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Editorial For The Special Issue On It And Climate Change, Aditya Ghose, Helen Hasan, Trevor Spedding

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

A Selection of Papers from the Carbon-Centric Computing National Research Summit held at the University of Wollongong, November 24, 2008

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Affects Of Strategic Leadership On Business Success - A Cross-Cultural Analysis From A Resource Based View, Georg Hirschi, Michael Jones

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper concerns strategic leadership as it functions in businesses today. The research will outline which skills and characteristics are the most important for being a strategic leader. The influence of culture on leadership is also investigated, leading to the examination of the question of whether business strategy affects leadership. The paper links leadership with strategic management and discusses how a successful practice of leadership can help an organization create a unique and valuable market position, assisting the attainment of sustainable competitive advantage. The research demonstrates that strategic leadership is above the operational level of management and that strategic leaders …

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Exploring The Issues In Sustainable Development Journal Reporting, Rosemary Van Der Meer, Luba Torlina, Jamie Mustard

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

There is concern about the environmental claims organisations make in corporate social reports and advertising. Similar concerns may also occur with reporting of environmental initiatives in journals. This paper explores what information is being conveyed in academic and industry journals. In particular, we examine the types of projects that are discussed and the level of detail provided in the reporting of sustainable development initiatives to identify what is being communicated and whether there is substance to the reporting. The results show that there are issues with the lack of detail reported and its anecdotal nature.

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Knowledge Sharing By Organisations In Sustainable Development Projects, Rosemary Van Der Meer, Luba Torlina, Jamie Mustard

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

There are an increasing number of organisations seeing the benefits of implementing sustainable development practices within their processes and product design. However, there are a number of barriers that are preventing organisations from taking up this challenge. Some of these barriers could be reduced through the application of better external knowledge sharing. This paper explores the potential for sharing knowledge about sustainable development practices in academic and industry journals. Using content analysis, the types of projects that are discussed and the level of detail provided in the reporting of sustainable development initiatives by organisations are examined to identify what is …

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Going Beyond Climate Ethics: Virtuousness In Climate Change Initiatives, Mario Fernando

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines the place of virtuousness in climate change initiatives and presents a framework to assess the extent of virtuousness in mitigation and adaptation strategies. Although some argue that climate change is fundamentally an ethical issue, compared to the scientific literature on climate change, the body of climate ethics literature is more recent and considerably smaller. According to Posas (2007), since the first warning of climate change by an oceanographer in 1957, the most significant milestones in terms of introducing an ethical perspective to climate change was the Buenos Aires Declaration in December, 2004. At the same time, there …

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Ramsey-Friedman Optimality With Banking Time, Max Gillman, Oleg Yerokhin

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This chapter conducts a Ramsey analysis within an endogenous growth cashin-advance economy with policy commitment. Credit and money are alternative payment mechanisms that act as inputs into the household production of exchange. The credit is produced with a diminishing returns technology with Inada conditions that implies along the balanced-growth path a degree one homogeneity of effective banking time. This tightens the restrictions found within shopping time economies while providing a production basis for the Ramsey-Friedman optimum that suggests a special case of Diamond and Mirrlees (1971).

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Extractive Industries Accounting And Economic Consequences: Past, Present And Future, C. L. Cortese, H. J. Irvine, M. Kaidonis

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Accounting for the extractive industries has been a contested issue for decades as a result of a choice of different methods of costing available and the economic impacts of these methods on companies’ financial results. When the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) embarked on its extractive industries project in 1998, it attempted to create uniform accounting practices. An archival study of constituent responses to the IASB’s Issues Paper revealed that the economic consequences argument was relied upon again to argue for retaining choice. The IASB’s international accounting standard, IFRS 6, issued in 2004, once again permitted choice between methods, illustrating …

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Online Versus Paper: Format Effects In Tourism Surveys, Sara Dolnicar, C. Laesser, K. Matus

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The popularity of online surveys is rising, yet the validity of survey data collected online is frequently questioned. This study compares online surveys versus paper surveys administered via regular mail in the tourism context, and examines in detail the extent and nature of survey bias resulting from survey format specific respondent self-selection.
Results suggest that (1) both online and mail samples deviate from census data population statistics regarding socio-demographics to the same extent (but differ in nature), (2) no differences exist in the contamination of data by response styles, (3) online respondents have a lower dropout rate and produce less …

