Business Commons^™

Financial Distress: Lifecycle And Corporate Restructuring, Sze Koh, Robert Durand, Lele Dai, Millicent M. Chang

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

A firm's lifecycle consists of birth, growth, maturity and decline. We examine the strategies that firms choose when facing financial distress and present evidence that these choices are influenced by the corporate lifecycle. This influence is most pronounced in the choice of financial restructuring strategies such as reducing dividends or changing capital structure. We also examine if the way firms face financial distress affects the likelihood of recovery. We find that reducing investment and dividends are associated with recovery for all firms, but there is little influence of lifecycle.

(Dis)Engaging With Sustainability: Evidence From An Australian Business Faculty, Maria Cadiz Dyball, Andy Wang, Sue Wright

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how the lack of staff engagement with a university's strategy on sustainability could be an enabling lever for organisational change. It examines the attitudes and views of employees of a business faculty at an Australian metropolitan university as it attempts to adopt a holistic approach to sustainability. Design/methodology/approach - The paper opted for a case study using data from an on-line survey, semi-directed interviews with key management personnel and archival material. Responses were analysed using Piderit's (2000) notion of ambivalence. Findings - The paper provides empirical insights into why staff …

Fleeting Orders And Dynamic Trading Strategies: Evidence From The Australian Security Stock Exchange (Asx), Tina Prodromou, Joakim Westerholm, Hui Zheng, Dionigi Gerace

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study examines the behaviour of fleeting orders before and after two structural changes at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX); the removal of broker IDs from the public limit order book and a change in the price structure of exchange fees. Following Hasbrouck and Saar (2009), fleeting orders are defined as orders that are revised or cancelled within two seconds. Firstly, this study confirms that fleeting limit order revisions exhibit similar properties to liquidity-demanding orders. Secondly, after the removal of broker IDs on the market, traders start to aggressively chase the market price. Thirdly, after the price structure changes, traders …

Accounting And Accountability For Disability Benefits: A Foucauldian Study Of The History Of Disability Benefit Protocols In Australia (1909-1961), Mona Nikidehaghani, Michael Ibrahim Mehmet

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Public welfare payments have played a central role in providing financial-and service-based support for the disabled in Australia since the early part of the twentieth century. This study examines the role that discursive regimes of accounting and accountability have played in these regimes between 1909 and 1961. By examining the Means Test, a key technique and strategy used to qualify or disqualify citizens as disabled, the paper demonstrates the salient role that accounting techniques have played in these governmental programs. Through this demonstration the study reveals the array of implications for the disabled of accounting techniques applied to their identities …

Corporate Governance And Stock Liquidity: Panel Evidence From 2001 To 2013, Searat Ali, Benjamin Liu, Jen Je Su

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Constructing a new index of corporate governance quality (CGQ), we provide comprehensive and robust evidence for the association between governance quality and stock liquidity in the pure order-driven stock market of Australia. We hypothesize that governance quality affects stock liquidity because effective governance alleviates information asymmetries between insiders (e.g., managers) and outsiders (e.g., investors), as well as among outsiders by improving the financial transparency of a firm. Consistent with this theoretical argument, by using a large sample of 1,207 firms (10,179 firm-year observations) over the long period from 2001 to 2013, we find a significant positive relationship between governance quality …

Audit Firms And Disclaimers: Is The Bar Set Too Low?, Keith Hooper, Jing Wang

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper makes the case for the greater regulation of auditors. It argues that the courts are too sympathetic to the use of disclaimers to escape liability to investors, individual shareholders and third parties. The approach is to review the relevant court cases which established the concept of "opinions" and disclaimers as a means of protection and argue for greater recognition of the wider impact of the audit role. The paper finds that the best explanation as to why auditors use disclaimers is Social Darwinism. The application of professional ethics as adumbrated in various codes is not relevant to this …

Ethics And Auditing: Setting The Bar Too Low, Keith Hooper, Jing Wang

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - from a philosophical and empirical perspective this paper seeks to show how the big audit firms have managed to set the bar low so that they offer only opinions on whether financial statements meet accounting standards. It is argued that while the concepts of virtue ethics have now largely disappeared, ethical legitimacy has moved beyond consequential ethics to a form of social Darwinism. It is a Social Darwinism that is legalistic and technical as evidenced by the audit firms' widespread use of the Bannerman clause attached to their opinions. Design - to illustrate the shift of ethical positions, …

A Quarter Century Effort Yet To Come Of Age: A Survey Of Power Sector Reforms In Developing Countries, Tooraj Jamasb, Rabindra Nepal, Govinda Timilsina

