Are There Still Differences Between the Roles of Private and Public Sector Managers? (journal article)
By Cline Desmarais and Emmanuel Abord de Chatillon
from Public Management Review Vol 12 Iss 1 Jan 2010, pp. 127 - 149
"In France, the differences between public and private organizations seem to have been reduced by the ubiquity of some management tools and approaches, and, at the same time, highlighted by the political environment, stereotypes, and negative perceptions of French public management. Given this confusion, systematic empirical studies are needed to determine the degree of convergence, if any, between management in the public and private sectors. The present study analyzed a survey of 908 managers, in order to determine whether differences in managerial practices still exist. Our results show that some differences do persist, although they are relatively small."
Thursday, 24 December 2009
What is the Australian model for managing cultural diversity? (journal article)
By Jawad Syed and Robin Kramar
from Personnel Review Vol 39 Iss 1 2010, pp. 96 - 115
"This paper seeks to assess the Australian approach to managing a culturally diverse workforce by examining the outcomes of this approach."
THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN POWER DILEMMA (journal article)
By Paul Simshauser and Phillip Wild
from Australian Economic Papers Vol 48 Iss 4 2009, pp. 342-369
"From 1984 gas-fired power generation had been gradually increasing its share of the electricity market in Western Australia (WA) starting at 1 per cent and rising to about 50 per cent by 2008. Had it continued on this trajectory, the WA power system would have made great advances in terms of cost and environmental efficiencies given the looming commencement of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in Australia from 2011. However, more recently the cost of natural gas has increased from $3/GJ to $7/GJ following the sudden collapse of the East Spar gas field in the North West Shelf. In this article, we analyse the impact of the gas price increase and demonstrate that despite being the most environmentally efficient conventional technology, natural gas combined cycle plant has been squeezed out of the market which in turn will increase forward electricity price risks to WA consumers through greater exposure to CO2 pricing in the long run."
PESSIMISM OR OPTIMISM: A JUSTIFICATION TO VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARD ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY (journal article)
By Johanna Etner, Meglena Jeleva and Pierre-Andre Jouvet
from Australian Economic Papers Vol 48 Iss 4 2009, pp. 308 - 319
"This article analyses the determinants of voluntary contribution to environmental quality by introducing the perception of environmental risk. We consider individuals who are aware both of the impact of their voluntary contributions and of the quality of the current environment on the future quality of environment. Their preferences are represented by the RDU model. We distinguish three kinds of effect: environmental quality, wealth and risk perception. The first effects are not always sufficient to explain agents' implication in the improvement of environmental quality."
The effects of employment protection legislation and financial market imperfections on investment: evidence from a firm-level panel of EU countries (journal article)
By Federico Cingano, Marco Leonardi, Julián Messina and Giovanni Pica
from Economic Policy Vol 25 Iss 61 2009, pp. 117 - 163
"Exploiting information from a panel of European firms we study the joint effect of EPL and financial market imperfections on investment, capital-labour substitution, labour productivity and job reallocation. We find that EPL reduces investment per worker, capital per worker and value added per worker in high reallocation sectors relative to low reallocation sectors, while increasing the average frequency at which firms adjust their capital stock. The reduction in capital per worker and value added per worker is less pronounced in financially sound firms. Also, the propensity to invest appears to increase only in firms that are likely to be financially unconstrained. Overall, poor access to credit markets seems to exacerbate the negative effects of EPL on capital deepening and productivity."
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
After the gold rush( journal article)
from The Economist, Vol 393 No 8661, 12.12.2009, pp.27-29
"The article focuses on Great Britain's National Health Service. The service's costs have risen significantly during the 2000s, and the country's large budget deficit means spending on it will likely not be increased. Managerial reforms creating increased internal competition within the service are examined."
Who cares about super? (article)
by Alan Kohler
from Business Spectator, 15.12.2009
"Sometimes the simplest, most obvious ideas are the best. The Super System Review’s idea for restructuring the architecture of super has the great benefit of simplicity, but whether it’s good or not depends entirely on the detail.The idea, in essence, is to divide the big funds into two: 'care' and 'don’t care'. The review panel, chaired by Jeremy Cooper, calls them 'Choice' and 'Universal', but the effect is the same. Actually, yesterday’s preliminary recommendations would divide super into four types of fund, but two of them – eligible roll-over funds (to be renamed 'Disconnected') and self-managed funds – already exist, so no change there.The real change would be to set up a formal difference between default funds and 'supermarket' funds, and the really important detail about that plan, still to come, involves the regulation of fees."
