Business Commons^™

Small Business Smart Business: Final Report, Beth Walker, Beverley Webster

Research outputs pre 2011

The Small Business Smart Business (SBSB) program is in it's fifth year of operation and while acknowledging the changes that have occurred to SBSB over the past five years, it was determined that a review of the effectiveness of SBSB in connecting small business to the VET system would be of benefit in planning for SBSB in 2005 and beyond.

The SBSB program was initially designed to provide eligible small businesses with a training voucher valued up to $200.00 towards approved training and was aimed at improving the productivity of their business. Emphasis was placed on ensuring a wide range …

Smart Business Incubators : The Australian Context, Beverley Webster, Beth Walker, Janice Burn

Research outputs pre 2011

The aim of this collaborative study was to research the current status of Australian incubators and develop a benchmark based on successful business incubators, using criteria such as tenant and manager selection, operating indicators and exit criteria...

Malaga Business Review 2004, Beth Walker

Research outputs pre 2011

This report is the result of a Swan Grant to review the current status of business and business activity in the Malaga Business District and to map any changes that have occurred since the original Malaga Business Audit was conducted in 2001. This project was undertaken in two parts. The first part was a replication of the 2001 Malaga business survey so that the City could review trends and analyse if any of the implemented recommendations based on the 2001 results had any discernable effect. The results of the current survey were also used to inform the second part of …

The Search For Character: Servant-Leadership In An Australian Organisation, Margaret R. Whitmore

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study is in response to globalisation, changing world values and the call in modern literature for leaders of good character. Servant-leadership is offered to fill this requirement because its effectiveness is said to be reliant on the good character of the leader. In the literature this type of leadership is said to represent a new paradigm. The work of servant-leadership’s proponent, Robert Greenleaf, is thoroughly examined to explain how his understanding of trust as faith is linked to spirituality and this is the key to understanding the character of servant-leaders. Greenleaf’s work is compared with the modern servant-leadership literature …

Perceptions Of Wine Quality, Stephen J. Charters

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The term `quality' is regularly used by those who produce, promote and consume wine. However, the nature and features of wine quality are rarely explained. This study was designed to explore what drinkers consider to be the nature of wine quality and what they believe its features to be. Focus groups and individual and small group interviews were used to explore the conceptualisation and dimensions of wine quality, how that quality is assessed, and what its relevance may be. There were 105 informants, sourced from three states across Australia primarily by utilising friends and acquaintances of the researcher. Informants included …

Imagining The Performance Zone: Overcoming Ambiguity In Consumer Based Electronic Performance Support Systems, Jason Simons

Theses : Honours

The locus of performance support implementation was once the domain of large corporations where its principles offered an attractive alternative to traditional methods of training within the scope of contemporary business practices. Due to economies of scale the large corporations were able to build effective performance support through the precise identification of the PERFORMANCE ZONE. This zone is created through the defining of the three attributes of performance, 1) the nature of the worker, 2) the nature of the task, and 3) the type and amount of support needed. lncreasingly the principles of performance-centred design have been adopted within diverse …

A Comparative Study Of Sports Orientated And Non-Sports Orientated People's Perceptions Of The Appropriateness Of Alcohol Sponsorship Within Sport, Sharee Wilton

Theses : Honours

This study examines people's perceptions of alcohol sponsorship in sport. Alcohol consumption and sport are closely linked as part of Australian culture and alcohol companies are major sponsors in Australian sport. This study explores any differences of opinion on alcohol sports sponsorship between sports orientated, somewhat sports orientated and non-sports orientated people. A continuum was used to determine where an individual fits between sports orientation and non-sports orientation. The study identified underlying influences that effect people's perception, such as personal participation in sport or having immediate family involved in sport. The study focused on Edith Cowan University students due to …

Barriers To The Acceptance And Utilisation Of Knowledge Management Systems: An Exploratory Study, Patricia Kennett

Theses : Honours

Organisations entering the 21st Century arc exposed to an environment of continuous change, a challenge that requires a movement away from more predictable structures of the past, with hierarchies and formal chains of command. The emerging fluid and network like structures present new challenges for ensuring the development and dissemination of organisational knowledge. An area of considerable current debate involves the issue of harmony and balance between and organisation's culture and its Knowledge Management (KM) systems. The focus of this study is on organisations that are recognising the implications of these changes and are responding by installing knowledge systems in …

Towards An Understanding Of The Grey Nomad Consumer, Mandy Pickering

Theses : Honours

This exploratory study applied a grounded approach to the collection and analysis of data. The study investigated the consumption behaviours utilised by a sample of Grey Nomads who subscribed to an eco·camping philosophy and who occupied their own caravans for accommodation whilst travelling. The aim was to examine the growing phenomenon of Grey Nomads who travelled in Western Australia in order to obtain insight into the group as consumers. Thirty nine informants (n=39) were interviewed where an understanding of the primary concerns of informants could be achieved. Informants were recruited who were over 60 years of age, travelled for a …