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Powerful Players: How Constituents Captured The Setting Of Ifrs 6, An Accounting Standard For The Extractive Industries, C. L. Cortese, H. J. Irvine, M. Kaidonis

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper illustrates the influence of powerful players in the setting of IFRS 6, a new International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) for the extractive industries. A critical investigative inquiry of the international accounting standard setting process, using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), reveals some of the key players, analyses the surrounding discourse and its implications, and assesses the outcomes. An analysis of small cross-section of comment letters submitted to the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) by one international accounting firm, one global mining corporation and one industry group reveal the hidden coalitions between powerful players. These coalitions indicate that the regulatory …

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A Profile Of The Non-Executive Directors Of Australia's Largest Companies, C. L. Cortese

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper presents a profile of the non-executive directors of Australia's largest public companies. Using descriptive data, it assesses the extent to which these companies adhere to the requirements set down in the Australian Stock Exchange's 'Principles of Good Corporate Governance'. In particular, board structure and composition is evaluated, and levels of remuneration and independence among non-executive directors are assessed. The paper concludes with a discussion of perceived versus actual independence of non-executive directors and the benefits of having non-executive directors present on company boards.

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Measuring Segment Attractiveness, Katie Lazarevski, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Market segmentation has been widely employed to give tourism destination planners market understanding, identify attractive target segments, and develop a marketing offer customised to their needs. While a number of authors have proposed general criteria for assessing the attractiveness of segments, measurable indicators of attractiveness have not been proposed to date. This study uses a set of indicators to make “Segment Attractiveness” measurable and illustrate the usefulness of the proposed measure in the context of a generic tourism destination and a destination focusing on reachability. Results indicate (1) the proposed indicators discriminate between different market segments, thus guiding destination managers, …

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Converting Business Travellers To Leisure Travellers, Gregory Kerr, Katie Lazarevski, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The aim of this paper is to propose a novel strategy for attracting vacation tourists to destinations, especially destinations that are not in the favourable position of having a strong positive brand image as a tourism destination. This involves the conversion of involuntary first time visitors, such as business travellers, to tourists who spend leisure time at the destination. An empirical study was conducted to investigate if this proposed strategy is practically viable. Results indicate that involuntary first time visitors with a high intention to return as tourists in their leisure time have distinctly different characteristics in terms of how …

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Does One Size Fit All? The Suitability Of Answer Formats For Different Constructs Measured, Sara Dolnicar, Bettina Grün

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Survey research is used to investigate a variety of different constructs, such as beliefs, behavioural intentions, perceptions, preferences and so on. Despite the wide range of constructs studied by social scientists, the ordinal answer format tends to be used across the majority of survey research studies. We challenge this standard approach in survey research by hypothesizing that the ordinal answer format is not optimal under all circumstances. Instead, we propose that the suitability of answer formats depends on the construct measured. We conduct a repeat measurement study using binary, ordinal and metric answer formats measuring two different constructs: beliefs and …

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Intellectual Capital Disclosure From Sell-Side Analyst Perspective, S. Abhayawansa, Indra Abeysekera

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose – Research on the use/disclosure of intellectual capital (IC) information by sell-side analysts, using content analysis of their reports, is growing. The objectives of this paper are to establish the importance of this perspective in understanding the role of IC in communicating firm value, to introduce possible theoretical frameworks to interpret the findings of such studies, and to propose methodological developments. Methodology/approach – The paper argues for the need to look at IC from the perspective of sell-side analysts, and then advocates the use of several theoretical frameworks to enrich current understanding of the role of IC as it …

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Management Control Systems For R&D Activities In Government Sector: A Case Of Indonesia, Parulian Silaen, Robert Williams

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Research and Development (R&D) organisation has different activity, employee’s characteristics, goals, and planning system from a non-R&D organisation. It requires Management Control Systems (MCS) that fit R&D activities. The study proposes four important core elements of MCS particularly for a R&D organisation: desired ends, actors, control implementation, and control tools. The study investigates the existence and the use of those core elements in R&D project from the Government units and the control systems implemented by three government units. The study finds the existence of desired ends to have qualitative characteristics and to use it to control the project direction and …

