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This paper focuses on Australian development firms in the console and mobile games industry in order to understand how small firms in a geographically remote and marginal position in the global industry are able to relate to global firms and capture revenue share. This paper shows that, while technological change in the games industry has resulted in the emergence of new industry segments based on transactional rather than relational forms of economic coordination, in which we might therefore expect less asymmetrical power relations, lead firms retain a position of power in the global games entertainment industry relative to remote developers. This has been possible because lead firms in the emerging mobile devices market have developed and sustained bottlenecks in their segment of the industry through platform competition and the development of an intensely competitive ecosystem of developers. Our research shows the critical role of platform competition and bottlenecks in influencing power asymmetries within global markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employee assistance programs ( EAPs) are employee services that assist in managing a range of issues. This paper posits that in order to ascertain the effectiveness of EAPs, it is critical to identify their purpose and how EAPs are embedded and utilised in organisations to inform evaluations of the programs. A qualitative study investigating how and why EAPs are used in organisations was undertaken. Participants were organisational leaders (3 males, 13 females) representing major industries in Australia. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data and thematic analysis delineated two categories and eight themes. These highlighted that participants primarily used external program providers and considered EAPs to be a vital resource of support for staff, a cost-effective mechanism for managing risk and developing staff, and industry expectation. Participants differed on their perspectives of how to position EAPs in organisations and what should be offered as core services of EAPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews empirical international human resource management (IHRM) journal articles on foreign- and indigenous-owned multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in Australia. More specifically, we explore the extent to which papers using Australian data in this area are being published in 53 of the world’s leading academic journals and identify the topics that have been researched. We then propose a number of research areas, of Australian and international interest, that researchers could pursue in the future. Our findings point to a picture of limited publications in the leading international journals. There is also support for recent arguments that substantial capacity exists for a greater theoretical contribution by researchers in the IHRM field. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper examines the geography of corporate headquarters in the Australian urban system, giving consideration to their location, control of capital and performance. The paper argues that, while considerable recent attention has been given to global cities in the networks of corporate power, the spatial organisation of company headquarters remains important within national urban systems. In the case of Australia, Sydney and Melbourne dominate the corporate landscape, although the smaller cities of Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth occupy important niches. The paper demonstrates that there are clear variations in the relative performance of companies across the Australian urban system. There is also a pattern of sectoral specialisation within Australia’s cities which, in part, helps to explain the different development trajectories and relative levels of corporate performance. The paper concludes by exploring some of the implications of the study for the understanding of urban systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to develop a hybrid semantic recommendation system to provide personalized government to business (G2B) e-services, in particular, business partner recommendation e-services for Australian small to medium enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach - The study first proposes a product semantic relevance model. It then develops a hybrid semantic recommendation approach which combines item-based collaborative filtering (CF) similarity and item-based semantic similarity techniques. This hybrid approach is implemented into an intelligent business-partner-locator recommendation-system prototype called BizSeeker. Findings - The hybrid semantic recommendation approach can help overcome the limitations of existing recommendation techniques. The recommendation system prototype, BizSeeker, can recommend relevant business partners to individual business users (e.g. exporters), which therefore will reduce the time, cost and risk of businesses involved in entering local and international markets. Practical implications - The study would be of great value in e-government personalization research. It would facilitate the transformation of the current G2B e-services into a new stage wherein the e-government agencies offer personalized e-services to business users. The study would help government policy decision-makers to increase the adoption of e-government services. Originality/value - Providing personalized e-services by e-government can be seen as an evolution of the intentions-based approach and will be one of the next directions of government e-services. This paper develops a new recommender approach and systems to improve personalization of government e-services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the extent to which intellectual capital (IC) adds value to a service provider and presents an approach for interpreting the results. Design/methodology/approach – The value