Can B2g Portals Be Used Effectively To Stimulate Business In Smes?: A Case Analysis Of The 2cities Business To Government Portal, Ian Martinus

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have many options when purchasing goods or services. These include personal contacts and networks, familiar centralised supply sources and other ad hoc means. One purchasing possibility is to buy from and sell to other businesses within a similar geographic area. The benefits of buying and selling locally may not occur to SMEs. They seek, like other consumers, to get value for money, fast and efficient service, and a reasonable level of quality. Many factors can impinge upon an SME's decision to purchase locally. It can be assumed that, given a reasonable local option, SMEs wish …

A Comparison Of The Relationship Management Methodology And The Extended Business Rules Diagram Method, Jeff Campbell

Theses : Honours

This research is a comparative study of the Relationship Management Methodology and the extended Business Rules Diagram method, when applied to the development of a Web-based hypermedia system. The RMM method focuses almost exclusively on the design phase of Web-based hypermedia systems with insufficient emphasis placed on the requirement's analysis phase. The extended BRD method has been proposed to address this issue and attempts to cover more fully the development life cycle of Web based hypermedia systems. A comparison of the main concepts, the phases of steps, as well as the modelling technique, notation and graphical representation is made between …

The Construction Of A Business English Curriculum, Relevant To The Workplace, And Making Use Of Word Processing In Place Of Handwriting, Ladawan Wattanaboot

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Since the Thailand economic crisis in 1997 there has been a sense of urgency expressed in many areas of the society that businesses must modernize their practices and focus more on international trade and communication. Two important components of the changes required are better use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and better use of the English language for business communication. In the education arena this has translated into the need to provide graduates with better skills in the use of English and computers. These two skill areas come together naturally in the study of Business English. In Thailand Rajabhat …

An Investigation Of The Equity Premium Using Habit Utility And Equity Returns: Australian Evidence, Lurion De Mello

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The gap between the return on stocks and the return on the risk free assets represented by bonds is named the 'Equity Premium' or 'Equity Risk Premium'. In the history of asset pricing models, one of the most serious problems for the equity premium is that the average equity premium is too large to be explained by standard general equilibrium asset pricing models. Researcher's have tried to use variables such as dividend yield's to explain the gap between stocks and bonds with mixed results. After retrieving around a one percent equity premium with the most standard consumption base asset pricing …

Self-Reported Business Leadership Competencies Of Middle-Level Managers, Philip Teo

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study aims to investigate self-reported managerial leadership competencies of middle-level managers in business organisations in Australia, and stems from the Karpin Report (1995) on perceived weaknesses in Leader hip and Management skills in Australia. The report leads to a need to investigate the perceptions of the current middle level business managers in regard to leadership competency and to develop a scale to measure leadership competency. A model of leadership competency, based on a literature review, was developed for this study and involves four aspects: Leading, Managing, Communicating and Best Practice. Data were collected in two parts-a questionnaire and interviews. …

The Impact Of Corporatisation And Management Reform On The Role And Working Life Of Managers In An Australian Electricity Utility: A Triangulated Study, 1994-2002, Desmond E. Lehmann

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

For decades electricity has been a critical source of energy for all major industries, nationally and internationally. In 2002 the Australian electricity supply industry had assets in excess of $86 billion and accounted for more than 1.4 percent of gross domestic product. It is a major employer with more than 33,000 people serving more than 8 million customers. This study explores the impact of corporatisation and management reform on the role and working life of managers within the broader context of this industry. It is an industry identified by academics, commentators and the business media over the past two decades …

Discovering The Factors Impacting The Evaluation Of Knowledge Management In The Organizational Domain, Jozef G. Loermans

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The knowledge, skills and experience possessed by employees, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders are major components of an organization's Intellectual Capital, the effective management of which has been found to be critical for business success. In order to manage knowledge at an organizational level however, it is necessary to be able to define it in the context of the organization, measure its existence and, more importantly, assess how its creation, use, dissemination, evaluation and management impacts business performance and learning. Whilst the term "Knowledge Management" has evolved since the early nineties into a generally recognisable management discipline in its own …

Perceived Likelihood Of Activity-Based Costing To Succeed In A University Setting, Nazmi Jarrar

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The study provides exploratory empirical evidence on the likelihood of Activity Based Costing (ABC) to succeed in a university setting and the association of this success with specific behavioral implementation factors. The study examined perceptions of Edith Cowan University's ABC users and preparers of the likelihood of the system to succeed in the University and their perceptions of eleven behavioral implementation factors identified by previous studies to have significant association with ABC implementation success. Results were analyzed so as to determine the significance of the correlation between the users' and preparers' perceptions of each of the eleven factors and their …