Business Commons^™

Finding The True Performance Of Australian Managed Funds, Victor Soucik

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

When making conclusions about the performance of managed funds, it is critical that the framework in which such performance is measured provides an accurate and unbiased environment. In this thesis I search for true performance of the two major classes of funds- equity as well as fixed interest managed funds. Focusing, first on the former class, I examine five measurement models across three risk-free proxies, nine benchmarks proposed by the extant literature (covering conditional and unconditional as well as single and multi factor definitions) and over three independent periods in an effort to identity (in a consistent setting) the most …

The Use And Usefulness Of Managed Fund Ratings In Australia, Paul Gerrans

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Managed fund ratings have become an increasingly available piece of information to guide choice of managed funds. From the perspective of modem portfolio theory and specifically within the efficient markets paradigm, the value of such information is questionable. No profitable relationship should be able to be demonstrated between a fund rating and its subsequent performance. This thesis investigates the relationship between fund ratings and subsequent performance using Morningstar ratings, the most prominent Australian rating provider, for two of the largest and most important groups of managed funds. A positive relationship between a fund's star rating, its quantitative and qualitative components, …

To What Extent Can Knowledge Management Systems Build And Reinforce Consensus Around Initiatives For Change?: A Self-Reflective Analysis Of Professional Practice, Guy A. Duczynski

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis reports on my attempts to 're-align' the purpose, behaviour and underlying culture of a large military organisation through heuristic, self reflective enquiry - to 'find its future' - with and through its people. I use the word re-align with great care as I recognised that change would have been too ambitious and would (probably have) result(ed) in failure. Whilst I cannot claim total success, I have made new and valuable discoveries in knowledge elicitation and methods of integrating the views of a large number of people to 'build and reinforce consensus around initiatives for change'. In the process …

From Ambivalence To Activism: Australia And The Negotiation Of The 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Christopher Hubbard

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This Dissertation presents a study of Australia's involvement in the negotiation and early interpretation of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), an instrument which remains the most important global nuclear arms control measure in international law. Using data from recently released Australian government documents, the study analyses the process by which Australia was transformed from an ambivalent nuclear sceptic within the Western alliance, into a steadfast global campaigner against the spread of nuclear weapons. It concludes that Australia's urgent search during 1967 and 1968 for coherence in its policy on nuclear weapons acquisition, largely played out within sections of the …

The Management Of Performance By Volunteers: The Use Of Performance Feedback, Megan Paull

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of feedback by managers and co-ordinators of volunteers in the management of performance by volunteers. Research into the use of feedback in the paid workforce was examined extensively. Additionally, research dealing with the application of human resource management theory to volunteers is discussed. A foundation study conducted to examine the performance management practices in use with volunteers in Western Australia forms the basis for a multi-phase qualitative and quantitative examination of the topic. The perceptions of the managers and coordinators of volunteers, and the volunteers themselves about what constitutes poor …

Influence Of Politics On The Budgeting Process : A Study Of The Fertiliser Manufacturing Industry In Indonesia, Akhmad Syakhroza

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study investigates the influence of politics on the budgeting process within the fertiliser manufacturing industry in Indonesia. Prior budgeting studies have focused on one of the following three theoretical frameworks - economic, psychological, and social. This study expands the research corpus by assessing the effect of politics on the budgeting process. The objectives of this study arc: (a) to investigate the effect of politics in the relationship between managerial roles and budgeting process – budgetary participation, budgetary communication, and budgetary control including budgetary monitoring and budgetary evaluation, and (b) to assess the impact of structural and individual power on …

A Qualitative Analysis Of The Loyalty Building Attributes Of Customer Loyalty Programs On Gaining Loyalty To Brands, Caryn Ow

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

A paradigm shift from mass marketing to the concentrated focus on one-to-one marketing has led to a barrage of tactical strategies to instill long-tern consumer loyalty among organisations' most valued customers. At the forefronts of these strategies are customer loyalty programs. Since the inception of the first loyalty program, AAdvantage in 1981, the marketplace has seen a proliferation of these programs across a widening range of industries. Not surprisingly, this has led to significant interest in customer loyalty programs among academics and practitioners. Despite the skepticism of academics relating to the effects of loyalty programs, many organisations have allocated a …

Downsizing : An Analysis Of Organisational Strategies And Human Resource Management Outcomes, Cecil A. Clabaugh

