Business Commons^™

Innovation Heterogeneity And Schumpeterian Growth Models, Eduardo Pol, P. Carroll

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Innovation heterogeneity refers to two empirical facts: economic sectors vary according to sources and rates of innovation, and innovations vary in terms of the magnitude of their economic impact. The central focus of this paper is the problem of scale effects in the Schumpeterian growth models. Although these models make endogenous the production of innovations, they assume not only an oversimplified pattern of sectoral innovation but also that major innovations are virtually indistinguishable from minor innovations. The main claim of the a er is that without a theoretical framework revolving around both the existence of realistic sectoral patterns of innovation …

An Activity Theory Analysis Of A Case Of It-Driven Organisational Change, Wannapa Suratmethakul, Helen Hasan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The paper describes unexpected problems encountered in the automation of a scheduling process using an IT application already in use in other similar organisations. A grounded theory approach was used to collect and categorise data on the case. Activity Theory was then used to analyse the attempt by management to implement organisational change through the introduction of the system. The findings suggest that it is inadvisable to impose organisational change through the introduction of a complex IT system, particularly when this disrupts entrenched decision-making processes of the organisation.

Source Of Value Online For Recreational Travellers: Customer Information Needs In The Buying Process And Internet Capability, Robert Grant

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The information needs of buyers of high involvement recreational travel products are potentially a source of customer value in their decision making process. The internet's ability to provide large amounts of information in real time with high levels of customer convenience are compounded by the ability to deliver information from multiple sources. In theory then, the internet seems able to largely replace the value delivered by retail travel intermediaries in the physical world. This critical review suggests however that the physical world intermediaries and online information sources are more likely to be complementary rather than competitive resources for shoppers for …

Young Retail Fashion Shoppers: Hunters And Gatherers, Katerina Korlimbinis, Jennifer Thornton

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Store layout and design are crucial components of a retailer's image and reflect a significant percentage of shopper's first impressions of a store - which can either attract or deter potential buyers. However, the current store layout and design of many retail fashion stores largely reflects the shopping preferences of female shoppers, as they shop more frequently and have a greater interest in fashion than men. Given the recent increase in young males shopping for their own clothes, more research and attention needs to be devoted to this target market. Originally content analysis of 17 men's fashion retailers was undertaken …

The Role Of Trust In The Marketing And R&D Interface During The Npd Process: A General Framework, Elias Kyriazis, Janette K. Rowland

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

A gap exists in our understanding of the role that "trust" plays within organisations that produce new products. Recent organisational research suggests that trust plays a more significant role in modern organisational structures than previously thought. Trust encourages efficient information sharing, it limits defensive behaviours, encourages citizenship behaviours, it leads to co-operation and teamwork, and encourages collaboration. The NPD literature has traditionally focused on "integration methods" which promote information sharing and interaction amongst participants. Trust has been viewed as a "by product" of these approaches. A framework is proposed which highlights the important role that management play in creating an …

Predicting The Effectiveness Of Anti-Speeding Tv Advertisements By Skin Conductance Response (Scr), Jennifer Thornton, John R. Rossiter

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the Hopkins and Fletcher (1994) ad-testing measure - which uses skin conductance response (SCR) to predict the effectiveness of sales messages for commercial products and services - would be similarly predictive for road safety ads. The predictive ability of SCR was tested on four pairs of anti-speeding ads using a behavioural dependent measure of speed choice. Overall, there was a weak correlation between SCR scores and speed choice scores (r = -.116, p < .10), and this was largely due to a strong correlation for one of the eight ads tested Further analysis showed that out of 16 possible comparisons of SCR scores and speed choice scores, by gender and ad, only two were found to be significantly correlated in the hypothesised direction. The Hopkins and Fletcher SCR ad-testing measure is not a dependable predictor of the effectiveness of antispeeding ads.

A Perspective On Food Policies Evolution And Poverty In The Indian Republic (1950-2001), E. J. Wilson, D. P. Chaudhri

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper analyses the rural food sector of the Indian Republic in an intertemporal growth context. A model is developed which includes the government's conflict between its poverty reducing attempts through public distribution of food, subsidized issue and support food prices and long term developmental goals. The ARDL cointegration procedure for mixed order dynamic processes identifies the major determinants of rural head count poverty for the period, 1953-2000.

