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Articles 1 - 30 of 31
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Institutional Legacy And The Development Of An Australian National Innovation System, Simon Ville
The Institutional Legacy And The Development Of An Australian National Innovation System, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
Institutions are the rules of the game that help to shape the long-term historical development of societies. They mediate human interaction and can be more or less formal (or tangible) in nature ranging from systems of government to common modes of behaviour. Most formal institutions can be distinguished as economic, social, political or cultural in nature although such distinctions are more difficult to make for informal institutions. What is certain is the pervasive impact of all types of institutions on a country’s multifaceted development. Thus, economic performance may be shaped as much by a nation’s legal system as by its …
Industry Associations And Non-Competitive Behaviour In Australian Wool Marketing: Evidence From The Melbourne Woolbrokers' Association, 1890-1939, David Merrett, Simon Ville
Industry Associations And Non-Competitive Behaviour In Australian Wool Marketing: Evidence From The Melbourne Woolbrokers' Association, 1890-1939, David Merrett, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
From the 1890s the sale of Australian wool was organised through a series of regionally based associations of wool selling brokers and wool buyers. They engaged in cartel-type behaviour by price fixing and exclusive dealing. We ask the question whether the wool selling brokers exploited their monopoly power to the full in setting fees and charges paid by the growers and buyers. Association records provide data on the pricing structure and rationale for changes. We surmise that the existence of the cartel lifted prices above competitive levels. However, the pricing behaviour was moderated to a strong form of limit pricing.
Conclusion: Building Collaborative Capabilities, Gordon Boyce, Stuart Macintyre, Simon Ville
Conclusion: Building Collaborative Capabilities, Gordon Boyce, Stuart Macintyre, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
The aim of this volume is to explore how history can help us to understandmore fully the nature of those factors that undermine orenhance the effectiveness of inter-organisational relationships and toprovide guidelines for participants in these types of ventures. Theauthors believe that the past is a valuable laboratory in which toexamine cooperative phenomena because, unlike a perspectivefounded solely on current practice, it enables us to see the outcomesof experiments conducted by others. Moreover, historical analysiscalls for the ‘contextualisation’ of the experiments, and the sensitivitythat is required for this exercise—and the enhanced powers of intuitionthat stem from it—are useful in gaining …
I Was Only Nineteen, 45 Years Ago: What Can We Learn From Australia's Conscription Lotteries?, Peter Siminski, Simon Ville
I Was Only Nineteen, 45 Years Ago: What Can We Learn From Australia's Conscription Lotteries?, Peter Siminski, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
The Australian conscription lotteries of 1965-1972 are a unique and underutilised resource for studying the effects of army service and veterans’ programs. Drawing on many data sources and 25 years of related US literature, we present a comprehensive analysis of this natural experiment, examining indicators of health, personal economic outcomes, family outcomes and educational attainment. We discuss the numerous potential mechanisms involved and the limitations of available data.
Investing In The Inter-Organisational Domain, Gordon Boyce, Stuart Macintyre, Simon Ville
Investing In The Inter-Organisational Domain, Gordon Boyce, Stuart Macintyre, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
Oranisations communicate with one another in many different ways and for a variety of reasons. Markets especially business, and the price signals that underpin them, require organisations to communicate regularly.
Tariffs, Subsidies, And Profits: A Re-Assessment Of Structural Change In Australia 1901–39, David Merrett, Simon Ville
Tariffs, Subsidies, And Profits: A Re-Assessment Of Structural Change In Australia 1901–39, David Merrett, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
We re-interpret the drivers of structural change in Australia from Federation to World War II. Manufacturing increased its relative share of output and employment, the farm sector and mining contracted. Conventional wisdom contends these shifts largely resulted from government policy, particularly increases in trade barriers. We contend that the connection between tariffs and increased profitability is conceptually weak and not supported by extant evidence. We argue that exogenous shifts in consumer preferences, the adoption of new technologies, changing factor proportions, and greater specialisation in manufacturing and services were responsible for manufacturing increasing its share of the economy's resources and output.
