WILL TRADESMAN COLLECTIVE WAGE AGREEMENT BE EXEMPTED FROM THE HONG KONG COMPETITION ORDINANCE?

Author(s):  
Sai On Cheung

Tradesman Collective Wage Agreement (TCWA) has been used for construction tradesmen for many years. This would ensure the daily wage for qualified tradesmen will not fall below the agreed level. On 14th December 2015, the Hong Kong first ever Competition Ordinance (HKCO) came into effect. Under the First Conduct Rule (Section 6 of the HKCO), an undertaking must not (a) make or give effect to an agreement; (b) engage in a concerted practice; or (c) as a member of an association of undertakings, make or give effect to a decision of the association, if the object or effect of the agreement, concerted practice or decision is to prevent, restrict or distort competition in Hong Kong. Moreover, Section 15 of HKCO allows exemption for agreements that fulfil certain criteria such as economic efficiency and public policy. This study finds that TCWA will likely violate the First Conduct Rule due to its price fixing effect. Moreover, TCWA can apply for block exemption under Section 15 of the HKCO on the ground of engendering economic benefits. Reference is also made to the first application for exemption under the HKCO to illustrate the key arguments.

Author(s):  
Kanti Bajpai

Every ranking system rates Indian universities poorly against their Asian counterparts in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, and in some cases, even universities in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The question then is why, given that in 1947 it could fairly be said that at least a dozen Indian universities were leaders in Asia and were of international repute, Indian universities are in an egregious condition. This chapter essays some answers. It also argues for curricular reform, in particular for the introduction of public policy studies at the major Indian universities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 106 ◽  
pp. 173-184
Author(s):  
Ho-Yin Chan ◽  
Anthony Chen ◽  
Wei Ma ◽  
Nang-Ngai Sze ◽  
Xintao Liu

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-99
Author(s):  
Nebojsa Nedic ◽  
Marija Nikolic ◽  
Senad Hopic

Although beekeeping in Serbia has a long tradition, the interest of farmers for this branch of agricultural production depends on the expected economic benefits. Assessing the economic justification of beekeeping is based on the analysis of the revenues from honey production, as the main and often the only beekeeping product, and the expenses generated in production. The aim of the paper is to compare revenues and expenses in the production of honey and to determine the threshold of profitability. The calculation of the revenues and the expenses was made on the basis of data obtained from the survey of beekeepers and from the available secondary sources. The analysis showed that the profitability threshold was achieved with 68 colonies, or with production volume of 1,450 kg of honey. The values of the indicators of economic efficiency, productivity and profitability indicate that beekeeping was economically justified on farms with 100 and 200 colonies.


2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley Guy

Deconstruction is the selective dismantling of building structures to recover the maximum amount of primarily reusable and secondarily recyclable materials in a safe and cost-effective manner. Deconstruction is a labor intensive process and can be difficult to achieve in a time-efficient and economical manner for light wood-framed buildings. Deconstruction techniques that balance hand and mechanical labor must be developed to maintain the integrity of materials for reuse and obtain maximum salvage value per unit of cost and time-on-site. This project entailed the removal of three identical WWII-era two-story wood-framed barracks buildings at Ft. McClellan Army Base, Anniston, AL, using hand deconstruction, combined mechanical and hand deconstruction techniques, and a traditional demolition method, i.e., mechanical reduction and disposal, in order to determine “optimal” deconstruction techniques based on salvage value per unit of cost. The maximum practical materials salvage from the study buildings using 100% hand deconstruction techniques was 39% of the mass by weight. A combination of hand and mechanical techniques was discovered to have approximately the same economic efficiency as 100% hand deconstruction, measured as a ratio of gross cost per salvage value, with a 44.6% reduction in total labor-hours, and a reduction of only 7% of salvage materials by weight. These findings indicate the potential for greatly increasing wood-framed building deconstruction practice relative to the additional time-on-site and labor that is required, compared to demolition, while optimizing economic benefits. This paper describes the research methods and deconstruction techniques employed, and lessons learned to advance the practice of deconstruction to be more economically competitive and time-efficient.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 473-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanbin Pan ◽  
Lei Huang ◽  
Linlin Zhao

Abstract A common feature of previous studies about the application of data envelopment analysis (DEA) to determine environmental and economic efficiencies is that the two were analyzed in separate models or frameworks. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the economic efficiency and environmental efficiency with a single model. This paper proposes an integrated DEA model, based on a modification of the directional distance function, which allows us to decompose the eco-efficiency (EE) into the economic efficiency (ECE) and environmental efficiency (ENE). The ECE characterizes the ability of gaining economic benefits while the ENE characterizes the ability to control pollutant emissions in production activities. Identification of ECE and ENE can help decision makers of different regions detect what kind of factor (economic inefficiency or environmental inefficiency) is the main source of eco-inefficiency. This can help decision makers more targeted to improve EE. To illustrate the feasibility of our approach, a case study of 30 regions in China is presented. The empirical results show that almost all regions have very high economic efficiencies. The environmental inefficiency is the main source of eco-inefficiency. The differences of environmental efficiencies lead to the differences of eco-efficiencies in the east, central and west areas, while the economic efficiencies do not have significant differences among these areas. The economic efficiencies showed an opposite “V” shape and the environmental efficiencies showed a decreasing trend during the period 2010–2014.


2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suk-Ching Ho

By examining the Hong Kong food-retailing experience spanning the past five decades, this article demonstrates how the forces of evolution and tradition drive the development of the industry to the state it is today. It illustrates how the three major players—consumers, marketers, and government entities—within the aggregate marketing system environment interact in ways that shape the structure of the food-retailing system across time. The author argues that when significant economic and social consequences are at stake, public policy must be called into play as a check and balance to companies. The author emphasizes the need to develop context-sensitive approaches to policy implementation on the part of both the government and firms to ensure that the system can maximally operate to serve the needs of the broader society.


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