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Making (more) sense of subjective rankings (article)
by Mary Hallward-Driemeier
from World Bank Research Digest, Vol 4 No 1, Fall 2009
Do firms’ subjective rankings of constraints to their business reflect reality? Evidence suggests that they do.
Fiscal ‘stimulus’: a loanable funds critique (journal article)
by Anthony J. Makin
from Agenda, Vol 16, No 4 2009
This paper proposes an extended loanable-funds framework for examining the effects of fiscal stimulus on the budget balance, international borrowing, real interest rates, private saving, private investment and national income. It challenges the prevailing view that fiscal policy can be used effectively as an income ‘stimulus’ instrument, and proposes that discretionary fiscal measures that increase the budget deficit entail macroeconomic costs for significant external borrower economies, such as Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
Monday, 21 December 2009
Friday, 18 December 2009
Authors: Australian Industry Group; KPMG
Reports on the findings from a survey of 400 Australian companies in the manufacturing, services and construction sectors. Results include that: almost 75% of Australian companies are currently measuring their firm's carbon footprint or they plan to within the next year; 14% have assessed cost alternatives of alternative abatement measures; and 25% have no plans to measure their carbon footprint in the next 3 years.
Thursday, 17 December 2009
Is Normal Boring? (article)
by Michael Knox
from RBS Morgans, 11.12.2009
"After the turmoil of the last two years, the outlook for 2010 is (well) boring. Almost every country that we look at will grow somewhere near its trend growth rate. ...
Stockmarkets have now recovered from the deep recession discounts from which they suffered in the beginning of 2009. These deep recession discounts which saw stockmarkets trading at well below fair value were caused by a collapse of liquidity. Now that liquidity has returned, markets have returned to where they should be based on earnings per share and bond yield. We estimate that currently the S&P500 has a fair value of 1,160 points. This means that today at 1,102 points it is around 3% below fair value. We also estimate that the fair value of the ASX200 is 4,870 points. Trading today at 4,623 points it is around 5% below fair value."
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Author: Gary S. Lynch
"Shows you how everyone is involved in the supply chain itself, often on several levels at one time; how the footprint (the network) of the chain is exposed to an infinite number of constantly changing threats; how weak links in that chain represent threats and vulnerabilities; and how those threats and vulnerabilities can be managed, reduced and eliminated." - page 5.
Monday, 14 December 2009
Robust Decision Making: Coping with Uncertainty (journal article)
By Robert J. Lempert, Steven W. Popper and Steven C. Bankes
from Futurist Vol. 44 Issue 1 Jan/Feb 2010, pp. 47-48
"The article focuses on the application of robust decision making (RDM) in taking the right choice in different situations. It states that RDM which emerged at RAND Corp. offers a variety of forecasts which provide the best option possible for decision makers. It mentions that the RDM is supported by a computer which tests the strategies using data extrapolations for iterative processes and suggests alternatives if the forecasts may perform poorly. In addition, the RDM also identifies the different characteristics of two or more plans together with their possible outcomes. The basic steps in RDM are also presented."
The Post-Scarcity World of 2050-2075 (journal article)
By Stephen Aguilar-Millan et al
from Futurist Vol. 44 Issue 1 Jan/Feb 2010, pp. 34-40
"The article presents the world economic forecast for 2050-2075. It states that scarcities in food, water and energy are expected to occur during these years which will greatly affect the operations of many institutions. It states that the aftereffects of the scarcity will impede the economic growth of 30 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development like U.S., Europe, and Australia. According to the European Union (EU), the scarcity will be the result of growing population wherein resources become limited."
