Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'School library finance Australia'

The purposes of this study were to determine the initial impact of the Oklahoma Library Media Improvement Grants on Oklahoma school library media programs; assess whether the Oklahoma Library Media Improvement Grants continue to contribute to Oklahoma school learning communities; and examine possible relationships between school library media programs and student academic success. It also seeks to document the history of the Oklahoma Library Media Improvement Program 1978 - 1994 and increase awareness of its influence upon the Oklahoma school library media programs. Methods of data collection included: examining Oklahoma Library Media Improvement Program archival materials; sending a survey to 1703 school principals in Oklahoma; and interviewing Oklahoma Library Media Improvement Program participants. Data collection took place over a one year period. Data analyses were conducted in three primary phases: descriptive statistics and frequencies were disaggregated to examine mean scores as they related to money spent on school library media programs; opinions of school library media programs; and possible relationships between school library media programs and student academic achievement. Analysis of variance was used in the second phase of data analysis to determine if any variation between means was significant as related to Oklahoma Library Improvement Grants, time spent in the library media center by library media specialists, principal gender, opinions of library media programs, student achievement indicators, and the region of the state in which the respondent was located. The third phase of data analysis compared longitudinal data collected in the 2000 survey with past data. The primary results indicated students in Oklahoma from schools with a centralized library media center, served by a full-time library media specialist, and the school having received one or more Library Media Improvement Grants scored significantly higher academically than students in schools not having a centralized library media center, not served by a full-time library media specialist, and the school not having received one or more Library Media Improvement Grants. Students in schools having even one of these components scored higher academically than students in schools with none of these components.

While much has been written on the Australian film and television industry, little has been presented by actual producers, filmmakers and technicians of their time and experiences within that same industry. Similarly, with historical documentaries, it has been academics rather than filmmakers who have led the debate. This thesis addresses this shortcoming and bridges the gap between practitioner experience and intellectual discussion, synthesising the debate and providing an important contribution from a filmmaker-academic, in its own way unique and insightful. The thesis is presented in two voices. First, my voice, the voice of memoir and recollected experience of my screen adventures over 38 years within the Australian industry, mainly producing historical documentaries for the ABC and the SBS. This is represented in italics. The second half and the alternate chapters provide the industry framework in which I worked with particular emphasis on documentaries and how this evolved and developed over a 40-year period, from 1970 to 2010. Within these two voices are three layers against which this history is reviewed and presented. Forming the base of the pyramid is the broad Australian film industry made up of feature films, documentary, television drama, animation and other types and styles of production. Above this is the genre documentary within this broad industry, and making up the small top tip of the pyramid, the sub-genre of historical documentary. These form the vertical structure within which industry issues are discussed. Threading through it are the duel determinants of production: ‘the market’ and ‘funding’. Underpinning the industry is the involvement of government, both state and federal, forming the three dimensional matrix for the thesis. For over 100 years the Australian film industry has depended on government support through subsidy, funding mechanisms, development assistance, broadcast policy and legislative provisions. This thesis aims to weave together these industry layers, binding them with the determinants of the market and funding, and immersing them beneath layers of government legislation and policy to present a new view of the Australian film industry.

碩士
淡江大學
資訊與圖書館學系碩士班
95
Abstract： The impact of information explosion and global competition on modern people grows everyday in knowledge economy society. It has became a critical issue about learning how to use information effectively and to be a lifelong learner. School libraries bridge the gap between library information science and education, and are responsible for integrating information into instruction and fostering lifelong learning skills. The value of school library associations is to promote the professional development of school libraries and to speak out for the librarians. Therefore the relationship between school library associations and school librarianship is very close. All contributions and efforts that school library associations made will exploit the development of library profession more vigorous. The purpose of the study is to compare the operation, national standards, and library professional certificates of school library associations in American and Australian. The research was conducted by historical and comparative analysis. American and Australian national school library associations were chosen as the objects based on IASL’s conference papers published from 2003 to 2006. The results of the research are summarized below: 1. American and Australian national school library associations are active organizations, they did a lot of research and provided school librarians precious information. 2. The cores of American and Australian national school library standard contents are changed from quantity to quality. 3. The American and Australian national school library standards cope with the contemporary educational trends. 4. American and Australian national school library associations has started to draw up information literacy standards since 1990. 5. American and Australian national school library associations are cooperative with other profession or associations to develop standards. 6. American and Australian national school library associations definitely make statements about school librarians who should be multi-roles. 7. American and Australian national school library associations definitely write down school library professionals and supporting staffs’ duties. Based on the conclusion above, six suggestions for Taiwan’s school library association are proposed as follows: 1. Consciously preserving the association’s developmental information, and doing relative research. 2. Commanding the situations of school librarianship development and the school librarians’ concerns, and making useful suggestions to librarians. 3. Drawing up more detailed national school library standards, and revising regularly. 4. Building a set of national information literacy standards for students learning. 5. Planning school library staffs’ categories, and developing professional rating systems. 6. Promoting school library courses for teacher to raise more professional librarians.

