Business Commons^™

Accessing Board Positions: A Comparison Of Female And Male Board Members’ Views, Alison Sheridan, Gina Milgate

Gina C Milgate

In Australia, as in many Western industrialised countries, women accessing corporate board positions are still the exception to the rule. This paper reports research exploring men's and women's views on the factors crucial in attaining a board position. While both groups identified the importance of a strong track record, a good understanding of business principles and business contacts in gaining board positions, we found that women also highlighted the importance of high visibility and family contacts to account for their nomination to boards. It seems that women's competence has to be widely acknowledged in the public domain or through family …

Barriers To Building Partnerships Between Major Stakeholders In Affordable Housing Investment In Queensland, Connie Susilawati, Lynne Armitage

Lynne Armitage

The recent housing boom experienced across Australian metropolitan markets has attracted many new investors and resulted in increasing prices across the full range of residential sub-markets for both owner-occupation and investment categories. Of particular concern from a social perspective is the consequential pressure generated in the affordable housing rental market. This paper reports the results of a survey of affordable housing providers drawn from a range of backgrounds. Using in-depth interviews, it compares the opinions of these supply side groups regarding their experiences of the barriers to entry to affordable housing partnerships. The findings show agreement across the sector that …

Consolidation And Competition In Public Accounting: An Analysis Of The Gao Report, Robert Bloom, David Schirm

Robert Bloom

Analyzes the report "Public Accounting Firms: Mandated Study on Consolidation and Competition," which focused on the implications of the mergers of accounting firms of Ernst & Young, Deloitte & Touche, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers for smaller firms, released by the U.S. General Accounting Office in July 2003. Status of the competition among audit firms; Limitations of a pure-competition model of the audit market structure which was used to address the observed concentration in the market for audit services; Impact of the merger on public companies.

Review Of Creating Frames: Contemporary Indigenous Theatre By Maryrose Casey, Michelle Evans

Michelle Evans

Casey has written this collection of stories/memories using a critical framework of contested social memory. Her accounts throughout the book are based on individual interviews with many of the founding members of Australia’s Indigenous theatre scene. This qualitative approach and framework remains subject to contestation based on the memories of the practitioners. And in fact, this book exemplifies the lack of documentation of Indigenous theatre.

Barriers To Expanding Partnerships For Affordable Rental Housing Investments, Connie Susilawati, Lynne Armitage, Martin Skitmore

Lynne Armitage

The recent housing boom, experienced across Australian metropolitan markets, has attracted many new investors and resulted in increasing prices across the full range of residential sub-markets for both owner-occupation and investment categories. Of particular concern from a social perspective is the consequential pressure generated in the affordable housing rental market. Moreover, high vacancy rates and modest rental growth in rental housing has caused a deterioration in the investor’s rental yield given these increasing house prices (Powall and Withers, 2004, p.7).

In this difficult situation, traditional delivery methods for rental housing are unlikely to continue to attract more investment in this …

Virtual Work, Priscilla Arling

Priscilla Arling

Note: full-text not available due to publisher restrictions. Link takes you to an external site where you can purchase the book or borrow it from a local library.

Observations On Observation In India's Dynamic Urban Markets, Nikhilesh Dholakia, Piyush Sinha

Nikhilesh Dholakia

Urban India is witnessing a rapid revolution in its commercial retail spaces. These transforming commercial landscapes constitute a rich arena for qualitative research using, among others, observational methods. In this paper, we present observations about the changing urban retail scene of India. We provide emergent themes that we have already found in observations so far, and also reflect on the challenges of carrying out such observations in the Indian context.

The Psychological Foundation For An Integrated Course In Law And Ethics. Journal Of Learning In Higher Education, Richard Mcgowan

Richard McGowan

Centuries ago, Thomas Aquinas noted that “human reason must proceed from the precepts of the natural law as from certain common and indispensable principles to other more particular dispositions” (ST I-II, 91, 3) He said that “because of the uncertainty of human judgment, especially in contingent and particular matters, it happens that different decisions are made about different human acts so that laws are often divergent and even contradictory.” (91, 4)

To the casual reader, Thomas might be endorsing a position akin to ethical relativism but Thomas finds little to endorse about that position: “the truth is the same for …

