Business Commons^™

Measuring The Banking Efficiency And Productivity Changes Using The Hicks-Moorsteen Approach: The Case Of Iran, Amir Arjomandi, Charles Harvie, Abbas Valadkhani

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study is the first to use a comprehensive decomposition of the Hicks–Moorsteen TFP index developed by O’Donnell (2010a) to analyse efficiency and productivity changes in a banking context. The paper investigates the efficiency and productivity growth of the Iranian banking industry between 2003 and 2008, encompassing pre- and post-2005-reform years. The advantage of this approach over the popular constant-returns-to-scale Malmquist productivity index is that it is free from any assumptions concerning firms’ returns to scale. We assume that the production technology exhibits variable returns to scale. Our findings show that the banking industry’s technical efficiency level – which had …

Organization-Based Social Marketing: An Alternative Approach For Organizations Adopting Sustainable Business Practices, Mary Franks Papakosmas, Gary Noble, John Glynn

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This article conceptualizes a new area for social marketing practitioners by focusing on individual behavior change that might occur within organizations. Organization-Based Social Marketing (OBSM) draws from organization change theory and internal marketing theory, while maintaining social marketing’s focus on beneficial behavior modification. The article argues that as such, OBSM represents a viable approach for organizations seeking to address the increasing demand for change strategies that promote proenvironmental behavior among their employees

The Use Of Team-Based Learning As An Approach To Increased Engagement And Learning For Marketing Students: A Case Study, Paul Chad

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Marketing educators are often faced with poor preclass preparation by students, declining student interest in attending classes as the semester progresses, and student complaints regarding previous bad experiences with team assessment activities. Teambased learning (TBL) is an innovative teaching strategy using semiformalized guidelines aimed to enhance student engagement and improve teamwork and, hence, overcome the typical problems faced by educators. This case study examines the firsttime use of TBL in a postgraduate marketing subject at an Australian university. The results indicate that the TBL innovation has a positive influence on student engagement and offers opportunities to assist learning. The study …

Implementing A Sustainability Balanced Scorecard 'Dashboard' Approach To Assess Organisational Legitimacy, Tairan (Kevin) Huang, Matthew P. Pepper, Graham D. Bowrey

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and determine the contributing factors which influence the contents of a firm‟s sustainability reporting through combined social and environmental accounting and management perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach: This paper analyzes the disclosed sustainability indicators of a major Australian financial institution, Westpac, through the application of the research method content analysis. The theoretical framework will be shaped by the consideration of legitimacy theory and the Balanced Scorecard approach.

Findings: The results indicate that the four perspectives of a traditional Balanced Scorecard are related to the main sources of influential inputs to Westpac‟s …

Towards Accounting Students Workplace Preparedness: A Unique Internship Approach, Bonnie Amelia Dean, Graham D. Bowrey, Michael D. Clements

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Undergraduate accounting students would benefit from the combined learning approach of simultaneous classroom and workplace experience to better prepare them for the challenges of industry. In the absence of teachers, subjects and assessment, students need to know how to learn by reflecting on their workplace knowledge and skills, both for professional growth and development, and to adapt to an ever-changing workplace environment. This paper presents a unique internship programme for business students, focusing on their learning beyond the classroom. The Commerce Internship Programme (CIP) developed and implemented at the University of Wollongong, Australia, offers a model for enhancing student engagement …

The Effects Of Currency Appreciation On Share Market Return: Ardl Approach, Gary G. Tian, Shiguang Ma

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study employs the ARDL cointegrating approach to examine the impact of financial liberalization on the relationships between three Chinese main bilateral exchange rates and its share market performance. We discovered that a long-term equilibrium relationship measured by cointegration has emerged between the exchange rate of the RMB against the Japanese Yen and, to a lesser extent, the exchange rate against both the US dollar and Hong Kong dollar and the Shanghai Composite Index since 2005 when the Chinese exchange rate regime changed from a peg system to a more flexible managed floating system. We found that the exchange rate …