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Marketing In Non-Profit Organizations : An International Perspective, Sara Dolnicar, Katie Lazarevski

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose – This study tests three hypotheses: (1) that non-profit organizations follow a customer-centered approach to marketing, (2) that marketing is run by marketing-trained staff and (3) that cross-continental differences in the adoption of marketing in the UK, the USA and Australia exist due to differences in the operating environment. Methodology – A survey study was conducted with non-profit managers. The sample contains 136 respondents; 36 from the UK, 33 from the USA and 67 from Australia. Findings – Non-profit managers indicated that the most important marketing activities are promotional in nature. The importance of market research and strategic marketing …

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Methodological Reasons For The Theory/Practice Divide In Market Segmentation, Sara Dolnicar, Katie Lazarevski

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

A theory/practice divide exists in market segmentation. The main reasons are the focus of academic studies on statistical techniques, and managers' lack of understanding of fundamental segmentation basics (Dibb 2005; Greenberg and McDonald 1989). To date, only one study has explored methodological reasons for the theory/practice divide: Dibb and Simkin 1994. We extend their work by: (1) detailing key methodological aspects likely to cause difficulties in translating segmentation findings into managerially useful information, and (2) empirically investigating specific research questions about methodology-induced reasons for the theory/practice divide derived from both theory and the propositions of previous studies. Results indicate a …

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Does Cultural Background Affect Volunteering Behavior?, Melanie J. Randle, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of this qualitative investigation is to help nonprofit organizations which rely heavily on the support of volunteers increase the effectiveness of their marketing by accounting for differences in cultural background among community members. It was conducted in the multi-cultural Australian context and included 79 participants from different cultural backgrounds. Findings indicate that as a whole, cultural groups differ significantly with respect to their attitudes, social norm and perceived behavioral control over volunteering. Nonprofit organizations are unlikely to be successful in attracting volunteers from a range of different cultural backgrounds unless they account for heterogeneity among volunteers and customize …

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Spotlights And Shadows: Preliminary Findings About The Experiences Of Women In Family Business Leadership Roles, Mary Barrett, Ken Moores

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In an earlier study (Moores & Barrett 2002) we found successful CEOs had learned leadership of family controlled businesses (FCBs) in a series of distinct learning phases. Because that study's sample did not include many women, our present study focuses on women in FCBs to better understand how they exercise leadership and entrepreneurship in the family firm context. Case study analysis of an international sample of women FCB leaders, using frameworks which avoid essentialist assumptions about women's and men's approach to leadership, suggests there are some characteristic ways women leaders learn FCB leadership and entrepreneurship roles. We have tentatively labelled …

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Form Over Substance, The Politics Of International Accounting Setting, Hajar Roudaki, Kathleen A. Cooper, Lee C. Moerman

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper lays the foundation of the move towards international standards and an international body being dependent upon the involvement of politics. Callon's translation model is adapted to develop the concept that the underling purposes and objectives that international bodies have been established by would not be achieved as a result of powerful players. According to Robson (1991, p.552) the "process of translation is common to many instances of accounting problematisation and accounting change"

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Public Sector Gambling: Local Council Investment Exposures, Graham Bowrey, Greg Jones

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Local councils in New South Wales (NSW) have the authority to invest ratepayers' money that is not currently required for any other purpose by the council. At the end of 2006-07 financial year local councils in New South Wales had invested $590 million dollars in structured financial products such as collateralised debt obligations (CDO). By the end of January 2008, six months later, the market value of these investments dropped $200 million to $390 million. Since then the financial investment market has further significantly reduced with the value of the councils' investments losing many more millions of dollars. In NSW …

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Not Just Any Volunteers: Segmenting The Market To Attract The High Contributors, Melanie J. Randle, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Growing competition in the third sector has resulted in nonprofit organizations making more sophisticated use of marketing techniques to attract volunteers. Not only are organizations attempting to attract more volunteers but increasingly the focus is shifting to attracting the right type of volunteers, or those who will contribute the most hours. This study segments the volunteering market by number of hours contributed in the past 12 months, and identifies significant differences between the characteristics of high-contribution and low-contribution volunteers. High-contribution volunteers are found to (a) exhibit distinctive sociodemographic characteristics; (b) have a greater number, and broader range, of motivations for …