An Assessment Of The Research Performance Of Commerce Faculties In Australia, Abbas Valadkhani, Simon Ville
An Assessment Of The Research Performance Of Commerce Faculties In Australia, Abbas Valadkhani, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
There is a growing policy focus in Australian higher education on quantitative research performance assessment. However, most of the analysis has addressed aggregate performance at the institutional level, an approach inconsistent with recent policy emphasis on diversity among universities, and one that ignores performance variations across disciplines. We use cluster analysis to classify one of the ten broad fields of education, that is, management and commerce. Using averaged and available data for 2000-2004 on various research measures, partial rankings are provided. Factor analysis is utilised to generate full-multidimensional rankings within the resulting clusters. Our results show that low total research …
Banking Records, Business And Networks In Colonial Sydney, 1817-24, Leanne Johns, Simon Ville
Banking Records, Business And Networks In Colonial Sydney, 1817-24, Leanne Johns, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
Examining accounting transactions between depositors in the first accounts ledger of the Bank of New South Wales contributes to our knowledge of early Australian colonial businesspeople and their business activities. A social network analysis framework is applied to the transactions to disclose business networks and prominent individuals in the networks. The analysis seeks to ascertain the importance of these people to commerce and the significance of their networks in facilitating commercial relationships in a business environment fraught with uncertainty. The results illustrate the importance of networks to colonial trade and mercantile activity, especially for smaller scale businesspeople.aehr_348
Business Profitability And Structural Change In Interwar Australia, Simon Ville, David Merrett
Business Profitability And Structural Change In Interwar Australia, Simon Ville, David Merrett
Simon Ville
The Australian economy of the interwar period experienced noteworthy cyclical and secular trends. Severe cyclical fluctuations were associated with the international depression, often referred to as the ‘Great Slump’, which particularly afflicted Australia’s large traded sector, especially its cornerstone primary exporting industries. In the midst of this apparent dearth, however, came the ‘plenty’ of the initial stages of modernisation, which resulted from the broadening of the country’s economic base into new manufacturing industries. The general trends of economic activity are captured by national income data, while the expansion of particular industries has been contextualised by several authors, most notably Forster …
A Disciplinary Analysis Of The Contribution Of Academic Staff To Phd Completions In Australian Universities, Abbas Valadkhani, Simon Ville
A Disciplinary Analysis Of The Contribution Of Academic Staff To Phd Completions In Australian Universities, Abbas Valadkhani, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
This paper identifies the major areas of research strengths and concentration across all Australian universities, as demonstrated by the number of PhDs and academic staff members (S) in ten broad fields of education using the average audited data (2001-2003). The ratio of PhD completions to S is then presented to provide a tentative basis for benchmarking and productivity analysis. Inter alia, we found a very interesting relationship between the number of PhD graduates (as the dependent variable) and S using a fixed-effect model with both discipline-specific slope and intercept coefficients. The results provide policy implications for individual universities and government.