R&D tax incentives: a reappraisal (journal article)
By Eren Inci
from International Tax and Public Finance Vol 16 Iss 6 Dec 2009, pp. 797-821
"This paper examines R&D tax incentives in oligopolistic markets. We characterize the conditions under which tax incentives reach the socially desirable level of firm-financed R&D spending. The outcome of the market depends not only on the level of technological spillover in the industry but also on the degree of strategic interaction between the firms. One major result emerges from the model: The socially desirable level of R&D investment is not necessarily reached by subsidizing R&D. When the technological spillover is sufficiently low, the government might want to tax R&D investments, and this result does not necessarily arise because firms are overinvesting in R&D. There are also cases in which an R&D tax is desirable even though firms are underinvesting in R&D compared with the first-best optimum. In practice, this theoretical finding calls for a lower sales tax combined with an R&D subsidy in oligopolistic industries with high technological spillovers, and a lower sales tax combined with an R&D tax in oligopolistic industries with low technological spillovers. "
Contact the Library for a copy of this article.
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Network analysis of tourism events: an approach to improve marketing practices for sustainable tourism (journal article)
by Anne-Marie Hede and Robyn Stokes
from Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Vol. 26 No. 7, 2009, pp.656-669, 14p
"Farmers' markets have recently emerged as a new tourism event around the globe. Yet, little information is known about them. This article explores the network of stakeholders associated with farmers' markets through a qualitative analysis over a period of time of an Australian farmers' market. Multiple methods of data collection were used to build a case study of the farmers' market. The findings highlight the acute need for this farmers' market, and potentially many others that are similar, to strategically establish an appropriate and effective network of stakeholders for both organizational longevity and tourism sustainability."
- Permanent change requires both the logical and the emotional circuits of your brain to be re-wired
- Your brain is not a computer that can be re-programmed by simply running 'different thoughts' through your mind.
Formula 1 Neuroscientist Dr Spackman explains, with fascinating examples taken from real life, the tools he developed to transform the performance of world class athletes and corporate executives. The Winner's Bible is a riveting read that will show you how to rise above your natural limits." - publisher's website.
Friday, 4 December 2009
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Immigration policy change and the International student industry (journal article)
by Bob Birrell and Bronwen Perry
from People and Place, Vol 17, No 2 2009
"Enrolments of overseas students have grown sharply, especially in hospitality courses in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. Most VET sector students undertook their studies with the expectation that their qualification would lead to a permanent residence visa in Australia. However, since late 2008, changes to Australia’s migration policy mean that few will gain this outcome. This article explores the numbers of students affected and their options for staying on in Australia on a temporary or permanent basis. It argues that to be sustainable, the Australian international student industry must focus on providing qualifications that overseas
students can take back to their country of origin with profit."
Removing Conflict (journal article)
by Amanda Lohan
from Management Today, October 2009
"Conflict resolution is a critical managerial skill, but it is often dumped in the too-hard basket while issues are left to fester. "
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Thursday, 26 November 2009
The ethanol challenge for the United States (journal article)
By Bill Caesar and Thomas Vanhoutte
from McKinsey Quarterly November 2009
"The US biofuels industry must address midstream ethanol distribution bottlenecks if it hopes to deliver next-generation ethanol in a cost-effective manner."
Contact the Library for a copy of this article.
To Be a Better Leader, Give Up Authority (journal article)
By A.D. Amar, Carsten Hentrich, and Vlatka Hlupic
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 87 Issue 12 Dec 2009, p22-24
"The article discusses a study on management and leadership that was conducted by the authors. They argue that innovation and efficiency can increase when executives relinquish some of their authority and give employees some autonomy in their jobs. Examples are given which focus on the financial performance of IT consulting services company's CSC Germany division and on the no-control management style of the telecom-component company ANADIGICS. The authors indicate that more levels of employees should be involved in the decision making at knowledge companies and at those which rely on innovation."
The ROI on Weight Loss at Work (journal article)
By George L Blackburn
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 87 Issue 12 Dec 2009, p30-30
"Workplace weight-loss programs are a win-win tool that companies can use to boost both health and wealth. The financial payoff -- for one Texas employer, about $2.50 in return for every dollar spent -- stems from lower health care costs and reduced absenteeism."
