Building organizational capabilities: McKinsey Global Survey results (journal article)
from McKinsey Quarterly Mar 2010
"Building organizational capabilities, such as leadership development or lean operations, is a top priority for most companies. However, many of them have not yet figured out how to do so effectively. The odds improve at companies where senior leaders are more involved."
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Forecasting health futures and health costs (journal article)
by Philip Davies
from ATSE Focus, March 2010
"So, 50 years into the future, there are good grounds to question the need for the conventional hospital, as we know it. Remember, we are talking 50 years into the future here. The other group that I think may be vulnerable are our traditional primary care practitioners or GPs. As we move into a world where healthcare becomes more technologically dependent and multi-disciplinary, will the small business model of General Practice be viable? Paradoxically the same technologies that may call the business model of the hospital into question could also challenge the business model of general practice.Looking at the future of healthcare provision, I wonder whether the hospitals and the primary care providers will actually merge and collapse into some new sort of high-tech connected clinic that we can access remotely and that provides the hub for delivering community-based services.What we spend on healthcare is actually the result of individual choice plus societal views. We live in a democracy and we are not necessarily slaves to demography. We have the power of democracy to help us make decisions about how much we are going to spend on healthcare. Healthcare expenditure is not out of control. We control healthcare expenditure as individuals or as a society. We have to make those decisions. "

Data data everywhere (journal article)
from The Economist, Vol 394 No 8671, 27 Feb 2010, pp. 3-5
"The article discusses information resources and information resources management. Digitalization has enormously increased the amount of data that can be stored and distributed, which offers opportunities for businesses, governments, and scientific research. However, the amount of computer storage space for the data is growing limited. Privacy protection and data security become more difficult as the amount of information available expands."

Getting to resolution : turning conflict into collaboration [book]
Author: Stewart Levine

"Adversarial models for dealing with conflict waste time, money, and energy. They satisfy no one, so the conflict ends up resurfacing in a different form, Stewart Levine's "resolutionary" alternative goes beyond compromise and capitulation. He offers ten guiding principles that stop anger and resentment cold and enable both sides to return to productive, satisfying, functional relationships. Levine's seven-step conversational process fosters dignity and integrity, optimizes resources, and allows all concerns to be voiced, honored, and woven into the resolution. This second edition has been thoroughly revised with new examples; new tools; new material about communication, trust building, and virtual collaboration; and a more global outlook."

Find it at: 658.4053 GET 2009 or
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Managing transitions : making the most of change [book]

Author: William Bridges

"The classic guide to dealing with the human side of organizational change. It includes a new introduction and provides step-by-step strategies for minimizing the disruptions caused by workplace change.

Managing Transitions addresses the fact that it is people who have to embrace a new situation and carry out the corresponding change. The good news is that while the changes we are facing differ from any we’ve experienced before, the transition process by which people get through change does not alter and is outlined in this book. It helps you understand what is happening and navigate the transitions successfully.Whenever an organization makes a change, its people first have to deal with an ending; then with a time in between the old and the new that Bridges calls the “neutral zone”; and then with a new beginning." - publisher's website.

Find it at: 658.406 MAN 2009 or
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Managing diversity in Australia : theory and practice [book]

Authors: Glenda Strachan, Erica French, John Burgess

Managing Diversity in Australia is an important new title based on original research by leading scholars in the field. The book was specifically created to address the need for critical coverage of managing diversity and equity policies and programs in Australian organisations.
This new book covers the complex theoretical issues and provides practical examples of organisational practice. The work incorporates a range of clearly written Australian case studies into diversity issues.
Want to read this book? See is at: 658.3008 MAN 2009 or

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Just listen : discover the secret to getting through to absolutely anyone [book]

Author: Mark Goulston

"Discover field-tested, powerful techniques for getting people to do what you want them to do ... Learn how to: Get the attention of a total stranger who you need to know, Talk an angry person from an irrational state to receptivity, Use the "Magic Paradox" to turn a negative person into an asset, [and] Master the critical art of buy-in (the foreplay of negotiation, persuasion, and selling)." - cover.

Find it at: 658.45 JUS 2010 or
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Duties and responsibilities of directors and officers [book]

Author: Robert Baxt

Chapters include: The duties of directors : a broad overview -- The fundamental duties of directors : duty to act -- The fundamental duties of directors : duty to act with care and diligence -- Day-to-day duties -- Insolvent trading -- Insurance, forgiveness by shareholders and by the courts -- Remedies for shareholders : common (general) law and statutory -- Traps for the unwary director.

Find it at: 346.9406642 DUT 2009 or
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Harnessing Your Staff's Informal Networks (journal article)
By Richard McDermott and Douglas Archibald
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 88 Issue 2 Mar 2010, pp. 82-89
"The article discusses the integration of employees' informal social networks into the organization's formal management practices. The advantages of having communities of practice share information and collaborate on innovation or problem solving are noted. Research that was conducted by Warwick Business School's Knowledge and Innovation Network and financed by Schlumberger company and the Warwick Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre is discussed. The development of global communities of practice at the construction and engineering company Fluor is mentioned. Four principles related to the communities' effectiveness are discussed."