Institution Building And Organizational Diversity: Evidence From Australian Woolbrokers’ Associations, 1890‐1939, David Merrett, Simon Ville
Institution Building And Organizational Diversity: Evidence From Australian Woolbrokers’ Associations, 1890‐1939, David Merrett, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
Between 1890 and 1914 Australia became the world’s largest market for wool. Wresting this title from London required local brokers to create an ordered market with a central auction room, a uniform sale contract and standard arbitration procedure across a number of separate selling centres. This paper explores the various governance structures created by the Associations in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, to bind co‐operative behaviours. We argue that the dual objects of the Associations, adherence to a uniform price and the operation of a central auction, provided different levels of incentives to firms to co‐operate in each centre. Firms took …
"Making Connections": Insights Into Relationship Marketing From The Australasian Stock And Station Agent Industry, Simon Ville
"Making Connections": Insights Into Relationship Marketing From The Australasian Stock And Station Agent Industry, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
Relationship marketing has received little attention from business historians who have favored the study of branding, associational advertising, market research, and the role of marketing agencies, particularly in relation to modern consumer manufacturing. Although the term relationship marketing is of recent origin, we analyze its practice under a different guise, "connections", over several centuries: we draw on the extensive archival evidence of a rural business services industry in Australia and New Zealand. Relationship marketing's emphasis upon close and enduring individual customer relationships mitigated uncertainty of performance and behaviour, on both sides of the transaction, created by a long and geographically …
Financing Growth: New Issues By Australian Firms, 1920-1939, David Merrett, Simon Ville
Financing Growth: New Issues By Australian Firms, 1920-1939, David Merrett, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
An expanding economy, new technologies, and changing consumer preferences provided growth opportunities for firms in interwar Australia. This period saw an increase in the number of large-scale firms in mining, manufacturing, and a wide range of service industries. Firms unable to rely solely on retained earnings to fund expansion turned to the domestic stock exchanges. A new data set of capital raisings constructed from reports of prospectuses published in the financial press forms the basis for the conclusion that many firms used substantial injections of equity finance to augment internally generated sources of funds. That they were able to do …
Industry Associations As Facilitators Of Social Capital: The Establishment And Early Operations Of The Melbourne Woolbrokers Association, David Merrett, Stephen Morgan, Simon Ville
Industry Associations As Facilitators Of Social Capital: The Establishment And Early Operations Of The Melbourne Woolbrokers Association, David Merrett, Stephen Morgan, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
Relocation of the selling of Australia's wool clip from London to cities in Australia in the late nineteenth century led to the creation of wool selling industry associations, such as the Melbourne Woolbrokers Association (MWA). Highly successful in fostering competitive collaboration that improved market efficiency, the Association rested on the social capital brought to it and further developed by the participants, individuals with extensive connections in the pastoral, banking and transport industries. The collective social capital vested in the Association enabled the earning of economic rents, firstly from the high trust created through internal cohesion reinforced by formalised sanctions, and …
Rent Seeking Or Market Strengthening? Industry Associations In New Zealand Wool Broking, Simon Ville
Rent Seeking Or Market Strengthening? Industry Associations In New Zealand Wool Broking, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
This paper builds on recent conceptual work about associations that is drawn from the new institutional economics. It uses evidence from New Zealand wool broking to indicate the circumstances in which industry associations can operate effectively and in the broader public interest. Through their strong associative capacity and effective specialization of function, wool-broking industry associations developed flexible routines for managing wool auctions, mediated disputes, mitigated opportunism, addressed major market disruptions, and served as a communication channel with government. External pressures and monitoring from other business interests, governments, and a competitive wool market constrained rent-seeking behavior, preventing members from benefiting at …
Enhancing Industry Association Theory: A Comparative Business History Contribution, James Reveley, Simon Ville
Enhancing Industry Association Theory: A Comparative Business History Contribution, James Reveley, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
Our comparative business historical examination of industry associations aims to enrich the under-theorized study of this distinctive type of meta-organization. We compare two New Zealand industry associations operating in the same supply chain but with differing degrees of associative capacity and types of external architecture. Our analysis of these associations builds on two strands of theory that rarely communicate with each other: New Institutional Economics (NIE) and Organizational–Institutional Theory (OIT). We demonstrate how NIE describes the structural potentialities for associational strength, while OIT addresses the relational context within associations. In turn, NIE’s examination of external influences reinforces OIT suggestions that …
The Distribution Of Research Performance Across Australian Universities, 1992-2003, And Its Implications For Higher Education Funding Models, Simon Ville, A. Valadkhani, M. O'Brien
The Distribution Of Research Performance Across Australian Universities, 1992-2003, And Its Implications For Higher Education Funding Models, Simon Ville, A. Valadkhani, M. O'Brien
Simon Ville
We contribute to the debate on research performance by comparing the distribution of research inputs and outputs across Australian universities during 1992-2003. We have calculated annual Gini coefficients for various performance measures and Lorenz curves for the final year of the study. Various findings are evident. Research-input measures have remained relatively unevenly distributed across universities. Output measures were more evenly distributed and this exhibited a gradual and rather consistent decline through time, supporting the view that the research output is being generated gradually more equally across Australia’s universities. Excluding the “Group of Eight” (Go8) universities, results in a more even …
British Transport History: Shifting Perspectives And New Agendas, Simon Ville
British Transport History: Shifting Perspectives And New Agendas, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
This chapter is a contribution to the festschrift of Derek Aldcroft, formerly Professor of Economic History at Leicester and Manchester. It offers a retrospective on his contribution to transport history and suggests new research agendas for the subject.