In this research study we have adopted Mason and Wilson's (2000) definition of being financially literate as "the ability to make informed judgments and to take effective decisions regarding the use and management of money". Keeping this definition in mind, certain financial skills are identified as important for apprentices, to rightfully be considered financially literate. These skills include basic financial mathematical skills, cash and financial management, basic knowledge of payment methods, superannuation, loans, investments and the ability to source financial assistance. Through analysing the survey data we found that a significant percentage of apprentices do not possess the required financial skills identified in this study to manage their finances effectively. It was also found that apprentices lack understanding of more complex payment methods such as credit cards and EFTPOS, as a result these are not used on a regular basis. Major areas of concern are knowledge of superannuation, interest rates and personal loans. Finally, the data revealed that apprentices could identify the importance of financial management and its benefits. Unfortunately this is often not put into practice. Hence a major indication from the study was that apprentices lack most basic knowledge and confidence to actively manage their finances effectively. This study has identified that apprentices would benefit from an effective education program aimed at improving their financial skills. For an apprentice to feel comfortable with their current financial position, they need to be confident with both their current asset position and debt level. With this understanding, a financial education program primarily aimed at teenager and young adults is well advised, to engage the major areas in order to give apprentices confidence in their financial position. Once this has been achieved they can then move on to improving their knowledge of payment methods and other financial products.

The mere presence of the audit committee does not necessarily translate into an effective monitoring body. As a result, the search for mechanisms to enhance corporate governance and increase the quality of financial reports has mostly focused on the structure of audit committees. This thesis empirically investigates whether there is an association between audit committee effectiveness (ACE) and the selection of a high quality auditor for both Australian and Saudi listed companies using their local guidelines to enhance ACE as benchmarks. In addition, the association between ACE and non-audit services (NAS) purchases is examined only for Australian listed company as providing such services by the incumbent auditors is not allowed for Saudi listed companies. Moreover, this thesis also empirically examine the relationships between six audit committee characteristics, namely, independence, size, activity, charter, expertise and literacy and the selection of a high quality auditor for both Australian and Saudi listed companies. Also the relationships between the six audit committee characteristics and NAS purchases are empirically tested only for Australian listed companies. While there was a positive (negative) association between ACE and the selection of a specialist auditor (the magnitude of NAS purchases) for the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) listed companies, there was no association between ACE and the selection of a specialist auditor for the Saudi Stock Market listed companies. Because both countries have very similar recommendations regarding enhancing audit committee effectiveness, the findings of this thesis indicate that there are other factors such as different audit committee framework, different market development and cultural factors that might affect ACE. In addition, the findings indicate that audit committee independence is the most important determinant of both audit quality and NAS purchases for the ASX listed companies. Because complying with audit committee recommendations is costly especially for small companies, which have limited resources, audit committee independence should have the priority when locating the limited resources.

Australia may present a special case in the analysis of strikes because, for most of the Twentieth Century, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission has acted as an industrial "umpire" charged with keeping the industrial peace. We begin with a review of major contributions to the theory of strikes, and reestimations and evaluations of the time-series models of previous Australian researchers. We then develop theoretical models of strikes and non-strike industrial action, stemming from Marshall's (1920) contribution to the theory of wages. If higher real wages lead to lower levels of employment, union demands are likely to be greater, and industrial action more frequent, when the duration of unemployment of retrenched workers is shorter. Important determinants of the opportunity costs of wage demands to employees, are wage losses of retrenched employees during unemployment and in subsequent re-employment. Critical in the union's decision to threaten a strike or a non-strike action, is a permanent loss of market share directly associated with strikes. The model of strikes is tested, along with variables suggested by other theories, using time-series data from the period 3:1959 to 4:1992. We show that the model is robust and out-performs modified versions of other Australian models. We find that the Prices and Incomes Accord is associated with a reduction in strike activity, but that other researchers have over-estimated its impact. Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey data is used to produce cross-sectional models of strikes and non-strike actions in unionised workplaces. We test the importance of the opportunity costs of wage demands and strikes, using variables describing the firm's competitive environment and local labour market conditions. Because the objectives of workplaces differ, we estimate separate models for privately owned workplaces, government non-commercial establishments and government business enterprises. All empirical models are broadly consistent with the predictions of our theoretical model.

In Malaysia, the government has invested in public libraries with the intention of promoting development, particularly in rural areas. Despite the increasing number of rural public libraries being built throughout Malaysia, providing users with many services, activities and programs, previous research indicates that they are underutilised. The research reported in this thesis aimed to explore relationships between rural public libraries and their communities in both Malaysia and Australia, with particular attention to empowerment and community development processes.