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The objective of this research was to examine the relationship between loss and retention of key employees in downsizing organisations and organisational performance. The purpose of this was to develop an understanding of the organisational performance that results when downsizing organisations are unable to retain their key workers. The secondary objective of the research was to examine the factors that make up a downsizing organisation's employee selection process in order to determine how these factors affect loss and retention of key workers. The research was guided by a theoretical framework developed by Kozlowski et al (1993) and Thornhill and Saunders …

International Portfolio Diversification With Special Reference To Emerging Markets, Joseline Chimhini

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study evaluates the potential benefits that investors obtain from diversifying their portfolios into emerging markets when the time varying behavior of assets is considered. It also tests whether the existing asset-pricing model developed in the context of developed markets, which assumes complete integration, can explain the expected returns in emerging markets and determines the risk of investing in these markets using cross section and time series data. An international capital asset pricing model (ICAPM) with time varying moments developed by Harvey (1991) is adopted. The conditional asset-pricing model, which takes into account prevailing world economic factors, was used. The …

Financial Intermediation And Economic Performance In Zimbabwe, Gift Chirozva

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Financial literature is replete with theoretical and empirical evidence suggesting financial development has a causal effect on economic growth. Yet there is no consensus on the finance-growth nexus. The direction of causality is still controversial In fact, classical economists argue that financial factors are neutral and hence cannot have real effects. Critics argue the traditional methods of identifying long run economic relationships fail to address the methodological conflict between equilibrium implied by theory and the disequilibria in the data. The rise of new representation techniques such as the General Methods of Moments (GMM) and vector autoregression [VAR] brought with them …

Factors Affecting The Success Of Information Systems Projects, Iain Martin

Theses : Honours

This thesis looks at how accurately project managers can pre-predict what problems may arise during an Information Systems project they are about to commence based on their experience of previous projects. The second part investigates what actions a project manager is likely to take to expedite a troubled project. Both of these questions are investigated and it is found that while project managers can confidently predict which problems could arise, and how to take actions to rectify such actions when they occur, these problems still arise.

An Evaluation Of Environmental Disclosures Produced In Australian Local Government Annual Reports, Royston J. Tan

Theses : Honours

This thesis is an evaluation of the environmental disclosures published in Australian local governments' annual reports. The study is aimed in identifying disclosures of environmental information by Australian local governments and providing explanations for the variations in the quantity and quality of information disclosed. Various social responsibility theories were used in this study. The theories employed in this study were institutional factors, stakeholder theory, social and political theories. Institutional factors included issues such as local government characteristics and pressures exerted from various government and non·government organizations to implement and disclose environmental measures. A content analysis methodology was used in this …

Survival In The E-Conomy: 2nd Australian Information Warfare & Security Conference 2001, William Hutchinson (Ed.)

Research outputs pre 2011

This is an international conference for academics and industry specialists in information warfare, security, and other related fields. The conference has drawn participants from national and international organisations.

The Call Of The Sirens: The Women Who Support The Fremantle Dockers, Fiona Irvine

Theses : Honours

Australian Football and sport in general is a large part of the Australian culture. In the past men have dominated most aspects of sport as participants, spectators and administrators. Women have fulfilled a submissive role supporting men's sporting pursuits. However, the role of women is more significant and football clubs are recognising the importance of this membership segment by creating clubs within clubs to cater for the needs of female members. This study examined the reasons why women enjoy watching men's sport and if there are specific reasons why they joined a women-only supporter club of a male sport. A …

Critical Study Of The Managerial Selection Practices In Malaysian Business Organisations, Zeti Sheikh Othman

Theses : Honours

An exploratory study was made on the managerial selection practices of Malaysian business organizations. The data for the study was provided by 62 business organizations comprising 22 Malaysian-owned small and medium enterprises, 26 large locally-owned corporation and 14 Malaysian-based multinational companies. Comparisons of the selection practices were made between the two categories of Malaysian local companies; between the Malaysian local companies and the multinationals, and between selection practices of the Malaysian organizations combined with the practices in the developed countries as revealed by management literature. Analysis of the results reveal that generally there were little differences between the selection practices …

Systems In Management 7th Annual Anzsys Conference 2001: The Relevance Of Systems Thinking In The Contemporary World, William Hutchinson (Ed.)

