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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

"Making Connections": Insights Into Relationship Marketing From The Australasian Stock And Station Agent Industry, Simon Ville Apr 2012

"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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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 Apr 2012

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.


Financial Intermediaries And The Design Of Loan Contracts In The Australasian Pastoral Sector Before World War Two, Simon Ville, G. Fleming Apr 2012

Financial Intermediaries And The Design Of Loan Contracts In The Australasian Pastoral Sector Before World War Two, Simon Ville, G. Fleming

Simon Ville

This paper examines the pooling and separating contracts designed by Australasian financial intermediaries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We show that after an initial screening process these agents altered interest rates and collateral requirements to separate out risk types to reveal additional information on borrowers. In multi-period contracts agents opted for flexible contract structures which permitted changes in individual or community-wide circumstances.


Size Still Matters When Firms Choose Business Collaborators, Yu Zhang, Charles Harvie Apr 2012

Size Still Matters When Firms Choose Business Collaborators, Yu Zhang, Charles Harvie

Charles Harvie

Collaborate with peer-sized or larger-sized partner helps the firm to enhance its process, product quality, reputation, and market position. Therefore, when choosing collaborator, firms prefer peer-sized or lager-sized partners. Many empirical researches try to link the firm’s size with the performance and result of collaboration. However, there are still many debates. Instead of using the firm’s size, this paper use the compared size or size difference between collaborating firms to examine its influence on the performance of inter-firm collaboration. The results from qualitative case study and quantitative online survey in both Australia and China supported that size matters when firms …


Do Organisational Characteristics Explain The Differences Between Drivers Of Ict Adoption In Rural And Urban General Practices In Australia, Robert C. Macgregor, Peter N. Hyland, Charles Harvie Apr 2012

Do Organisational Characteristics Explain The Differences Between Drivers Of Ict Adoption In Rural And Urban General Practices In Australia, Robert C. Macgregor, Peter N. Hyland, Charles Harvie

Charles Harvie

A number of studies have compared general medical practices in rural locations with those in urban locations. Some of these studies have concentrated on the reasons why a GP might choose to work in a rural or urban setting. Others have examined the type of work required to be undertaken by medical professionals. Increasing use of information and communications technology (ICT) in medical practices has led to some studies examining their use in rural as well as urban settings. However, little if any research has examined whether ICT adoption drivers differ between rural and urban GPs based on their organisational …


Inter-Firm Collaboration In Australian Telecom Market, Aimee Zhang, Charles Harvie Apr 2012

Inter-Firm Collaboration In Australian Telecom Market, Aimee Zhang, Charles Harvie

Charles Harvie

The Australian telecommunications market is a typical mature market in a developed country. This paper gives an overview of the Australian telecommunication market’s development, industry structure, major components and contributions, major firms, key government agencies and organizations in this market. The history and development process of the Australian telecommunications market is, like most telecom markets in the world, one from monopoly to limited competition, from state ownership to market driven and from closed to open. To study inter-firm collaboration types, benefits, and barriers, a qualitative interview was conducted to collect real industry data from different sectors. Face-to-face interviews were adopted …


The Influence Of International Stock Markets And Macroeconomic Variables On The Thai Stock Market, S. Chancharat, A. Valadkhani, Charles Harvie Apr 2012

The Influence Of International Stock Markets And Macroeconomic Variables On The Thai Stock Market, S. Chancharat, A. Valadkhani, Charles Harvie

Charles Harvie

The paper examines the impact of several stock market price indices and macroeconomic variables on the Thai stock market, using a GARCH-M model and monthly data (1988M1-2004M12). We find that (a) changes in returns in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia before the 1997 crisis, and changes in Singapore, the Philippines and Korea after 1997 instantaneously influenced returns in the Thai stock market; (b) changes in oil prices negatively impacted on it only prior to 1997; (c) volatility clustering and a GARCH-M model were present only before 1997; and (d) markets outside the region had no immediate impact on the Thai market.