The mere presence of the audit committee does not necessarily translate into an effective monitoring body. As a result, the search for mechanisms to enhance corporate governance and increase the quality of financial reports has mostly focused on the structure of audit committees. This thesis empirically investigates whether there is an association between audit committee effectiveness (ACE) and the selection of a high quality auditor for both Australian and Saudi listed companies using their local guidelines to enhance ACE as benchmarks. In addition, the association between ACE and non-audit services (NAS) purchases is examined only for Australian listed company as providing such services by the incumbent auditors is not allowed for Saudi listed companies. Moreover, this thesis also empirically examine the relationships between six audit committee characteristics, namely, independence, size, activity, charter, expertise and literacy and the selection of a high quality auditor for both Australian and Saudi listed companies. Also the relationships between the six audit committee characteristics and NAS purchases are empirically tested only for Australian listed companies. While there was a positive (negative) association between ACE and the selection of a specialist auditor (the magnitude of NAS purchases) for the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) listed companies, there was no association between ACE and the selection of a specialist auditor for the Saudi Stock Market listed companies. Because both countries have very similar recommendations regarding enhancing audit committee effectiveness, the findings of this thesis indicate that there are other factors such as different audit committee framework, different market development and cultural factors that might affect ACE. In addition, the findings indicate that audit committee independence is the most important determinant of both audit quality and NAS purchases for the ASX listed companies. Because complying with audit committee recommendations is costly especially for small companies, which have limited resources, audit committee independence should have the priority when locating the limited resources.

This thesis examines the current Australian tourism tax structure and analyses the effects of tourism taxes on the Australian economy. The analysis is based on simulations carried out using a computable general equilibrium model (CGE) of the Australian economy, a modified version of the ORANI-G model which incorporates two tourism sectors, the domestic and international, explicitly using the dummy sector approach. In addition, a finance module was also incorporated into the model to facilitate the analysis.

Thesis (M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies)) --University of Limpopo, 2011
The key aim of the study was to investigate whether school libraries in the rural schools of Nkangala region, Mpumalanga do implement budgeting policies due to funding constraints and poor service delivery. The library-computer centre can enhance teaching and learning. Some 188 school libraries were selected to explore their budgeting procedures and only 81 responded. The survey data collection method was used through a self-administered questionnaire which was distributed to teacher-librarians. The results of the study were analyzed according to frequencies and graphically displayed in table form. The results of the study show that almost all rural school libraries in the area have neither budgeting policies nor adequate budget to spend for effective service delivery. This shows that not only do school libraries experience budgetary constraints, but there might be other factors contributing to their poor library service delivery. It is important to empower school principals, SGBs and top managers in library budgeting procedures and for all to work cooperatively to achieve the expected educational goals.

This thesis provides an empirical investigation of the employment status of Non-English-Speaking Background (NESB) and Australia-born women. The analysis adds to the work of Australian authors who have found that NESB women are underrepresented in occupations that have relatively high pay and congenial working conditions, and are over-represented amongst the unemployed. This study develops a definition of primary sector employment from the occupation categories in the 1996 Census, and uses the ANU2 occupational prestige scale and earnings data from the Census.

The banking industry in Oman is of major importance to Oman's economy, yet the banks continue to conduct their banking transactions using traditional methods. A strong banking industry supports economic developments significantly through its efficient financial services. The role of the banking industry in trying to achieve the objectives outlined by the Sultan of Oman will depend heavily on the industry's capabilities. This requires banks to introduce changes (both at the procedural level and at the informational level) such as the banking industry moving from traditional distribution channel banking to electronic distribution channel banking. Given the prevalence of Internet technology adoption by the banking industry in developed countries, the reason for the lack of such an innovation in developing countries such as Oman is a fruitful research question. The aim of this thesis is to explore managers' perceptions of Internet technology and their tendency to adopt it in the banking industry.