Research outputs pre 2011

Welcome to Perth, Western Australia, and to the Systems in Management 7th Annual ANZSYS Conference 2001 "the relevance of systems thinking in the contemporary world" hosted by the We-B Centre, School of Management Information Systems at Edith Cowan University. The conference provides an opportunity for sharing and networking among academics and industry specialists in systems and related fields. The conference has drawn participants from national and international organizations. All submitted papers were subjected to an anonymous peer review process managed by the Conference Committee. Stringent review criteria resulted in an unprecedented number of papers declined this year. Based on these …

Working For Excellence In The E-Conomy: 2nd International We-B Conference, Sue Stoney (Ed.)

Research outputs pre 2011

Welcome to Perth, Western Australia, and to the 2nd International We-B Conference 2001 "working for excellence in the e-conomy" hosted by the We-B Centre, School of Management Information Systems at Edith Cowan University.

This is an international conference for academics and industry specialists in e-business, e-government and related fields. The conference has drawn participants from national and international organisations.

All submitted papers were subjected to an anonymous peer review process managed by the Conference Committee.

Nidh - Network Intrusion Detection Hierarchy: A Model For Gathering Attack Intelligence, Craig Valli

Research outputs pre 2011

Internet proxy systems such as Squid exchange intelligence relevant to their function as caching proxy servers via a distributed and trusted hierarchy of machines. The required intelligence is broadcast based along the network based upon established trust relationships throughout the connected network via specific port and protocols of exchange. An intrusion detection system that incorporates this functionality for gathering attack intelligence could be a formidable foe even for the wiliest attacker. This paper will outline a possible model for the deployment of a network/distributed network intrusion detection system utilising technologies and techniques already in existence to provide the supporting infrastructure.

Why A Journal Of Research For Consumers?, Simone Pettigrew

Research outputs pre 2011

This article outlines the rationale behind the introduction of the Journal of Research for Consumers. The potential benefits to be gained from educating consumers are discussed, and arguments are made for the contribution of consumer researchers to the consumer education process. In particular, the deficiencies of the current dependence on research that produces managerial outcomes are discussed in terms of the limitations they place on understanding the relevance of consumption in consumers' lives. The structure of the Journal of Consumer Research is described in terms of the access provided to both academic and consumer audiences.

A Virtual Organisation Model For E-Government, Greg Robins, Janice Burn

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper looks at the implementation of a new customer value alliance model in e-govemment. Firstly we review the issues of e-govemment and the drive towards customer centric organisations in the context of multiple government agencies. A model of e-Government is introduced and examined within the context of a virtual organisation model which can be applied along the customer value chain across multiple service agencies. A case study is used to demonstrate how this concept of a virtual organisation as a customer value-alliance model can effect a successful transition to e-Govemment from a traditional Government model. Finally, we examine how …

Privacy On The Internet : Investigation Into Corporate Privacy Policy Of Australian Large Private Sector Organisations On The Internet, Keiko Sato

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The popularity of the Internet has been dramatically increased over recent years. The rapid growth of this technology and its international use has made it almost impossible to regulate the internet. As a result, the Internet has certainly provided freedoms to people and it has led to some abusing systems. Privacy is one of the major issues in the development of Electronic Commerce using the Internet. As an enormous amount of personal information is transmitted to several hosts connecting to the Internet, the information can be accessed by both authorised and unauthorised people. Although it is certain that there are …

Small Business Owners' Measures Of Success, Elizabeth A. Walker

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Small business plays a significant part in the economy of all nations because of its revenue contribution and as a generator of employment. In the Australian context, small businesses account for 85% of all businesses, employ 40% of the total workforce and contribute $75 billion annually to Industry Gross Product. All of these numerical indicators highlight the financial importance of small business, which is also how small business success has traditionally been measured. These traditional success measures have been by increases in financial performance criteria, such as return on investment, turnover or profit, or by increases in number of staff.