added intellectual coefficient (VAIC™) model is used to determine the relevant elements of intellectual capital because it employs existing financial data. The number of subjects was restricted to two companies operating in the Australian hotel industry over a four-year period (2004-2007). Findings – The VAIC™ model provides a robust tool for assessing the efficient use of intellectual capital. The model can be used by management to assess their own organisation's performance without having to rely upon industry standards. Research limitations/implications – The data derived from published financial statements and the limitations associated with accounting standards may be questionable. However, the financial statements were subject to external audit verification. The restricted number of companies is a limitation to generalisability. However, the two companies are the major players in the Australian hotel industry. Practical implications – The application of the VAIC™ model presented in this paper provides a basis for practical application for management. Originality/value – The study provides management with a guide to employing the VAIC™ model and, more importantly, a method for interpreting the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expert systems (ES) development technology has been used to build rural business applications in the past but these have usually been developed using traditional expert systems shells. This paper introduces a new architecture for the development of a design environment where the domain experts can build a knowledge base for target-specific ES for rural business operators. The system allows rural business operators to use their own knowledge in building their own, target-specific ES for tailored development to their own specific requirements. At this stage, this reusable design environment caters for the Australian dairy industry but in the long run we claim it will be useful for the other livestock based rural industries such as beef cattle and sheep. This approach of developing target-specific ES contributes new knowledge in that it provides a new way of developing decision support by allowing human domain experts to develop relevant ES for different livestock farming business. An evolutionary prototyping approach was employed for initial development of a proof of concept example and as a method of outlining the solution environment. Multiple qualitative data collection methods were engaged to facilitate knowledge acquisition in the domain of milk protein enhancement for dairy operations. This paper also describes the generic development procedure used in this project. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper responds to a 2004 paper by Warburton et al. The paper acknowledges their exploration of the corporate responsibilities of Australian business, and the importance of such research given the social impact business has in contemporary Australian society. However while their paper was concerned with the situation at one specific Australian business and its view of corporate responsibility, this paper attempts to utilise their findings to make a normative argument as to the possibilities for overall corporate responsibility in Australian business. In particular it considers their omission of two primary stakeholder groups, the owners and the workers, in conducting their stakeholder analysis. This paper queries whether if it is not possible to include all stakeholders, it makes sense to omit the other stakeholders too; and rather to agitate for more judicious ownership rights in pursuing the concept of corporate responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing Feigenbaum, Henig and Hammett's typology, privatizations in the UK and Australia may be described as ‘systemic’ in the sense that their aim has been in part to ‘shrink the state’. Privatizations of essential services such as water, rail and energy in both countries appear to have failed in this endeavour. One example of this failure in the UK is the proliferation of special administration regimes which are initiated by the state and regulate the resolution of essential service insolvency. The recent introduction of an energy administration procedure in the Energy Act 2004 (UK) is yet another example of this process. Regulation of infrastructure insolvency appears on its face to have taken a different course in Australia, relying, for the most part on the usual insolvency regimes. However, the utilization of a contractual model for state oversight in the case of railway company insolvency and the willingness of the state to intervene in the financial distress of electricity generators suggest the Australian approach has also resulted in maintenance of the state’s role following privatization. This paper reviews the experience of the State of Victoria in the failure of a rail company and electricity generator and considers to what extent the non-statutory processes utilized by the state reflects its continuing role post privatization. In so doing, the paper evaluates the device of the UK special administration regime and in particular discusses the energy administration provisions of the Energy Act 2004 (UK). