to an actual managerial problem and simulated data, the proposed linear programming approach performs well both in groups separation and group-membership predictions of new objects. Moreover, this new approach has an advantage of obtaining more stable classification function across different samples than most of the existing linear programming approaches.

Selection criteria and the impact of personality on getting hired

Based on an earlier policy‐capturing study of the Big Five personality traits and general mental ability, this paper explores and analyzes the hiring preference of Hong Kong employers across five important personal attributes, including not only personality but also practical skill dimensions. The preferences and trade‐offs of 300 experienced recruiters were obtained via conjoint analysis, a theoretically grounded statistical tool that is used to discompose and analyze decisions, for assessing the hiring decisions for entry‐level professional positions. Among knowledge, skills, abilities, and personality, the personality of a candidate has a relatively greater impact on the hiring decision. Three of the Big Five personality traits were elected from among five major hiring attributes for effective performance, with conscientiousness being the most dominant attribute across all eight major industries. The other attributes, in order of importance, include English communication skills, openness to new experiences, academic performance, and agreeableness. Discrepancies between intended and actual decisions were also addressed by comparing the results with self‐reported ratings.

Developing Commitment in Japanese Organizations in Hong Kong Interdependence, Interaction, Relationship, and Productivity

Deutschs theory of cooperation and competition may be usefully extended to understand how employees decide to commit to their organizations. Results ofstructural equation analyses on data colkctedfrom interviews of Chinese and Japanese employees of Japanese multinational organizations operating in Hong Kong indicate that cooperative goals contributed to open discussion between employees, which resulted in productive workand stronger work relationships, which in turn led employees to feel committed. Competitive and independent goals were largely negatively correlated with dynamics and outcomes. These results argue that the theory of cooperation and competition is usefulfor understanding interdependence and interaction in Asian as well as North American organizations. The theory may have the potentialfor structuring interaction that rewards employees, facilitates their relationships and productivity, and results in commitment.

The Life Cycle Model as a Framework for Understanding Barriers to SME Growth in Hong Kong

Researchers have not yet arrived at a consensus on the impediments to growth of small and medium-size enterprises (SME). A lack of empirical and statistical research, coupled with mixed or loosely supported findings on SME growth and the major problems to be overcome at different stages has prompted the authors to investigate this topic which is important in terms of the growth and survival of companies. ‘One in every five new ventures fails in the first five years of business’ is among one of the most frequently quoted statements in the area of research into small and medium enterprises. Since obstacles to growth are often not effectively identified and solved (Cowan, 1988), the systematic study of problems which firms experience as they move from one stage to another would provide a basis for linking those obstacles to strategic solutions that can eventually lead to organizational growth. The main objective of the present study is therefore to assess empirically the dominant obstacles associated with distinct stages of SME development, and to share the strategies used by some SME owners to overcome their problems. Findings will contribute both to management practices and entrepreneurship literature.

Combining discriminant methods in solving classification problems in two-group discriminant analysis

Abstract As no single-discriminant method outperforms other discriminant methods under all circumstances, decision-makers may solve a classification problem using several discriminant methods and examine their performance for classification purposes in the training sample. Based on this performance, better classification methods might be adopted and poor methods might be avoided. However, which single-discriminant method is best to predict the classification of new observations is still not clear, especially when some methods offer a similar classification performance in the training sample. In this paper, we present a method that combines several discriminant methods to predict the classification of new observations. Simulation experiments are run to test this combining technique.

An experimental comparison of some recently developed linear programming approaches to the discriminant problem

This article studies and evaluates several recently proposed linear programming formulations to solve classification problems in discriminant analysis. Some of the new linear programming formulations have merits and perform well in a simulation experiment. A weighted deviation approach is introduced to correct the imbalance of misclassifications across the two groups.

Managing for customers and employees in Hong Kong: The quality and teamwork challenges

Service marketing, total quality management, and human resource management researchers have proposed that employee teamwork is a foundation for service quality. North American research suggests that developing cooperative relationships and constructive controversy among employees can empower employees to serve customers and to strengthen their work relationships and commitment to the organization. Chinese employees in an American-style restaurant in Hong Kong were interviewed on specific incidents that affected service quality. Correlational and structural equation results support the hypotheses that cooperative goals help employees discuss their diverse views open-mindedly and that this constructive controversy results in quality customer service. Competitive and independent goals were largely negatively correlated with dynamics and outcomes. Results were interpreted as suggesting that service teams should develop strong cooperative goals and the skills and procedures of constructive controversy. Deutschs theory of cooperation and competition, although developed largely through North American research, seems useful for understanding and developing service quality teamwork in Asia.

Managing employees in China from Hong Kong: interaction, relationships and productivity as antecedents to motivation

States that managers must often try to motivate employees working in another country. Senior accounting managers in Hong Kong were interviewed on their experiences leading professionals in China. Results of structural equation analyses suggest the usefulness of Deutsch’s theory of co‐operation and competition to understanding how interaction between leaders and employees develops future motivation. Co‐operative goals were found to contribute to a constructive discussion of opposing views between managers and employees which, in turn, resulted in productive work and stronger work relationships; these outcomes, in turn, developed motivation to work hard and well on future assignments. These results were interpreted as suggesting that managers can motivate employees through developing strong co‐operative goals and the skills of constructive controversy.

Co‐operative teamwork for service quality in East Asia

Managers and employees need a crisp understanding of the nature of the teamwork that improves quality service to customers. Field and experiment studies have shown the utility of Deutsch’s theory of co‐operation and competition for understanding quality enhancing teamwork in East Asia. Co‐operative goals have been found to contribute to a constructive, open‐minded discussion of opposing views that in turn result in quality service and strong work relationships. Managers and employees can together develop shared goals, integrated roles, and common tasks that build co‐operative goals. Then they feel that they are on the same side so that as one succeeds, other methods can foster an open‐minded discussion of opposing views. Team members can use this framework to develop their relationships with customers as well as with one another.