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Glimpses of heaven and hell (journal article)
by Hilary McPhee
from Griffith Review, Edition 25: After the Crisis
"The news that Dubai, like everywhere else in the over-developed world, was feeling the force of the global recession was endlessly repeated. The real-estate bonanza had indeed slowed; some of Dubai's more spectacular projects were on hold, their indentured labour redeployed or returned to Pakistan and Bangladesh. But the tall tales about the end of the world rapidly assumed the shape of a manga: three thousand luxury cars abandoned at the airport, keys in the ignition, their owners fleeing to avoid jail; once-rich wives deserted, selling their bling and sleeping in the dunes in their SUVs; empty apartment buildings as far as the eyes could see; every second business retrenching staff and dishonouring contracts; not a crane moving on the horizon. And, through the cracks in the edifice, the desert sands had started to creep across the highways.
Emiratis and the professional expatriate community fought back as best they could on blogs and in interviews to Arab media, which was more inclined to listen. Dubai will not be allowed to fail, said the World Bank's Tariq Yusef on Al Jazeera. Dubai, he said, has become a model of accelerated growth for others in the region; its belief in itself as a grand hub of trade routes and ideas is an ancient one which the Arab world celebrates and intends to realise again. A failure of Dubai would be a failure of the whole United Arab Emirates."
Stupid money (journal article)
by Gideon Haigh
from Griffith Review, Edition 25: After the crisis
"In the late 1990s, when I was busily employed writing the history of a bank, one of the choicest vantage points was the foyer of its skyscraper each morning. This would begin filling with employees around seven, while remaining strangely devoid of hurry or flurry; there was a sense of deep solitary deliberation, of people already at work in their minds long before they arrived at their desks.
Although the suits were smart and the outfits expensive, there was little ostentation. The standard accessory was not a slimline briefcase but a gym bag: lunch was for wimps; running and pumping iron were preferred."
40 under 40 (journal article)
from Fortune, 9 November 2009
"The article profiles the 40 most influential people in business under the age of 40. They include Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the online social network Facebook, whose vision was of a network that emulated physical relationships. Kevin Plank founded Under Armour, now a one billion dollar performance underwear company, because he was tired of shapeless athletic wear. Kevin Warsh, member of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve, is its youngest appointee. "
Chic Is Out, Cheap Is In (journal article)
by Hiroshi Makioka
from Far Eastern Economic Review, November 2009
"Japan’s economy once again is growing, albeit slowly, but the road back from the nation’s longest recession since World War II is rocky. With the job market still unsettled and the Yen dropping in value, wary consumers are not returning to their old shopping habits. A different breed of Japanese consumer has emerged in the wake of the global financial meltdown and may be here to stay. Once known for their mass consumption of luxury goods, they now are getting a reputation as avid discount shoppers. As traditional department store revenues plunge, discount retailers are enjoying a surge in popularity. Take Wal-Mart. For the first time since it entered Japan seven years ago through its Seiyu subsidiary, the world’s largest retailer expects to generate a profit in Japan in 2009."
Brisbane Business News Young Entrepreneur 2009
by Matthew Ogg
from Brisbane Business News Vol 2.10 Nov 2009
"In a city that lends itself to enterprise and creativity, it was only logical that we were inundated with applications for the inaugural 2009 Brisbane Business News Young Entrepreneur Award. It was also no surprise that the quality of the candidates was high, but only the best could be finalists and only one company could win.
THEIR median revenue was $5.3 million last year, growth was 45 per cent and their average age is just 34 – they are Brisbane’s top young entrepreneurs."
The Next Big Thing (journal article)
by Richard Jones
from Management Today, Nov/Dec 2009
"If you are wondering what the next big thing is for business, SAP's Jeff Word believes he knows: business network transformation.... Word recently edited a book on BNT and he is convinced it is the next step for business innovation. He says BNT is not primarily related to technology and is more akin to the next generation of competitive dynamics. Word admits it is a sort of outsourcing 2.0 but, when combined with the new technological capabilities to manage relationships, it is actually a much smarter proposition. "
Singapore bets on casino gambling (journal article)
by Frederik Balfour
from Business Week Online, 26 October 2009
"The article offers information on the decision by Singaporean government to open two new casinos in a bid to boost up country's tourism industry. One of the two casinos, the 4 billion dollars worth Marina Bay Sands is stated to be built by Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) and will open in the first half of next year. The Country hopes that these sprawling resorts will help boost Singapore's tourism industry."