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper responds to the recent call in Safety Science for greater academic attention to voluntary corporate disclosure of occupational health and safety information. The study extends prior literature by focusing in detail on occupational injury performance measures provided publicly by Australia’s 50 largest listed firms. Content analysis of a sample of 239 annual reports issued between 1997 and 2009 revealed, as expected, firms in hazardous industries provided significantly higher rates of disclosure, in terms of both number of performance measures and frequency of reporting, than firms in less hazardous industries. Yet higher disclosure did not translate to adequate reporting on measures needed to demonstrate the prevention of serious injury. Instead, there was a strong reliance on variations of highly aggregated frequency rates often criticised in academic and practitioner safety literature. Further, evidence appeared to demonstrate strategic efforts to reduce the visibility of high-consequence safety system failures over time, thereby attenuating investor perceptions of occupational safety risk. The results provide important insights into the communication of corporate OHS performance to investors and suggest the presence of quantitative performance measures is not necessarily indicative of high quality disclosure. The findings also have important implications for the development of disclosure indices in future voluntary reporting research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to enhance understanding low pay dynamics of Australian employees, with a focus on the determination of low pay duration. Design/methodology/approach – The study draws on a representative longitudinal survey of Australian households to provide empirical findings from both descriptive analysis and econometric modelling. Findings – The results show that workers who have entered low pay from higher pay also have a higher hazard rate of transitioning to higher pay; and those who have entered low pay from non-employment are more likely to return to non-employment. Union members, public sector jobs and working in medium to large size firms tend to increase the hazard rate of transitioning to higher pay, while immigrants from non-English speaking countries and workers with health problems have a lower hazard rate of moving into higher pay. There is some evidence that the longer a worker is on low pay, the less likely he or she is to transition to higher pay. Originality/value – This study addresses an information gap regarding the determination of low pay duration. The findings help identify workers who are at high risk of staying on low pay or transitioning into non-employment and are therefore informative for developing targeted policy to help the low paid maintain employment and/or move up the earnings ladder. The results also suggest that policy intervention should take place at an early stage of a low pay spell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses a unique data set to examine the determinants of the explicit reasons employers give for training employees in Australia. The nature of the data requires the use of multinomial logit methods to uncover how certain strategic, recruitment and organizational variables impact on the reasons employers provide for their training choices. The results highlight the complexity of training decision-making in enterprises and show that numerous reasons are cited by employers for undertaking training. The most commonly identified training drivers relate to training strategy variables capturing the status of the organization as a registered training organization ( RTO), the use of a business plan and strategic importance of training. In contrast, the relatively least important drivers are the level of staff permanence, occupational structure, occupational status and the number of employees. The complexity of training decisions suggests that policy-makers should be cautious in following generic and simple solutions in trying to promote employer training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is the relations between the work practices and technology needs of small Australian design companies and the discourses of Participatory Design. Because these companies use off-the-shelf technology, these relations are shaped not just by factors specific to company size, but also by the geographic and cultural separation between the situation of use and the situation of design. User participation focuses on shopping decisions, and the fitting of purchased technology to the local work situation. While many aspects of job design can be extremely flexible within small companies, participation in the design of computer systems is bounded by the available products and the options for continuing design-in-use that are embedded within them. The paper starts from the recognition that participative practices are important in the design of any job. From this perspective the discourses of Participatory Design that are relevant to small companies are those that support the participative design of work, irrespective of the national or industrial location of the people involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have shown that although migrants in general fare worse in the labour market, some migrant groups perform better than others (McAllister 1986; Evans and Kelley 1986; Kelly and McAllister 1984). Studies from the US have also shown that migrant workers working in the ethnic enclaves attain higher socioeconomic rewards compared to the immigrants employed in the secondary sector (Wilson and Portes 1980; Portes and Jensen 1989). Using data collected from the Survey of Issues in Multicultural Australia (1988), this paper reports that ethnic enclaves as a separate economy do not exist in the Australian labour market where migrants can obtain higher status or higher earnings. The paper concludes that the formation of ethnic enclaves as a separate economy needs much more than the establishment of ethnic owned enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased product variety, compressed cycle times, supply chain network based competition and the uncertainty in business environment are forcing organizations to shift their emphasis towards demand chain management. Though enterprise systems and supply chain management software solutions are well in place in most of the large enterprises in Australia, their ability to support demand chain management approach is not yet known. This paper investigates the adoption of demand chain management in Australian organizations using cross-sectional qualitative field study. It found that the adoption is limited despite the