Business Commons^™

Online Portfolio Selection: A Survey, Bin Li, Steven C. H. Hoi

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Online portfolio selection is a fundamental problem in computational finance, which has been extensively studied across several research communities, including finance, statistics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining. This article aims to provide a comprehensive survey and a structural understanding of online portfolio selection techniques published in the literature. From an online machine learning perspective, we first formulate online portfolio selection as a sequential decision problem, and then we survey a variety of state-of-the-art approaches, which are grouped into several major categories, including benchmarks, Follow-the-Winner approaches, Follow-the-Loser approaches, Pattern-Matching--based approaches, and Meta-Learning Algorithms. In addition to the problem formulation …

Deal Deconstructions, Case Studies, And Case Simulations: Toward Practice Readiness With New Pedagogies In Teaching Business And Transactional Law, Michelle M. Harner, Robert J. Rhee

Faculty Scholarship

In this short commentary, we explore the use of two interrelated pedagogical methods for teaching transactional and business law. The first method is deal deconstruction, which analyzes the set of final deal documents and outcomes. This method is backward-looking, conducting a post-mortem on business transactions and analyzing the parties’ choices memorialized in the agreement against the legal and financial alternatives. The second method involves case studies and simulations, which are commonly seen in business schools. This method is forward-looking, exposing students to the uncertainties and situational contexts of doing deals and deal-related litigation. Together, these complementary methods help students understand …

Facilitating Successful Failures, Michelle M. Harner, Jamie Marincic Griffin

Faculty Scholarship

Approximately 80,000 businesses fail each year in the United States. This article presents an original empirical study of over 400 business restructuring professionals focused on a critical, arguably contributing factor to these failures—the conduct of boards of directors and management. Anecdotal evidence suggests that management of distressed companies often bury their heads in the sand until it is too late to remedy the companies’ problems, a phenomenon commonly called “ostrich syndrome.” The data confirm this behavior, show a prevalent use of loss framing, and suggest trends consistent with prospect theory. The article draws on these data and behavioral economics to …

Words Worth Price And Value, Tom Dunne

Articles

TOM DUNNE explains the terms used in relation to the valuation of property, and the need for common understanding among all parties using those terms. -

A Framework For Clarifying The Goal And Implementation Of Iso, Layla M. Al Hameed, Philip J. Dobson, Paul D. Jackson

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Many organisations are dissatisfied with the outcomes of ISO implementations. This paper proposes that this dissatisfaction is often a consequence of a lack of clarity as to the goal of the implementation and the lack of a clear linkage to the organisational goal over the implementation. The paper proposes that the use of the relatively new tool from the Theory of Constraints –the Strategy and Tactic (S&T) tree can help to provide this linkage and to guide the subsequent implementation. The integration of the S&T Tree and Treacy and Wiersema’s Value Discipline model (1993) is used to focus the original …

Interest Rate Risk Of Australian Reits: A Panel Analysis, Jaime L. Yong, Abhay Singh

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Management structures of many Australian REITs have shifted towards internal property management since 2001. Sector returns have been rewarding until the Global Financial Crisis, but rising costs of debt and years of aggressive borrowing have eroded REIT values. Externally managed trusts had relatively higher levels of debt than internally managed counterparts thus increasing the sensitivities to interest rate risks. Yet internally managed REITs engage in a wider set of operating activities which compound market and financial risks. This study uses panel and panel quantile regressions to examine the joint impact of financial leverage and management structure on REIT returns in …

Forgery In The Making Of Audit Report: The Liabilities And Breach Of Professional Duties, Khairul Anuar Abd Hadi, Halil Paino, Zubaidah Ismail, Muhammad Haziq Dhiyauddin

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Forgery is a mechanism to commit fraud and involves the modification of original documents without valid authorization. This includes the process of making an audit report by the auditors. This paper will examine the liability of the auditor if he/she fails to identify the existence of forgery and fails to exercise due diligence in the making of audit report.

The Relationship Between Place Attachment And Return Visits To Heritage Sites : A Case Study Of Ras Al Khaimah, Ahmed Alshemeili

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Over the past decade, heritage tourism has become a significant growth industry worldwide. Fuelled in part by nostalgia for the past, tourists seem to have the desire to visit archaeological sites. A review of the literature reveals that many visitors return to heritage places repeatedly over a short period of time. While the reason visitors return to heritage sites vary and may be individualistic; place attachment may be a major intrinsic element.

