Nice girls can finish first : getting the results you want and the respect you deserve-- while still being liked [book]

Author: Daylle Deanne Schwartz

"Are you a 'People Pleaser'? Do you put up with put-downs? Say yes when you're dying to say no? Sit down when you should be standing up for yourself? ... This step-by-step guide from a self-described former 'doormat' shows you that you don't have to be a demanding diva or mean girl to get what you want. There's a 'nice' way to be assertive-in business and in life. Once you learn the secret, you can: Speak up-without shouting, Say no-without sounding negative, Be strong-without being aggressive, Get respect-without getting tough [and] Ask for anything you want-and get it!" - cover.
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OECD in Figures 2009 [online]

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. "

How to prepare a business plan [book]

Author: Edward Blackwell

"Explains the whole process in accessible language, including guidance on: Producing cash flow forecasts and sample business plans; Expanding a business; Planning the borrowing; [and] Monitoring business progress. ... Introduces several small businesses as case studies, analysing their business plans, monitoring their progress and discussing their problems. Whether you are looking to start up or expand, this practical advice will help you to prepare plan that is tailored to the requirements of your business." - cover.

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Introductory economics for decision makers [book]

Authors: Paul Frijters, Uwe Dulleck and Benno Torgler.

An introductory textbooks explaining economic concepts and how they shapes Australian policy. Topics covered include: Market failures and the role of government, Taxation, the Australian labour market, Economics and the environment, and Regulation and privatisation.

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Giant steps in management : creating innovations that change the way we work [book]

Authors: Michael J. Mol and Julian Birkinshaw ; foreword by Gary Hamel.

"Looks at the pasts of 50 key management innovations in every area of management, showing you what caused these innovations to become so successful. ... Read about giant steps in: process, money, people management, internal structures, customer and partner interfaces, innovation and strategy, and information efficiency." - cover.

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OECD Economic Surveys : Japan (preliminary), 2009 [online]

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."

Throwing sheep in the boardroom : how online social networking will transform your life, work, and world [book]

Authors: Matthew Fraser & Soumitra Dutta.

"Examine the powerful forces behind the social 'e'-revolution, detailing often absurd and powerful reactions to it as well making predictions about its long-term consequences. ... Argues that while the Web 2.0 revolution has reached a tipping point socially ... it is facing powerful forces of resistance inside organizations - especially corporations and government bureaucracies." - cover.

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Supersize New Zealand : a collection of essays on how to improve New Zealand's public policy [book]

Editor: Luke Malpass / Centre for Independent Studies (Australia)

A series of essays which suggest that New Zealand needs less government, less and more predictable regulation, and less, but more targeted, government spending.

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The Big fella : the rise and rise of BHP Billiton [book]

Authors: Peter Thompson & Robert Macklin

"Here for the first time is the full, compelling story of how BHP rose from the humblest beginnings in the Australian outback to become, in conjunction with its partner Billiton, the biggest miner in the world today. ... Reveals the visions, the schemes, the scandals and the corporate life-and-death struggles that have characterised BHP's evolution." - cover.

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Building an efficient national roads system (journal article)
by Max Lay
from ATSE Focus August/September 2009
"We tend to forget how permanent roads are and how ongoing are the benefits and disbenefits that they createRoads are an integral part of our nation's infrastructure. British colonisation in 1788 brought with it the requirement that every piece of subdivided land had to have land access via a public right-of-way. The land was often grudgingly given and was rarely part of any grander transport plan. Thus, almost from the beginning, governments have had to step in and impose a grander vision beyond the farm-to-market needs of individual land owners.
Another major problem has been our inability to control, let alone predict, future land use. State governments need to be much better in the way in which they match land-use controls with economic and social strategies at one extreme and transport plans at the other.Thus, road planning must allow for a range of future scenarios, as today's assumptions and passionately held views are quite likely to be proved wrong. To avoid past parochialism, planning for any new road system must also be done at a level above the immediate region affected by the planning."

Infrastructure needs multi-layered partnerships and robust coordination (journal article)
by Mike Mrdak and Mike Taylor
from ATSE Focus, August/September 2009
"Infrastructure needs multi-layered partnerships and robust coordination
The domestic freight task has doubled in size over the past 20 years, with growth averaging 3.5 per cent a year. This trend is likely to continue into the futureGetting our resources to market efficiently and seamlessly will be a key to Australia's global competitiveness in the 21st century. Productivity of our supply chains will come not just from investment in our rail lines, road and ports, but, just as importantly, planning, regulatory and governance reforms, and innovation to remove current restrictions and avoid bottlenecks building up in the future.The challenge for infrastructure and transport is to ensure that capacity constraints to growth of exports that have occurred in the past are not repeated."