organizational capabilities and sound digital platforms. Standardization, integration, visibility and control of processes and information, enabled by enterprise systems, are helping the organizations in improving their ability to sense and shape market demand and customer needs, and build agility into their decision making processes. Attempts to synchronise operating and finance cycles and collecting market intelligence and sharing of that across the supply chain are some of the initiatives that have started showing benefits. Adopting the demand chain management initiatives such as establishment of market intelligence mechanism, building agility into decision making processes, sophisticated usage of optimization tools embedded in software solutions, and process frameworks such as Supply Chain Operations Reference are helping organizations to achieve both agility and control simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring and tracing product and process qualities along global supply chains have become increasingly challenging tasks for companies at the downstream end of the chain. High levels of uncertainty in trade coordination arise among importing companies in the face of these developments. The conceptual aim of this paper is to show, by the example of organic food imports to Germany and Australia, how convention theory can contribute to the analysis of trade coordination in global value chains. Our empirical results affirm that industrial conventions such as standards and third-party certification have gained increasing significance over the past two decades. Simultaneously, however, we argue that industrial conventions are not enough to overcome uncertainties in trade. They do not necessarily lead to reduced differences in perceptions of product quality between suppliers and importers. Less tangible factors such as trust established through relationship management and reputation are likewise significant. Furthermore, not only companies with a certain ideological tradition, but also individual people with altruistic motives within other types of firms, can determine how 'dedicated' a firm is in pushing trade coordination according to civic and domestic conventions. Market conventions (ie, the importance of price and competitiveness) are stressed more by Australian firms reflecting the country's liberal market economy and low state subsidies especially in the area of agriculture. Finally, compromises between conventions are sometimes necessary to end a situation of conflict between buyer and supplier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Aboriginal Australians experience poorer outcomes from cancer compared to the non-Aboriginal population. Some progress has been made in understanding Aboriginal Australians' perspectives about cancer and their experiences with cancer services. However, little is known of cancer service providers' (CSPs) thoughts and perceptions regarding Aboriginal patients and their experiences providing optimal cancer care to Aboriginal people. Communication between Aboriginal patients and non-Aboriginal health service providers has been identified as an impediment to good Aboriginal health outcomes. This paper reports on CSPs' views about the factors impairing communication and offers practical strategies for promoting effective communication with Aboriginal patients in Western Australia (WA). Methods A qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with 62 Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal CSPs from across WA was conducted between March 2006 - September 2007 and April-October 2011. CSPs were asked to share their experiences with Aboriginal patients and families experiencing cancer. Thematic analysis was carried out. Our analysis was primarily underpinned by the socio-ecological model and cultural security, but concepts of Whiteness and privilege, and cultural security also guided our analysis. Results CSPs' lack of knowledge about the needs of Aboriginal people with cancer and Aboriginal patients' limited understanding of the western medical system were identified as the two major impediments to communication. For effective patient-provider communication, attention is needed to language, communication style, knowledge and use of medical terminology and cross-cultural differences in the concept of time. Aboriginal marginalization within mainstream society and Aboriginal people's distrust of the health system were also key issues impacting on communication. Potential solutions to effective Aboriginal patient-provider communication included recruiting more Aboriginal staff, providing appropriate cultural training for CSPs, cancer education for Aboriginal stakeholders, continuity of care, avoiding use of medical jargon, accommodating patients' psychosocial and logistical needs, and in-service coordination. Conclusion Individual CSPs identified challenges in cross-cultural communication and their willingness to accommodate culture-specific needs within the wider health care system including better communication with Aboriginal patients. However, participants' comments indicated a lack of concerted effort at the system level to address Aboriginal disadvantage in cancer outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian farmers navigate their contemporary circumstances through the use of different business and legal arrangements that are shaped by the commercial realities of farming and the aspirations of farm-owning households. In posing the question ‘Family or Enterprise?’, this paper examines the extent to which various household and farm business indicators are associated with different forms of farm ownership, namely sole proprietorships, partnerships, trusts and companies. Results from a postal survey of farm enterprises in Victoria, Australia suggest that both household and enterprise factors contribute to the business structure used, although the strongest determinants appear to be those factors that are less