The long run elasticity estimates clearly show the real consumer subsidised issue price and the real producer support price dominate the quantity effects of the per capita public distribution on rural head …

Savings, Investment, Foreign Inflows And Economic Growth Of The Indian Economy 1950-2002, Reetu Verma, Edgar J. Wilson

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

There is a large research literature on the roles of domestic savings and investment in promoting long run economic growth. This paper attempts to identiy the major interdependencies between savings, investment, foreign capital flows and real output for India since independence. An endogenous growth model of an open economy, with government, is adapted to specify the complicated theoretical interrelationships between sectors of a growing economy. The time series of real household, private corporate and public savings; private and public investment; foreign capital inflows and GDP are tested for stationary under structural change. Empirical estimation of the possible long run and …

Prospects For An Fta Between Australia And Korea, Charles Harvie

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Since the I 960s, trade opportunities based on complementary economies have driven the Australia-Korea economic relationship. Australia exported raw materials, principally minerals and energy, which Korea processed and subsequently sold on domestic and international markets. In return Australia purchased increasing volumes of Korean manufactures, initially textiles, clothing and footwear and later automobiles. With the onset ofthe financial and economic crisis in Korea during 1997-98 trade and investment opportunities were severely constrained. However, in the wake of the crisis, and the rapid recovery of the Korean economy underpinned by corporate and financial sector reforms, trade and investment opportunities in traditional areas …

A Unified Open Systems Model For Explaining Organisational Change, Doy Sundarasaradula, H. Hasan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper presents an approach to developing a unified conceptual model to describe and explain change in organisations, viewed as complex systems. The authors propose a model that brings together the traditional open systems model (based on principles of homeostasis, steady state, and cybernetics) and the dissipative systems model (based on thermodynamic non-equilibrium principles) to explain distinctively different phases of change. Gradual and incremental change can be explained by using the traditional open systems model, whereas dramatic and discontinuous change can be explained by the adoption of the dissipative systems model. These two phases of change occur naturally, depending on …

Interactions Among China-Related Stocks: Evidence From A Causality Test With A New Procedure, Gary Gang Tian, Guang Hua Wan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of this study is to investigate a causal relationship among five different indices of shares issued by Chinese firms, A-, B- and H-shares listed in China and Hong Kong. This paper re-examines the interactions among these China-related stocks using daily time series data by constructing a vector autoregresion (VAR) model. A new Granger no-causality testing procedure developed by Toda and Yamamoto (1995) was applied to test the causality link among these five stock indices. The results emerging from our research indicate that there are "closed" relations within A-share (as well as within B-share) between Shanghai and Shenzhen markets …

Usability Of Complex Systems In The Organisational Context, Wannapa Suratmethakul, Helen Hasan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper describes research into contextual factors that appear to influence the successful implementation of a complex system in an organisation. A grounded theory approach was used to collect and analyse data on the introduction, into a large educational institution, of a timetabling system that was already well established in another similar organisations. The results of the study show that the usability of a system which supports complex tasks can be critically determined by the organisational context but this can be overlooked with detrimental consequences.

Delivering The Right Tourist Service To The Right People - A Comparison Of Segmentation Approaches, Sara Dolnicar, Friedrich Leisch

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Market segmentation has developed to become a generally accepted and widely applied concept in strategic marketing. However, the gap between academic research aiming at increased sophistication of the methodology and managerial use has steadily increased. This paper takes the perspective of a destination manager and compares two segmentation approaches. One typically used in destination management (a priori geographical segmentation) and another one that is common in academic literature (a posteriori behavioural segmentation). The comparison emphasizes managerial usefulness (implying maximization of match between the tourists’ vacation needs and the destinations’ offer) and is illustrated with an empirical guest survey data set …

Beyond "Commensense Segmentation" - A Systematics Of Segmentation Approaches In Tourism, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Market segmentation is an accepted tool in strategic marketing. It helps to understand and serve the needs of homogeneous consumer sub-populations. Two approaches are recognized: a priori and data-driven (a posteriori, Mazanec, 2000; post-hoc, Wedel & Kamakura, 1998) segmentation. In tourism there is a long history of a priori segmentation studies both in industry and academia. These lead to the identification of tourist groups derived from dividing the population according to prior knowledge (“commonsense segmentation”). However, due to the wide use of this approach, there is not much room for competitive advantage to be gained by using a priori segmentation. …

Improved Understanding Of Tourists’ Needs – Cross-Classification For Validation Of Data-Driven Segments, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Data-driven segmentation has become standard practice in strategic marketing. Typically, however, respondents are grouped only once, implicitly assuming deterministic nature of the segmentation methods applied. Once the segments are derived, background variables are used to test the significance of the difference between clusters indicating external validity of the market segments. High external validity implies a high level of trustworthiness of the solution and thus managerially useful market segments to choose from. However, single runs of explorative analysis remain only a weak basis for good long-term managerial decisions. In this study a different approach is suggested to improve the quality of …