Friday, 20 November 2009
Rethinking China (journal article)
by Clinton Dines
from The Deal, November 2009
"ntil recently, the author was BHP Billiton's top man in China and has spent 30 years living and working there. He urges Australia to avoid the conventional wisdom."
Thursday, 19 November 2009
INNvestment Australia
Colliers International Hotels
from Hotels and Leisure, Spring Quarter 2009
"Investors in Australian hotels are displaying a change in sentiment, with the general belief that the sector is now moving past the bottom of the market cycle. Recent results from Collier’s Hotel Industry Survey reveal that expectations for trading performance for hotel assets have now stabilised, and the majority view is that hotel occupancy is likely to have bottomed. In the marketplace, this has been reflected by an uptake in transaction activity in recent months, with several notable hotel investment sales and others currently in negotiation."
E-Trends&Analysis: Optimizing E-Learning Technologies (journal article)
By Bryan Chapman
from Training Vol. 46 Issue 8 Oct/Nov 2009, p17-17
"The key is creating a framework to assist in making choices that will introduce appropriate online learning technologies at the right place, at the right time, and for the right reasons.
One constant in the lives of learning professionals is that online learning technologies abound and making wise choices about how and when to infuse new technologies into an organizational learning strategy can be chaotic without a proactive plan of action. The model described was created as a framework to assist in making choices that will introduce appropriate online learning technologies at the right place, at the right time, and for the right reasons."
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Accountability and value for money: a theoretical framework for the relationship in public–private partnerships (journal article)
by Istemi Demirag and Iqbal Khadaroo
from Journal of Management and Governance, online August 2009
"There is an implicit assumption in the UK Treasury’s publications on public-private partnerships (PPP)—also more commonly known in the United Kingdom as private finance initiative (PFI)—that accountability and value for money (VFM) are related concepts. While recent academic studies on PPP/PFI (from now on as PFI) have focused on VFM, there is a notable absence of studies exploring the ‘presumed’ relationships between accountability and VFM. ...Our preliminary interviews provide us guidance in identifying some of the cultures, processes and mechanisms indicated in our model which should enable future researchers to test not only the UK Government’s claimed relationships between accountability and VFM using more specific PFI empirical data, but also a potential relationship between accountability and performance in general. "
Please contact us for a copy of this article.
Board size and corporate performance: the missing role of board leadership structure (journal article)
by Khaled Elsayed
from Journal of Management and Governance, online 19/09/2009
"Different arguments have been introduced in the literature both for and against large and small board sizes. In this context, empirical evidence regarding the impact of board size on corporate performance is less conclusive, which means that further study is needed. Contrary to previous work, it is hypothesized in this study that the relationship between board size and corporate performance is more likely to be confounded by board leadership structure. Econometric analysis provided strong evidence for the applicability of this hypothesis and demonstrated that board size positively affects corporate performance in the presence of CEO non-duality (board leadership structure that is split between the roles of the CEO and the roles of the chairman). Furthermore, board size is shown to have a negative influence on corporate performance in the presence of CEO duality (board leadership structure that assigns the roles of both CEO and chairman to the same person). This conclusion is robust to the use of different measures of corporate performance, control variables and econometric models. Thus, these findings cast doubt on most of the existing evidence that posits that either large or small board size is always the best alternative to be followed in all organizations. "
What Keeps You Awake at Night: Top Ten Challenges Facing Public Managers (journal article)
by Jonathan Breul and John Kamensky
from Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School, 9 Nov 2009
"David Letterman is not the only one with a Top Ten list! We’ve put one together as well, based on what we’ve heard from a wide range of government leaders and public policy academics. Our list is a snapshot of significant management issues facing public executives. We call it the “what keeps you awake at night” list."
Friday, 13 November 2009
* Affordability indices for all states and territories (except NT), metro and regional
* National median incomes and minimum repayments for a median priced home
* A rolling 6 quarters of original house price data for - Established dwellings, Detached Houses;- Established Dwellings, Units;- Established Dwellings, Total; and - New Dwellings, Total."
