Newsletter No. 114

CUHK Newsletter No. 114 19th October 1997 3 Collaboration in Family Medicine with UBC Prof. S.H. Lee, chairman of the Department of Community and Family Medicine, exchanges memoranda with Prof. C. Herbert of UBC A memorandum of understanding was signed between the University's Department of Community and Family Medicine and the Department of Family Practice at the University of British Columbia, Canada on 25th September to facilitate collaboration in education, training and research. The two departments will exchange staff and students on teaching and research programmes, organize joint training courses, and cooperate in research projects. Home-Grown Nurse Specialists T he Master of Nursing programme offered by the University will produce its first batch of graduates this year. Introduced in 1995, this two-year part-time self-financing programme is the first of its kind in Hong Kong for graduate nurses working in clinical settings. Its objective is to promote clinical excellence and research skills in patient care and to prepare graduate nurses for advanced clinical nursing. The programme offers courses in acute care, oncology, community and public health, midwifery, and mental health. Students are required to carry out research in the second year of study. On 15th September 1997, the 17 graduands of the programme made their research presentations on topics ranging from the management of post-operative pain and caring for the chronically- mentally-ill to the care of infants in neonatal intensive care units and the evaluation of health education programmes for people with hypertension. All of them possess first degrees and have had at least three years of clinical experience as nurses. Specialist training at postgraduate level offered by the Department of Nursing is expected to improve their career prospects and upgrade nursing care in Hong Kong. Research Focus Profile of Researcher Prof. Alan C.B. Tse graduatedfrom The Chinese University and obtained his doctoratefrom Massey University, New Zealand, in 1991. Hejoined the University's Department ofMarketing as lecturer in 1990, and is now an associate professor. Prof. Tse's research interests include information overload, the automatic generation ofhorn clausesfrom large market databases, and the use of genetic algorithmfor new product development. R & D in Local Enterprises: Does it Necessarily Increase Profit? R & D Simply Put Anyone who has lived in Hong Kong long enough must have noticed the change in the queueing system in many banks. In the past, there was a line in front of each teller, and the duration of your wait depended on how long it took the teller to serve the customers ahead of you, in other words, on luck. If your teller happened to be a novice or i f the customers in front of you had complicated transactions, your wait could very well be longer than someone who arrived at the bank later than you. Under the new system, customers queue up in one line for all the tellers in the bank Those who come first, therefore, are always served first. Credit for working out the improved queueing system using queueing theory goes to the Research and Development (R & D) departments of the banks. In fact all technology- or science-related ideas for products and services often come from the think-tank of researchers and scientists in the R & D departments of companies. A Project to Gauge Local R & D Activities R & D activities are expensive and misdirected expenditures can lead to disastrous consequences for the company. Is 'more' always 'better' and the 'more, the 'better'? And under what circumstances? The answers can provide valuable insight for firms in Hong Kong. But until recently, little research on the quantity and cost-effectiveness of R & D activities in Hong Kong has been done, and unlike many other countries in Asia, Hong Kong has had no R & D index. With a grant of HK$ 120,000 from the Government's Industry Department in 1994, Prof. Alan C.B. Tse of the Department of Marketing conducted a research project on 'The Development of a Measurement of Scientific and Technological activities in Hong Kong' to examine the complex relationship between R & D expenditure and business performance and to establish an R & D index for Hong Kong. Close to 4,000 Managers Contribute Useful Information The subjects of the study were the general managers of 3,726 companies registered in Hong Kong. The companies were chosen on the basis of their size from the Central Register of Establishments, a central database maintained by the Census and Statistics Department. A l l 2,058 companies classified as 'big' on the database, i.e., having over 50 employees, were selected. And of the close to 30,000 'small' companies, i.e., those having 50 or fewer employees, 1,668 were selected by random sampling. A questionnaire was then sent to the general managers of the selected companies in the summer of 1994. Questions concentrated on the relation between R & D and business performance as measured by sales growth rate, customer retention ability, and returns on investments. The subjects were asked to visualize their company's major competitor, compare the business performances of the two companies, and then indicate the results of that comparison on a scale from -3 to +3. Zero meant a draw, while a positive number meant the comparison was in their favour and vice versa. Questions were also asked on the coordination between R & D and marketing as it may have an impact on business performance. Do staff in the two departments communicate well? How often do they have meetings? Do R & D staff seem to understand customer needs? Another issue under scrutiny was the influence of the business environment: the impact of R & D expenditure on business performance was examined in the light of the overall rate of technological change in society, and the condition of the principal target market. More R & D Expenditure, More Profit? The results of the study show first of all that R & D expenditure is positively associated with business performance. In other words, more money spent on R & D means more profits for the company, more new products or services launched, and more loyal customers. Prof. Tse pointed out that this conclusion is in line with the findings of other studies conducted abroad. The project's more in-depth study shows that if R & D communicates well with marketing, increased R & D expenditure is associated with higher levels of business performance. But when the rate of technological change is rapid, high levels of R & D expenditure may not necessarily boost business performance. This is because products and services easily become outdated at times of great technological change. Project data show furthermore that when the principal target market is shrinking, increased R & D expenditure can lead to better business performance. When it is expanding, however, the positive relationship ceases to exist. An expanding market indicates that interest in the existing products or services is still high, hence, launching new products or services may not make a company perform better than its major competitor. Conversely, in a shrinking target market where customers are tiring of what is available, the novelty of new products or services is able to stimulate business performance. Hong Kong's First R & D Index The questionnaire also solicited information on the background of the companies, such as their size and whether they are Hong Kong companies, as well as data on the percentage of total expenditure companies allocate for applied research or basic research, the number of researchers companies employ for R & D purposes, the number of patents applied for, the number of patents granted, and the number of new products or services launched. The consolidation of such data by Prof. Tse ushered in Hong Kong's first R & D index, which is extremely useful to the government in understanding the scientific and technological activities carried out in Hong Kong and to formulate strategies to boost Hong Kong's technological capacities. PieraChen