20
HKUST 2011-2012 Annual Report
RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT
To share or not to share supply chain
information
Novel insights that could allow managers to improve the
performance of supply chains in many industries have
resulted from research by Prof Albert Ha and Prof Hongtao
Zhang (Information Systems, Business Statistics and
Operations Management). They developed a new theory
that explains how firms share information in competing
supply chains with production diseconomies. The findings
were published in
Management Science
.
Cyber-physical pioneer
Emerging cyber-physical societies and internet of things
environments are set to shape future lifestyles. The
HKUST-NIE Social Media Lab, established by Prof James
She (Electronic and Computer Engineering), is a next-
generation facility that aims to collect data to help
business and advertising and develop technology for
“digital life”. The lab’s unconventional focus concentrates
on the research and design of next-generation social media
systems, networks and applications. It is Asia’s first lab of
its kind.
Impact of regional clusters on
innovation
Regional clusters of industry and their effect on
innovation are the focus of a study by Prof Wouter Stam
(Management). Combining agent-based simulation
modeling with an empirical investigation of firms in the
US nanotechnology industry, the research reveals how
networking and learning activities of firms co-located
in the same region influence a cluster’s innovativeness
over time, and how government policy can enhance
the innovative capacity of regional clusters by creating
particular opportunities and incentives for network
formation and knowledge sharing.
The Wikipedia effect
Online encyclopedia Wikipedia and its contributors form
the basis for research conducted by Prof Michael Zhang
(Information Systems, Business Statistics and Operations
Management). The project has assembled a Wikipedia
dataset over one terabyte (1,000 GB) in size. The largest
table has about 600 million records with information on
Wikipedia contributions and contributors. He has used
this dataset to study questions related to information
systems, social networking, accounting, and economics,
resulting in publications in top journals such as
MIS
Quarterly
and
American Economic Review
. The research
offers powerful tools to derive rigorous empirical results
and has implications for policy-makers and the design of
social media systems.
Exploring the global mindset
With globalization a central influence in today’s world,
Prof Melody Manchi Chao (Management) is investigating
“Sojourner Adjustment: A Lay Theory Perspective (2010-
2012)”. Her study looks at how individuals’ beliefs about
themselves and the others facilitate or hinder cultural
adjustment. In addition, it investigates the ameliorative
effects that multicultural experience has on intergroup bias.
Eye on evolving Hong Kong
Prof Xiaogang Wu (Social Science) is tracking social
and economic changes in Hong Kong and their impact
on people’s lives through the systematic collection of
longitudinal data. In the first wave of fieldwork, over
3,214 households and 7,218 adults aged 15 or above,
and 958 children (under age 15) were interviewed. This
project of the HKUST Center for Applied Social and
Economic Research, funded by the CPU-RGC Hong
Kong Strategic Public Policy Scheme, will provide an
important source of reference for quantitative
social science research in Hong Kong and
Chinese societies.