Accounting For Emission Rights: An Environmental Ethics Approach, Emma Zhang-Debreceny, Mary A. Kaidonis, Lee Moerman

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

We argue that the International Accounting Standard Board's difficulty in arriving at a standard for accounting for emission rights, which is central to Emission Trading Schemes, is an opportunity to re-examine the issues from an environmental ethics approach. We critically evaluate the IASB approach which privileges profits, and views emission rights as tradeable entitlements to pollute. We consider social ecology, an example of an environmental ethical perspective which holds that humans' survival and the environment's sustainability are inextricably linked. We conclude that social ecology can inform accounting standard setters about the accounting treatment of emissions rights.

A Knowledge Mapping Approach To Facilitate Strategic Human Resource And Knowledge Management, Debbie Richards, Peter R. Massingham, Peter Busch

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

A key challenge facing organisations is how to effectively connect employees who seek knowledge with those who have the necessary knowledge. From case studies conducted in three separate knowledge intensive organisations, briefly introduced in this paper, we found that locating and measuring expertise were major challenges with no current satisfactory solutions. We offer a method to map intellectual capital within organisations distinct from previous expertise location methods in several significant ways. First, it includes the measurement of knowledge value within the context of the organisation's strategy and activities. Second, it addresses concerns with existing methods such as subjectivity associated with …

Opportunities For Interactivity In Public Health Websites: A Content Analysis Approach, Sumayya Banna, Helen M. Hasan, Joseph A. Meloche

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The Internet has many advantages over other media in the provision of information services in the area of public health. However many designers are not yet taking full advantage of its potential for interactivity. This paper examines the development of interactivity in public health websites in the increasingly important area of Palliative Care. Content analysis is used here to map the interactivity in a sample of 30 existing websites along with Heeter’s six dimensions (content and availability of choice, effort users must exert, responsiveness to the users, and the ease of adding information, monitoring the information and the system use, …

Linking Attitudes And Demographics In A Tourist Segmentation Model - A Two-Stage Approach, Uraiporn Kattiyapornpong, Kenneth E. Miller

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Segmentation has been widely studied in tourism research e.g. Dolnicar (2004). Dawley (2006) points that commonly used segmentation variables such as demographics lead to identifiable segments which are not actionable while other useful approaches e.g. psychographics, are actionable but not identifiable. The objective of this paper is to develop a two-stage linkage approach to segmentation whereby cluster analysis using psychographic variables is conducted within demographic group. Demographic groups are selected based on propensity to travel. This research utilizes data generated from a cross-sectional self-completed survey of 49,105 Australian respondents on travel and tourism. The managerial usefulness of this segmentation is …

A Cultural-Historical Activity Theory Approach To Users, Usability And Usefulness, Helen M. Hasan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper takes an historical overview of the field of Human-Computer Interaction. Itdescribes how the cognitive psychology emphasis on user involvement in systemsdevelopment of the 1980s reached its limit by the early 1990s. At this point the focus shifted onto support for the tasks of users using computer-based systems in real contexts, a focus that ideally suits the mobile, ubiquitous and social technologies of the new millennium. The Cultural-Historical Activity Theory provides an appropriate framework for understanding this phenomenon and is adopted in this paper to present the work, over a seven year period, of a usability laboratory grounded in …

Partnership With Partial Commitment: A Game Theoretic Approach, Amnon Levy

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper derives the Nash-equilibrium degrees of commitment to a partnership where lack of full commitment fuels suspicion and increases potential losses for partners. The Nash-equilibrium commitment of each partner increases with her internal return, quitting cost and costs of being deserted and with her counterpart's external return and intrinsic capacity to detect lack of full commitment, but diminishes with her external return and intrinsic capacity to detect her counterpart's lack of full commitment and with her counterpart's internal return, quitting cost and costs of being deserted.

