Business Commons^™

Lean Six Sigma And The Australian Business Excellence Framework: An Exploratory Case Within Local Government, Oriana Price, Matthew P. Pepper, Matthew Stewart

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine a contextualized local government case study of the application of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in conjunction with the Australian Business Excellence Framework (ABEF) to highlight the importance of a good strategic fit between LSS and organizational objectives before implementation.

Design/methodology/approach A local government council is used in a case study-based approach. Organizational artefacts and documents were used for data collection in conjunction with interviews from senior executives within the organization.

Findings Results indicate that when used in conjunction with the ABEF, LSS provides focus on organizational learning practices embedded within the …

Disclosing Volunteers As 'Human Capital': Analysing Annual Reports Of Australian Emergency Services Organisations, Yoke J. Berry, Michael L. Jones

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Annual reports of 11 volunteer-based emergency services organisations were analysed to determine how volunteers are valued in terms of human capital. A simple method was designed to enable comparison between agencies on nine categories of human capital being volunteer numbers, gender, age, length of service, diversity (three types), training and awards. The results were compared to the disclosure of the same categories pertaining to paid staff. Results showed that narratives of annual reports gave recognition and praise to volunteers but human resources sections reported primarily on paid staff. Data on volunteer numbers and diversity are poorly reported in many annual …

Progressive Australian Views Will Win Out Over Parochial Foreign Policy White Paper, George Mickhail

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

No doubt, Australia's parochial anxieties about China in its recent Foreign Policy White Paper stem from a Eurocentric establishment with entrenched "Cold-War" era views about international relations and fantasies about preserving a bygone legacy of Anglo-American hegemony.

Corporate Governance And Stock Liquidity Dimensions: Panel Evidence From Pure Order-Driven Australian Market, Searat Ali, Benjamin Liu, Jen Je Su

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Our newly constructed index of corporate governance quality (CGQ) provides comprehensive and robust evidence for the association between CGQ and stock liquidity in the pure order-driven Australia market. By using a large sample of 1207 firms from 2001 to 2013, we find a significant positive relationship between CGQ and stock liquidity, suggesting that better governed firms have greatly improved stock liquidity. Specifically, we find that better governed firms have a lower trading cost, smaller price impacts of trade, and higher trading speed. Moreover, the empirical results reveal that CGQ improves stock liquidity because it is associated with higher information disclosure.

Islamic Finance Finally Has A Place In The Australian Economy, George Mickhail

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

In its executive summary, the board makes it very clear at the outset that the review was conducted on the basis of “its understanding of common Islamic fi nance structures, and that nothing in the report should be taken to suggest that a particular product or case study described is compliant with Shariah law”.

Insiders' Profits In The Australian Equities Market, Henk Berkman, Reza Bradrania, Tina Prodromou, P Westerholm

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

In this paper we investigate if directors of Australian companies earn persistent profits on their reported trades, if these abnormal profits are significant enough to be mimicked by outsiders, and if these insider trades have an effect on returns of other investors. We find that insiders take advantage of their private information in stocks of larger corporations, but generally do not in medium and small capitalization firms, indicating that they insiders are attracted to the liquidity and a greater presence of uninformed traders in large stocks. Insiders appear able to determine the value of their information in by trading larger …

Is Islamic Finance Important To The Australian Economy?, George Mickhail

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

On the 31st July 2015, and according to fi gures published by the World Federation of Exchanges, the size of the Australian domestic equity market capitalization (companies admitt ed to listing only) was US$1.23 trillion, which is 1.96% of the global domestic equity market capitalization of US$62.8 trillion. On the other hand, the global Islamic fi nance industry assets in 28 diff erent jurisdictions were estimated to be worth US$1.85 trillion or 2.95% of the global domestic market capitalization.

The Relationship Between Responsible Leadership And Organisational Commitment With The Mediating Effect Of Turnover Intentions: An Empirical Study With Australian Employees, Md Amlan Haque, Mario Fernando, Peter Caputi

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of an Australian study testing the relationship between responsible leadership and organizational commitment. We further test and report the mediating effect of turnover intentions of employees.

(Dis)Engaging With Sustainability: Evidence From An Australian Business Faculty, Maria Cadiz Dyball, Andy Wang, Sue Wright

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how the lack of staff engagement with a university's strategy on sustainability could be an enabling lever for organisational change. It examines the attitudes and views of employees of a business faculty at an Australian metropolitan university as it attempts to adopt a holistic approach to sustainability. Design/methodology/approach - The paper opted for a case study using data from an on-line survey, semi-directed interviews with key management personnel and archival material. Responses were analysed using Piderit's (2000) notion of ambivalence. Findings - The paper provides empirical insights into why staff …

Fleeting Orders And Dynamic Trading Strategies: Evidence From The Australian Security Stock Exchange (Asx), Tina Prodromou, Joakim Westerholm, Hui Zheng, Dionigi Gerace

