Jimmy Chang

Use of Business Simulation Games in Hong Kong

A major survey covering all seven Hong Kong universities, polytechnics, and colleges was administered to examine current usage of business simulation games and how and why they were used. The findings from this study were favorable.

Popularization of sustainable fashion: barriers and solutions

The need to reduce the harmful consequences of environmental damage is fueling the development of environmentally friendly products. However, many people believe that being fashionable and being environmentally conscious are in direct conflict, and they question whether these two concepts can coexist. The results of a questionnaire survey of 327 consumers from South Korea show that consumers’ involvement in fashion is not necessarily linked to their intention to buy and consume sustainable fashion. This finding motivated us to investigate whether there are any barriers that restrict the popularization of sustainable fashion and, if so, how we can solve such a problem. From this perspective, an in-depth interview study was conducted to consolidate the views of five fashion professionals to reveal the major barriers to popularization. The ultimate goal is to explore solutions to bridge the gap between the supply and demand for sustainable fashion. The findings of this study extend our understanding of consumers’ attitude toward two conflicting values – fashionism and environmentalism, as well as the popularization barriers of sustainable fashion. This understanding is imperative to the promotion of the green movement in the fashion industry, particularly in Asian countries.

Mergers and Acquisitions in a Business Game

We apply a design-science approach to examine the merger and acquisition features of a business game. These features include an experience-curve model that constitutes the endogenous incentive for horizontal integration, supplemented with a production capacity limit and a business license fee for each firm. Procedures for acquisitions include the ability of firms to found subsidiary firms and to purchase firms by submitting market offers to buy shares, by accepting market offers to sell shares, and by engaging in statutory takeovers. The game was administered to 180 college undergraduates for 200 periods over the duration of one semester. By the end of the exercise, the participants had founded 285 firms across five interdependent industries. About 28% of the firms had acquired other firms. Forward acquisitions exceed backward and conglomerate acquisitions throughout the duration of the exercise, forward acquisitions exceed horizontal acquisitions when the economy is less mature, and horizontal acquisitions increase more than forward, backward, and conglomerate acquisitions when the economy is more mature. On the whole, participants behaved rationally, evidence that the merger and acquisition features function as intended. A follow-up study of hubris in mergers and acquisitions is suggested.

Adoption of Information and Communication Technologies in Textile Virtual Collaboration

Modern organizations face more and more challenges in todays globalizing markets. Many textile firms operate collaboratively as a globally-networked virtual team to sustain their competitiveness. How to select and utilize a diversity of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to facilitate collaboration among these textile virtual teams is a critical issue to these enterprises. This paper explores the criteria of ICT adoption in collaboration processes from both theoretical and practical perspectives. First, ICTs theories of telecommunications are reviewed to conclude background knowledge and examine contextual requirements for ICTs. We find that the conveyance of social cues, the ability of fostering member involvement and coordinating interruptions, and the user-friendly interface of communication technology are crucial to the remote collaboration among textile firms. Second, empirical in-depth interviews with 20 practitioners in textile and apparel companies are conducted. Then, combining the findings, we discuss the features of primary ICTs adopted in practice at present. We recommend six essential facets in ICTs adoption during textile virtual team communication (i.e. synchronicity, medium richness, connectedness, disruptiveness, ease of use, and cost). We also suggest how these ICTs can be deployed in line with organizational and individual factors to facilitate textile virtual collaboration.