In the context of established international economic theory, it is well known that international trade of commodities is effectively trading factors of production such as labour and capital. It follows that if factors of production can be moved internationally, then the need for commodity trade is eased, and trade of commodities and movements of factors of production can be substituted for each other. From this, the conclusion can be reached that factor movement is a substitute for commodity trade. Allowing people to migrate from one country to another country involves migration of labour – the movement of a factor of production. The conclusion that factor flows are a substitute for commodity-trade can be re-stated as international immigration is a substitute for international trade. However, this conclusion does not explain the real world in which both international trade and international immigration have increased over time. Thus, established theory of immigration and trade may not be a reliable policy guide for formulating immigration and/or trade policy. It is the purpose of this thesis to formulate an alternative theory, which more effectively explains the relationship between immigration and trade. For the purpose of distinguishing the impact of immigrants on trade from the impact of other factors on trade, this thesis employs a two-step approach. The first step lays down the theoretical foundations by arguing that immigrants contribute to the economy of the immigrant receiving country in two areas: Firstly, immigrants supply labour to the immigrant receiving country and increase demand for goods and services, hence increase the size of the economy in the immigrant receiving country. Secondly, immigrants bring in intangible social capital and human capital with them (in addition to any tangible capital they bring with them). Both contributions have impacts on international trade. The increasing labour supply could reduce trade, but increasing the market size, and bringing in social capital, in the form of foreign market information, could facilitate trade. The second step employs the latest econometric techniques to test empirically the theory that is developed in the first step, using real world data. The main empirical technique employed in this thesis to analyse the effect of immigration on trade is the gravity model that is estimated using cross-section and time series (panel) data. The case of Australia’s immigration and trade with ten major Asian trade partner countries is selected for the study. The panel cointegration test is conducted to investigate the possible long run equilibrium relation between immigration and trade. The short-run relation between immigration and trade is also examined. This thesis successfully distinguishes between the impact of immigrants on trade and the impact of other influential factors on trade. A strong long run relation between immigration and exports is established. Within a certain range of immigrant intakes, immigrants have positive and significant impact on Australia’s exports to the immigrant home countries. The long run impact is found to be double the strength of the short run impact. However, a long run relation between immigration and imports cannot be clearly established by the panel cointegration test, and the impact of immigrant intake on imports is not strong. Since the long run relation between migrant intake and exports can be established, it is possible that an underlining causation exists. Therefore, a panel causality test on immigration and exports is conducted. The results show that migrant intake “Granger causes” exports, but exports do not Granger cause immigration. This thesis demonstrates that international labour immigration, unlike the movement of other factors of production, is not necessarily a substitute for international trade in the manner described by established international economic theory. In the case of Australia’s immigration and trade with Asian immigrant home countries, immigrants have long run and short run positive impacts on exports, although immigrants do not have a strong impact on Australia’s imports from Asian migrant home countries. Moreover, migrant intake 'causes' exports. The main policy implication of these findings is that Australia can use immigration as a long-term strategy to promote exports to Asian countries.

Factoring is the purchase of a company's accounts receivable by a financier (factor). Australian factoring volume reached an estimated US$1.6 billion in 1992. Despite the volume it is not a favoured means of finance in Australia. This may be partly due to the misunderstanding of its benefits, its reputation as a finance of "last resort" and, perhaps, the perceived lack of professionalism among the Australian factors. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an in-depth analysis of factoring; a means of raising funds, and thus promoting economic activity, through the sale of a firm's accounts receivable. This is achieved by taking an international perspective in the literature review and considering the history, nature and worldwide growth of factoring. A further aim of the thesis is to examine the nature of, and practices in, the Australian factoring market. This is achieved through research by way of questionnaires and personal interview of both Australian factors and some of their clients.

The term "offshore banking" has many meanings. The most common definition involves an institution that is situated in a country which deals with foreign currencies and with non-residents. The following characteristics may have a substantial bearing on the success of an OBC : ocation/time zone, political situation, economic stability, advanced telecommunication facilities, skilled personnel, the legal system, the secrecy of the banking system, foreign exchange relations and above all favourable taxation legislation and absence of certain government regulations. Absence of any of the above characteristics may inhibit the conduct of business by an Offshore Banking Centre. This thesis makes an assessment of these reconditions. Despite the vital importance of such an assessment, little attention has been paid to it in the recent past.

