Business Commons^™

Macroconstants Of Development: A New Benchmark For The Strategic Development Of Advanced Countries And Firms, Andrey Bystrov, Vyacheslav Yusim, Tamilla Curtis

Dr. Tamilla Curtis

This research proposed a new indicator of countries’ development called “macroconstants of development”. The literature review indicates that the concept of "macroconstants of development" is not used at the moment in neither the theory nor the practice of industrial policy. Research of longitudinal data of total GDP, GDP per capita and their derivatives for most countries of the world was conducted. An analysis of statistical information has been done by employing econometric analyses.

Based on the analysis of the statistical data, which characterizes the development of large, technologically advanced countries in ordinary conditions, it was identified that the average acceleration …

Project Management And Organizational Change, Lynn Crawford, Alicia Aitken, Anat Hassner-Nahmias

Lynn Crawford

Extract: Organizational changes have become recognized as a distinct type of project or program, and it may be argued that the majority of projects involve some degree of organizational and behavioral change. The degree of this change can be expected to be greater in projects where the purpose is to achieve organizational change, but even where the focus is on other outcomes, achievement of desired benefits may require structural changes and will generally involve some change in the way people do things. However, while project managers claim to be implementers of change, current project management standards focus on change control …

Development In Western Ideology Of Entrepreneurialism And Their (Mis)Applications In The Context Of Non-Western Cultures, Helan Gamage, Ananda Wickramasinghe

Ananda Wickramasinghe

The focus of this article is a conceptual analysis of the western entrepreneurship paradigm and its practical implications, based on a desktop approach. In order to bring a holistic view of the western paradigm, the following questions were raised: What constitutes the western paradigm of entrepreneurship? How does this paradigm transfer to other cultures? Why is this paradigm criticized? The purpose of evaluating the western paradigm is to gain an understanding of western ideologies in entrepreneurship to consider a suitable methodology for an alternative approach in entrepreneurship research. The different disciplinary perspectives and the reductionist approach of the western paradigm …

The Development Of A Multi Variant Model For Market Intelligence Data Gathering For Australian Micro Businesses And Smes - A First Step In Unravelling The Paradox Of Big Picture Thinking By Small Market Players, Pauline Ross, Lee Styger

Lee Styger

Micro businesses and SMEs have typically been encouraged to develop and implement "professional" business processes that will enable them to understand their business environment. The driver of this trend has typically come from a growth in the use of external "expert" sources (i.e. consultants and sponsored agents) who are not always fully associated with the business. This growth in external intervention has typically triggered an evolution in contemporary thinking and literature, that would lead us to believe that micro businesses and SMEs operate in a similar way, and with a similar structure, as larger organisations. This paper focuses on some …

Development And Validation Of The Solution-Focused Inventory, Anthony Grant, Michael Cavanagh, Sabina Kleitman, Gordon Spence, Michaela Lakota, Nickolas Yu

Gordon B Spence

Solution-focused coaching and solution-focused therapy are strengths-based approaches which emphasize people's resources and resilience and how these can be used in the pursuit of purposeful, positive change. The Solution-focused Inventory (SFI) is a 12-item scale with three subscales: Problem Disengagement, Goal Orientation and Resource Activation. Three studies in this article provide support for the validity of the SFI as a measure of solution-focused thinking. The SFI negatively correlated with psychopathology and positively correlated with measures of well-being, resilience and perspective taking. Test-retest reliability over 16 weeks was 0.84. Cronbach's alpha for the 12-item scale was 0.84. It also demonstrates sensitivity …

Further Development Of Evidence-Based Coaching: Lessons From The Rise And Fall Of The Human Potential Movement, Gordon Spence

Gordon B Spence

Although several authors have argued for the development of an evidence-based approach to coaching practice, few attempts have been made to draw support for these arguments by examining events of the recent past. This paper seeks to learn some lessons from history by exploring events surrounding the rise and fall of the human potential movement (HPM), which occurred between the 1940s and 1970s. The demise of the HPM is of relevance to the coaching industry because it powerfully illustrates how the promise and potential of innovative practices can be easily lost when its practitioners become disconnected from theoretically sound rationales …

A Contribution To Research And Development In The Carer Support Sector: Lessons On Effective Caring, Kathryn Williams, Alan Owen

Alan G Owen

The importance of supporting carers in their roles is now recognised in government policy at all levels and there is ample scope for improving the service system as well as the evidence base for promoting effective interventions. This paper summarises the findings of a project to review the literature on effective caring that was carried out as part of a larger body of work by one research centre working in the area of carer needs assessment. The aim of the project was to identify best practice models, as well as particular types of services that may benefit specific sub-groups of …

Towards A Measure Of Function For Home And Community Care Services In Australia: Part 1 - Development Of A Standard National Approach, Nicholas Marosszeky, Kathy Eagar, Roslyn Poulos, Alan Owen

Alan G Owen

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Web-Based Student Enquiry System: Integration Of Ontology And Case-Based Reasoning, Sim Lau, Seung Hwan Kang

Dr Sim Kim Lau

No abstract provided.

The Development Of British Railway Accounting: 1800-1911, John Glynn

John J Glynn

This paper concentrates on accounting aspects arising from the development of the railways. Railways in nineteenth century Britain had a major influence in reshaping some of the legislative procedures in parliament, the development of the capital market, and the economy at large. A background is provided to the first government regulations, introduced in 1840, and all subsequent major developments which led up to the Railway Companies (Accounts and Returns) Act, 1911. Why had it taken over eighty years (since the first commercial railway was established in 1830) to produce a standard presentation of accounts and financial reports?

The Development Of Performance Auditing In Australia, John Glynn

John J Glynn

No abstract provided.

Assessing Student Performance In Service Learning: Awards & Results, Laurence Minsky

Laurence Minsky

How do you judge student performance in a service-learning environment? One way is by seeing if the activities accomplished the goals of the community organization. But that only gets at part of the picture, because it’s from the organization’s perspective. There are other less traditional, but more powerful ways, to gauge performance: from the change in behaviors of the intended receivers of the service to the employ of outside professional standards. In this presentation, all of these ways will be explored. And, it will be argued that one should take a multi-input approach to assessing student learning, development, and performance.

A Framework For Leadership Development, George Hrivnak, Rebecca Reichard, Ronald Riggio

George Hrivnak

Despite the tremendous amount of time, money, and energy spent by practitioners and scholars alike to understand, promote, and facilitate effective leadership development, the field is still far from fully understanding what is often regarded as both art and science. That is not to suggest, however, that the field's efforts have failed to result in substantial progress. Indeed, after defining some salient concepts and the overall scope of this chapter, we review some of the major theoretical and empirical advances in leadership development. Furthermore, the trends and 'best practices' dominant in today's organizations in leadership development are then summarized and …