Strategic performance management : a managerial and behavioural approach [book]

Author: André De Waal

"Describes how strategic performance management, an increasingly popular and successful management technique, supports organisations in their pursuit of better performance. ... Integrates practical insights from current industry developments to provide readers with the tools and understanding to evaluate how a business is performing." - cover.

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Fiscal fallacies : the failure of activist fiscal policy [book]

Author: John Taylor [et al.] / Centre for Independent Studies (Australia)

A collection of essays which "demonstrate the ineffectiveness of activist Keynesian fiscal policy, referencing recent debates over fiscal stimulus packages in Australia and United States. ... Review the open economy, crowding out, and Richardian equivalence arguments against activist fiscal policy." - cover.

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Government Outsourcing: Public Contracting with Private Monopoly (journal article)
By Emmanuelle Auriol and Pierre M. Picard
from The Economic Journal Vol 119 Iss 540 2009, pp. 1464-1493
"The article studies the impact of the government budget constraint on the regulation of natural monopolies in adverse selection contexts. The government maximises total surplus but incurs some cost of public funds à la Laffont and Tirole (1993). Government outsourcing is proposed as an alternative to regulation in which firms freely enter the market and choose their prices and output levels. However the government can contract ex post with the private firms. This ex post contracting set-up allows more flexibility than regulation where governments commit to both investment and operation cash-flows. This is especially relevant in case of high technological uncertainties."
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Managing occupational boundaries to improve innovation outcomes in industry-research organisations (journal article)
By Kathryn J Hayes and J Anneke Fitzgerald
from Journal of Management & Organisation Vol 15 No 4 Sept 2009, pp. 423-437
"
Commercialisation activities combining the discoveries of one occupational group, such as scientists, with the commercial skills of managers involve interactions across occupational and organisational cultures.
This article explores the challenges posed by working across occupational and organisational boundaries, and describes management techniques developed informally in four Australian organisations to address barriers to knowledge transfer. It identifies the existence of Knowledge-stewarding Communities of Practice (CoP) that span organisational boundaries and impact commercialisation outcomes. It also presents recommendations for management practice based upon diversity management and innovation theories.
The context of the study is Australian hybrid industry-research organisations composed of academic, government and industry personnel. Semi-structured interviews with a total of twenty scientists, engineers and managers focused on their experiences of knowledge sharing across organisational and occupational cultures, and methods used to manage these boundaries. The existence and efficacy of boundary-crossing individuals and boundary object strategies are explored. A generic process management model of innovation is extended to acknowledge and accommodate occupational and organisational cultural proclivities towards exploration or exploitation, and to stimulate future research."
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Fiscal fallacies : the failure of activist fiscal policy [book]

Editor: Stephen Kirchner

A collection of essays which "demonstrate the ineffectiveness of activist Keynesian fiscal policy, referencing recent debates over fiscal stimulus packages in Australia and United States. ... Review the open economy, crowding out, and Richardian equivalence arguments against activist fiscal policy." - cover.

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Flexible Contract Workers in Inferior Jobs: Reappraising the Evidence (journal article)
by Colin Green , Parvinder Kler and Gareth Leeves
from British Journal of Industrial Relations 22 Jun 2009
"There is concern that the increase in flexible employment contracts witnessed in many OECD economies is evidence of a growth in low-pay, low-quality jobs. In practice, it is difficult to evaluate the 'quality' of flexible jobs. Previous research has primarily investigated objective measures of job quality such as wages and training or subjective measures such as job satisfaction. We jointly evaluate these elements of flexible employment contracts using a job quality index. Analysis of this index demonstrates that flexible jobs are of a lower quality. Differences in the subjective and objective assessment of factors like pay and hours are evident."
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The Best New Ideas in Business
by Paul Keegan
from Fortune, Vol 160, No 5 14 September 2009
"The article focuses on the company Zipcar, a car-sharing service. Zipcars are available in several U.S. cities, including Seattle, Washington, San Francisco, California, and New York City, as well as in Britain. Scott Griffith, chief executive officer for Zipcar, said that the company will turn a profit in the third quarter of 2009. "

The Great Sugar Rush (article)
by Michael Knox
from RBS Morgans. Economic Strategy. Sept 14 2009
"Steady growth in industrial demand for sugar for use as a bio fuel has outpaced its unsteady
increases in production. Right now the stocks-to-consumption ratio for sugar is the lowest
this century. Prices have run up rapidly. Buyers have run to buy the commodity. Producers
are enjoying this great sugar rush."

Codifying Culture: indigenous Australian art commercial code of conduct (journal article)
by Lan Pham and Terri Janke
from Indigenous Law Bulletin, Vol 7 No 13 July/August 2009
"The key recommendation of a 2007 Inquiry was the establishment of an Indigenous Art Commercial Code of Conduct to set minimum national standards for appropriate ethical trade. ... The draft has been established as a voluntary guideline and is intended to be used in the formation of agreements between artists, agents and dealers. "
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