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study examines the behaviour of fleeting orders before and after two structural changes at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX); the removal of broker IDs from the public limit order book and a change in the price structure of exchange fees. Following Hasbrouck and Saar (2009), fleeting orders are defined as orders that are revised or cancelled within two seconds. Firstly, this study confirms that fleeting limit order revisions exhibit similar properties to liquidity-demanding orders. Secondly, after the removal of broker IDs on the market, traders start to aggressively chase the market price. Thirdly, after the price structure changes, traders …

Does A Gender Disparity Exist In Academic Rank? Evidence From An Australian University, Arusha Cooray, Reetu Verma, Lynne Wright

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Employing a unique administrative data set on academics from the University of Wollongong (UOW), we investigate if women are under-represented in academic rank, taking into account information on personal characteristics, job characteristics, education and productivity. The results suggest that males have a significant advantage in rank attainment. The possession of a PhD, the number of years of experience and the number of journal articles, books, book chapters, competitive grants and ERA A* ranked articles appear to be important for academic rank attainment. A Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition test indicates that both supply side and demand side factors play a role; however, there …

The Use Of Grounded Theory In Research: Knowledge Sharing In The Australian Film Industry, Michael Jones, Irit Alony

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Selecting the most appropriate research method is one of the most difficult problems facing a researcher. Grounded Theory is presented here as a method of choice as it is. This paper tracks a Grounded Theory research project undertaken to study the phenomena of collaboration and knowledge sharing in the Australian Film Industry. The detailed, rigorous, and systematic approach of the theory Grounded Theory also permits flexibility and freedom rendering Grounded Theory suitable for the investigation of complex multifaceted phenomena. Grounded Theory is also well equipped to explore socially related issues. This cha pter describes the techniques, utility, and ease of …

Learning And Study Strategies Affecting The Performance Of Undergraduate Management Accounting Students In An Australian University, Anura De Zoysa, Palli Mulla K A Chandrakumara, Kathleen Rudkin

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study examines the relationship between the academic performance of second year management accounting students at an Australian 'red brick' university and the respective individual learning and study strategies adopted by them in their studies of management accounting. A sample size of one hundred and eighteen valid responses comprises the data for this study. The respondents completed the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI). The results demonstrate that learning and study strategies of low and high performing groups differed significantly in six out of ten aspects that were examined, namely: anxiety; attitude; information processing; motivation; the ability to select main …

The Effect Of Chronic Pain On Life Satisfaction: Evidence From Australian Data, Paul Mcnamee, Silvia Mendolia

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Chronic pain is associated with significant costs to individuals directly affected by this condition, their families, the healthcare system, and the society as a whole. This paper investigates the relationship between chronic pain and life satisfaction using a sample of around 90,000 observations from the first ten waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia Survey (HILDA), which is a representative survey of the Australian population that started in 2000. We estimate the negative impact on life satisfaction and examine the persistence of the effect over multiple years. Chronic pain is associated with poor health conditions, disability, decreased …

Dynamic Forecasts Of Financial Distress Of Australian Firms, Maria Kim, Graham Partington

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Dynamic forecasts of financial distress have received far less attention than static forecasts, particularly in Australia. This study, therefore, investigates dynamic probability forecasts for Australian firms. Novel features of the modelling are the use of time-varying variables in forecasts from a Cox model. Not only is this one of relatively few studies to apply dynamic variables in forecasting financial distress, but to the authors' knowledge it is the first to provide forecasts of survival probabilities using the Cox model with time-varying variables. Forecast accuracy is evaluated using receiver operating characteristics curves and the Brier Score. It was found that the …

Re-Organizing Australian Public Sector Work: Conditions For Innovating-In-Practice, Mary C. Johnsson, Oriana Price, Marie Manidis

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Public sector organizations continue to re-organize in response to reform imperatives but are they more innovative when they transform to market or customer orientations? This paper examines what we call innovating-in-practice in a hospital emergency department, a local government council and a corrections centre by analyzing how work organization dualities are negotiated using a practice theory lens. In public sector work, work dualities and tensions are often created when reform initiatives are introduced, requiring existing work practices to be challenged and changed. Our empirical illustrations expose the messiness and enmeshing of various practitioner interests, relations, materialities and purposes of practice …

Employment Effects Of Army Service And Veterans' Compensation: Evidence From The Australian Vietnam-Era Conscription Lotteries, Peter Siminski

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Exploiting Australia's National Service lotteries of 1965 to 1972, I estimate the effect of army service on employment outcomes. Population data from military personnel records, tax returns, veterans' compensation records, and the Census facilitate a rich and precise analysis, identified by 53,000 complying conscripts. The estimated employment effect is -12 percentage points (95% CI: -13, -11) overall, -37 for those who served in Vietnam and 0 for those who served only in Australia. It emerged in the 1990s, mirrored by veterans' disability pension effects. These results contrast with those for the United States, possibly reflecting employment disincentives associated with Australia's …

Institution Building And Variation In The Formation Of The Australian Wool Market, David Merrett, Simon Ville

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The relocation of the wool market from London to the major Australian port cities from the late nineteenth century required the formation of an institution to govern the auction business, namely the wool brokers' association. Regional variations, among Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, occurred in the structure and effectiveness of the institution despite each regional association having been formed around the same time, for the same purpose, and with an overlap of participating firms. We draw on institution theory to guide our account and find that the impact of legacy factors and differences in market conditions explain the regional variations.