A Better Approach to China's Markets (journal article)
By Max Magni and Yuval Atsmon
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 88 Issue 2 Mar 2010, pp. 30-31
"The article discusses market entry strategy for international business enterprises and domestic companies in China. The idea of organizing groups of cities into market clusters that produce at least one percent of China's gross domestic product is discussed. The social and economic similarities of clustered cities that define China's markets are noted. An illustration shows the 22 basic Chinese clusters, their population data, their projected growth, and the status of consumer confidence. The clusters include Chengdu, Kunming, Nanning, Huhehaote, Jingjinji, Shanghai, and Shandong Byland."

Booming Bohemia? Evidence from the US High-Technology Industry (journal article)
By David S. Bieri
from Industry & Innovation Vol 17 Iss 1 Feb 2010, pp. 23 - 48
"This paper assesses the effect of Richard Florida's creative class on economic growth and development at two levels of spatial aggregation. First, I examine the dynamics of economic growth across US metropolitan regions and investigate how they relate to regional specialization and the concentration of talent in the high-tech industry. In addition to evidence of significant high-tech clusters, I identify important complementarities with regard to the interaction between the three Ts of regional development (talent, technology and tolerance) and regional growth dynamics. Using firm-level data, the regional analysis is then complemented by exploring the location of new high-technology plant openings and their relationship with university research and development (R&D) and the creative class. Specifically, I test the hypothesis that both university R&D and the presence of “creativity” generate spillovers which are captured locally in the form of new high-tech establishments, after controlling for important location factors such as local cost, demand and agglomeration economies. While the marginal impacts of increased R&D funding on county probability for new firm formation is modest, the mix of creativity and diversity—as proxied by the Florida measure—appears to be a key driver in the locational choice of new high-tech firms. Separate estimates indicate that these findings hold up across the major high-tech industries in the USA."

The Anatomy of the Creative City (journal article)
By Patrick Cohendet, David Grandadam and Laurent Simon
from Industry & Innovation Vol 17 Iss 1 Feb 2010, pp. 91 - 111
"The aim of this contribution is to depict and analyze the dynamics of situated creativity by presenting an anatomy of the creative city and an understanding of the emergence and formation of creative processes in these particular local ecologies of knowledge. We propose to study the anatomy of the creative city by defining three different layers—the upperground, the middleground and the underground—as the basic components of the creative processes in local innovative milieus. Each one of these layers intervenes with specific characteristics in the creative process, and enables new knowledge to transit from an informal micro-level to a formal macro-level. In order to illustrate this point of view, the creative city of Montral is analyzed through two main case studies: Ubisoft and the Cirque du Soleil. "

Taking Asia Seriously (journal article)
By Martin Griffiths
from Australian Journal of Political Science Vol 45 Iss 1 Mar 2010, pp. 13 - 28
"Australia has traditionally relied on two diplomatic strategies in its attempts to 'engage' Asia. The first has been to couch engagement diplomacy within broader global trends and developments, such as the response to the communist threat during the Cold War or the general move towards the 'new regionalism' after the Cold War. The second strategy has been a dogged prudentialism, building on shared (usually commercial) interests. The shortcomings of both strategies became apparent in the lead up to the 2005 East Asia Summit, during which Australia faced a diplomatic exclusion not as the specific policy choice of another country, but as the unintended by-product of rivalries among Asia's great powers. That the success or otherwise of Australia's regional engagement will be shaped by such rivalries in future was reinforced by the sensitivities aroused over the Prime Minister's trip to China in 2008. Perhaps the bigger lesson is that Asia's rivalries are no longer sub-sets of global dynamics. We may be entering an era in which Asia's rivalries drive broader global dynamics, which in turn will pose severe challenges for Australia's regional diplomacy."

Beyond Cricket: Australia-India Evolving Relations (journal article)
By Peter Mayer
from Australian Journal of Political Science Vol 45 Iss 1 March 2010, pp. 133 - 148
"Australia's relationship with India stands in apparent contrast with its relations elsewhere in Asia. Most accounts of Australia's links to India liken them to recurrent bouts of amnesia, arguing that Australia has not put the same efforts into engaging with India that it has into fostering ties with Japan, China and Indonesia and that, like a patient with injury to the hippocampus who has lost the ability to lay down long-term memories, Australia appears to approach each episodic moment of contact without recollection of the past. Australia's relationship with India has passed through distinct phases, from a brief moment of warmth in the years immediately after India achieved independence, through frosty decades of the Cold War. In contrast to many other accounts, the paper argues that since the 1980s Australia has sought with considerable consistency to engage with India and that the tenuousness of the relationship is primarily due to Indian indifference. Recent bilateral issues, including the supply of uranium to India and attacks on Indian students, have led to an enlargement of contacts which may signify that the engagement is at last becoming a mutual one."