Linking Transgenerational Value Creation With Natural Environment And Sustainability Policy In Family And Non-Family Owned Firms: Extending The Agency-Stewardship Theory Debate, Justin Craig, Clay Dibrell

Justin B. Craig

In this paper, we extend the existing agency-stewardship theory debate by linking transgenerational value creation with the natural environment. We enlist stewardship and agency theories to frame our discussion. Specifically, a firm with a positive natural environmental sustainability policy (ESP) acts as a proxy for the attributes of stewardship theory, whereas a neutral firm position toward ESP operates as a surrogate for agency theory. We test stewardship theory within the context of non-family (n=175) and family-owned (n=216) firms. Our findings suggest that family-owned firms do exhibit forms of stewardship behavior, while non-family-owned firms displayed propensity toward agency-like actions.

Theoretical Model For Investigating The Impact Of Knowledge Portals On Different Levels Of Knowledge Processing, Saurabh Gupta, Robert Bostrom

Saurabh Gupta

Much of the research in the area of Knowledge Management (KM) has been at the individual level. However, KM literature argues for knowledge processing capacity at an organisational level to enhance organisational performance. This paper argues that there are additional levels of knowledge processing that need to be studied such as teams and communities of practice. The paper presents a theoretical model for investigating the impact of knowledge systems on different levels of and inter-level knowledge processing. Knowledge portals are used as an example of a KM system that facilitates knowledge flows. A framework for classification of portals is presented. …

Ethnography As A Research Methodology For International Business Studies: Its Complementary Role To Methodologies Based On A Positivistic Paradigm, Noriko Yagi

Noriko Yagi

Note: Link is to the article on the publisher’s web site, which is available in full text for a fee.

The Contemporary Economics Of Transfusions, T. Hannon, Kathy Paulson Gjerde

Kathy A. Paulson Gjerde

Note: full-text not available due to publisher restrictions. Link takes you to an external site where you can purchase the book or borrow it from a local library.

Editorial: The "Measurement Trap", William Bleuel

William H. Bleuel

While I strongly agree that measurement in business is important, I also maintain that there is a degree of risk in taking measurements. I refer to this risk as “the measurement trap.” The measurement trap occurs when an executive believes that he can understand the business and customers in his market by increasing the number of instances of measuring aspects of his business and increasing the level of sophistication within his measurement system.

Back To Basics: Learning About Employee Energy And Motivation From Running On My Treadmill, Theresa Welbourne

Theresa M. Welbourne, PhD

In an effort to understand how to optimize employee energy at work, we borrow from the sports physiology literature to develop and test several concepts that have now been used in more than 75 large and small organizations (e.g., automobile firms, banks, hospitals, manufacturing, high technology, service businesses, financial services, and more). Our focus on employee energy led us to develop new measures and processes for our research. The resulting studies presented in this article test two hypotheses focusing on the link between employee energy, turnover, job performance, and job satisfaction. Consistent with what we know about athletic performance, we …

Pathologies Of Accountability: Icann And The Challenge Of “Multiple Accountabilities Disorder”, Jonathan Koppell

Jonathan GS Koppell

Accountability is a core concept of public administration, yet disagreement about its meaning is masked by consensus on its importance and desirability. This article proposes a five-part typology of accountability conceptions. Transparency, liability, controllability, responsibility, and responsiveness are defined as distinct dimensions of accountability, providing an improvement on the current state of conceptual fuzziness. The typology provides a vocabulary for the core argument: that conflicting expectations borne of disparate conceptions of accountability undermine organizational effectiveness. This phenomenon—labeled multiple accountabilities disorder— is illustrated with a case study. ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is a nascent organization charged …

The Relationship Between Pre-Employment Expectations, Experiences, And The Length Of Stay In Public Accounting, M. Padgett, Kathy Paulson Gjerde, S. Hughes, C. Born

Kathy A. Paulson Gjerde

Economic Growth, Saving And Investment, Safdar Khan

Safdar Khan

Extract:
Despite an evident slowdown in major economies around the global amidst a sustained rise in international oil prices, the domestic economy surpassed its growth target by a wide margin for the third consecutive year, witnessing a growth rate of 8.4 percent in FY05, the highest during the last two decades (see Figure 2.1 & 2.2).