Investments in business acquisitions have become a key part of corporate investment strategy. Business acquisitions are a vibrant investment decision which forms part of a firm’s growth strategy, that influences and determines firm value. Efficiency theory suggests that companies are motivated to invest in business acquisitions to realise synergy gains. Although there are previous studies undertaken to examine determinants of domestic business acquisitions in countries like the U.S and the U.K, determinants applicable in these countries may not have equal influence on business acquisition decisions of companies that are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Identification of factors influencing the business acquisition decision (the deal value) of companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange provides a theroritical guidance on estimating the most possible purchase price consideration for acquirers and on formulating new policies to develop a more competitive capital market for regulators. The study by Erel et al. (2012) shows Australia is having the largest number of domestic mergers and acquisitions recording 4,875 during the period from 1990 to 2007 compared to all mergers and acquisitions recorded in all other countries. The importance of identifying factors influencing business acquisition decisions motivates this study to examine the factors influencing the business acquisition decision (the deal value) of acquirers that are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. This study examines the factors influencing the business acquisition decision of companies that are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, from acquirer’s characteristics and macro-economic point of view. This study also investigates whether the determinants related to acquirer’s characteristics and the macro-economic environment are impacted by the industry classification and the time. Specifically, the study examines how the determinants, such as acquirer’s characteristics (profitability, leverage and liquidity), and macro-economic characteristics (interest rate, exchange rate and stock market index) affect the business acquisition decision (the deal value) of acquirers that are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) multiple regression assessment of the 160 completed business acquisitions representing 79.13 per cent of population in terms of total deal value of completed business acquisitions during 1997 to 2012 shows evidence that the acquirer’s profitability before considering the impact of the industry classification and the time, is statistically significantly positively associated with the business acquisition decision (the deal value) of acquirers that are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. This finding lends support to previous empirical studies that greater profitability of an acquirer motivates them investing on business acquisitions. The study finds that the acquirer’s leverage before considering the impact of the industry classification and the time, is statistically positively associated with the business acquisition decision (the deal value) of acquirers that are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. This finding contributes to previous empirical studies that greater leverage of an acquirer motivates them investing on business acquisitions. The study finds that the acquirer’s liquidity before considering the impact of the industry classification and the time, is statistically significantly negatively associated with their business acquisition decision (deal value) of acquirers that are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. This finding is not consistent with the findings from prior studies. When acquirer’s business acquisition decision is influenced by their industry classification, this study support that the acquirer’s profitability and leverage have a statistically significant positive impact on the business acquisition decision (the deal value) of acquirers listed on the Australian Securities Exchange whilst the acquirer’s liquidity has a statistically negative impact on their business acquisition decision. When acquirer’s business acquisition decision is influenced by the time in terms of when the business acquisition occurs, this study support that the acquirer’s profitability and leverage have a statistically significant positive impact on the business acquisition decision (the deal value) of acquirers listed on the Australian Securities Exchange whilst the acquirer’s liquidity has a statistically negative impact on their business acquisition decision. This study finds that the macro-economic variables of interest rate and exchange rate are statistically significantly positively associated with the business acquisition decision (the deal value) of acquirers that are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. This finding supports to previous empirical studies that higher interest rate and higher exchange rate motivate investments in business acquisitions. The study supports that the macro-economic variable, stock market index is statistically negatively associated with the business acquisition decision (the deal value) of acquirers that are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. This finding supports to previous empirical studies that the lower stock market index motivates investments in business acquisitions. When acquirer’s business acquisition decision is influenced by their industry classification, this study support that the macro-economic variables of interest rate and exchange rate have a statistically significant positive impact on the business acquisition decision (the deal value) of acquirers that are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange whilst the macro-economic variable stock market index is statistically negatively associated with the business acquisition decision (the deal value) of acquirers that are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. When acquirer’s business acquisition decision is influenced by the time in terms of when the business acquisition occurs, the study supports that the macro-economic variable stock market index has a statistically positive impact on the business acquisition decision (the deal value) of acquirers that are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

The Australian Trade Deficit (TD) has been increasing in the past 50 years, and this deficit has become more significant in the last few decades. This rising TD level in Australia has brought the national debt level to a new height, making this country one of the world‟s highest debt-ridden countries. The most alarming fact associated with these trends is that Australia‟s ability to service the increasing debt levels in the future has been diminishing since the increasing debt levels in Australia have been predominantly used for Consumption (C) rather than for gross capital formation. The diminishing ability to service the increasing debt levels in Australia is due to the fact that the TD level is increasing as a proportion of the Australian Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while the Australian gross capital formation as a proportion of the Australian debt is one of the lowest amongst the major debtor countries in the world.

The aim in this study was to examine issues surrounding the cross-sector transfer of a private sector financial reporting practice, known as consolidated financial reporting, to the Australian public sector. The study was conducted using the theoretical frameworks of commandership, accountability and usefulness of financial information. Commander theory was chosen as it is ideally suited to the hierarchical system of control over resources that exists within the public sector; accountability because it is a fundamental requirement where public resources are involved; and usefullness because it is a rational basis for the production of financial information.

The exporting of education has become an integral part of the Australian economy and is now Australia's third largest export industry valued at over A$3.2 billion. The impact that these large flows of students into the Australian economy (for significant periods at a time) is having on Australia's bilateral trade relationships with these source countries, is now a pertinent issue. As the literature on immigration flows has identified, social network theory is an important tool in explaining how cross border flows of people can stimulate international trade activity. What impact are overseas students' social networks playing in stimulating trade activity between Australia and their home countries? This research on the economic impact of Thai overseas students on Australia/Thailand bilateral trade flows is a timely study undertaken to answer such questions.

Over the last two decades, the extent of corporate restructuring has gathered momentum both in Australia and internationally. In particular, the 1980's signified major developments in financing instruments which facilitated corporate restructuring transactions. While the nature of corporate restructuring may take a variety of forms, two popular forms which have increased in prominence over the last two decades are the leveraged buyout (LBO) and management buyout (MBO). As the development of MBOs is relatively recent, and little Australian research on MBOs has taken place, this research paper focuses on MBOs.

The research undertaken for this thesis identifies the benefits, challenges and success factors of electronic commerce in Australian companies. This research was conducted in four phases: literature review; semi-structured interviews with seven well-established companies located in Melbourne and Sydney; postal questionnaire survey of top 500 Australian companies; data analysis and findings. This research identified and described the considerable benefits that companies engaged in electronic commerce have achieved. The major benefits of electronic commerce identified included improved image, competitive advantage, business efficiency, increased automation of processes and customer loyalty.