An Evaluation of the Economic Approaches Used by Policy Actors towards Investment in Place-Based Partnerships in Victoria (journal article)
By Chris McDonald et al
from Australian Journal of Public Administration Vol 69 Iss 1 2010, pp. 9 - 21
"Place-based partnerships are supported by the state and include various organisations and interests within particular geographic areas. The Victorian government has established place-based partnerships to plan and coordinate resource allocation decisions to meet objectives such as economic development and social inclusion. In the literature there are positive and negative views of these partnerships. One view is that they allow regions to build competitive advantage, while another is that they are a means of pursuing a neoliberal policy agenda that seeks to reduce government protection and investment. We help clarify the tensions between positive and negative views of partnerships by examining the economic approaches used by policy actors toward place-based partnerships in Victoria. We find that policy actors combine neoclassical and institutionalist approaches to argue that partnerships generate networks that enable more efficient and equitable resource allocation within places."

Workplace Bullying Policy in the Australian Public Sector: Why Has Gender Been Ignored? (journal article)
By Jacquie Hutchinson and Joan Eveline
from Australian Journal of Public Administration Vol 69 Iss 1 2010, pp. 47 - 60
"This article examines the question of gender-neutral workplace bullying policy in the Australian context. It draws on the international workplace bullying literature and interview data gathered from policy actors located in Australian public service administrations, including managers, policy implementors and employee advocates. Our findings show that both the literature and the policy actors tend to present workplace bullying as a product of individualised behaviour, overlooking the nuances and dimensions of organisational power relations that include gender. As part of this tendency, policy actors insisted that workplace bullying be represented as gender-neutral. Our analysis reveals two key factors underpinning the defence and dissemination of workplace bullying as a gender-neutral problem: the tendency to individualistic remedies in public sector policies; and the idea among policy actors that if workplace bullying was portrayed as needing gender analysis, its current support as an important organisational issue would dissolve."

TAXES, GROWTH AND THE CURRENT ACCOUNT TICK-CURVE EFFECT (journal article)
By Creina Day and Garth Day
from Australian Economic Papers Vol 49 Iss 1 2010, pp. 13- 27
"This paper examines the dynamic and long run effects of a shift from income taxes to consumption taxes in a growing small open economy. We introduce a government sector that maintains a balanced budget and expenditure at a constant proportion of domestic income to a small open economy Swan-Solow model. Our framework provides a previously unidentified dynamic effect that is robust to endogenising the savings rate. Lowering the income tax rate promotes economic growth and has a tick-curve effect on the current account balance, characterised by instantaneous deterioration, a period of recovery and gradual convergence to an improved position in the long run."

FORECASTING AUSTRALIAN MACROECONOMIC VARIABLES USING A LARGE DATASET (journal article)
By Sarantis Tsiaplias and Chew Lian Chua
from Australian Economic Papers Vol 49 Iss 1 2010, pp. 44- 59
"This paper investigates the forecasting performance of the diffusion index approach for the Australian economy, and considers the forecasting performance of the diffusion index approach relative to composite forecasts. Weighted and unweighted factor forecasts are benchmarked against composite forecasts, and forecasts derived from individual forecasting models. The results suggest that diffusion index forecasts tend to improve on the benchmark AR forecasts. We also observe that weighted factors tend to produce better forecasts than their unweighted counterparts. We find, however, that the size of the forecasting improvement is less marked than previous research, with the diffusion index forecasts typically producing mean square errors of a similar magnitude to the VAR and BVAR approaches."

Low-Paid Employment and Unemployment Dynamics in Australia (journal article)
By Hielke Buddelmeyer, Wang-Sheng Lee and Mark Wooden
from Economic Record Vol 86 Iss 272 2010, pp. 28 - 38
"This article uses longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (or HILDA) Survey to examine the extent to which the relatively high rates of transition from low-paid employment into unemployment are the result of disadvantageous personal characteristics or are instead a function of low-paid work itself. Dynamic random effects probit models of the likelihood of unemployment are estimated. After controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and initial conditions, we find that, relative to high-paid employment, low-paid employment is associated with a higher risk of unemployment, but this effect is only significant among women. We also find only weak evidence that low-paid employment is a conduit for repeat unemployment."

Using Engel Curves to Estimate the Bias in the Australian CPI (journal article)
By Garry F Barrett and Matthew Brzozowski
from Economic Record Vol 86 Iss 272 2010, pp. 1- 14
"The Australian consumer price index (CPI) is a Laspeyres price index which is subject to a number of well-known biases. In this article we evaluate the performance of the Australian CPI as a true cost of living index by comparing CPI-deflated food Engel curves estimated with the Australian Bureau of Statistics Household Expenditure Surveys. Our findings indicate that the Australian CPI overstated the change in the general cost of living between 1975/1976 and 2003/2004 by 34 per cent. The CPI was especially inaccurate for single adults and lone mother families. In contrast, the CPI was relatively accurate in measuring the change in the cost of living for two-adult and working families."