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

It has been more than two decades since the widespread initiation of global power sector reforms and restructuring. However, empirical evidence on the intended microeconomic, macroeconomic, and quality-related impacts of reforms across developing countries is lacking. This paper comprehensively reviews the empirical and theoretical literature on the linkages between power sector reforms, economic and technical efficiency, and poverty reduction. The review finds that the extent of power sector reforms has varied across developing countries in terms of changes in market structures, the role of the state, and the regulation of the sector. Overall, the reforms have improved the efficiency and …

Recognition And Disclosure Of Impairment In China, Jing Wang, Keith Hooper

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper aims to examine the extent of goodwill impairment in listed companies of China and the audited disclosure of goodwill. China is an important adopter of International Financial Standards but the question remains that, as a recent adopter, to what extent contentious issues such as goodwill impairment are implemented. The research analyzes the financial and share market information gathered from the top 50 companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The findings reveal that goodwill amortization has been discontinued and replaced by goodwill impairment, but interestingly the Big Four firms seem more likely to recognize a goodwill impairment loss …

Does Control-Ownership Divergence Impair Market Liquidity In An Emerging Market? Evidence From China, Xiaojun Chu, Qigui Liu, Gary Tian

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines how institutional characteristics of emerging economies influence the effect of control-ownership divergence on market liquidity. We find that the divergence is negatively associated with liquidity and that this negative relationship is more pronounced in firms with more severe agency problems and information asymmetry. We argue that in an emerging market, the negative effect of the divergence on liquidity is worsened by state ownership and poorer shareholder protection, both of which result in more severe agency conflicts; we also find, however, that this effect is alleviated by the NTS reform, which aligns the interest of different shareholders.

Employer-Employee Congruence In Environmental Values: An Exploration Of Effects On Job Satisfaction And Creativity, Jelena Spanjol, Wing Yin Leona Tam, Vivian Tam

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study examines how the match (vs. mismatch) between personal and firm-level values regarding environmental responsibility affects employee job satisfaction and creativity and contributes to three literature streams [i.e., social corporate responsibility, creativity, and person-environment (P-E) fit]. Building on the P-E fit literature, we propose and test environmental orientation fit versus nonfit effects on creativity, identifying job satisfaction as a mediating mechanism and regulatory pressure as a moderator. An empirical investigation indicates that the various environmental orientation fit conditions affect job satisfaction and creativity differently. More specifically, environmental orientation fit produces greater job satisfaction and creativity when the employee and …

Developing Csr Giving As A Dynamic Capability For Salient Stakeholder Management, John Cantrell, Elias Kyriazis, Gary Noble

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

In this paper, we draw upon the emerging view of strategic cognition and issue salience and show that CSR giving has evolved into more than an altruistic response to being asked for support, to one which is embedded in the strategic frames of management and which supports organizational identity. The managerial action as a result of such strategic cognition suggests that modern organizations are seeking to develop CSR giving processes that provide them with a competitive advantage. We draw on the resource-based view of organizations and the VRIO framework to provide the theoretical foundations for our argument that CSR implementation …

The Role Of Resident Perceptions In Achieving Effective Community-Based Tourism For Least Developed Countries, Sotear Ellis, Lynnaire Sheridan

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Community-based tourism (CBT) can be a tool for sustainable development in least developed countries; however, careful selection of participating communities is vital to achieving development outcomes. This article presents resident perceptions of self and the community (and its tourism organizers) as potential indicators for future CBT success both contributing to theoretical concepts but pragmatically potentially also assists practitioners to identify communities that theoretically should produce better development outcomes before embarking on projects.

Disproportionate Ownership Structure And Ipo Long-Run Performance Of Non-Soes In China, Xiaoming Wang, Jerry Cao, Qigui Liu, Jinghua Tang, Gary Tian

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines the relationship between ownership structures and IPO long-run performance of non-SOEs in China. Although non-SOEs underperform the market in general after IPO but the poor performance is mainly caused by the IPOs with ownership control wedge. Non-SOEs with one share one vote structure outperform those with control-ownership wedge by 30% for three years post-IPO performance in adjusted buy-and-hold returns. Non-SOEs with control-ownership wedge have higher frequency of undertaking value-destroying related party transactions. These findings suggest that non-SOEs need to improve corporate governance such as disproportionate ownership structure to better safeguard the interest of long-run shareholders.

Hockey Looks To 'Armies' In Intergenerational Report: Experts React, John Buchanan, Alan Pears, Hal Kendig, Ian Lowe, Martin J. O'Brien, Richard Norman, Rosalie Viney, Stephen Duckett

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Australia must encourage older Australians and women to enter and stay in the workforce in order to increase productivity and protect future prosperity, according to the Intergenerational Report released by Treasurer Joe Hockey today.