The main purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between place attachment and tourists’ intentions for return visits to heritage sites. The overall objectives of the …

The Hrm Role Of Line Managers: A Malaysian Case Study, Nik Hazimah Nik Mat

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

While HRM has long been part of the line manager’s role, it has now become a crucial component. Unfortunately, for many line managers, their HRM role is uncertain, in terms of their coverage and depth of involvement in HRM activities. It is therefore difficult to measure whether their involvement affects HRM effectiveness or contributes to organisational achievement. The purpose of this study is to explore the development of the line managers’ HRM role, based on the perceptions of key members of selected organisations. This exploration may lead to the understanding of the effect of line managers’ HRM role performance on …

Constructing Corporate Capability In Changing Contexts: The Innovation Journey Of Strategic Management Development At Bankwest, Moira Watson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis is about an unfolding management development process over time. Interconnections influencing corporate capability are explained and insight provided into the social construction of strategic organisational change. Studies of strategically-focused change don’t generally address the part management development plays in innovation and corporate capability construction. This research thus fills a persistent knowledge gap in the understanding of the way management development is provided within organisations and the value of the process.

This empirical study is in the process research tradition. A longitudinal, in-depth case study of BankWest, an Australian financial services company undergoing significant change between 1997 and 2009, …

Redefining Internal Audit Performance: Impact On Corporate Governance, Razimah Binti Abdullah

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

One of the preventive measures to situations akin to world financial crises increasingly forwarded is effective internal audit function (IAF) (e.g., Imhoff, 2003; Mohamad & Muhamad Sori, 2011). Internal audit, a component of corporate governance, continues to evolve due to changes in business strategies and requirements placed on it by legislators. The roles of internal auditors and audit committees (ACs), the key personnel in IAFs, are changing to a more value-added approach as business strategies move towards corporate sustainability and organisational excellence. Suggestions forwarded to improve the performance or determining the quality of IAF include effective involvement of ACs in …

Corporate Governance, Conservatism And Firm Performance: Evidence From China, Yun Ren

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis examines the effect of the board of directors and supervisory board on conservatism and firm performance, respectively, and the benefits of conservatism on performance. In addition, this thesis investigates whether the effectiveness of firms’ governance on conservatism and firm performance is influenced by ownership concentration and state ownership. The extant literature has shown that conservatism reduced agency conflict and was beneficial for corporate governance in developed countries; however, little evidence has been provided for emerging countries such as China.

Sample companies are selected from the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges for the period from 2007 to 2010. Archival …

Australian Smes: Waste Sent To Landfill, Janice Redmond, Elizabeth A. Walker, Craig M. Parker, Mike Simpson

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Landfill waste has a negative impact on the environment and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are believed to be significant contributors. There is little government or scholarly research, however, quantifying the collective volume of waste SMEs send to landfill. The limited studies instead measure total volumes (landfill and recycling combined) and/or do not distinguish between specific waste streams (e.g. wood) and subcategories (e.g. dust). This paper contributes to knowledge by reconceptualising SME waste into subcategories and by measuring landfill volumes. It presents findings from 404 Australian SMEs which found that, in descending order, cardboard, paper, plastic wrap, wood dust and …

Undergraduate Perceptions Of The Development Of Team-Working Skills, Denise Jackson, Ruth Sibson, Linda Riebe

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Purpose: The ability to working effectively with others (WEWO) is critical yet industry continues to lament deficiencies in new graduates. Progress in developing this highly valued skill in undergraduates is impeded by a lack of conceptual clarity and evidence of how best to measure it, and a tendency to adopt an outcomes-focused, rather than process-oriented, approach. This paper aims to investigate undergraduate perceptions of how well a stand-alone employability skill development programme, operating in an Australian Business Faculty, is fostering the WEWO skill set and which pedagogical practices are considered to add most value. Design/methodology/approach: The study examines undergraduate perceptions …

The Use Of Unregulated Staff: Time For Regulation?, Christine M. Duffield, Di E. Twigg, Judith D. Pugh, Gemma Evans, S Dimitrelis, Michael A. Roche

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Internationally, shortages in the nursing workforce, escalating patient demands, and financial constraints within the health system have led to the growth of unlicensed nursing support workers. Recently, in relation to the largest publicly funded health system (National Health Service), it was reported that extensive substitution of registered nurses with unskilled nursing support workers resulted in inadequate patient care, increased morbidity and mortality rates, and negative nurse outcomes. We argue that it is timely to consider regulation of nursing support workers with their role and scope of practice clearly defined. Further, the addition of these workers in a complementary model of …

Two Essays On Attracting Foreign Direct Investment: From Both A National And Firm Level Perspective, Ryan Lawrence Mason

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Countless studies with a wide variety of financial and economic indicators have been conducted over the years within the context of international business research, all searching for hints or signals as to what makes the never ending process of globalization progress. Our research follows these efforts while focusing specifically on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Our first study sets out to empirically test if nations adopting the inflation targeting (IT) monetary policy are more successful in attracting inbound and outbound FDI cash flows than those nations utilizing alternative monetary policies. IT is a relatively new policy which was first put into …