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Friday, 6 November 2009
Monday, 2 November 2009
Friday, 30 October 2009
Galvanizing Philanthropy (journal article)
By Susan Wolf Ditkoff and Susan J Colby
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 87 Issue 11, Nov 2009, pp. 108-115
"Philanthropic organizations, exempt from the accountability imposed on business by markets or on government by voters, are free to experiment and take risks. But they have little experience in objectively evaluating their own performance or figuring out how to improve it. Regardless of the economic climate, the authors say, developing a philanthropic strategy is an iterative process -- one they've labeled "getting clear, getting real, and getting better." Getting clear means selecting a few strategic anchors -- people, problems, or philosophies the institution truly cares about -- and using them to guide decisions about programs and grantees. In addition, hard evidence should be examined in light of values and beliefs. Getting real means pragmatically assessing the resources and time required to bring about desired change and soliciting candid feedback from the field. Getting better means regularly reviewing the organization's entire funding strategy in light of both outside perspectives and nonfinancial assets. Ditkoff and Colby outline the traps that funding institutions must avoid if they are to optimize their resources and organizational outcomes, and they offer stories from the James Irvine, Bill & Melinda Gates, Annie E. Casey, David and Lucile Packard, and Edna McConnell Clark foundations as examples of success. The pursuit of excellence, they say, can be imposed only by philanthropic investors themselves."
WHAT WOULD PETER SAY? (journal article)
By Rosabeth Moss Kanter
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 87 Issue 11 Nov 2009, pp. 64-70
"Heeding the wisdom of Peter Drucker might have helped us avoid -- and will help us solve -- numerous challenges, from restoring trust in business to tackling climate change. He issued early warnings about excessive executive pay, the auto industry's failure to adapt and innovate, competitive threats from emerging markets, and the perils of neglecting nonprofit organizations and other agents of societal reform. If he were still here, a century after his birth, what would he say about the path forward? The essential Drucker can be summarized in three themes: First, management should be a profession, and executives and managers should remember that their primary job is to look out for the long-term health of their organizations. That means taking responsibility for social well-being, not just wealth. Second, knowledge workers cannot be controlled; they must be motivated. Such employees must see a purpose more meaningful than personal profit. And third, nonprofits are necessary ingredients for producing a good society, one in which businesses can thrive. It is critical to invest in them. Drucker was not a revolutionary. He merely asked that we constantly challenge our assumptions. He preached steadiness and vision, recognizing that leading in turbulent times requires foresight about where things are heading as well as judgment about what not to change."
How to Jump-Start the Clean Tech Economy (journal article)
By Mark W Johnson and Josh Suskewicz
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 87 Issue 11 Nov 2009, pp. 52-60
"Billions of dollars worldwide are pumped into the search for clean technology and renewable energy. So far, however, most investment has been in companies that are using conventional business models to fit new technologies into existing systems. A far better approach, say Johnson and Suskewicz, is to create whole new systems. The authors propose a framework for thinking about clean tech that consists of four interdependent components: an enabling technology, an innovative business model, a careful market-adoption strategy, and a favorable government policy. Two recent experiments show how this framework can be applied: Better Place, founded by the software executive Shai Agassi, has a network of battery-recharging and -switching stations to support its electric cars and a business model based on selling electricity (miles) rather than vehicles. It has a foothold market in Israel, where gas- powered cars are taxed far higher than electric ones. Masdar City, now under construction in Abu Dhabi, will be a carbon-neutral incubator of clean technologies, supported by the investment, manufacturing, strategy, and academic units of a government initiative. The city is itself a foothold market and will benefit from government subsidies, "free zone" status, and favorable regulations. Both enterprises provide hope for supplanting the oil-based economy."
TEN PRINCIPLES FOR TAX REFORM (journal article)
By Robert Carling
from Policy Vol. 25 Issue 3 Spring 2009, pp. 9-15
"Australia's tax system needs principles that go beyond efficiency, equity and simplicity. The author discusses ten principles for tax reform."
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Author: Robert M. Fried
"Designed to provide tools that employees can use to handle their workplace stress in a constructive manner and also functions as a resource for employees on stress management programs that are very effective at reducing stress, reducing turnover, improving employee loyalty, increasing worker satisfaction and happiness." - page iv. Suggestions include: massage, self-hypnosis, meditation, nerolinguistic programming, exercise and diaphragmatic breathing.