Insights Into Sustainable Tourists In Austria: A Data-Based A Priori Segmentation Approach, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

An excellent market-driven way to successfully implement sustainable tourism in a destination is to find a segment of tourists or potential tourists interested in the unique natural beauty of the destination, willing to preserve it and who are also highly attractive in terms of high expenditures, long stays, high return rate, high recommendation rate etc. The first step in seeking these visitors is thorough investigation of sustainable market segments. So far, only a few studies have systematically searched for “eco-segments” or sustainable tourist groups and described them. This paper reviews the usefulness of such approaches, examines past studies investigating potential …

Applying City Perception Analysis (Cpa) For Destination Positioning Decisions, Sara Dolnicar, K. Grabler

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Typically, the image of a destination is studied by questioning a sample of tourists about their perceptions using a list of attributes and then condensing the data into average values for each individual destination. The city perception analysis (CPA) presented in this article, which is based on the perceptions-based market segmentation concept (PBMS, Dolnicar, Grabler & Mazanec, 1999; Mazanec & Strasser, 2000; Buchta, Dolnicar, & Reutterer, 2000), approaches the positioning task from a completely different perspective. The fundamental assumption is that different consumers harbor different perceptions of various destinations in their minds. Therefore, averaging the perceptions and ignoring inter-individual differences …

Profiling The One- And Two-Star Hotel Guest For Targeted Segmentation Action: A Descriptive Investigation Of Risk Perceptions, Expectations, Disappointments And Information Processing Tendencies, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Identifying the target segment is the basis of developing efficient market segmentation strategies and efficient market segmentation is vital in an industry that is becoming increasingly competitive, as in the case of international tourism. In Austria, hotels in higher star grading categories have addressed this need through systematic market research designed to identify the needs of their consumers. Not so the hotels in the one- and two-star category: these typically do not segment the market and tend to assume that increasing their star grading will lead to increased market demand instead of investigating the specific needs of tourists who very …

Transport, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This chapter describes the process of transport growth and development in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain, including its political, organisational and developmental impact. Transport systems (including communications) move people, goods and information. The large size and capital-intensive nature of transport operations caused unprecedented organisational challenges for companies. The identification of transport as a form of social overhead capital, supporting production across the economy, helps account for its broad-ranging impact on economic development. In this role transport contributed to the efficient allocation of resources over space, thereby promoting competition between producers, and providing information about alternative consumption possibilities to consumers.

Integrating Communities Of Practice In Technology Development Projects, Karin Garrety, P L. Robertson, R. Badham

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Technology development projects usually benefit when knowledge and expertise are drawn from a variety of sources, including potential users. Orchestrating the involvement of people from disparate groups is a crucial task for project managers. It requires finding a balance between differentiation, when teams work in isolation, and integration, when groups come together to exchange knowledge. This article argues that a “community of practice” perspective can help project managers to achieve this balance, by drawing attention to the assumptions, interests, skills, and formal and tacit knowledge of the different groups involved. Successful integration can be achieved by ensuring that the developing …

User-Centred Design And The Normative Politics Of Technology, Karin Garrety, R Badham

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

A long tradition of discourse and practice claims that technology designers need to take note of the characteristics and aspirations of potential users in design. Practitioners in the field of user-centred design (UCD) have developed methods to facilitate this process. These methods represent interesting vehicles for the pursuit of normative politics of technology. In this article, we use a case study of the introduction and use of UCD methods in Australia to explore the politics of getting the methods to work in practice. Drawing on the work of Bruno Latour and Marc Berg, we argue that UCD methods are tools …

Hourly Wages Of Full-Time And Part-Time Employees In Australia, Joan R. Rodgers

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study investigates some aspects of part-time and full-time employment in Australia. The main objective is to analyze whether part-time workers receive lower hourly wages than full-time workers who have similar levels of human capital and perform similar jobs. The study is based on unit-record data from Wave I of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The results indicate that unadjusted part-time wage penalties of 21 per cent for men and seven per cent for women can be explained by selection into full-time or part-time employment and controls for human capital and type of job. There …

Why Customers Stay? Reasons And Consequences Of Inertia In Financial Services, Venkata K. Yanamandram, L. White