Human Capital Management Within The Federal Government Utilizing Generational Stratification With A Focus On Generation Y, Ian Nathaniel Barford

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

With many individuals in the Baby Boomer generation eligible to retire, many open positions will need to be filled by other Baby Boomers, or those from Generation X or Generation Y. Private industry has taken note of this and has been exploring workplace differences between Generation Y, Generation X, and Baby Boomers. Unfortunately for the federal government, data shows Generation Y is also separating; specifically quitting for unknown reasons. Understanding this apparent dichotomy between Generation Y and Generation X and Baby Boomer federal government employees is a current knowledge gap within the federal government's strategic human capital management focus.

From …

Marketing An Established Institutional Repository: Marquette Libraries’ Research Stewardship Survey, Rose Fortier, Emily Laws

Library Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the results of Marquette University Libraries’ survey measuring faculty knowledge and attitudes about the institution’s repository, for the purposes of creating a marketing plan for the institutional repository (IR).

Design/methodology/approach

The paper adopts a quantitative approach through the use of a survey.

Findings

Like many other endeavors to measure faculty engagement with the IR, the investigators discovered that faculty knowledge of the IR is not universal. Moreover, the perceived values and motivators for faculty use of the IR were also not surprising, with faculty viewing online dissemination of their work to …

Factors That Promote Perceived Usefulness Of And Clinical Outcomes From Sign-Outs At The National University Hospital, Soo-Hoon Lee, Wei-Ping Goh, Dale A. Fisher, Phillip H. Phan

Management Faculty Publications

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY. Currently, there is a paucity of evidence in the literature to show that handoff strategies improve the quality of handoff outcomes. Studies that show the usefulness and outcomes obtained from sign-outs may motivate junior clinicians, who have limited time to perform their clinical responsibilities, to support sign-out improvement efforts.

OBJECTIVE. To test a research model that embeds the Technology Acceptance Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior to explore factors that enhance the perceived (a) usefulness of and (b) clinical outcomes from sign-outs among junior medical officers.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS.

A retrospective study was conducted …

A Pilot Study On Nurse-Led Rounds: Preliminary Data On Patient Contact Time, Soo-Hoon Lee, Alice Lee, Siang-Ngim Lim, Mei-Jiao Koh, Benjamin Tan, Phillip H. Phan, Reshma A. Merchant, Aisha Lateef, Dale A. Fisher

Management Faculty Publications

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY. Ward rounding has been a historical clinical method of inter-professional collaboration to support inpatient care through the sharing of mental models by exchanging information and discussing plans of care, treatment goals, and discharge plans for the patient. The extant literature reports that rounds are frequently led by doctors with infrequent nurse-physician collaboration and patients’ interactions with doctors during ward rounds tend to be brief.

OBJECTIVE. To explore the effects of nurse-led morning ward rounds on patient contact time.

DESIGN. An ethnographic prospective observational study comparing nurse-led and physician-led rounds. SETTING. A General Medicine ward at the …

Post-School Adult Life For Young People With Down Syndrome, Kitty Rose Foley

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Down syndrome is a chromosomal birth disorder affecting one in 650 to 1000 live births in Western Australia. The life expectancy for people with Down syndrome has increased dramatically over the past two generations leading to these young people having changing needs in terms of social, economic and personal life. Encompassed within this, is the successful transition from school to post-school, a time of upheaval, stress and important decisions for young people with intellectual disabilities. The International classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF) is a world renowned framework which provides a scientific basis and standardised language for describing and …

Education And Training Of Specialist Sexual Offence Investigators In Victoria, Australia From 2009 To 2011, Jennifer Anne Turnley

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The topic of training specifically designed for investigators of sexual offences has received little attention from academic researchers to date. Previous studies have not described training provided to police investigators of sexual offences in Australia. This thesis developed Turnley’s Framework for the Examination of Police Training in Sexual Assault Investigation, to examine and describe a Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigative Teams (SOCIT) Course, provided to Victorian Police from 2009 to 2011. This entailed triangulation of findings from non-participant observations of one SOCIT Course, with quantitative and qualitative data sourced though an in-depth interview with course trainers; feedback sheets voluntarily …

The Effect Of Shared Leadership On Workgroup Creativity, Simon Guive Minaee

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Research on leadership typically assumes a single leader who has managerial authority over the group, unit or organisation. Shared leadership is an emerging concept of leadership as a group-level phenomenon. It builds on antecedents such as democratic leadership, semi-autonomous and self-managed work groups, participative decision-making and co-leadership that are typically studied as variations of leadership by a single leader. Shared leadership is seen as more distributed, informal and emergent than these. Recent empirical research shows shared leadership can have beneficial effects on a variety of group process and outcome variables. However, so far its effects on creativity have not been …

