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Full-Text Articles in Business

Three Of A Kind? The Special Case Of Australia's Island Councils, Elisabeth Sinnewe, Michael Kortt, Brian Dollery, Philip Hayward Oct 2015

Three Of A Kind? The Special Case Of Australia's Island Councils, Elisabeth Sinnewe, Michael Kortt, Brian Dollery, Philip Hayward

Dr Elisabeth Sinnewe

In common with many other countries, Australian local government policy- makers have focussed heavily on improving financial sustainability and oper- ational efficiency through structural change and other modes of systemic reform. However, this system-wide approach cannot adequately deal with small island councils due to their sui generis characteristics. In an effort to fill this gap in the literature, this article examines the financial sustainability of Australia’s three island councils – Flinders, Kangaroo and King – over the period 2008–2013 in order to determine whether alternative organisational arrangements may be better suited to their unique circumstances. In so doing, our study …


Trial By Media: An Empirical Investigation Of Corporate Reputation And Stock Returns In Australia, Elisabeth Sinnewe, Scott Niblock May 2015

Trial By Media: An Empirical Investigation Of Corporate Reputation And Stock Returns In Australia, Elisabeth Sinnewe, Scott Niblock

Dr Elisabeth Sinnewe

This article examines whether investors are able to generate abnormal risk-adjusted returns in the Australian market based on media-specific firm reputational factors under market uncertainty between 2004 and 2012. The findings suggest that after controlling for crisis-centric time periods and market risk factors, contrarian trading strategies produce abnormal returns for poor corporate reputation firms but not for their good corporate reputation counterparts. Corporate reputation may be a driver of performance for poorly performing Australian firms and could be considered a stimulus for trading activity due to its explanatory capabilities.


Is Biggest Best? A Comparative Analysis Of The Financial Viability Of The Brisbane City Council, Elisabeth Sinnewe, Michael Kortt, Brian Dollery May 2015

Is Biggest Best? A Comparative Analysis Of The Financial Viability Of The Brisbane City Council, Elisabeth Sinnewe, Michael Kortt, Brian Dollery

Dr Elisabeth Sinnewe

Structural reform through forced mergers has been a dominant feature of Australian local government for decades. Advocates of compulsory consolidation contend that larger municipalities perform better across a wide range of attributes, including financial sustainability. Although empirical scholars of local government have invested considerable effort into investigating these claims, no one has yet examined the performance of Brisbane City Council against other local authorities, despite the fact that it is by far the largest council in Australia. This paper seeks to remedy this neglect by comparing Brisbane with Sydney City Council, an average of six southeast Queensland councils and an …