Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Technical Efficiency Performance Of Thai Manufacturing Small And Medium Sized Enterprises, Teerawat Charoenrat, Charles Harvie

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper employs a stochastic frontier production function and technical inefficiency effects model to measure and explain the technical efficiency of Thai manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Cross-sectional firm-level data from the industrial census conducted in 2007 is used. A simple average technical efficiency levels in all categories of manufacturing SMEs analysed in 2007 is found to be low, indicating a high degree of technical inefficiency in the production process. Despite reform measures aimed at improving firm performance, Thai manufacturing SMEs have remained predominantly labour intensive. The technical inefficiency effects model reveals that firm size, firm age, skilled …

An Empirical Analysis Of Iran's Banking Performance, Amir Arjomandi, Charles Harvie, Abbas Valadkhani

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the efficiency and productivity growth of the Iranian banking industry between 2003 and 2008, encompassing pre- and post-2005-reform years.

Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a new decomposition of the Hicks-Moorsteen total factor productivity index developed by O’Donnell to analyse efficiency and productivity changes in a banking context. The advantage of this approach over the popular constant-returns-to-scale Malmquist productivity index is that it is free from any assumptions concerning firms’ optimising behaviour, the structure of markets, or returns to scale. The paper assumes that the production technology exhibits variable returns to …

Reply To "Response: Board Composition And Firm Performance: Evidence From Bangladesh - A Sceptical View", Afzalur Rashid, Anura De Zoysa, Sudhir Lodh, Kathleen Rudkin

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper replies to Chowdhury’s (2010) response to the paper "Board Composition and Firm Performance: Evidence from Bangladesh" (2010). It challenges the strength of the criticisms, arguing that the factors discussed in Chowdhury (2010) do not necessarily impair the outcome of the research. The authors elucidate issues raised, and in so doing, reproduce the results incorporating the commentator’s suggestions

Comparative Critique Of The Performance Evaluation Methods In The Australian Energy Industry, Feng Li, George M. Mickhail

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficiency of business evaluation methods in the Australian energy industry during the periods from 1989 to 2007. The six commonly used business evaluation methods (CAPM, WACC, EVA, P/E ratio, DCF and MetaCapitalism) were selected and compared with the share price in the whole market, listed market and delisted market, to explore which valuation methods were better for evaluating business performance in the Australian energy sector over the long-term. An empirical analysis using linear regression, we find evidence that CAPM is a much better method for listed companies to measure the rate …

New Performance Measurement And Management Control Systems, Ted Watts, Carol J. Mcnair-Connolly

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - Focusing on how performance management systems support control, this article seeks to provide two "next-generation" performance scorecards - the Performance Wheel, suitable for most organizations and the Small Business Performance Pyramid, which acknowledges the unique requirements of small business. This development considers the historical development, increasing variety and often the poorly integrated status of performance measurement systems - one of business management's most important tools.

Design/methodology/approach - The paper considers the issues of various performance measurement models - the Performance Pyramid, the Results and Determinants mode, the Balanced Scorecard - through the integration of perspectives, metrics and terminology. …

Public Sector Commercial Orientation And The Social Contract: A Study Of Performance Management In A Non-Competitive Environment, Ali Rkein, Brian H. Andrew

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to study the workings of commercial orientation, with a focus on performance management, in an environment that is characterised by limited competition between the public and the private sectors and a high level of government social responsibility. Design/methodology/approach - An interpretive case study approach is adopted for this study. It draws on primary data from interviews with key personnel in public sector organisations, and on secondary data from government publications such as annual reports and budget papers. Findings - This study shows that the market-based performance management system has failed to achieve …

Factors Affecting The Export Participation And Performance Of Thai Manufacturing Small And Medium Sized Enterprises (Smes), Yot Amornkitvikai, Charles Harvie, Teerawat Charoenrat

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper employed the 2007 Thai Industrial Census to empirically examine the effects of firm-specific and industry factors on a firm’s decision to export and the export performance of 65,111 Thai manufacturing SMEs which are classified into eight submanufacturing groups. Six econometric models are indentified to capture linear and nonlinear effects of firm-specific factors as well as to analyze each industry effect for Thai manufacturing SMEs. Four limited dependent variable models (i.e., the probit model, the logit model, the linear probability model, and the Tobit model) are used to study the factors affecting a firm’s export decision and its export …

Discovering The Impact Of Library Use And Student Performance, Brian L. Cox, Margie H. Jantti

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Key Takeaways • Without a valid, reliable way to collect data from various library and enterprise systems, it's difficult to quantitatively assert how a library adds value. • University of Wollongong Library developed the Library Cube, a tailored database and reporting function that joins library usage data with student data, including demographic and academic performance information. • Analysis of the resulting data reveals a strong correlation between students' grades and use of information resources the library provides.

Comparison Of Assessment Performance Of Rural And Regional Students In A Unique Australian Graduate-Entry Medical Program, David L. Garne, J Bushnell, A Lethbridge, J Douglas

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

The Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Wollongong is one of Australia's newest medical schools, with a regional/rural focus and a distributed campus, and students are all expected to spend a significant proportion of their training in a rural setting. Due to the diverse learning environments that students are exposed to, we sought to determine by phase if there was any difference in examination results between groups who were located in rural settings and those in regional settings.