The aim of the study is to develop an understanding of production and demand of dairy related products in China with a view to providing a basis to determine the export potential of dairy products from Australia. In order to achieve this aim, the following specific objectives were addressed: • To provide an outline of the Chinese dairy industry including favourable developmental factors and developmental constraints; • Taking into account the influence of history, culture and dietary preference on production and consumption, to examine how current demand for dairy products in China has been met through local production and or imports; • To develop an understanding of the Australian dairy industry and its capacity to satisfy any existing shortfall in supply or contribute to any future growth in demand for dairy products which is unlikely to be met through China's domestic dairy industry.

The primary aim of this thesis is to develop a theoretical framework to guide understanding and analysis of problematic gambling phenomena associated with Electronic Gaming Machines (EGMs), with a focus on Victoria, Australia. It is also intended that this framework be applicable to other social phenomena, difficulties and what are generally understood as addictions. Thus, drawing on a range of theorists from physics, biology and social theory and following a critique of positivist trends that have been dominant in the gambling research literature to date, a holistic, process-based, multilayered approach is proposed. The secondary aim of this thesis is to increase our understanding of problematic EGM gambling, through an exploratory and creative application of the proposed framework while, at the same time, testing its plausibility and coherence. This framework is thus deployed at the analytical levels of political-economic acting/structuration, everyday life acting/structuration and mediational acting/structuration. It is concluded that the framework is useful, plausible, applicable and creatively fruitful. Through application of the framework, it is also concluded that the shape, size and directions of the EGM industry in Victoria, Australia and elsewhere, have been primarily determined by corporate principles and imperatives and that these are deeply implicated in problematic gambling phenomena.

This study examines the relationship between a firm's external and internal factors, international market entry strategy, and long-term performance. The purpose of the study is to test if foreign entry strategy into China by Australian companies has an effect on a firm's long-term performance, and to what degree. A conceptual model is developed based on extensive literature review and using modified constructs, to develop new constructs from variables not previously measured.

Australia currently adopts the floating exchange rate system; therefore the value of the Australian dollar is subject to volatility due to the influence of changing domestic and international economic circumstances. This volatility of the Australian exchange rate system is an issue that affects the majority of Australian businesses. With over fifty percent of Australian trading invoiced in foreign currencies, movements in the value of the Australian dollar can potentially improve or worsen Australian companies’ financial performance, and consequently, affect the national economic indicators. The importance of managing these currency risks not only stimulates countless studies attempting to capture a set of factors that are most relevant in contributing to the volatility of the Australian exchange rate system, but also encourages research attempting to develop an optimal hedging model that can assist Australian businesses to manage foreign exchange risk. From the review of existing literature, there appears to be a noticeable gap between theory and practice. Indeed, there exists a vast literature that looks at traditional financial derivatives such as options, futures, forward, and swaps for example, the Black-Scholes model is used for options pricings in the share and foreign exchange market. However, there is a paucity of research focusing on the leveraged spot market, both from an empirical and theoretical point of view. This thesis aims to minimize this omission by developing a model of speculation as well as a model of hedging, providing a theoretical framework and empirical simulations. Our model of speculation, developed in Chapter 3, adapts Krugman’s (1991) model of target zones, in order to theoretically determine the optimal number of leveraged spot contracts taken by a speculator. Moreover, using historical data on interest rates and spot rates, we conduct a simulation to provide insights into how changing economic factors affects the speculator’s position in the real world. In Chapter 4, we extend this model to show how speculation gains can be hedged with forward contracts. Traditional hedging methods involve the use of money markets and forward contracts; however, in Chapter 4, we describe how leveraged spot contracts can be used for hedging purposes. Moreover, we show that under some circumstances, the leveraged spot contract hedge outperforms these traditional hedging methods

Australia has been at the forefront of trade-related copyright reform having, after almost a decade of debate and controversy, amended the import provisions of the Copyright Act 1968 to allow parallel imports of sound recordings. This thesis begins with an investigation of the economics of the music recording industry, encompassing the nature of demand and supply of sound recordings, profit maximising price strategies for a multi-product firm, and an investigation into the market structure and international distribution of sound recordings. This is followed by an investigation of the economics of copyright with respect to sound recordings and the evolution of international intellectual property rights law. This leads to a critical evaluation of the controversy surrounding the exhaustion of copyright and the case for copyright owner control over parallel imports.

