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Full-Text Articles in Business
A Refined Basket Of Goods Approach For Comparing Construction Costs Between Countries, Rick Best
A Refined Basket Of Goods Approach For Comparing Construction Costs Between Countries, Rick Best
Rick Best
Most comparisons of construction industry performance require that construction costs be converted to a common base. Existing mechanisms for such conversions produce unreliable results. A proposed method for producing industry-specific conversion factors was tested using a single building type. A basket of materials and labour was identified and weighted to reflect the cost share of each item in a completed project. Prices for the basket were gathered in three cities and simple construction specific conversion indices were calculated based on the construction purchasing power of each currency. The construction purchasing power parities (CPPPs) showed marked differences from other available conversion …
Fundamental Investment Research – Do Us Results Apply To Australian Investors?, Bruce Vanstone, Tobias Hahn, Gavin Finnie
Fundamental Investment Research – Do Us Results Apply To Australian Investors?, Bruce Vanstone, Tobias Hahn, Gavin Finnie
Bruce Vanstone
For many investors, the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 has sparked renewed interest in value-based investment approaches. There is much published research supporting the use of fundamental analysis for value-based investment, and much of this research comes from the US. In previous articles, we have shown that US based fundamental investment research does not translate well to the Australian market. In this paper, we show how to test a well documented US fundamental investment strategy and find that it also does not transfer well to our Australian market.
Issues In Property Management: Caravan Parks- Housing On The Fringe- The Frankston View, Lynne Armitage, Victoria Brown
Issues In Property Management: Caravan Parks- Housing On The Fringe- The Frankston View, Lynne Armitage, Victoria Brown
Lynne Armitage
Whilst investment pressure from excess funds generated by compulsory superannuation contributions is creating opportunity for major international investment in property, at the current extreme of the property investment continuum lies the caravan park. Here, owners and investors also seek a positive return on investment but are stymied by a complex web of concerns which differ in character, though sometimes not in substance, from those of better recognised property investment vehicles.
Across Australia ownership of such parks is widely distributed amongst generally small investors many of whom are owner-operators of the park. This piecemeal pattern of ownership and the very broad …
What Drives Tbl Reporting: Good Governance Or Threat To Legitimacy?, Pamela Kent, Reza Monem
What Drives Tbl Reporting: Good Governance Or Threat To Legitimacy?, Pamela Kent, Reza Monem
Pamela Kent
This paper provides two complementary explanations for the adoption of triple bottom line (TBL) reporting by Australian companies. The first explanation is that companies adopt TBL reporting to legitimise their relationship with society because of adverse publicity from the media. The second explanation is that TBL reporting is adopted because of the company’s desire to achieve high-quality reporting and transparency inferred by strong corporate governance. Companies with TBL reporting had significantly more adverse media coverage before implementing TBL reporting than non-TBL companies. TBL reporting is also significantly and positively related to the existence of an environmental or sustainable development committee …
Droughts And Big Baths Of Australian Agricultural Firms, Pamela Kent, Reza Monem, Glenn Cuffe
Droughts And Big Baths Of Australian Agricultural Firms, Pamela Kent, Reza Monem, Glenn Cuffe
Pamela Kent
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether Australian agricultural firms display big bath behaviour during droughts by recognising extraordinary and abnormal losses. It is hypothesised that Australian agricultural firms are more likely to report big bath losses in drought years than in non-drought years and, in a given drought year, agricultural firms are more likely to report big bath losses than firms in other industries.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors analyse 405 firm-years data for agricultural firms over 1980-1995. For comparison, they also analyse matched-pair samples of 17 and 30 non-agricultural firms for the drought years of …
Exploration Of Firm Strategic Control In Australia And The United States And Implications For Global Governance Structures, Timothy Kiessling, Keith Duncan, Michael Harvey
Exploration Of Firm Strategic Control In Australia And The United States And Implications For Global Governance Structures, Timothy Kiessling, Keith Duncan, Michael Harvey
Keith Duncan
Our empirical study of 246 Directors, financial executives, accountants and credit/security analysts explore the concept of firm corporate control and what theoretically developed attributes contribute to an entity having corporate control over another. We first develop and test a model of corporate control. We then delve into what combinations of direct ownership, indirect ownership, ownership dispersion, and board of director representation are required for dominant corporate control. Due to the use of conjoint analysis, we are able to make suggestions as to the relative importance of each in regard to corporate control.
Board Structure And Firm Performance: Evidence From Australia, Ingrid Bonn
Board Structure And Firm Performance: Evidence From Australia, Ingrid Bonn
Ingrid Bonn
The influence of corporate governance on firm performance has been discussed for a number of years, but mainly in a United States and European business context. This article investigates the composition of boards of directors in large Australian firms and analyses whether board structure has an impact on performance, as measured by return on equity and market-to-book value ratio. The results showed that outsider ratio and female director ratio were positively associated with firm performance, whereas board size and directors' age had no influence on firm performance.
High Performers Down Under: Lessons From Australia's Winning Companies, Graeme Cocks
High Performers Down Under: Lessons From Australia's Winning Companies, Graeme Cocks
Graeme Cocks
Drawing on the results of a major 4 year empirical study, this paper identifies the common attributes of eleven of Australia’s long-term high performing organisations. The research involved a survey over 1000 senior executives to identify these organisations and covers the period from 1982 to 2007. It dispels several current myths about the characteristics of winning organisations and identifies how these differ from USA studies. Nine key elements for long-term success have been identified: effective execution, perfect alignment, adapting rapidly, clear and fuzzy strategy, leadership not leaders, looking out and looking in, right people, managing the downside and balancing everything. …