An evidence based approach to developing human and social capital in organisations. A social and economic issue facing Australian organisations is the skills shortage and the retention of qualified professionals and managers. Our research informs this issue by examining the mechanisms for developing and engaging managerial employees in Australian organizations. These types of strategies can help reduce the 'brain drain' out of Australia. Moreover, it should increase the capability of businesses ....An evidence based approach to developing human and social capital in organisations. A social and economic issue facing Australian organisations is the skills shortage and the retention of qualified professionals and managers. Our research informs this issue by examining the mechanisms for developing and engaging managerial employees in Australian organizations. These types of strategies can help reduce the 'brain drain' out of Australia. Moreover, it should increase the capability of businesses to attract Australians back --'brain gain.' Organizational strategies based on human and social capital development will also strengthen the social fabric of Australian society by building knowledge capabilities and enhancing well-being.Read moreRead less
The Impact of Hiring and Firing Costs on Wages and Unemployment. Hiring and firing costs are a crucial part of intense debates over relationships between labour market flexibility, wages and unemployment. However, we have little information about their levels and structure. Using a new theoretical model of the impact of hiring and firing costs, together with information from a large-scale survey of Australian firms, this project quantifies their impacts on wages and unemployment. Better infor ....The Impact of Hiring and Firing Costs on Wages and Unemployment. Hiring and firing costs are a crucial part of intense debates over relationships between labour market flexibility, wages and unemployment. However, we have little information about their levels and structure. Using a new theoretical model of the impact of hiring and firing costs, together with information from a large-scale survey of Australian firms, this project quantifies their impacts on wages and unemployment. Better information about these impacts will contribute to current policy on training, unfair dismissal laws, and regulation of overtime. Efficiency gains from better policy will be a major national benefit, together with improved prospects for unemployed Australians.Read moreRead less
Site-Level Community Engagement Processes in the Australian Minerals Industry: A Comparative Analysis. A key principle of corporate social responsibility is that companies should endeavour to engage with, and be responsive to, the concerns of affected local communities. With the support of four industry partners, this study will compare how community engagement has been practised at seven Australian minerals operations. The study will assess the effectiveness and appropriateness of existing enga ....Site-Level Community Engagement Processes in the Australian Minerals Industry: A Comparative Analysis. A key principle of corporate social responsibility is that companies should endeavour to engage with, and be responsive to, the concerns of affected local communities. With the support of four industry partners, this study will compare how community engagement has been practised at seven Australian minerals operations. The study will assess the effectiveness and appropriateness of existing engagement processes, account for significant differences between sites, and identify opportunities for improving how companies engage with communities. Social Identity Theory will be utilised to structure the research and inform the development of advice to industry on effective engagement strategies.Read moreRead less
Director identity, identification and information flows as predictors of board monitoring, resource provision and organisational performance. Improving the corporate governance of companies has the potential to significantly and profoundly improve our national wealth and social capital. A 0.5% performance gain in listed companies would create an extra $50B for the 55% of Australians that invest in equity markets. Systemic governance improvements can lower the cost of capital for the nation, th ....Director identity, identification and information flows as predictors of board monitoring, resource provision and organisational performance. Improving the corporate governance of companies has the potential to significantly and profoundly improve our national wealth and social capital. A 0.5% performance gain in listed companies would create an extra $50B for the 55% of Australians that invest in equity markets. Systemic governance improvements can lower the cost of capital for the nation, thus improving our international competitiveness. Our findings equally apply to the important not-for-profit sector. Finally, corporate collapses harm shareholders, employees, suppliers creditors and the general community. Quite simply, the ethical and social fibre of society reflects the ethics and values of corporations built into our governance system.Read moreRead less
Visualising Value in Australian Organisations: Case Studies in Extended Performance Management, Measurement and Reporting. This research positions and develops Australia at the forefront of the knowledge economy. Participating organisations will realise insights into their invisible resources and improve their understanding of the performance, utilisation and productivity of their intangible resources. Corporate social responsibility and social and environmental management are recognized as cruc ....Visualising Value in Australian Organisations: Case Studies in Extended Performance Management, Measurement and Reporting. This research positions and develops Australia at the forefront of the knowledge economy. Participating organisations will realise insights into their invisible resources and improve their understanding of the performance, utilisation and productivity of their intangible resources. Corporate social responsibility and social and environmental management are recognized as crucial to the contemporary organisation and this research provides a means of managing, measuring and reporting these perspectives, enhancing Australia's reputation and long-term economic sustainability. Read moreRead less