The Rise Of Quantification In The Pacific (Indonesia 1830–1870), Parulian Silaen, Ciorstan J. Smark Apr 2012

The Rise Of Quantification In The Pacific (Indonesia 1830–1870), Parulian Silaen, Ciorstan J. Smark

Ciorstan Smark

The “Culture System” was enforced in Java and other parts of Indonesia by the Dutch colonial government between 1830 and 1870. Under this system, Indonesian farmers were forced to put aside part of their land and labour for growing cash crops such as sugar, coffee, indigo, tobacco and pepper so that they could pay their land tax to the Dutch. This paper briefly examines some of the ramifications of this policy and how it supported the interests of the Dutch colonial masters. It also looks at how the policy promoted ideals of rationality, quantification and efficiency in the Indonesian archipelago. …


Schizophrenia – The Costs, Ciorstan J. Smark Apr 2012

Schizophrenia – The Costs, Ciorstan J. Smark

Ciorstan Smark

By looking at a particular subset of mental illness in Australia, (schizophrenia), this article reflects on the way in which direct costs falling within the parametres of the health budget are privileged (inscribed) above indirect costs which fall outside this boundary (and thus fail to be appropriately inscribed). This article concludes that, from a social accounting point of view, this boundary is arbitrary and an example of poor accounting.


Social And Historical Power Plays: A Foucauldian Gaze On Mental Institutions, Ciorstan J. Smark, Hemant Deo Apr 2012

Social And Historical Power Plays: A Foucauldian Gaze On Mental Institutions, Ciorstan J. Smark, Hemant Deo

Ciorstan Smark

ABSTRACT: This research focuses on New South Wales’ process of deinstitutionalisation using a Foucauldian lens. By using this filtering process, this research aims to highlight the interchange between the concepts of power and knowledge as two vital and interrelated forces. These forces are seen as dominant forces within the process of deinstitutionalisation in New South Wales. The introduction of the policy of deinstitutionalisation is found to have highlighted the need for accounting and financial information to be distanced from the economic rationalist calculus in order that better policy decisions are made. The case study further explores some of the societal …


Submission To The Independent Review Of The Environment Protection And Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, Graham Bowrey, Ciorstan J. Smark Apr 2012

Submission To The Independent Review Of The Environment Protection And Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, Graham Bowrey, Ciorstan J. Smark

Ciorstan Smark

Please find following a submission to the Independent Review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999. This submission focuses on reviewing the level of compliance with Section 516A (Annual reports to deal with environmental matters) of the EPBC Act 1999 by addressing the following questions raised in the Independent Review of the EPBC Act’s Discussion Paper: Question 37 – Does the Act contain sufficient comprehensive and appropriate range of enforcement mechanisms? Are those mechanisms capable of deterring and responding to contraventions of the Act? Question 40 – Does the Act provide sufficient guidance for decision makers in …


Using Personal Response Systems To Address The Net-Generation Of University Students, Brian Murphy, Ciorstan J. Smark Apr 2012

Using Personal Response Systems To Address The Net-Generation Of University Students, Brian Murphy, Ciorstan J. Smark

Ciorstan Smark

Abstract: Personal Response Systems are a technology similar to use to a television remote control or a mobile telephone for sending SMS messages. They enable almost instant communication between student and instructor in lecture situations. This paper examines the claims made by Personal Response Systems and considers whether they may be especially appropriate to the preferences and expectations of Net-Generation students. The Net-Generation (also known as N-Gens) is made up of students born between 1981 and 2001. They now make up the bulk of finance students in universities across our region. But have we really adapted our lecturing styles to …


A War Against Organizing, Kate Bronfenbrenner Apr 2012

A War Against Organizing, Kate Bronfenbrenner

Kate Bronfenbrenner

[Excerpt] Unless Congress passes serious labor law reform with real penalties, only a small fraction of the workers who seek union representation will succeed. If recent trends continue, there will no longer be a functioning legal mechanism to effectively protect the right of private-sector workers to organize and collectively bargain. Our country cannot afford to make workers defer their rights and aspirations for union representation any longer.