Business Commons^™

The Design Of A Performance Measurement Model For Small Firms Within The Service Sector, Vicki Baard, Edmund W. Watts

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The role of small business, as part of the value adding chain in any economy, should never be understated. In Australia small business represents 96% of all private sector business, accounts for 47% of all private sector employment and the majority fail within three to five years of establishment. Despite this contribution the small business sector, and in particular the service sector component, appear to be underrepresented in the development of specific performance measurement models, which, within the academic and professional literature appear to focus on their larger firm counterparts. Given the unique position of small business service organisations the …

Managing Mission, Members And Money: A Financial Analysis Model For 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 (Parker 2003; Wooten et al 2003; Colby and Rubin 2005). Measurement of financial perfonnance by ratio analysis helps identify organisational strengths and weaknesses by detecting financial anomalies and focusing attention on issues of organisational importance (Glynn et al 2003).

Questions have been raised that relate the perfonnance of NPOs to their financial …

A Conceptual Model For Predicting Overseas Market Entry Order Decisions, Peter R. Massingham

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

I investigate the factors that influence firms’ order of entry into overseas markets. The existing literature identifies a range of firm and industry characteristics that influence the timing entry decision. I extend this research by developing a holistic conceptual model that explains how these factors interact to create conditions leading to first, second and late mover strategies. The paper argues that the factors combine to create strategic scenarios for each entry order. I undertake a four-step process to explain how managers may use this conceptual model to plan appropriate entry order decisions for each scenario. A key to the process …

Executive Information Systems And The Top-Officers' Roles: An Exploratory Study Of User-Behaviour Model And Lessons Learnt, Emmanuel Ikart

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In recent years a number of organisations have implemented executive information systems (EIS) in order to improve the performance of their executives’ jobs. Although the use of EIS is important in executives’ work, the majority of executives are unwilling to use EIS applications because of their design flaws. By using social factors, habits and facilitation condition variables from Triandis’ framework, this paper extends the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to derive useful variables to address the problem of the low usage of EIS by executives. This paper reports on research in progress in Australia on the adoption and usage of EIS …

Inter-Activity: An Activity Theory Model For Socio-Technical Work Spaces, Alanah Kazlauskas, Kate Crawford

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The issues that face human society are often addressed in a sociotechnical context that utilizes both social and technical tools. Such socio-technical milieux do not just happen but evolve over time. The ongoing emergence of more and more complex socio-technical contexts presents challenges to those involved as well as for sociocultural researchers. Vygotsky's (1978) Cultural Historical Activity Theory has been expanded upon by a number of researchers including Engestrom (1999) in order to develop understandings of work-based activity systems with a view to the identification of tensions within and to further development of those activity systems. Other researchers (Lave & …

Towards Executive Information Systems Adoptions By Knowledge Workers: An Extension Of The Technology Acceptance Model To Account For Social-Cultural Factors, Emmanuel Ikart

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In recent years a number of organisations have implemented executive information systems (EIS) in order to improve the performance gains on their executives’ job. Although the use of EIS is important to executives, majority of executives are unwilling to use EIS because of their design failures. By using social factors, habits and facilitation conditions variables from Triandis’ framework, this paper extends the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to derive useful variables to address the problem of the low usage of EIS by executives. This paper reports on the research in progress in Australia on the adoption and usage of EIS by …

The Development Of An Industry Specific Performance Measurement Model For Service Organisations Within The Small Business Sector, Vicki Baard, Edmund W. Watts

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The role of small business, as part of the value adding chain in any economy, should never be understated. In Australia small business represents 96% of all private sector business, accounts for 47% of all private sector employment and the majority fail within three to five years of establishment. Despite this contribution the small business sector, and in particular the service sector component, appear to be underrepresented in the development of specific performance measurement models, which, within the academic and professional literature appear to focus on their larger firm counterparts. Given the unique position of small business service organisations the …

Developing Web Services Using Workflow Model: An Interorganisational Perspective, Geng Liang, Sim K. Lau, Zhaohao Sun

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper discusses how a workflow model can be used in the design and development of web services composition. We particularly investigate the development of web services composition in an inter-organizational workflow environment. We discuss respectively how to design an inter-organizational workflow from scratch when there is no existing internal workflow, and how to make existing internal workflows work together in an inter-organizational workflow environment.

A Model For Corporate Governance, Decision-Making, And Accountability In Today's Universities, Jack Flanagan, John Little, Edmund W. Watts

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The government’s goal over the past decade of increased self-reliance has required universities to adopt the corporate mantle of governance consistent with that used in the private sector. The corporatisation of the university sector brought with it a unique set of problems to which senior university management had not previously been exposed. The solution to some of these problems includes developing governance systems to guide strategic decision-making based on well-developed ethical principles. This paper suggests such an approach to governance based on contemporary management and ethical foundations. In this model governance is depicted as an achievement of thinking across four …

A Test Of The Transformational Leadership Model: The Case Of Iran, Raed Awamleh, Sohrab Khalili

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study tested the transformational leadership theory among managers at functional levels in Iranian oil companies. It examined the effects of transformational and transactional leadership styles satisfaction and self-perceived performance of followers. Self-esteem and leadership disposition (Romance of Leadership) of employees were hypothesized to act as moderators. Data was collected from employees working in the oil industry in Iran. A multiple regression analysis indicated that transformational leadership style and self-esteem were related to job satisfaction and performance. In contrast, transactional leadership and romance of leadership did not show any impact on dependent variables. Proposed moderating variables were also insignificant. Results …