Saturday, 24 October 2009
It pays to be socially aware. (journal article)
By Matt Parsons
From Travel Trade Gazette UK & Ireland; 9/4/2009, Issue 2879, p10-11, 2p
"Information about topics discussed at a Travel Trade Group (TTG) roundtable discussion in Great Britain is presented. Topics include the effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool with several range of uses including in training, marketing, and brand management. It notes the different opinions of executives from different travel companies regarding the issue. A list of the participants during the discussion is also provided. "
Creative solution, California tourism (journal article)
From Campaign (UK); 9/5/2009 Supplement, p12-13, 2p
"The article provides information on the move of California Tourism to promote the state. It cites that California chose The Times and The Sunday Times to develop a media partnership through Feather Brooksbank Ltd., its media agency. Sara Lamb, team leader of the News International Campaign Team, aimed to use the whole lay out of the two newspapers in print and online in educating the readers about the broader appeal of visiting California. "
Can a brand identity for a nation be successfully created? (journal article)
From B&T Magazine; 9/18/2009, Vol. 59 Issue 2701, p11-11, 1p, 3 color
"The article offers the opinion of Mike Staniford of Landor, Kate Messenger of Yello and Tim Riches of Futurebrand, regarding the 20 million-Australian dollar brand campaign for Australia. According to Staniford, identity is essential to countries as it is significant to sector such as business investment and tourism. Messenger stated that the identity to be created by the campaign should be credible. Riches asserted that the country is capable of employing such campaign."
Lists & Rankings: America’s 200 Best Small Companies Of 2009
Source: Forbes
"Our list of the 200 Best Small Companies in America begins with a search for companies that show both sales and earnings growth. Candidates must have annual revenue between $5 million and $750 million, be publicly traded for at least a year and have a stock price no lower than $5. Rankings are based on earnings growth, sales growth and return on equity in the past 12 months and over five years; we dropped companies with fuzzy accounting or looming legal troubles. We also compared the stock performance of each company with that of its peers. Shares of last year's list members outpaced the Russell by 10 percentage points. "
Friday, 23 October 2009
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Author: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
"Regulatory impact analysis (RIA) is a systemic approach to critically assessing the positive and negative effects of proposed and existing regulations and non-regulatory alternatives. This publication brings together recent OECD research and analysis concerning methodological issues and country experiences with RIA." - abstract.
Monday, 19 October 2009
The Determinants of Population and EmploymentGrowth in Small Queensland Regions (journal article)
by Bernard Trendle
from Economic Analysis and Policy, Vol 39 No 2 September 2009
"This paper investigates the determination of population and employment changes for the 125 Local Government Areas of Queensland over the 1996–06 period. The intention is to determine the flow of causality from employment to population growth and/or vice versa. Unlike previous similar studies, the role of geographic location is formally investigated using techniques from the field of spatial data analysis. Overall, results of previous research are confirmed, in that there is some evidence of bi-directional causality. However, spatial effects are found to be important in the process of regional growth, with regional economic performance in part, determined by the outcomes experienced in neighbouring regions."
Business Cycle Dynamics (journal article)
by Sebastian Wende
from Economic Analysis and Policy, Vol 39 No 2 September 2009
"This paper attempts to simulate endogenous cyclical behaviour through variations on the standard real business models. This paper relaxes the perfect foresight assumption implied by the rational agent hypothesis. It is replaced by imperfect adaptive expectations. The model is extended with a delay between investment and capital accumulation. This paper also simulates a non-equilibrium timedifferential wage adjustment in a model economy. The models show that the boom produced by a single positive technology shock can be followed by the equivalent of a recession. The models are solved using numerical methods for differential equations, which allow for non-linear dynamics, as opposed to the usual log linearisation."
Sunday, 18 October 2009
China's Top Ten Companies (journal article)
from Fortune, October 2009
Energy, power and banking lead the list of the nation's - and some of the world's - biggest companies.
