Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research - Research Publications

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    Cost focussed firms and Internet usage
    Loundes, J. ( 2002-12)
    This paper looks at Internet usage by Australian firms that have a cost focussed competitive strategy. The data source for this analysis is the Melbourne Institute Business Survey, conducted by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research. The survey was conducted in late 2001, and targeted large Australian firms. Instrumental variables estimation found that cost-focussed organizations utilised the Internet more intensively for both internal organizational activities and external market activities than organizations that did not have a high focus on costs. However, this impact appeared greater for internal organizational activities, suggesting that these firms possibly believed that there were greater cost savings and efficiency gains-at least in terms of Internet usage-to be had in using the Internet as part of the internal operations of the organization.
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    Optimal employee turnover rate: theory and evidence
    HARRIS, MARK ; Tang, Kam-Ki ; TSENG, YI-PING ( 2002-10)
    This paper investigates the quantitative effects of employee turnover on firms' productivity.The Australian Business Longitudinal Survey 1995-98, a unique survey providing firm level data on both production and employee turnover, is used as the data source. Theoretical studies have advocated that firm specific human capital and job matching to be the two major, but competing, mechanisms through which turnover affects productivity. Our results indicate that the effect of job matching dominates when turnover is"low," while the effect of firm specific human capital dominates when turnover is"high." We identify that the optimal turnover rate - the rate that maximises productivity, controlling for other factors - is about 0.3, well in excess of the sample mean. The finding suggests that further increasing the flexibility of employment arrangement for small and medium Australian enterprises could yield substantial productivity gains.
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    Public capital, congestion and private production in Australia
    SONG, LL (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, 2002)
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    Optimal employee turnover rate: theory and evidence
    HARRIS, MARK ; Tang, Kam-Ki ; TSENG, YI-PING ( 2002-10)
    This paper investigates the quantitative effects of employee turnover on firms' productivity. The Australian Business Longitudinal Survey 1995-98, a unique survey providing firm level data on both production and employee turnover, is used as the data source. Theoretical studies have advocated that firm specific human capital and job matching to be the two major, but competing, mechanisms through which turnover affects productivity. Our results indicate that the effect of job matching dominates when turnover is"low," while the effect of firm specific human capital dominates when turnover is"high." We identify that the optimal turnover rate - the rate that maximises productivity, controlling for other factors - is about 0.3, well in excess of the sample mean. The finding suggests that further increasing the flexibility of employment arrangement for small and medium Australian enterprises could yield substantial productivity gains
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    The dynamic performance of Australian enterprises
    BOSWORTH, D ; LOUNDES, JE (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, 2002)