A Semiparametric Model Approach For Financial Bankruptcy Prediction, Maria H. Kim, Paul Yoo

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In this study, we propose a model that achieves both accurate modeling and sustainable model stability for corporate bankruptcy prediction. This model is to model the given samples accurately as well as to respond adequately to the unknown inputs by employing semiparametric approach where parametric model and nonparametric Neural Networks (NNs) are combined. By exploring the structural relationships within the available sample data, the proposed model is assumed to retain the advantages of both parametric and nonparametric models. The proposed model is compared to pure parametric models such as Multivariate Discriminant Analysis (MDA) and Logistic Regression (LR), and pure nonparametric …

Maintaining Social Marketing's Relevance: A Dualistic Approach, Gary I. Noble

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

There have been calls amongst academics and practitioners to move social marketing 'upstream'. This paper attempts to clarify what upstream social marketing is, its appropriate relationship with ‘downstream’ social marketing and how both approaches can be combined into a suitable theoretical framework. The paper argues that neither up or downstream social marketing is superior and suggests that a dual, synergistic approach is needed. This argument is supported through reference to current social marketing interventions in the areas of road safety and childhood obesity. The paper concludes by suggesting that Polonsky, Carlson and Fry’s (2003) ‘harm chain’ concept may be a …

A Contextual Approach To Design And Development Of Interfaces For Search Engines, Using Activity Theory As The Basis For Informing Design Decisions, Joseph A. Meloche, Li Cheng

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The goal of this study is to support the design of more effective search engines. The research presented in this chapter investigates the design of search engines in the context of information seeking
activities. This study is also informed by Activity Theory and considers Information Seeking to be a Keystone Activity. This improvement in search engine design takes into consideration the context of users, and elicits and captures users' explicit and implied requirements. The study uses Q-methodology to elicit the subjective understanding of the participants thought the phases provided by the methodology. This entails collecting, sorting and analysis of detailed …

Understanding Tensions And Conflict: A Phases Of Learning Approach To Family Business, Ken Moores, Mary Barrett

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Tensions inevitably arise from time to time in most business settings. But in family businesses these tensions potentially can be especially acute and even result in the cessation of the enterprise. These tensions manifest at various times and for many reasons but they generally arise when the business is undergoing a transition. Understanding these transitions and how to prepare for them enable family business leaders to lessen the threats to survival. In this paper we present results from our research into the transitions that Australian family firms typically experience and how they influence four key stages of learning for family …

The Development Of A User Self-Help Knowledge Management System For Help Desk: Deployment Of Knowledge Management Approach And Software Agent Technology, Kar Yin Leung, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Most help desks have admitted their call volume has increased in the past decade while “help unavailable when needed” is the major reason for service delivery failure and user dissatisfaction. The habit of calling help desk for simple problems has prompted the investigation of transferring part of first-level troubleshooting duty from help desk to user. This research proposes the development of user self-help knowledge management system that allows user to solve simple and routine technical enquiries. The proposed approach incorporates software agent to allow autonomous handling of enquiries so that the most appropriate solution and user communication can be facilitated.

A Multi-Agent Approach Towards Collaborative Supply Chain Management, Xin Li, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Supply chain collaboration has become a critical success factor for supply chain management and effectively improves the performance of organizations in various industries. Supply chain collaboration builds on information sharing, collaborative planning and execution. Information technology is an important enabler of collaborative supply chain management. Many information systems have been developed for supply chain management from legacy systems and enterprise resource planning (ERP) into the newly developed advanced planning and scheduling system (APS) and e-commerce solutions. However, these systems do not provide sufficient support to achieve collaborative supply chain. Recently, intelligent agent technology and multi-agent system (MAS) have received a …

Location Quotients And Shift-Share Analysis: A Low Cost Approach To Regional Development Planning, Ann Hodgkinson

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Location quotient and shift-share analysis are traditional and somewhat old fashioned methods for regional development analysis.