well understood in the rural geographical and sociological literature: household composition, farmer age and farm size. Greater scrutiny of the business instruments deployed by farmers to manage family and enterprise pressures should inform expectations of the fate of family farming in advanced financialised economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how and why different types of innovation systems interact through analysing seven Australian sectors. We find that there are sets of mechanisms or systems that ‘articulate’; i.e. structure and shape the interaction among sectoral innovation systems and other types of innovation systems. Drawing on the Schumpeterian and evolutionary legacy, we contribute a theoretical explanation of how interaction among innovation systems influences innovation. First, this interaction enables and enhances variety creation by expanding the new combinations of knowledge and resources a firm can achieve. Second, it allows for more efficient and effective scaling up of useful knowledge recombination to achieve increasing returns. Empirically, this is supported in that the more successful sectors have active articulation systems with alignment with other systems, while weaker sectors have unplanned and patchy linkages. No simple model seems to explain successful articulation. However, important factors are active receptor firms with the motivation and capabilities to absorb and use resources from external systems, high quality and responsive education systems, and international linkages. Public research, labour markets, and intermediaries varied in importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an empirical study exploring the expatriate performance management systems of 16 Australian multinational firms operating in China. The results show that highly internationalized firms tend to be better at deploying the ‘hard’ components of performance management (goal-setting and performance appraisals), and yet most firms, and in particular highly internationalized ones, are poor at managing ‘soft’ control mechanisms like training and mentoring. The results give some support for the notion that expatriate performance management takes on increased importance as a firm's international operations become more dispersed; however, it also suggests a lack of appreciation of the value of soft control mechanisms in achieving this. The study contributes to international human resource management literature by identifying the relationship between the degree of internationalization of firms and the nature of expatriate performance management. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports the results of a survey of more than 2000 managers examining perceptions of skills gaps in a range of Australian firms. It finds that three quarters report a skills gap, and almost one third report skills gaps across the whole organisation. Firm size and industry differences exist in perceptions of the effect of the skills gap on the organisation, the causes of the skills gap, the strategies used to address the skills gap, the types of skills which are lacking, and the management of training and development. The research shows that managers believe leadership, management, and professional and industry-specific roles have the greatest needs, and that basic skills are generally strong. There is evidence that training and development is being under-used as a remedy for skills gaps, and that small firms may not be strategically recruiting due to perceptions that there are few qualified job candidates. Although skills gaps may be more of an issue for large than for small firms, the needs of small firms and those in 'non-big business' areas such as charities and the not-for-profit sector should not be overlooked. There is not a 'one size fits all' approach to reducing skills gaps which will fit all firm sizes across all sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to determine whether Australian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) could be described as 'bleak houses' or whether they have developed over the last decade into 'bright prospects' typified by human resource innovations. This study builds on empirical work (n = 1425) from ten years ago (1998), and re-examines the prospects of SMEs through the lens of human resource management (HRM) practices. Uniquely, the 2008 cross-sectional data provides for the large-scale tracking of strategic HRM practices. Specifically, 110 HRM practices over five traditional areas across 1230 SMEs are analysed. The prevalence, change, and patterning of HRM practices used by Australian SMEs in 2008 are investigated. It was found that SMEs need less of a make-over in relation to the adoption of HR practices, compared to a decade ago. From a practitioner viewpoint, the study provides cross-sectional benchmarking against the previous time-point, 1998, as well as extending that work with an examination of a more extensive range of new and emerging HRM practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper marks the 90th anniversary celebration of the formation of Engineers Australia in 1919 and whose theme is "Looking forward, looking back". This profiles the attributes and competencies of the professional engineer of the 21st century, and gives an outline of the educational, professional and industrial infrastructure needed to be in place to produce that engineer. The professional engineer is ideally perceived to have technical expertise of world-class standing, and to be an integrator who can operate and manage across borders and boundaries in a complex business environment. As change-agent, the professional engineer provides the creativity, innovation and leadership to shape industry for a successful future in which industry has a reciprocal responsibility to participate. The process will involve exposure to best-practice educational and industrial training and be supported by Engineers Australia providing