Operations research without convexity. Operations Research (OR) is one of the most applicable areas of mathematics and of importance for the future of technologically advanced Australia. However, applications of OR often require convexity. This is a serious limitation. A new approach, monotonic analysis, which is applicable to a broad class of nonconvex problems, was given birth by the CI. Promising results have been obtained and leading researchers around the world (including the Presidents ....Operations research without convexity. Operations Research (OR) is one of the most applicable areas of mathematics and of importance for the future of technologically advanced Australia. However, applications of OR often require convexity. This is a serious limitation. A new approach, monotonic analysis, which is applicable to a broad class of nonconvex problems, was given birth by the CI. Promising results have been obtained and leading researchers around the world (including the Presidents of the Canadian Mathematical and French Applied Mathematics Societies) are keen to work with the CI developing this topic. This project both cements and extends world leadership in this field.Read moreRead less
The Marketing Performance of International Subsidiaries Post Merger and Acquisition. Globalisation is a fact of life, illustrated by Australia's attempt to establish a free trade agreement (FTA) with the US and current FTAs with Singapore and Thailand. It is imperative that Australia finds out why and how its firms perform after they have been taken over or merged with a foreign firm. Especially if the Australian firm is export active, because if the Australian firm starts to perform poorly afte ....The Marketing Performance of International Subsidiaries Post Merger and Acquisition. Globalisation is a fact of life, illustrated by Australia's attempt to establish a free trade agreement (FTA) with the US and current FTAs with Singapore and Thailand. It is imperative that Australia finds out why and how its firms perform after they have been taken over or merged with a foreign firm. Especially if the Australian firm is export active, because if the Australian firm starts to perform poorly after it has been merged/acquired by the foreign firm this could have a negative impact on Australia's Balance of Payments/Balance of Trade thereby making a study of this type most timely.Read moreRead less
Improving Corporate Governance in China's Largest 166 State-Owned Central Enterprise Groups. This is a pioneering study that takes advantage of a unique research opportunity for Australian researchers to be at the forefront of research in the corporate governance of China's largest 166 state-owned central enterprises with which the Australia business sector is increasingly engaged in both trade and investment.
The project will allow Australians to play a leading role in shaping a major reform ....Improving Corporate Governance in China's Largest 166 State-Owned Central Enterprise Groups. This is a pioneering study that takes advantage of a unique research opportunity for Australian researchers to be at the forefront of research in the corporate governance of China's largest 166 state-owned central enterprises with which the Australia business sector is increasingly engaged in both trade and investment.
The project will allow Australians to play a leading role in shaping a major reform in our second most important trading partner and will enhance Australian knowledge of impending trends in strategic areas of mutual interest. It will arm Australia with greater understanding of its many faceted engagements with China.Read moreRead less
Towards a Virtual Enterprise Framework for Effective Business Process Outsourcing. With the advent of the Internet, Virtual Enterprises (VEs) are breaking down geographical barriers of nations, enabling the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) of corporate business activities. The primary objective of this project is to leverage international expertise in Australia and Japan to develop a VE framework for effective BPO by studying the effect of evolving virtual team coordination techniques under al ....Towards a Virtual Enterprise Framework for Effective Business Process Outsourcing. With the advent of the Internet, Virtual Enterprises (VEs) are breaking down geographical barriers of nations, enabling the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) of corporate business activities. The primary objective of this project is to leverage international expertise in Australia and Japan to develop a VE framework for effective BPO by studying the effect of evolving virtual team coordination techniques under alternative VE orderings. An organising framework for VEs will provide the ideal structure for high technology Australian firms to compete globally by drawing on entrepreneurial and knowledge capital of technologically advanced nations, whilst sustaining and maximising their own domestic array of skills and capabilities through an efficient vertical international division of labour.Read moreRead less
Filled function methods for global optimization and their applications. Many real problems in science, commerce and industry are restricted in the way that they are modelled and solved by the known inability to deal with global optimization problems. The development of computational efficient global optimization methods in this project will allow new more complete approaches to these problems, especially in new areas of bio-informatics, data mining, economic modelling, supply chain management, ....Filled function methods for global optimization and their applications. Many real problems in science, commerce and industry are restricted in the way that they are modelled and solved by the known inability to deal with global optimization problems. The development of computational efficient global optimization methods in this project will allow new more complete approaches to these problems, especially in new areas of bio-informatics, data mining, economic modelling, supply chain management, air traffic management, biochemical engineering and automotive industry, consequently helping Australia advance in these various areas. It will also enhance the understanding of global optimization from both theoretical and numerical viewpoints, particularly boosting optimization research in Australia.Read moreRead less