Stock And Station Agents And Wool Brokers, Simon Ville
Stock And Station Agents And Wool Brokers, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
This chapter contributes to a business history of Auckland by analysing the growth and development of its wool broking and stock and station agent industry since about the 1860s. Auckland was one of the major centres of the wool auction system for most of the period. The excellent international trade and shipping facilities, international business connections, and rapid population growth also caused agents to concentrate their merchandise business at Auckland as a conduit to international business networks. In addition, manufacturing style activities, such as fertiliser and seed production, were located in South Auckland to yield localised external economies of scale …
Identifying The Corporate Leaders, Simon Ville
Identifying The Corporate Leaders, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
In chapter two we used a range of aggregated time series and pooled cross-sectional data on the economy and firms to present a broad picture of the growth of big business in the Australian economy, and drew parallels with the experience of other nations. We were able to identify in which sectors our largest firms have been located, how this changed over the course of the twentieth century, and who these firms were. This provides the basis for a closer investigation of some of these firms in this and the subsequent chapters. Thus, in the current chapter, we develop the …
The Nature And Structure Of Trade-Financial Networks: Evidence From The New Zealand Pastoral Sector, 1860-1939, Simon Ville, G. Fleming
The Nature And Structure Of Trade-Financial Networks: Evidence From The New Zealand Pastoral Sector, 1860-1939, Simon Ville, G. Fleming
Simon Ville
This study applies modern network theory to trade and finance networks in the New Zealand pastoral sector before World War Two It particularly examines the manner in which networks can include trading and financial business transactions simultaneously. In addition, it provides evidence of the role of leadership in such networks, in this case played by the stock and station agents as intermediaries bringing farmers into contact with a wide range of service providers.
Historical Approaches To Creativity And Innovation, Simon Ville
Historical Approaches To Creativity And Innovation, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
In this chapter, I will analyse historical approaches to creativity and innovation. Initially, this will take the form of a broad international comparative perspective and then, more specifically, I will address recent Australian historical experience. This will include a focussed look at sources of new technology in the interwar period. In the final section of the paper, I will address briefly the policy implications arising from the historical survey.
The Relocation Of The International Market For Australian Wool, Simon Ville
The Relocation Of The International Market For Australian Wool, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
The marketplace for Australian wool relocated from London to the Australian capital cities in the half century after 1880. This represented a major institutional shift that underpinned the development of the Australian economy and made Australia the centre of the international wool market. We analyse the principal demand and supply changes underlying this market shift. Consolidation of worsted manufacturing, demand diversification, improved transport and communications, Australian dominance of international wool production, and the growth of the small grazier shifted the relative market efficiency in favour of Australian auctions.
Long-Run Mortality Effects Of Vietnam-Era Army Service: Evidence From Australia's Conscription Lotteries, Peter Siminski, Simon Ville
Long-Run Mortality Effects Of Vietnam-Era Army Service: Evidence From Australia's Conscription Lotteries, Peter Siminski, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
We estimate the effect of Vietnam-era Army service on mortality, exploiting Australia's conscription lotteries for identification. We utilize population data on deaths during 1994-2007 and military personnel records. The estimates are identified by over 51,000 compliers induced to enlist in the Army. We find no statistically significant effects on mortality overall, nor for any cause of death. The estimated relative risk (RR) of death associated with Army service is 1.03 (95% CI: 0.92, 1.19). On the assumption that Army service affected mortality only for those who served in Vietnam, the estimated RR is 1.06 (95% CI: 0.81, 1.51).