relevant Continuing Professional Development programs to maintain professional engineering proficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: It is almost a decade since the last empirical study of Australian public relations appeared in the academic literature. This paper reports on a survey conducted immediately prior to the onset of the global financial crisis aimed at revealing the state of public relations in Australia. In particular, the study investigated levels of professionalisation in terms of such criteria as the strategic orientation of public relations, its position within organisational hierarchies, and the importance placed on ethics and professional development. The findings show Australian PR professionals to be highly educated, comparatively well paid and frequently in positions of influence with their CEOs. Paradoxically despite these strengths, the profession in Australia does not seem to have outgrown public relations’ pervasive identity crisis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In extension of Billig's (1995) and Edensor's (2002) contribution to the literature, this paper examines an often overlooked element in ‘mundane’ nationalism, company advertising. Through the development of a typology of advertising strategies, it examines the role of companies as nationalist actors, and highlights how advertisements can engage with and impact on wider national discourses. Nationalist company advertising is classified into types, depending on how associated the company is with nationalism in popular discourse, and whether the advertising campaign involves the company's participation in broader nationalistic political projects. The types developed in this typology include (1) ‘ordinary marketing/achieving nationalist credentials’, (2) ‘ordinary marketing/established nationalist credentials’ and (3) ‘activist marketing/achieving nationalist credentials’. Case studies from the Australian context are used to illustrate these types, how the different types use nationalism, and their varying impact on shaping wider nationalistic discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents a study that extends on previous empirical research, which examined the role of enabling ‘climate for innovation’ constructs in determining the level of innovation diffusion outcomes, and subsequent business performance in architectural and engineering design (AED) firms. Whilst this previous study elucidated the relationships between broad theoretical constructs, the present study was focused on targeting the significant enabling factor interrelationships with the core outcomes that result from the innovation diffusion process. To achieve this objective, a sequential mixed-method research design combining quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques was employed. The quantitative techniques included a correlation analysis to identify the strong factor relationships, followed by Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to determine the critical pathways for enhancing innovation diffusion and ultimately heightened levels of client satisfaction. Following path model extraction, qualitative interviews with five Australian AED firms were conducted. The interview findings confirmed the uncovered significant pathways, and provided in-depth insights into how the improvement of critical enabling factors could leverage improved innovation diffusion outcomes and business performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper looks at the apparent contradiction of a transnational capitalist class (TCC) within the Australian nation state and asks if they do exist what is their relationship to the Australian Capitalist Class (ACC)? Is their relationship comfy, cooperative or conflictual? The test for these likely scenarios is material that comes from a longitudinal study of interlocking directors and major shareholders (drawn from the top 30 companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) 1992-2007 and 300 top Australian companies listed on the Huntley's 2007 shareholder database) plus interviews with top thirty company directors over a 15 year period 1992-2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explains cases of business collective action centered on the chief executive officer-based big business organization, the Business Council of Australia (BCA). The paper goes beyond Olsonian accounts of collective action by partly adopting and partly critiquing extant theoretical accounts that deal specifically with business collective action. Following Andrew Polsky and others, it is found that business collective action is likely to be fostered only if a “daunting” set of conditions is in place, including the motivating role of perceived threats and opportunities, the effective discursive framing of issues and options, and the impetus provided by political entrepreneurs. The often critical role assigned to state elites in much of the extant literature in mobilizing business is criticized. In this Australian case the collective action centering on the BCA was primarily driven by business. Only later was such mobilization supported by state actors. In other words, the initial causal arrows run from business, not the state. A number of factors are found to have driven this business-centric dynamic. These include the role played by business political entrepreneurs, the impact of organizational conditions within the BCA, and wider ideological characteristics, especially the entrenched liberal character of business culture in Australia.Polity (2008) 40, 464–487; doi:10.1057/pol.2008.21; published online 25 August 2008 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulatory scholars have increasingly observed that it is not only public regulatory agencies and official enforcement action that motivate and enforce businesses' compliance with the law; in many situations, certain third parties may have greater capacity and power to motivate