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This research investigates inertia in a financial services context, with particular focus on the reasons for consumers’ dissatisfaction and inert behaviour, and studies the customers’ complaining behaviours and past and future inertia. The study utilised a two part methodology, including both qualitative and quantitative research. Twenty indepth interviews provided the preliminary data required for developing a questionnaire which was subsequently completed by 410 respondents. Determinants of dissatisfaction included the number and size of account fees, whilst determinants of inertia were the perception of similarity between financial institutions and the complexity, costs and time inherent in switching. Factors differentiating future inertia …

The Symptomatic Nature Of Past Destination Choice Among Surf Tourists, Sara Dolnicar, M. Fluker

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Surfing has developed to become a major industry, both within the leisure and the tourism sector. While surfers themselves can be viewed as a homogeneous segment characterised by their common interest for the sport, there clearly exists a wide variety of surfers with very different demographic characteristics, lifestyles or even motives for surfing. The aims of this paper are (1) to review past attempts to profile the surfer segment in general and to determine existence and describe the nature of surfer segments, and (2) to suggest a novel approach of segmenting the surfer market, by analysing the pattern of past …

Improved Understanding Of Tourists’ Needs – Cross-Classification For Validation Of Data-Driven Segments, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Data-driven segmentation has become standard practice in strategic marketing. Typically, however, respondents are grouped only once, implicitly assuming deterministic nature of the segmentation methods applied. Once the segments are derived, background variables are used to test the significance of the difference between clusters indicating external validity of the market segments. High external validity implies a high level of trustworthiness of the solution and thus managerially useful market segments to choose from. However, single runs of explorative analysis remain only a weak basis for good long-term managerial decisions. In this study a different approach is suggested to improve the quality of …

Strategic Marketing, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Marketing consists of a strategic - and an operational component. Strategic marketing forms the basis of operational marketing action. It signifies gathering information, analysing it, thinking and making directional decisions, whereas operational marketing (covering the classical four P’s - product or *service, *advertising, *pricing and distribution) means implementing these decisions. The importance of these two components is asymmetric. Weak strategic marketing cannot be compensated by excellent operational marketing, like a summit cannot be reached by running at extremely high speed, but in the wrong direction.

Risk Perceptions, Expectations, Disappointments And Information Processing Tendencies Of One- And Two Star Hotel Guests – Is There A Market For Low Star Hotel Categories In Austria?, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Identifying the target segment is the basis of developing efficient market segmentation strategies and efficient market segmentation is vital in an industry that is becoming increasingly competitive, as in the case of international tourism. In Austria, hotels in higher star grading categories have addressed this need through systematic market research designed to identify the needs of their consumers. Not so the hotels in the one- and two-star category: these typically do not segment the market and tend to assume that increasing their star grading will lead to increased market demand instead of investigating the specific needs of tourists who very …

A Comparison Of The Weighted Average Cost Of Capital For Multinational Corporations: The Case Of The Automobile Industry Versus The Soft Drink Industry, C. B. Mcgowan, A. Tessema, H. W. Collier

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The object of this paper is to determine to what extent the cost of capital differs across comparisons in different countries. In this paper, wecompare and contract the cost of capital for five countries in the soft drink industry and seven companies in the automobile industry. We find that the weighted average cost of capital for the four largest companies in the soft drink industry are similar and the weighted cost of capital for seven companies in the automobile industry are less similar. Since the companies in this study are all large, multinational companies in a single industry, numerous confounding …

Human Capital Reporting In A Developing Nation, Indra Abeysekera, J. Guthrie

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In recent years, a trend in management has been the introduction of human capital (HC) management and accounting. As a result of this trend, there has been a demand from external stakeholders for a different sort of information, and many firms have, in an attempt to meet this demand, become more involved in the creation, measurement and reporting of information other than ‘financial’ data. Using the method of content analysis, this paper reports on human capital reporting (HCR) practices taken from a sample of firms in Sri Lanka, a developing nation. The paper aims first to examine the disclosure patterns …

How Is Intellectual Capital Being Reported In A Developing Nation?, Indra Abeysekera, J. Guthrie

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

To ascertain the status of intellectual capital reporting in a developing nation, this study examined annual reports of the top 30 companies in Sri Lanka. These were analysed using content analysis, and data were recorded in a theoretically backed coding framework with 45 intellectual capital items that were categorized into internal, external and human capital. The findings indicated that the most reported was external capital by frequency and human capital by line count. Only a small proportion of intellectual capital items reported were quantified.