Tak-Kee Hui

Factors Affecting Internet Shopping Behaviour in Singapore: Gender and Educational Issues

Despite the increasing number of online users and products that are being offered on the Web, there is relatively little work that specifically examines the role of gender and educational level on the attitudes of Internet users in the Singapore context. Our findings reveal that there is a general consensus amongst Singaporeans that the Internet is a convenient medium for information search or making purchases. The better-educated respondents seem to be less concerned with security issues. They also perceive that Internet shopping provides better prices and more cost savings. Females indicate a strong dislike for not being able to savour a physically fulfilling shopping experience online.

Portfolio diversification: a factor analysis approach

One of the main purposes of modern portfolio theory is to deal with the merit of international diversification, which is closely linked to the issue of co-movement and interdependence between stock markets. The globalization of equity markets and the increasing growth potential of the emerging Asian markets in the recent years have attracted significant attention in their co-movements. This study aims to investigate the potential of diversifying into US and Asia Pacific markets in the perspective of a Singaporean investor. A factor analysis is first used to screen out certain stock markets before the portfolio is computed. In view of the recent Asian financial crisis in mid-1997, the study is also extended to include international diversification choices after the Asian crisis to provide a more comprehensive study for Singaporean investors. The idea of this research can be repeated from a different perspective such as the US point of view.

Factors affecting Singaporeans’ acceptance of international postings

Singapore is a cosmopolitan city. With the rapid globalisation of businesses and the governments call for Singapore companies to “go global”, to what extent are Singaporeans ready to take up foreign assignments? Location‐related factors have often been cited in the popular press as one of the most powerful barriers to expatriation. This study aims to ascertain: the willingness of Singaporeans to consider overseas assignments with specific reference to the cultural distance between the host and home countries; and the relative importance of different contributing factors (demographic attributes, individual personality traits, job and community tenure, spouse‐related attributes and company relocation policy) in determining Singaporeans’ willingness to accept expatriate assignments. Results from a survey of 200 working adults reveal that Singaporeans, in general, prefer to work in a culturally similar host country rather than an unfamiliar place. For both locations, the most influential antecedent of expatriation appears to be a companys relocation policy.

Modeling the Impact of Sudden Environmental Changes on Visitor Arrival Forecasts: The Case of the Gulf War

Most forecasting models for tourist arrivals were constructed under the assumption of only minor changes in the environment. The performance of forecasting models in situations of sudden, drastic environmental change(s) has not been given much attention. Using the Gulf War as an example of sudden environmental change, the present article explored the relative performance of different forecasting models. The findings showed that in terms of forecasting accuracy, the naive II model was the best in dealing with unstable data.

A study in the seasonal variation of Japanese tourist arrivals in Singapore

Abstract Among the major overseas tourism markets for Singapore (besides the neighbouring ASEAN countries), Japan is the second largest. The number of Japanese visitors to Singapore had increased from 0.38 million in 1985 to 0.84 million in 1998, an increase of almost 121 per cent. In terms of the share of Japanese tourists in the domestic tourism market, it had only increased from 12.4 to 13.5 per cent. To attract more Japanese visitors, it helps to have a clear understanding of the pattern of Japanese tourist arrivals so that different promotion strategies can be devised and implemented. In this paper, we analyzed the pattern of arrivals by focusing on seasonal indices. The study found that the seasonal indices of Japanese tourist arrivals are stable over time. Policy implications of the finding were also discussed.

International portfolio diversification: A factor analysis approach

This paper investigates the systematic covariation in equity prices among US and Asia-Pacific countries during the 1980s by employing the statistical technique of factor analysis. Our results suggest that if US investors and portfolio managers were to select a large and well developed market for risk diversification, then USA, Taiwan and Japan would be appropriate. The final choice depends very much on the risk-return preference of individual investors.

Factors affecting consumers' choice of a travel agency: the case of Singapore.

Abstract This study aims to identify the most important factors in selecting a travel agency as perceived by Singaporeans. Based on a sample of 184 respondents, this study showed that “value for money of the tour package” was the most important factor affecting ones choice of a travel agency, followed by “reputation of the travel agency.” Nine factors were derived from 27 attributes using factor analysis. With the factor scores and the parametric (t-test and one-way ANOVA) or non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis test), the study also showed that when selecting travel agencies, females attached more importance on the Image factor than their male counterparts. In addition, contingency analysis further revealed that age and income levels had significant influences on the choice of preferred travel agencies.

Who are the online grocers

Online grocery sales experienced a surge in Singapore in the early half of 2003 during the SARS outbreak. This research uses the technology acceptance model and some basic demographic variables to study the intended usage of online supermarkets. Based on a sample size of 211 shoppers, it was found that those 21–40 years old have a higher propensity to use the online grocery stores while those having income lower than S

Selection of stock markets: a factor analysis approach

2000 a month have less inclination to make use of e-grocery shopping. The stepwise discriminant analysis shows that two perceived variables, usefulness and ease of use, and two demographic variables, age and income are significant in differentiating the intended customers. Our results are different from past studies, where gender and education were found to be significant. This may be due to the fact that the bulk of the respondents were under 41 years old with at least tertiary education.

An Econometric Study on Japanese Tourist Arrivals in British Columbia and its Implications

This study uses factor analysis to simplify the complex relationships among stock markets and to reduce the number of markets required for portfolio construction. Our sample consists of the US and 11 Asia-Pacific stock markets. We find that the reduced portfolio obtained from factor analysis has the same return per unit risk as that constructed with all 12 stock markets. Sub-periods, pre-crisis and post-crisis periods are also examined. Comparisons of optimal portfolios reveal that the exclusion of dividends understates the benefits of diversification and has an influence on optimum portfolio selection and country weights.