Social Capital Renewal And The Academic Performance Of International Students In Australia, Frank V. Neri, Simon Ville
Social Capital Renewal And The Academic Performance Of International Students In Australia, Frank V. Neri, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
Many believe that social capital fosters the accumulation of human capital. Yet international university students arrive in their host country generally denuded of social capital and confronted by unfamiliar cultural and educational institutions. This study investigates how, and to what extent, international students renew their social networks, and whether such investments are positively associated with academic performance. We adopt a social capital framework and conduct a survey of international students at a typical Australian university in order to categorise and measure investments in social capital renewal, and test a multivariate model of academic performance that includes social capital variables, amongst …
Paths Of Corporate Development: Directions And Methods Of Growth, Simon Ville
Paths Of Corporate Development: Directions And Methods Of Growth, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
In Scale and Scope Chandler explained the typical directions of growth followed by large scale American corporations who sustained their industry leadership. I This involved phases of horizontal and vertical integration to capture economies of scale and throughput, followed by product diversification in response to new scientific research, and internationalization to exploit their competitive advantages in foreign markets. This has not been a universal experience of all countries; successful British firms, for example, have been less vertically integrated and Japanese firms were for long reluctant to expand overseas. Typical methods of growth - internal expansion, mergers, and interfirm ventures - …
Social Capital Formation In Australian Rural Communities: The Enhancing Role Of The Stock And Station Agent, Simon Ville
Social Capital Formation In Australian Rural Communities: The Enhancing Role Of The Stock And Station Agent, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
Evidence from the Australian stock and station agent industry is used to examine several unresolved issues of type and measurement in the social capital literature. Two distinct types of social capital are analysed from the evidence, one being long term and innate to a community, the other variable in the shorter term through individual decisions. The two types are causally linked, innate providing propitious conditions for individual investment conditions. Social capital investment is measured through the proxy of goodwill as revealed in takeover analysis.
The Development Of Large Scale Enterprise In Australia, 1910-64, Simon Ville, D. Merrett
The Development Of Large Scale Enterprise In Australia, 1910-64, Simon Ville, D. Merrett
Simon Ville
This study examines the evolution of large scale enterprise in Australia in the twentieth century. It applies a methodology common in the historical study of other nations, notably identifying and analysing the top firms by asset size for benchmarked years through the period. High concentration levels are identified among big businesses although they may have been slow to develop modern managerial systems
Social Innovation: Buzz Word Or Enduring Term?, Eduardo Pol, Simon Ville
Social Innovation: Buzz Word Or Enduring Term?, Eduardo Pol, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
The term 'social innovation' has come into common parlance in recent years. Some analysts consider social innovation no more than a buzz word or passing fad that is too vague to be usefully applied to academic scholarship. Some social scientists, however, see significant value in the concept of social innovation because it identifies a critical type of innovation. In this paper, we suggest one possible definition of social innovation and show that when its empirical meaning is distilled, the term is of great importance. We distinguish social innovation from business innovation, and identify a subset of social innovations that requires …
Discipline-Specific Forecasting Of Research Output In Australian Universities, Abbas Valadkhani, Simon Ville
Discipline-Specific Forecasting Of Research Output In Australian Universities, Abbas Valadkhani, Simon Ville
Simon Ville
Abstract: This paper develops and estimates a cross-sectional model for forecasting research output across the Australian university system. It builds upon an existing literature that focuses either on institutional comparisons or studies of specific subjects, by providing discipline-specific results across all of the ten major disciplinary areas as defined by Australia’s Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST). The model draws upon four discipline-specific explanatory variables; staff size, research expenditure, PhD completions, and student-staff ratios to predict output of refereed articles. When compared with actual averaged output for 2000-2004, the results are highly statistically significant.