My Lawfully Wedded Workplace: Identifying Relational Similarities Of Marriage And Employment, Irit Alony, Helen M. Hasan, Andrew J. Sense, Michael L. Jones

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel direction of enquiry into predictions of employee turnover through the application of a qualitative method adapted from marital research. This method focuses on diagnosing the relationship, and has been able to predict divorce with an accuracy of over 90 per cent, as opposed to existing turnover prediction methods' modest success of about 30 per cent. By demonstrating that the method can be applied to turnover research, this study completes a seminal step in developing this promising direction of enquiry.

Design/methodology/approach - The Oral History Interview method for predicting …

Six Effective Ways To Have That Difficult Conversation At Work, Grace Mccarthy

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Employees want more feedback. Gen Y employees in particular, want constant feedback. Managers however are often reluctant to give feedback if they fear that what starts as a rational conversation may degenerate into an emotional one. Even managers trained in coaching have admitted to being reluctant to tackle employees seen as abrasive or aggressive.

Economic Growth And Environment: Tourism As A Trigger For Green Growth, Simone Marsiglio

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The author analyses the implications of tourism activities on economic growth and environmental assets, focusing especially on small island countries. She develops a stylized dynamic economic model in which tourism is the trigger of the incentive mechanism leading to abatement activities and economic growth. The basic idea is that tourists choose the location to visit according to a number of factors (including environmental quality) which are affected by residents' choices. If residents engage in environmental protection activities, it then may be possible for environmentally-based tourism economies to reach a smooth development process. The author shows that the (sustainable) balanced growth …

Why The Level-Free Forced-Choice Binary Measure Of Brand Benefit Beliefs Works So Well, John R. Rossiter, Sara Dolnicar, Bettina Grun

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The level-free version of the Forced-Choice Binary measure of brand benefit beliefs was introduced in a recent article in IJMR (Dolnicar et al. 2012) and was shown to yield more stable - hence more reliable and trustworthy - results than the shorter 'Pick-Any' measure and the longer '7-Point Scale' measure. The aims of the present article are (1) to explain how and why the Level-Free Forced- Choice Binary measure works so well, and (2) to point out its advantages over other belief measure formats - advantages that, importantly, include prevention of all forms of response bias.

Is Asio's Corporate Governance An Oxymoron?, Mark Rix

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper investigates corporate governance in the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Australia's domestic intelligence agency. The paper seeks to determine and understand the extent to which ASIO's approach to corporate governance emulates that of organisations in the wider public sector and the private sector. This examination of ASIO's corporate governance considers the organisation's purpose, functions and extraordinary powers focusing on the importance of secrecy to achieving its objectives. The paper will also assess whether it is appropriate to attempt to assess ASIO's corporate governance in the same terms, and according to like standards, as are used to evaluate governance …

Optimal Control: Theory And Application To Science, Engineering, And Social Sciences, Davide La Torre, Herb Kunze, Manuel Ruiz-Galan, Tufail Malik, Simone Marsiglio

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

[extract] An optimal control problem entails the identification of a feasible scheme, policy, program, strategy, or campaign, in order to achieve the optimal possible outcome of a system. More formally, an optimal control problem means endogenously controlling a parameter in a mathematical model to produce an optimal output, using some optimization technique. The problem comprises an objective (or cost) functional, which is a function of the state and control variables, and a set of constraints. The problem seeks to optimize the objective function subject to the constraints construed by the model describing the evolution of the underlying system. The two …

Bank Ownership And Efficiency In Post-Conflict Era Of Sri Lanka: Evidence From Aggregate Efficiency Technique, Bolanda Hewa Thilakaweera, Charles Harvie, Amir Arjomandi

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Deviating from conventional methods in comparing the group performance of banks this study extends the established literature to compare efficiency between foreign and domestic banks, by employing comprehensive weighted aggregate efficiency measures derived through bootstrap simulations for the banking sector for the post - confli ct era of Sri Lanka. The study also compares the banking sector performance between initial and later parts of the post - conflict period, using weighted aggregate efficiency measures. At the end of the armed conflict between LTTE 1 and Sri Lankan government forces the banking sector experienced considerable expansion in terms of banking density …

Does Ownership Affect Bank Performance? An Analysis Of Vietnamese Banks In The Post - Wto Entry Period, Le Thanh Phuong, Charles Harvie, Amir Arjomandi

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study investigates the impact of financial reforms, bank characteristics, and time trends on the performance of the Vietnamese banking sector under the assumption that ownership can result in a divergence of technologies utilised by different bank groups (including state - owned, private, and foreign banks), and the fact that these groups may respond differently to the same environmental variables . By combining a meta - frontier analysis with double - bootstrap two - stage DEA the authors analyse the impact of en vironmental variables on bank efficiency across separate groups operating under different technologies. Accordingly, this paper, firstly, employs …

