Maintenance of hospitality buildings is complex and dynamic as the performance of the engineering systems is subjected to sensitive users’ requirements and high expectation of the top management for supporting the business. With detailed case studies drawn from a representative hotel, this paper presents the practices, work load and resource requirement for maintaining the engineering systems and the building. In‐house and contracted‐out maintenance, repair and retrofitting works are examined. Common failure modes and failure occurrence rates are reported. A concept of five strategic bases of maintenance is presented for the development of maintenance programmes. Performance indicators for measuring the effectiveness of maintenance are established for the hospitality engineering systems and applied in the hotel studied to illustrate the assessment of maintenance performance.
Work-integration social enterprises (WISEs), established mainly by non-government welfare agencies and managed by social workers, provide disadvantaged groups with an opportunity for employment and training in businesses. The participants benefit in terms of income, and also through expanded social networks and improved psycho-social well-being. WISEs thus contribute to poverty alleviation and social capital building.
Purpose -On the basis of a survey conducted in 2010,the purpose of this paper is to discuss the latest developments of social enterprises in Hong Kong and Taiwan by analysing the typology and nature of social enterprises in these two regions, their operating context, and their perceived social impacts. The institutional context and governmental policies appear to have had a great influence on the development of social enterprise in both these Chinese communities. Design/methodology/approach -Data were collected through a survey conducted in both Hong Kong and Taiwan in 2010. A total of 116 completed questionnaires (return rate: 27.2 per cent) in Taiwan and 45 completed questionnaires (return rate 53.0 per cent) in Hong Kong were received. Findings -Social enterprises in Hong Kong and Taiwan are in a "growth stage", and they are becoming more diversified in both regions. Solving the problem of unemployment and alleviating poverty appear to be two major reasons pursued by NPOs when they set up a social enterprise. In addition, the analysis also revealed that the significance of social enterprises for helping marginal groups is increasingly recognised and that self-reliance is very much emphasised in both regions. Beside these similarities, there are also great differences between social enterprises in the two regions, be it in terms of respective importance, institutional context, marketing strategies or government policies. Originality/value -By tracking the growth and development of social enterprises in Hong Kong and Taiwan from 2006 to 2010, this paper attempts to analyse the similarities and diversities of social enterprises in these two Chinese communities. It also attempts to shed light on the impacts of the institutional context and the governmental policies on shaping the future development of social enterprises.
The ISO 14001 environmental management system (EMS) standard has been adopted in many parts of the world. In order to evaluate current implementation in Hong Kong, a questionnaire survey was conducted of more than 200 local companies. ISO 14001 EMS adoption is still slow in Hong Kong, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The majority of SMEs do not have plans to implement the standard in the near future. However, the EMS standard has brought many advantages to the local ISO 14001 EMS certified companies, including the reduction of operating costs and the improvement of working efficiency. Recommendations are made for EMS standard implementation in local organizations, particularly SMEs.
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