There is increasing interest in employee participation in the workplace. This has in part been attributed to support for the process by Government, employers, unions and tribunals. During the 1980s, legislative support was provided by the Federal Government in the form of the industrial democracy provisions of the Public Service Reform Act 1984. Since the late 1980s, the federal industrial tribunals have encouraged the adoption of participation as a vehicle through which change might occur, such change being driven by the economic imperatives of global competition and its importance to the Australian economy. The Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AFRC), in 1991, required the parties to include provisions for consultation in their enterprise agreements and insisted on enterprise bargaining being conducted in a consultative manner. Employee participation has thus become an important management tool in the application of human resource policies and policy objectives. Past research has shown that middle and frontline management commitment and support for employee participation programs are key factors in determining the effectiveness of such programs. This study explores middle and frontline management responses to the implementation of employee participation within the Australian Taxation Office and the impact of that program on middle and frontline managers in that organisation. Adopting a case study approach, the study uses evidence from two branch offices of the Australian Taxation Office to show the responses of middle and frontline management to the adoption of employee participation as a means of introducing a performance management program and the impact of that initiative on middle and frontline management in those branches.

As with many other nations, the passenger motor vehicle industry has long been central to the economic health of Australia. In addition, the purchase of a motor vehicle is a commitment of considerable magnitude to most consumers. As a result, the passenger motor vehicle industry has attracted the attention an interest of a wide and diverse range of groups who have brought to bear a multitude of often-conflicting concerns and interests. Nowhere has this been more apparent that in the development and execution of industry policy. This thesis examines the development and application of Australian passenger motor vehicle industry policy from the turn of the twentieth century until the mid-1990s.

In this thesis the extent private shareholders read and use information contained within company annual reports is examined. More specifically the thesis will be concerned with gathering information to establish the following: 1. the extent to which shareholders read the various sections contained in the annual report; 2. the reason why shareholders fail to read sections contained in the annual report; 3. the sections in the annual report investors have difficulty understanding; 4. the extent to which annual reports are found useful by shareholders for investment decision making; 5. the respondents personal characteristics; 6. whether any significant relationship exists between the shareholder's personal characteristics and the extent to which they read and use certain sections of the annual report.

Technical barriers to trade are product health and safety related regulations imposed by governments to restrict or control the inflow and outflow of particular products. This thesis begins with a brief review of governments' sovereign rights in the context of international standards to be adopted in restricting or controlling market access to specific products. This is followed by an analysis of the multilateral regulatory environment under the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) agreements, with particular emphasis on GATT (1994) Article XX and the Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and the Technical Barriers to Trade. This analysis aims to assist a better understanding of the new global trade order under the WTO regime as it deals with the contradiction between safety concerns versus market access and trade liberalisation. The thesis then examines in detail the various European Union (EU) regulations as they relate to veterinary biological vaccines and the requirements for Australian products to be allowed into EU markets. The bureaucratic requirements of such regulations appear to protect domestic producers from foreign competition, by, at the very least, frustrating market access through a myriad of committees and technical requirements designed to retard market penetration. The EU regulations, therefore, appear to have negatively impacted on trade flows. The Australian market is typically oligopolistic in structure and significant foreign take-over of domestic production in the 1990's, has reduced Australia's ownership in domestic production of veterinary biological vaccines. Given this circumstance it is unlikely that the Australian government would invest significant resources investigating the likelihood of a challenge to the EU through the WTO dispute mechanism.

This research was designed to investigate the cultural differences between Asian tourists and Australian hosts and the impact of these differences on tourist-host social interaction and satisfaction. The study aimed to achieve three major objectives: 1) to identify the cultural differences between Asian tourists and Australian hosts; 2) to identify the dimensions of the cultural differences between Asian tourists and Australian hosts; and 3) to identify the key indicators of the cultural dimensions critical for an explanation of social interaction between Asian tourists and Australian hosts, and Asian tourist satisfaction.

This study investigates how individual policy actors can influence policy making and become catalysis of change. Its main proposition is that actors who heavily influence policy making and become agents for change are necessarily involved in specific activities and demonstrate particular characteristics. The study employs the concept of 'policy entrepreneurship' to analyse an episode of policy making which occurred in Australia between 1992 and 1994. The study concludes that in performing certain functions policy entrepreneurs help to affect change, but in doing so are at once constrained and enabled by contextual forces. Based on the findings of the analysis a theoretical frameword of policy entrepreneurship is developed which augments existing conceptions of policy entrepreneurship.

Australian state and federal governments have funded business incubators since the early 1990s, the typical purpose of this investment being to provide a nurturing environment for business start-ups while contributing to local economic development. However, this summation of the functions of business incubation does not identify an essential dichotomy concerning the goals of incubator sponsors. Business incubators depend upon a range of stakeholders (including board members, managers and tenants) for their initial establishment, and subsequently, in their ongoing operation. A review of the extant literature suggests the presence of a ‘research gap’ in the literature. This ‘gap’ indicates a failure to consider the goals, benefits and costs accruing to, or being borne by, Australian business incubator stakeholders, especially those involved in boards of management, this group, usually without recompense, providing ongoing governance, mentoring, business advice and other essential services to their incubators. The literature review provided the necessary background which allowed the researcher to develop a conceptual framework for the study acting as the foundation of the thesis. The research involves qualitative and quantitative methodology. In the first instance, a series of interviews of incubator board members, managers and tenants was completed and documented. Material derived from the interviews, along with internet sourced information, provided a qualitative data base of Australian incubation practice supporting the development of an e-mail survey that was distributed throughout the incubator industry. A series of propositions were tested using survey response material, interpretation including a descriptive investigation followed by bivariate and multivariate analysis. This study has identified a link between institutional and stakeholder theories in the business incubation sector. The findings, concerning some issues, indicate that incubator stakeholders – particularly board members and managers – are satisfied that they are achieving their goals. However, tenant respondents, possibly due to the differing goals and composition of the tenant cohort, indicate that their goal achievement expectations are not being realised.