Services, ICTs and the Changing Nature of Economic Development Processes in the KBE Era (journal article)
by Tom Mandeville and Hadi Kardoyo
in Prometheus, Volume 27, Issue 1 March 2009 , pages 17 - 25
"We present a concise, exploratory, discussion paper that provides some promising hypotheses concerning how economic development processes may be evolving in the KBE era. Emerging roles for ICTs and services in the economy are driving these changes. Developing countries may be able to leapfrog stages of growth, or structural change, that presently developed nations historically went through. Case studies of India and Indonesia are utilized. "
The Competitive Process in the Age of the Internet (journal article)
by Peter E. Earl and Tom Mandeville
from Prometheus Volume 27, Issue 3 September 2009 , pp. 195 - 209
"This paper examines some of the impacts of the widespread adoption and use of the Internet in advanced countries on business, consumers and the media. It is argued that while capital costs of entry into Internet-based businesses may be very low, this does not guarantee that markets in which such firms operate will necessarily be hotly contested, for success may require substantial sunk costs to be incurred in development. It explores the changing nature of market institutions associated with the rise of e-commerce (including the advent of what are labelled 'portal' firms) and associated changes in the division of labour between buyers, sellers and intermediaries. The authors provide behavioural, evolutionary, and information theoretic perspectives on these dynamic issues. "
An Analysis of Workplace Representatives, Union Power and Democracy in Australia (journal article)
by David Peetz and Barbara Pocock
from British Journal of Industrial Relations, June 2009
"The purpose of this article is to illuminate the views and experiences of workplace representatives in Australia in the context of falling union density, and to analyse factors that are most strongly associated with subjective union power at the workplace level, as perceived by delegates. The analysis relies on a large random survey of workplace delegates in eight significant Australian unions. The article describes the situation broadly facing delegates as shown by the survey and analyses a set of factors associated with the power of workers as perceived by delegates. We find that higher levels of reported activism among delegates are strongly associated with greater subjective union power. ...Support for delegates from the union office and organizers is also associated with higher levels of union power at the local level. The analysis provides some support for union renewal strategies associated with the 'organizing model' as applied in Australia and some other Anglo-Saxon countries that aim to increase the activism of workplace delegates through education, the provision of support for workplace delegates and more democratic union structures."
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Prospects for Labour in Global Value Chains: Labour Standards in the Cut Flower and Banana Industries (journal article)
by Lone Riisgaard and Nikolaus Hammer
from British Journal of Industrial Relations, June 2009
"Global value chain (GVC) governance is central to analyses of labour's strategic options. It frames the terrain on which labour campaigns and institutions — such as private social standards and international framework agreements — contribute to the social regulation of value chains. GVC concepts help to emphasize how power in the employment relationship transcends organizational boundaries, as well as how industrial power is shifting from the sphere of production to that of consumption. Based on extensive case studies of the banana and cut flower value chains, we explore the implications of GVC restructuring for the scope and form of labour rights strategies."
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Friday, 16 October 2009
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Author: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
"Simple to use, pocket data book. As ever, this 2009 edition contains key data on the OECD-wide economy, society and the environment. There are comparable tables on the entire spectrum of the organisation's work, from national income and industry through employment and research to banking and public finances. Our customary OECD in Graphs section highlights key challenges such as public debt, joblessness and climate change. "
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Friday, 9 October 2009
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
"In the context of the global economic crisis, the Japanese economy has fallen into its deepest recession of the post-war era. Output is projected to contract by around 6% in 2009, reflecting a plunge in exports and tighter financial conditions. Prompt action by the authorities to stabilise financial markets, cut the policy interest rate and implement large-scale fiscal stimulus is cushioning the blow and sets the stage for a mild recovery, against the backdrop of a projected sluggish rebound in world trade. With deflation entrenched, the Bank of Japan should keep the policy interest rate close to zero. As the stimulus packages fade and fiscal consolidation begins, sustaining the expansion will depend increasingly on private domestic demand, which requires economic reforms to create new drivers of growth. Reforms in the labour market, where rising dualism has constrained wages and private consumption, and the non-manufacturing sector, where productivity gains lag far behind manufacturing, are especially important. Policy reforms in a number of other areas are needed for robust and sustainable growth."
Friday, 2 October 2009