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Self-Congruity Theory In Volunteering, Melanie J. Randle, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

According to self-congruity theory, people prefer brands that they associate with a set of personality traits which are similar to their own. This notion is widely accepted by consumer researchers and has been empirically tested in a number of commercial product and service contexts. It has not, however, been tested in the context of the third sector, particularly in relation to volunteering organisations. This study finds preliminary support for two hypotheses: (1) volunteers who prefer a specific volunteering organisation over others differ significantly in their self-concept; and (2) the self-concept of volunteers who prefer a specific volunteering organisation most closely …

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Changes In Poverty Rates During The Howard Era, Joan R. Rodgers, Peter Siminski, James Bishop

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This article considers changes in poverty rates under the Howard government. We also make three methodological contributions. We consider the statistical significance of the estimated changes in poverty. We propose a decomposition technique that reconciles the trends in absolute and relative poverty. We also use 'poverty profiles', which illustrate sensitivity to alternative poverty lines. We find decreases in absolute poverty and increases in relative poverty, both of which are statistically significant over a range of poverty lines. At a poverty line equal to half of the median income, the increase in relative poverty is statistically significant for all people and …

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A Welfare Analysis Of The Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, Peter M. Siminski

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) is a key element of a suite of benefits for Australia's 'self-funded retirees'. Its main component is a pharmaceutical concession, which is analysed as a form of public health insurance. The utility gain through risk-pooling is found to be negligible under conservative assumptions. The deadweight loss through moral hazard may be considerable. Finally, the CSHC may be seen as an inequitable transfer, because CSHC holders are a particularly wealthy population.

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Socially Innovative And Commercially Viable: Partners Or Prisoners Of Future Business Developments, Patrick M. Dawson, Trevor A. Spedding, Michael D. Clements, Lisa Daniel

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

There is a growing need for supply chain partners to work together in improving their performance and systems of operation. New information and communication technologies can be used to improve operations and facilitate the building of closer relationships, but they can also serve to undermine relations and create tensions. RFID represents the first major improvement traceability technology that potentially supersedes barcodes and our study seeks to develop a simulation model that moves beyond a purely technical analysis, towards an assessment that is able to accommodate the social and cultural dimensions in providing a dynamic roadmap for change.

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Responsible Financing?: The Equator Principles And Bank Disclosures, Jane Andrew

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of the Equator Principles on banking disclosures. The research explores whether signatory banks are disclosing information related to their obligations under the Equator Principles and discusses the types of disclosures being made publicly available. The research illustrates that banks are disclosing very little information to help users assess the impact the Equator Principles have had on these banks practices. It is also suggested that banks are reframing their identity through these principles, but it is still difficult to assess whether this is also transforming practice. There is little academic research …

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Value For Money? Neo-Liberalism In New South Wales Prisons, Jane L. Andrew, Damien Cahill

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The NSW prison sector has undergone considerable reform over the last ten years. The NSW government now oversees the operation of publicly managed prisons, one privately managed prison and a number of new public prisons operating under the new 'Way Forward' management model. In order to establish which approach to prison management offered the best value for money, the NSW government undertook a 'value for money' assessment in 2005. In this article, we argue the cost accounting information is privileged in the assessment process. However, we contend that this information was limited and partial, and provided a poor basis on …

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How Buyers And Sellers Value B2b Relationships: A Relationship Value Continuum For Internet Based Exchange, Michael D. Clements

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The internet as a vehicle for engaging two parties around a transaction is more prolific than any previous information system. With the speed and accessibility of information on products and services available at the touch of a button, it is the awareness of open information sharing, the acceptance of moving customer loyalty, and the changing of buyer/seller relationships that is the focus of this research. This paper introduces and proposes the concept of a relationship value continuum between buyers and sellers in business to business relationships, as an important mechanism for maintaining and developing buyer/seller relationships both off and online. …