A Mission-Centric Approach To Financial Ratio Analysis In The Nonprofit Sector, Anne Abraham

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Nonprofit organisations (NPOs) are melting pots combining mission, members and money. Given that the mission of a nonprofit organisation is the reason for its existence, it is appropriate to focus on financial resources in their association with mission and with the individuals who are served by that mission [1] [2] [3]. Measurement of financial performance by ratio analysis helps identify organisational strengths and weaknesses by detecting financial anomalies and focusing attention on issues of organisational importance [4].

Questions have been raised that relate the performance of NPOs to their fmancial resources, their mission and their membership. Addressing these questions is …

Collaboration In Supply Chain: A Multi-Agent Approach, Xin Li, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Supply chain collaboration has become a critical success factor for supply chain management. Supply chain collaboration builds on information sharing, collaborative planning and execution. Many information systems have been developed for supply chain management. However, these systems do not sufficiently support collaborative supply chain. Recently, intelligent agent technology has received a great potential in supporting transparency in information flows and modeling the dynamic supply chain for collaborative supply chain. This paper explores the similarities between multi-agent system and supply chain to investigate the appropriateness of multi-agent based technology to model supply chain system and support collaborative supply chain planning and …

Modelling The Impact Of China's Wto Membership On Its Investment And Growth: A New Flexible Keynesian Approach, Van Hoa Tran

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The standard theories of economics, international finance, transnational corporations, and within the accouting framework of the United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA93) or earlier stipulate that investment plays a crucial role in influencing microenconomic activity, national ouput growth and economic development.

A Framework Of Ontology Revision On The Semantic Web: A Belief Revision Approach, Seung Hwan Kang, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The focus of the research in ontologies shifts from ontology representation to ontology evolution perspectives that become an important field of ontology research. Even though ontology refers to specification of conceptualisation that provides a useful way to represent the semantics of the Web resources, there is a still need for maintaining and handling ontologies. Because ontologies may change as a result of accepting new information, when this occurs, ontology needs to be revised. However the new information may contradict what was initially defined in the ontology when ontology revision is performed. To discuss this revision perspective, this research proposes an …

Macro-Econometric Modeling For An Oil Dependent Economy: An Instruments-Targets Approach For The Uae Economy, Ajit Karnik, Cedwyn Fernandes

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study constructs a macro-econometric model to analyze the problems of regions that exhibit dependence on non-renewable resources (e.g. oil). The role of th eoil sector in the UAE and the extent to which it subsidizes the rest of the economy is evaluated. The macro-econometric model constructed consists of four sectors, has 25 equations and is evaluated and calibrated employing dynamic simulation techniques. Counter =factual and policy experiments are carried out and the instruments-targets approach is used to analyze the impact of the oil sector. The paper highlights the continued dependence of the UAE economy on oil and the urgency …

Web-Mediated Communication (Wmc) And Social Interaction: A Social Psychological Approach, Koo Won Suh, Helen Hasan, Paul K. Couchman

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

It can be argued that social interaction is a critical factor in understanding Web-mediated communication. While the concept and domain of social interaction has been studied in several disciplines they are underdeveloped in the current Web-enabled environment. This paper adopts a social psychological point of view of conceptual and operational issues in relation to social interaction. Through a review of the literature, two domains of social interaction are identified: task and socio-emotional interaction. The literature review also addresses some problems in defmition related to socio-emotional interaction. In an attempt to fill the gap between conceptual and operational defmitions of social …

A Multifaceted Approach To Distributed Communities Of Learning And Practice, Helen Hasan, Kate Crawford

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In the electronic age, locally-driven regeneration of the concept of community could be enabled by a flexible, multifaceted model where new information and communication technologies are the catalyst. However technology, no matter how advanced, is far from providing the complete answer and it is essential to take an integrated socio-technical approach to this issue. This paper reports on two cases that are part of ongoing research into distributed communities, framing them as phases of an activity system in expansive learning cycles in the context of a program of innoyatiye learning. This research d!monstrates that such communities are viable. with a …