Information Systems Development And Practice In Organisations In Sri Lanka : An In-Depth Case Study, Sunil G. Rajapaksege

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis describes an investigation of information systems development and practice in a privatised state owned enterprise (North-West Cement Company Limited or NWCL) in Sri Lanka between J95M-2000. The objectives of my study were: (1) to understand the approaches used by NWCL for information systems development; (2) to understand how these approaches relate to the organisational, socio-cultural, economic and political realities of organisations in Sri Lanka; (3) to outline a theory to better understand information systems development and practice for organisations in Sri Lanka; and (4) to make recommendations which could be used to improve information systems development and practice …

A Qualitative Investigation Into The Use Of The Internet In The Information Search Phase Of The Buying Decision Process, Kiaran Geen

Theses : Honours

There have been a significant number of reports suggesting that the Internet will radically change accepted business and customer relationships. The literature to date has focused on the phenomenon of the Internet as well as more specific aspects such as its interactivity, how to market a Web site and security issues. There appears to be very little research on how consumer behaviour theories relate to the Internet. This study explored the extent to which the Internet is in the information search phase of the buying decision process, amongst Internet literate consumers. A qualitative investigation using virtual focus groups was conducted. …

Reducing The Redundancy Of Financial Ratios And Assessing The Stability Of Financial Patterns, Teck K. Hii

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study was to examine the financial patterns of Australian industrial firms along the lines of Pinches et al.’s (1973; 1975) study. The financial ratios used in prior Australian corporate failure studies were used to derive a reduced set of factors that was predictive of corporate failure (e.g., Castagna & Matolesy, 1981: Booth, 1983). These factors were examined for the short – and long-term stability of these factors. The set of firms used was selected from FINSELECT database, which covered the period from 1989 to 1997. A random list of 199 Australian industrial firms that survived between …

The Potential Use Of Smart Cards In Vehicle Management With Particular Reference To The Situation In Western Australia, Harry W. Jones

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Vehicle management may be considered to consist of traffic management, usage control, maintenance, and security. Various regulatory authorities undertake the first aspect, fleet managers will be concerned with all aspects, and owner-drivers will be interested mainly in maintenance and security. Car theft poses a universal security problem. Personalisation, including navigational assistance, might be achieved as a by-product of an improved management system. Authorities and fleet managers may find smartcards to be key components of an improved system, but owners may feel that the need for improved security does not justify its cost. This thesis seeks to determine whether smartcards may …

Intellectual Capital: Managerial Perceptions Of Organisational Knowledge Resources, Mark Valentine St Leon

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study addresses the question 'To what extent does organisational type and managerial role define managers' perception of Intellectual Capital?' Our understanding of the phenomenon of Intellectual Capital is an emerging one. The most recent attempts to describe and define Intellectual Capital identify a dynamic 'action' perspective as well as a static 'perception' perspective. Intellectual Capital broadly describes the resources of knowledge available to an organisation, whether embodied in human or non-human forms, and which are capable of being transformed into and codified as productive organisational assets. The emergence, development and application of concepts of Intellectual Capital herald the arrival …

Determining The Critical Elements Of The Customer Intimacy Framework, Frank Raymond Jasper

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Currently the field of marketing is undergoing a transformation concerning the appropriate marketing model to use in business. This transformation arose due to the mounting problems of the existing 4Ps Marketing Model, the heightened importance of customer retention, the requirement to continually add value to business processes and recent advancements in Internet technology. An alternate approach to the 4Ps Marketing Model began to emerge in the 1970's and was termed relationship marketing. This study is exploratory in nature and investigates consumer perceptions concerning customer intimacy. A self-administered mail questionnaire was employed to gather the necessary data from 300 solely external …

A Study Of The Adjustment Problems Experienced By Workers Undertaking Short Term International Relocation, Carla Fedora Sharp-Paul

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study focused on the adjustment problems created by the effects of living and working in a culturally unfamiliar environment. Sixty-five internationally relocated workers, both male and female aged between 30 and 60 years, from different countries, who were on short-term relocation to Singapore, were asked to complete a survey. This survey questionnaire consisted of 56 questions, about the adjustment problems that they faced while on relocation and the availability or non-availability of pre-departure training. The conceptual framework for this study was developed by referring to difficulties uncovered in the literature review on the topic of international relocation. Questionnaire items …

The Marketing Orientation Of Small And Medium Enterprises: An Australian Study, Venkateswara S. Venkatesan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The market orientation construct has emerged as a key marketing theme in the 1990's. While the concept of being focussed on the market (customers and competitors) has been known since the early 1950's (e.g. Drucker,1954), putting the concept into practice through a set of specific actions has eluded many organisations and academics. As a result, market orientation (also termed market focus, customer focus and competitor focus) had remained a business philosophy (Bennett & Cooper, 1979: Felton, 1959; Konopa & Calabro,1971) more than a strategic approach. While there have been sporadic attempts at defining or operationalisinga marketing or customer orientation in …