A Comparison Of Supply Integration And End-To-End Communication Theory And Practice - An Australian Perspective, Fadi Kotob, Lee Styger

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The concept of supply chain integration and end-to-end communication are well established in supply chain theory. Typically, because of the depth of publications, an axiom has developed that all supply networks are fully integrated and have end-to-end communication protocols. Recent research into Australian supply networks has highlighted a somewhat different scenario, where many networks are fragmented and lack the connectivity that would be expected. This paper offers a comparison of theoretical supply chain management and the actual practices found in Australian businesses. As a result of this grass root research, a scenario is offered that suggest there is a significant …

The Australian Capital Territory Has Adopted Measures To Abolish Stamp Duty And Impose A Land Tax On All Real Property: Will This Approach Be Adopted By Other States In Australia?, John A. Mclaren

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

From 1 July 2012 the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) imposed land tax, in the form of general rates, on all commercial and residential property in the ACT, including owner occupied homes, on a progressive basis. Marginal rates of tax are applied on increased values of the land. The ACT is unique in that there is no local government so the ACT government was able to increase its general rates on owner‐occupied homes and reduce land tax on investment properties and commercial properties. As a result of the subsequent increase in government revenue, the ACT has substantially reduced stamp duty on …

Purchasing Power Parity Puzzle And The Australian Dollar Real Exchange Rate, Khorshed Chowdhury

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines mean reversion in the real exchange rate (RER) index of Australia in the presence of structural breaks from 1984 quarter 1 till 2011 quarter 1. Testing for mean reversion in RER is one way of testing the purchasing power parity (PPP) theory of international trade and finance. Mean reversion is examined by using a minimum Lagrange Multiplier unit-root test that allows for breaks in level and trend. We were able to reject the unit-root null hypothesis and find evidence of mean reversion and hence purchasing power parity (PPP). Our finding reverses the results of past studies that …

Australian Banks Performance During The Global Financial Crisis: An Analysis On The Efficiency And Productivity, Shima Hassan Zadeh Forughi, Anura De Zoysa

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The banking industry plays a crucial role in the financial system and economic development of any country. Thus, the evaluation of its efficiency is of great importance. The present thesis analyses the impact of different phases of the recent banking crisis on Australian banks with a view to identifying problem areas in the banking sector and to provide directions for policy improvements.

A multiple-stage approach based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is utilized in this study to investigate the level of efficiency and productivity of the Australian banks over a 7 year period. This analysis consists of the following five …

Australian Online Public Information Systems: A User-Centred Study Of An Evolving Public Health Website, Helen Hasan, Joseph Meloche, Sumayya Banna

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The strategic, transformational nature of many information systems projects is now widely understood. Large-scale implementations of systems are known to require significant management of organisational change in order to be successful. Moreover, projects are rarely executed in isolation - most organisations have a large programme of projects being implemented at any one time. However, project and value management methodologies provide ad hoc definitions of the relationship between a project and its environment. This limits the ability of an organisation to manage the larger dynamics between projects and organisations, over time, and between projects. The contribution of this paper, therefore, is …

Connectedness In Work Relationships And Quality Of Working Life: Evidence From Australian Call Centres, Zeenobiyah Nadiyah Hannif, Mario Fernando

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Although empirical studies examine how employees perceive their relationships with their coworkers, these studies fail to explain how the quality and strength of co-worker relationships determine the workers' overall quality of working life. Drawing from the growing workplace spirituality literature identifying connectedness at work as a key attribute of strong co-worker relationships and well being, in this paper, we examine the place of connectedness in the quality of co-worker relationships in two Australian call centres. Using the case study approach, we draw similarities and differences between two Australian call centres. Two quite different approaches to people management are found alongside …

Should The International Income Of An Australian Resident Be Taxed On A Worldwide Or Territorial Basis?, John Mclaren

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Many countries impose income tax on the worldwide income of their residents or citizens. This is the case in Australia where 'Australian residents for tax purposes' must pay income tax on their worldwide income including statutory income such as capital gains and dividends. If the government of a country adopts a 'worldwide' basis for imposing income tax on its residents then the existence of tax havens and offshore financial centres becomes an important issue because income from passive investments may not be disclosed and subsequently taxed in Australia. The Australian Government has recently funded 'Operation Wickenby', in an attempt to …