How Can Substitution And Complementarity Effects Be Leveraged For Broadband Internet Services Strategy?, Gwangjae Jung, Young Soo Kim, Robert J. Kauffman

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With growth in mobile Internet services, the relationship between mobile and fixed broadband has become an issue in telecom firm strategy. Previous research focused on aggregate penetration for mobile and fixed broadband services. Our research analyzes the economic relationship between mobile and fixed broadband services at the household level, as a basis for how senior managers should rethink their strategy approach. Using data on broadband services subscriptions, we examine how changes that occur for mobile broadband services bandwidth (MBB) affect changes in fixed broadband bandwidth (FBB) services subscriptions, inclusive of new subscriptions - and vice versa. We explore the different …

Running And Chasing: The Competition Between Paid Search Marketing And Search Engine Optimization, Kai Li, Mei Lin, Zhangxi Lin, Bo Xing

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

As search engine is leading the revenue growth in online marketing field, the competition of search engine marketing between paid search marketing (PSM) by search engine providers (SEPs), and search engine optimization (SEO) provided by search engine optimization firms, is white-hot. While PSM is simply for advertisers to buy the top ranks in sponsored links, SEO tries to optimize advertisers' websites by free-riding search engine's organic searching results. This study aims to investigate this competition by analytical modeling regarding organic search quality. We focus on sustainability conditions of SEO firms, investment analysis of SEO firms, and profit analysis of SEP. …

A Clustering Based Matrix For Selecting Optimal Tools And Techniques In Quality Management, Hassan A. Alsultan

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this research was to explore a systematic pattern for selecting quality tools and techniques in the manufacturing and service industries. This study asked, “What are the best DMAIC tools and techniques concerning circumstances of quality dimensions of products and services?” To answer this question, this research developed innovative, diagnostic matrices by mimicking the contradiction matrix of the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ). These innovative matrices are intended to help non-expert users to select the best sets of quality tools and techniques for solving different quality problems. By conducting a cluster analysis, the researcher uncovered homogeneous patterns …

Collaboration Trend In Indian Business-Management Research: A Bibliometric Perspective, Rakhi V S

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study has brought out the current landscape of Indian collaboration in research in the discipline of Business management. Co-authorship patterns derived from 1997-2012 data in the EBSCO-Host BSP (Business Source Premier)dtabase are analyzed to show the status of Business Management (BM) collaboration in India. The growth of co-authored publications during the study period is calculated as 37.94 percent and single authored papers as 42.7 percent using the log- linear model. Three different levels of collaboration as local(LL) national(NL) and international(IL) are discussed. On examining the sectoral collaboration measured as papers authored by academic and non-academic authors it is found …

Clean Water Grow: Go Or No Go?, Simon Ngawhika, Scott Marshall

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

The $43 billion US wastewater treatment industry is a landscape in which the high costs of capital construction and the need for economies of scale feature prominently. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that between 2004 and 2024, over $200 billion will need to be spent upgrading and expanding America’s wastewater infrastructure.

One significant challenge in maintaining treatment infrastructure is the build-up of struvite. Struvite accumulates inside treatment facility pipe networks, reducing capacity and increasing operating and maintenance costs. But discharging the components of struvite – the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorous – into the environment also has negative consequences. Concentrated …

Sentiment-Induced Institutional Trading Behavior And Asset Pricing In Securitized Real Estate Markets, Prashant K. Das, Julia Freybote, Gianluca Marcato

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Institutional investors such as pension funds or insurance companies commonly invest in the unsecuritized and securitized real estate market. We investigate how institutional investor sentiment in the inefficient commercial real estate market affects institutional trading behavior in the REIT market and subsequently asset pricing. In particular, we test two alternative theories - flight to liquidity and style investing theory - to explain the sentiment induced trading behavior of institutional investors in the REIT market for the pre-crisis (2002-2006), crisis (2007-2009) and post-crisis (2010-2012) period. We find that the applicability of either theory depends on economic conditions. In the pre-crisis period …

The Perceived Personal Characteristics Of Entrepreneurial Leaders, Ling He

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The concept of entrepreneurial leadership has attracted growing interest from leadership scholars but research is still in an early stage and empirical studies are rare. This thesis explores this new concept in an empirical study of the personal characteristics of entrepreneurial leaders (ELs). The study is underpinned by the “common characteristics” model in which ELs have characteristics of both entrepreneurs and leaders. Semi-structured interviews and a short questionnaire were used to explore business owners’ and corporate managers’ perceptions of the personal characteristics of ELs. Responses were summarised with thematic analysis and descriptive statistics.

The findings show participants perceived EL as …