and enforce compliance with the law than do official regulatory agencies. This paper examines the extent to which businesses' worries about, and perceptions of pressure from, various third parties influence their internal compliance management activities and moral commitment in relation to complying with the objectives of competition and consumer protection law. Using data from a survey of 999 large Australian businesses, we find that businesses worry a lot about the reactions of a range of third parties including customers, shareholders, employees, and business partners to non-compliance. We find little evidence that these worries have much impact on what businesses actually do. However, perceptions of risk of complaints do influence what they do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurable research outputs have become part of the overall research management structure within Australian universities over the past ten years. As such, policy makers and administrators alike have come to regard effective management structures and mechanisms as fundamental components of a research environment capable of generating desired quantities of quality outcomes. This paper is based on empirical research carried out over the past year that surveyed academics from commerce and business faculties in Australian universities. The data show that factors such as gender, discipline, and academic level appear to impinge on the relative importance of components that make up research management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports on a study of 28 ethnic Chinese businesses in Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth, carried out in 2000 and 2001. It focuses on their strategies of vertical, horizontal, and unrelated diversification often combining different activities, products, and markets at the same time. It demonstrates how these practices are socially embedded in their preference for using personal networks. Non-related diversification, in particular, promotes and is facilitated by using "weak ties" that serve as bridges, leading into new networks (Granovetter, 1973). This can create links to Chinese of different national and dialect origins and to those of other ethnicities. It is suggested that open networks and diversification mutually interact to support each other and may have evolved in tandem from earlier, more closed and niche bound business cultures and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on data from a case study of the agri–political group CANEGROWERS which represents the interests of over 6000 cane farm owners in Australia. The key focus is on the electoral system of the organisation. Using interviews with fifteen elected members, document analysis and participant observation the author examines the way in which women’s lack of representation in any of the 181 positions of organisational leadership is explained by a discourse of merit. While this discourse presents the electoral system as being open, objective and gender neutral, elected leaders descriptions of their own paths to leadership reveal an electoral system which is closed, subjective and distinctly gendered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of a study of the top 530 organizations in Australia which was conducted to determine whether organizations use IT as a strategic tool to meet competitive issues. Significantly this research addressed the following questions: How well organizations matched their IT investment plans with their strategic planning; how well IT strategies were formulated; how well IT systems were implemented and what were the critical success factors and impediments; and whether organizations were truly getting value from their IT investment. The findings have shown the causes of misused IT in some organizations, such as IT strategy not closely aligned with business strategy, no change of historical IT structure, lack of understanding of the potential of IT, lack of CEO and senior management support and awareness of IT's potential, impediments to IT development and implementation. Although in many organizations the role of IT development has become proactive and strategic to gain competitive advantage through primary and support activities, it has still not unleashed ITs full potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competency-Based Training (CBT) is a newly introduced national system of vocational skills development, designed to improve the performance of Australian enterprises through upgrading workers' skills. This paper presents a modified network analysis of the development and use of CBT by the various actors—including government, industry, unions, organizations, training practitioners, trainees, training protocols and training materials–making up this ‘social technology’. ‘Competency training’ is taken to conform to a conventional approach to systems design, where things are divided up according to the separate spheres of planned development and practical implementation. I deal, first, with the constitution of CBT's design, including its manifest and hidden heterogeneities; second, I show how this design is translated into use. I argue that relations of design and use are created and sustained together. Where this relationship is understood, design can serve as a ground for critique. More generally, I consider the limitations of actor-network conceptions of ‘heterogeneity’. I argue that translation implies exploring both similarity and difference, with difference having a positivity and non-assimilability that tend to remain hidden in actor-network theory. Using concepts from post-structuralist and feminist interactionist analysis, I argue that recovering the hidden heterogeneities of networks of technology design and use (for example, users' contribution to design) serves to complexify network accounts, and to help deal with forms of technology analysis with political relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]