Business Commons^™

Extending The Use Of Market Orientation: Transforming A Charity Into A Business, Paul A. Chad

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Charities play a crucial role within society but are facing growing competition. Adopting a market orientation assists for-profit organisations to improve performance and can potentially also assist charities. This paper examines the under-researched topic of how market orientation can be appropriately introduced into a charity, and the resultant effect upon performance. A charity that introduced market orientation is examined using a discourse transformation framework. Thematic analysis of in-depth interviews of employees identifies how management changed the organisation through use of a three-phase process of new managerialism, professionalism and embedding. Few if any papers have previously examined how management of a …

Personality And Motivation Matter In Touring Holidays: A Preliminary Investigation Into Heterogeneity Among Touring Travelers, John Gountas, Sara Dolnicar, Sandra Gountas

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Touring travelers represent a significant market in Australia and are expected to play an even larger role in the future. Yet, to date, they are viewed and treated like one large homogeneous market. The aim of the present study was to question this assumption and investigate whether distinct segments exist among touring travelers. Results, based on an empirical study of 430 Australian travelers, indicate that at least two distinct segments can be constructed which differ in travel motivations, sociodemographics, and personality characteristics. These findings can be used to segment and harvest the market of tourist travelers through the development of …

Education Into Employment? Indonesian Women And Moving From Business Education Into Professional Participation, Ang Lindawati, Ciorstan J. Smark

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of this paper is to explore the issue of possible cultural and historical explanations of why Indonesian women’s higher participation in tertiary accounting studies has failed to lead to a commensurately higher participation in the upper echelons of public accounting careers. This paper has adopted the ideographic subjectivist approach which suggests that research should be culturally and historically informed. Women interviewed for this study repeatedly mentioned two cultural and historical barriers to their fuller participation in the public accounting profession. Firstly, it was noted that Javanese expectations of “proper” behavior in women did not lend itself to some …

"Making Connections": Insights Into Relationship Marketing From The Australasian Stock And Station Agent Industry, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Relationship marketing has received little attention from business historians who have favored the study of branding, associational advertising, market research, and the role of marketing agencies, particularly in relation to modern consumer manufacturing. Although the term relationship marketing is of recent origin, we analyze its practice under a different guise, "connections", over several centuries: we draw on the extensive archival evidence of a rural business services industry in Australia and New Zealand. Relationship marketing's emphasis upon close and enduring individual customer relationships mitigated uncertainty of performance and behaviour, on both sides of the transaction, created by a long and geographically …

Turning Marketing Promises Into Business Value: The Experience Of An Industrial Sme, Victoria Little, Judith Motion, Rod Brodie, Richard Brookes

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

How can businesses create more value for their customers and shareholders? One way of understanding this task is to apply the promises framework: promises made to customers, promises kept, and promises enabled. Traditionally marketers made the promises, leaving keeping and enabling activities to other departments (e.g. logistics, manufacturing and customer service) and to senior management. However, marketers are increasingly acknowledging that creating and delivering value to customers requires a synchronised effort from the whole firm, not only marketers.

Leaning Into The Steel Industry: Lean Supply And The Steel Industry, Matthew P. Pepper, Trevor A. Spedding

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The steel industry contributes substantially to Australia’s economy. However, globalisation has forced steel producers and exporters to reassess their strategic direction and seek out different management approaches to maintain market share. This paper promotes the concept of lean supply and its effectiveness (when used in conjunction with other strategic tools), in responding to the challenges of globalisation and other changes in the operating market; by strengthening the industrial supply chain for competition. Future considerations for practitioners and researchers are identified in the concluding discussion.

A Methodology For Integrating Artificial Intelligence Into A Quality Management Teaching Environment, Xuesong Chi, Trevor A. Spedding

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Management flight simulators provide a “microworld” in which users control an organization in a realistic environment without the need to disturb the real system. This paper presents a web-based intelligent virtual learning environment to enhance the education of engineering management students in quality management and statistical process control techniques. The paper introduces the structure and methodology for building this online learning environment. The simulated environment is based on an innovative approach which incorporates a Fuzzy Adaptive Resonance Theory Neural Network to enable students to obtain the best response by automatically identifying out of control conditions.

An Insight Into Advance Fee Fraud On The Internet, Joshua Chang

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Advance fee fraud on the Internet currently rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars golbally per year. Aslo known as the "419" fraud, this scheme originated from Nigeria in the 1970s and was marketed via traditional means such as mail and facsimile transmissions.

An Investigation Into Student Approaches To Learning At A Multicultural University Using The Revised Study Process Questionnaire, L. Smith

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper is an exploratory study into student approaches to learning at a multicultural university. It is particularly relevant to higher education today, which is taking on a more global perspective, especially in the developing world where this university is situated. The instrument used to measure student approaches to learning is the revised Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ) and the results are analysed using factor analysis. The SPQ was revised in 2001 to take into account the changing nature of students in higher education, with emphasis on students from diverse cultural backgrounds, and was therefore considered appropriate for this study. The …

Australian School Funding And Accountability: History Imploding Into The Present, Kathleen M. Rudkin

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines historical origins of accountability for public funding in the Australian school education system. Understandings of accountability have developed unique to the Australian context, embedding institutions and ideas from a colonial past. It is shown that the funding arrangements used to distribute and account for public education funds are political devices to mediate enduring historic relationships between government and non-government schools, while at the same time masking these relationships in the veiled rhetoric of a broader Australian cultural imperative of egalitarianism. It concludes the current funding and accountability of school education in Australia is a simulacrum of accountability. …

Internet Banking: An Empirical Investigation Into The Extent Of Adoption By Banks And The Determinants Of Customer Satisfaction In The United Arab Emirates, Raed Awamleh, Cedwyn Fernandes

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study adopts the Diniz (1998) model to evaluate websites of foreign and local banks in the United Arab Emirates and through a survey of users ascertains factors that influence customer satisfaction of the internet banking service. These are convenience, independence, and security of internet banking transactions.

Results suggest that although the banking sector in the United Arab Emirates is a regional leader, internet banking in the United Arab Emirates is yet to be properly utilized as a real added value tool to improve customer relationship and to attain cost advantages. To identify factors influencing satisfaction of internet banking customers, …

An Exploratory Study Into The Giving Behaviour Of Small To Medium Enterprises (Smes): An Australian Experience, Gary I. Noble

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

A constant growth in the number of non-profit organisations (NPOs) over the past decade has also meant an increase in competition between NPOs for ongoing support. In this environment and without the marketing resources of their national and international counterparts many smaller NPOs do not attract the same level of individual or corporate support as their larger NPO rivals. Evidence suggests an alternative source of support for these smaller NPOs is often small to medium enterprises (SMEs).

This paper argues that although there is a considerable body of literature on the giving behaviour of individuals, and to a lesser extent …

Student Responses To The Integration Of Webct Into An Accounting Subject, Anne Abraham

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

How can WebCT be integrated into classroom teaching? How can it be used to enhance the learning experience of students? Students are often hesitant about using new technology, especially if they are asked to communicate publicly in some way. The use of WebCTprovides students with valuable learning experiences as well as flexibility by offering a virtual classroom, wherever and whenever (within reason) that it suits the students. In addition, WebCT can enhance communication by encouraging online participation and overcoming students'fear ofdealing with new technology. This paper presents the result of research based on student evaluations of the integration ofthe use …