Assessing The Regional Economic Impacts Of Defense Activities: A Survey Of Methods, Josselin Droff, Alfredo R. Paloyo

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Defense activities exercised in a specific region may alter the region's economic performance. An accurate assessment of the potential economic impacts of defense activities is a valuable undertaking to enable regional planners to prepare for changes. The variety in the methods (among others, input-output models, economic base models, Keynesian regional multipliers, fixed-effects estimators, and case-study approaches) inspired by geography, sociology, and political science can pose a dilemma. We detail the historical and theoretical background of each method, as well as select exemplary cases where these methods were applied. By examining old and "new" methods, we aim to construct a typology …

Cost Impact Of Hospital Acquired Diagnoses And Impacts For Funding Based On Quality Signals, Jim Pearse, Deniza Mazevska, Terri Jurgens Jackson

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Background Internationally, there have been efforts to adjust hospital funding based on the quality of care provided by the hospital. A variety of approaches has been used by different countries and payers. Incorporating quality signals into activity-based funding is also a possibility for Australia. This study set out to explore the cost impact of potentially poor quality care in Australian hospitals, and to understand the implications from a funding perspective.

Crisis-Resistant Tourists, Homa Hajibaba, Ulrike Gretzel, Friedrich Leisch, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Despite the negative impact of unexpected events-such as 9/11 and the Global Financial Crisis-on the tourism industry, and despite substantial research into managing crises in tourism, little is known about tourists who are most needed in such situations: crisis-resistant tourists. In this study, crisis-resistant tourists are defined and theoretically conceptualized. Empirical results indicate that segments of tourists resistant to external or internal crisis events indeed exist and-as theoretically postulated-demonstrate higher levels of risk propensity and resistance to change. In contrast, risk shifting is not associated with being a crisis-resistant tourist. An initial profile of crisis-resistant tourists is provided, offering guidance …

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis With Goal Programming In Engineering, Management And Social Sciences: A State-Of-The Art Review, Cinzia Colapinto, Raja Jayaraman, Simone Marsiglio

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Goal programming (GP) is an important class of multi-criteria decision models widely used to analyze and solve applied problems involving conflicting objectives. Originally introduced in the 1950s by Charnes et al. (Manag Sci 2:138-151, 1955) the popularity and applications of GP has increased immensely due to the mathematical simplicity and modeling elegance. Over the recent decades algorithmic developments and computational improvements have greatly contributed to the diverse applications and several variants of GP models. In this paper we present a state of the art literature review on GP applications in three selected (prominent and popular) areas, namely engineering, management and …

Measuring Productivity Change In Higher Education: An Application Of Hicks-Moorsteen Total Factor Productivity Index To Malaysian Public Universities, Amir Arjomandi, Mad Ithnin Salleh, Abbas Mohammadzadeh

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper offers an in-depth analysis of efficiency and productivity changes using the Hicks-Moorsteen total factor productivity index, in the context of higher education institutions. Unlike the Malmquist method, this approach makes no assumptions about firms' returns to scale conditions. We assume that the production technology exhibits variable returns to scale, which is more plausible than the constant returns to scale assumption, because universities usually operate at suboptimal scales. Three major groupings of Malaysian public universities are used in our case study: research, comprehensive, and focused universities. The results show that technical efficiency has improved after the 2007 National Higher …

Public Perceptions Of Future Threats To Humanity And Different Societal Responses: A Cross-National Study, Melanie J. Randle, Richard Eckersley

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

There is growing scientific evidence that humanity faces a number of threats that jeopardize its future. Public perceptions of these threats, both their risks and reactions to them, are important in determining how humanity confronts and addresses the threats. This study investigated the perceived probability of threats to humanity and different responses to them (nihilism, fundamentalism and activism), in four Western nations: the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Overall, a majority (54%) rated the risk of our way of life ending within the next 100 years at 50% or greater, and a quarter (24%) rated the risk of humans being …

A Theorem On The Methodology Of Positive Economics, Eduardo Pol

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

It has long been recognized that the Milton Friedman's 1953 essay on economic methodology (or F53, for short) displays open-ended unclarities. For example, the notion of "unrealistic assumption" plays a role of absolutely fundamental importance in his methodological framework, but the term itself was never unambiguously defined in any of the Friedman's contributions to the economics discipline. As a result, F53 is appealing and liberating because the choice of premises in economic theorizing is not subject to any constraints concerning the degree of realisticness (or unrealisticness) of the assumptions. The question: "Does the methodology of positive economics prevent the overlapping …