A Comparison Of The Effect Of Mobile Phone Use And Alcohol Consumption On Driving Simulation Performance, Sumie Leung, Rodney J. Croft, Melinda L. Jackson, Mark E. Howard, Raymond J. Mckenzie

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objective: The present study compared the effects of a variety of mobile phone usage conditions to different levels of alcohol intoxication on simulated driving performance and psychomotor vigilance. Methods: Twelve healthy volunteers participated in a crossover design in which each participant completed a simulated driving task on 2 days, separated by a 1-week washout period. On the mobile phone day, participants performed the simulated driving task under each of 4 conditions: no phone usage, a hands-free naturalistic conversation, a hands-free cognitively demanding conversation, and texting. On the alcohol day, participants performed the simulated driving task at four different blood alcohol …

Effect Of Gallium Doping And Ball Milling Process On The Thermoelectric Performance Of N-Type Zno, Priyanka Jood, Germanas Peleckis, Xiaolin Wang, S X. Dou

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

We report a systematic investigation of the thermoelectric properties of n-type Ga-doped ZnO synthesized using different ball milling conditions. Samples fabricated by the high-energy ball milling resulted in a highly dense layered structure with randomly distributed voids. These samples measured the lowest room temperature thermal conductivity, i.e., 27 W/mK due to increased phonon scattering. Furthermore, the Ga:ZnO system showed a metal–semiconductor transition above 300 K with transition temperature decreasing with increasing doping level. Measurement of the activation energy revealed the presence of one donor level around 3.9–7.8 meV and a deeper donor level around 15.4–18.1 meV below the conduction band …

Performance Of A Reinforced Embankment On A Sensitive Champlain Clay Deposit, Chalermpol Taechakumthorn, R K. Rowe

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

An existing elastoviscoplastic constitutive model is modified using concepts of the state-dependent fluidity parameters and the damage law, to incorporate the effect of soil structure and its destructuration. The model is employed to simulate the performance of a well-documented case study of the reinforced test embankment constructed over a sensitive Champlain clay deposit at Saint Alban, Quebec. The finite element calculations, using both the original (nonstructured) and modified (structured) elastoviscoplastic soil models, are compared with the observed field data from a test embankment brought to failure. The results from the structured elastoviscoplastic soil model show better agreements with the field …

Performance Analysis Of Stfc Mb-Ofdm Uwb In Wban Channels, Miftadi Sudjai, Le Chung Tran, Farzad Safaei

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This paper investigates the performance of the space-time-frequency coded (STFC) multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing ultra-wideband (MBOFDM UWB) system over wireless body area network (WBAN) channels, using the Alamouti code. Different MIMO configurations and different modulations are used for comparison. The effect of body directions is also assessed by simulation in this paper. Simulation results show that the proposed STFC MB-OFDM UWB system provides a significantly better BER performance, compared to the conventional MB-OFDM system, even from a reasonably low Eb/No range. The simulations also confirm that the body direction affects the system performance significantly due to the availability of …

A Novel Integrated Model To Measure Supplier Performance Considering Qualitative And Quantitative Criteria Used In The Supplier Selection Process, Alptekin Ulutas, Senevi Kiridena, Peter Gibson, Nagesh Shukla

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Supplier evaluation has become a significant topic over the past few decades, as companies have become more outsourced oriented. However, previous research on this topic has not paid adequate attention to the limitations associated with the availability of accurate and reliable data relating to the performance of potential suppliers. In an attempt to address this issue, this paper proposes a novel supplier evaluation model that can handle imprecise quantitative and qualitative data. Additionally, Decision Maker's judgement regarding both qualitative and quantitative criteria are incorporated into this model so that a more comprehensive and realistic assessment of supplier performance can be …

Performance Analysis Of Distribution Networks Under High Penetration Of Solar Pv, M J. E Alam, Kashem M. Muttaqi, Darmawan Sutanto, L Elder, A Baitch

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Integration of solar photovoltaic (PV) resources into distribution networks changes the normally expected network behaviour by injecting real power into the point of connection. Depending on the characteristics and setup of the PV inverter, reactive power could also be injected into the network. The impact will depend on the control strategy adopted for reactive power injection. Typically, solar PV units are installed at low voltage (LV) level in distribution networks. Cluster based installation of numerous PV inverters in the LV level will impact the operation of both the host LV network and the upstream medium voltage network. With random variations …

Methane Retrievals From Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (Gosat) Shortwave Infrared Measurements: Performance Comparison Of Proxy And Physics Retrieval Algorithms, D Schepers, S Guerlet, A Butz, J Landgraf, C Frankenberg, O Hasekamp, J-F Blavier, N M. Deutscher, D W. T Griffith, F Hase, E Kyro, I Morino, V Sherlock, R Sussmann, I Aben

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

We compare two conceptually different methods for determining methane column-averaged mixing ratios (X_CH4) from Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) shortwave infrared (SWIR) measurements. These methods account differently for light scattering by aerosol and cirrus. The proxy method retrieves a CO₂ column which, in conjunction with prior knowledge on CO₂ acts as a proxy for scattering effects. The physics-based method accounts for scattering by retrieving three effective parameters of a scattering layer. Both retrievals are validated on a 19-month data set using ground-based X_CH4 measurements at 12 stations of the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON), …