Structural change of textile and clothing industries in Australia has intensified in recent years due to a range of factors including reductions in protection, import competition, shifts in consumer spending, and technological change. This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of patterns and determinants of international trade in textiles and clothing (TAC) during the period 1965 to 1999.

Measures of progress serve as a crucial link between the economy and the nation’s policymaking establishment. Given that the idea of efficient allocation of resources is such a powerful influence in economics, a progress measure needs to account for most aspects of progress so it can serve as a basis for decisions to improve resource allocation. The use of the term progress encompasses notions of economic and social progress. However, the conceptualisation of progress is fraught with difficulties, misconceptions and contradictions. Primarily, the contested nature of the concept leads to a general lack of agreement on a number of issues, such as adopting an appropriate conceptual framework and methodological approach. Over time, the term progress has adapted to reflect needs. So has its measurement. Recently, the desirability of a narrowly defined economic growth as the panacea for achieving progress has been questioned. Despite containing conceptual limitations, GDP’s use of money and production for its evaluation and demarcation purposes has given it an ease of comparability and desirability that many economists and policymakers yearn for. These limitations however have led researchers to develop alternative progress measures, which although are more difficult to build, possess greater intuitive appeal. Hence, a review is conducted here on the current main progress measurements. The review sets out to identify aspects of income and non-income generating activity as well as to omit factors that generate income but do not contribute to the progress of a nation. Consequently, the relationship between market-based growth and progress is questioned in this thesis; a relationship, which the present research asserts, fails to consider a number of important costs. These costs incorporate social, economic and environmental aspects. However, these costs can be included in progress measures through the abandonment of a single standardised system of accounts and the adoption of a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach. Subsequently, the present research proposes a framework that integrates conceptually distinct theories comprising resources and capabilities, social and institutional arrangements, environmental systems and intellectual capital. This approach is appropriate for measuring multiple and different dimensions of progress. Additionally, the proposed progress index will incorporate the strengths while rectifying the limitations of the reviewed approaches. The progress index is designed to not only incorporate empirical applications, but to detect the meaningful underlying dimensions contributing to national progress to provide guidance in articulating policies for optimal use of resources. Furthermore, the measure is a non-monetary one. The use of market prices to capture aspects of progress tends to inaccurately reflect the real costs and benefits they provide, and ensures that the concerns in question (human, environmental, social, etc.) become part of a narrow debate where the economic bottom line is paramount, and where major impacts are omitted. Additionally, it has the capacity to ignore indirect costs that would lead to undesirable policy initiatives. Challenges such as climate change, health and wellbeing have brought to the fore the growing chasm between the concerns of public policy and those of its citizens. Hence, a need arises for a progress measure to reflect society’s core values. Consequently, the proposed non-monetary progress index employs a weighting technique based on public opinion. That is because market-based evaluations of progress components are inefficient since it is incapable of, amongst other things, accurately reflecting public concern. Hence, the use of a public opinion poll was justified. The proposed index is assessed on two levels: from a single summary point of view and from a multiple dimension view. The aggregation method used to arrive at the single summary statistic is via the Condorcet method, while the dimensional assessment is evaluated via a z-score standardisation technique. Both approaches are appropriate and justifiable. The progress index is applied to three countries that are representative of different clusters. They are Australia (mid-industrialised nation), Mexico (emerging economy), and the US (highly industrialised nation). These selected countries provide an opportunity to highlight any divergences that may exist in their perceived economic strength. The results showed Australia as consistently having the highest levels of progress, closely followed by Mexico. Interestingly, the comparative results of the US and Mexico illustrated that it is possible to achieve high levels of progress without an excessive reliance on high levels of production and income. A sensitivity analysis was then conducted which exposed the progress index to a number of “what-if” scenarios. The main variables were selected under three different approaches: dynamic changes (coefficient of variation), empirical (literature review) and policy based. The sensitivity analysis resulted in altering some of the initial rankings.

Governance structures have become one of the most debated aspects of the public sector and during the last decade good corporate governance practices have come to be regarded as important in enhancing the performance of all government- funded institutions. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between governance structures, practices and the performance of the university sector in Australia. During the period investigated in this study, the universities were undergoing significant governance reforms.