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The Effects Of Currency Appreciation On Share Market Return: Ardl Approach, Gary G. Tian, Shiguang Ma

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study employs the ARDL cointegrating approach to examine the impact of financial liberalization on the relationships between three Chinese main bilateral exchange rates and its share market performance. We discovered that a long-term equilibrium relationship measured by cointegration has emerged between the exchange rate of the RMB against the Japanese Yen and, to a lesser extent, the exchange rate against both the US dollar and Hong Kong dollar and the Shanghai Composite Index since 2005 when the Chinese exchange rate regime changed from a peg system to a more flexible managed floating system. We found that the exchange rate …

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Full-Text Articles in Business

Editorial For The Special Issue On It And Climate Change, Aditya Ghose, Helen Hasan, Trevor Spedding

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Affects Of Strategic Leadership On Business Success - A Cross-Cultural Analysis From A Resource Based View, Georg Hirschi, Michael Jones

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Exploring The Issues In Sustainable Development Journal Reporting, Rosemary Van Der Meer, Luba Torlina, Jamie Mustard

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Knowledge Sharing By Organisations In Sustainable Development Projects, Rosemary Van Der Meer, Luba Torlina, Jamie Mustard

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Going Beyond Climate Ethics: Virtuousness In Climate Change Initiatives, Mario Fernando

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Ramsey-Friedman Optimality With Banking Time, Max Gillman, Oleg Yerokhin

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Extractive Industries Accounting And Economic Consequences: Past, Present And Future, C. L. Cortese, H. J. Irvine, M. Kaidonis

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Online Versus Paper: Format Effects In Tourism Surveys, Sara Dolnicar, C. Laesser, K. Matus

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Powerful Players: How Constituents Captured The Setting Of Ifrs 6, An Accounting Standard For The Extractive Industries, C. L. Cortese, H. J. Irvine, M. Kaidonis

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

A Profile Of The Non-Executive Directors Of Australia's Largest Companies, C. L. Cortese

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Measuring Segment Attractiveness, Katie Lazarevski, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Converting Business Travellers To Leisure Travellers, Gregory Kerr, Katie Lazarevski, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Does One Size Fit All? The Suitability Of Answer Formats For Different Constructs Measured, Sara Dolnicar, Bettina Grün

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Intellectual Capital Disclosure From Sell-Side Analyst Perspective, S. Abhayawansa, Indra Abeysekera

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Management Control Systems For R&D Activities In Government Sector: A Case Of Indonesia, Parulian Silaen, Robert Williams

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Marketing In Non-Profit Organizations : An International Perspective, Sara Dolnicar, Katie Lazarevski

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Methodological Reasons For The Theory/Practice Divide In Market Segmentation, Sara Dolnicar, Katie Lazarevski

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Does Cultural Background Affect Volunteering Behavior?, Melanie J. Randle, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Spotlights And Shadows: Preliminary Findings About The Experiences Of Women In Family Business Leadership Roles, Mary Barrett, Ken Moores

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Form Over Substance, The Politics Of International Accounting Setting, Hajar Roudaki, Kathleen A. Cooper, Lee C. Moerman

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Public Sector Gambling: Local Council Investment Exposures, Graham Bowrey, Greg Jones

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Not Just Any Volunteers: Segmenting The Market To Attract The High Contributors, Melanie J. Randle, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Self-Congruity Theory In Volunteering, Melanie J. Randle, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Changes In Poverty Rates During The Howard Era, Joan R. Rodgers, Peter Siminski, James Bishop

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

A Welfare Analysis Of The Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, Peter M. Siminski

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Socially Innovative And Commercially Viable: Partners Or Prisoners Of Future Business Developments, Patrick M. Dawson, Trevor A. Spedding, Michael D. Clements, Lisa Daniel

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Responsible Financing?: The Equator Principles And Bank Disclosures, Jane Andrew

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Value For Money? Neo-Liberalism In New South Wales Prisons, Jane L. Andrew, Damien Cahill

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

How Buyers And Sellers Value B2b Relationships: A Relationship Value Continuum For Internet Based Exchange, Michael D. Clements

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The Effects Of Currency Appreciation On Share Market Return: Ardl Approach, Gary G. Tian, Shiguang Ma

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)