Economics - Theses
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ItemA strategic analysis of takeover behaviour in Australia, 1977-1982( 1987-12)The study aims to increase our understanding of takeover behaviour in Australia by using a strategic framework to analyse a sample of 152takeovers of publicly-listed firms made between 1977 and 1982. A two-level model of takeover strategies is developed to explain how the three general theories of takeover - the economic, the financial and the managerial theory - are each useful in explaining takeover behaviour under certain circumstances. The model classifies takeovers based on analysing four factors, namely the pre-takeover strategy of the acquirer, the industry relationship of the target to the acquirer, whether the acquirer is pursuing shareholder aims or managerial aims primarily, and the pre-takeover competence of the target. Nine takeover strategies are developed from the first-level of the model. These are named after the relationship between the acquirer and its target. They are called the Dominant-Existing, Dominant-Related, Dominant-Unrelated, Related-Existing, Related-Related, Related-Unrelated, Unrelated-Existing, Unrelated-Related and Unrelated-Unrelated acquirer strategies. Pre-takeover financial profiles are developed for each strategy and these profiles are used to infer corporate competencies of the acquirers and their targets. The major questions which are addressed are: Do there appear to be different acquirer strategies occurring in practice? Do different acquirer strategies have different financial profiles, and, by inference, different strategic competencies prior to the takeover? Do different acquirer strategies have different post-takeover outcomes and what is the nature of these outcomes for each strategy? The answer to each question is an emphatic yes. The results clearly identify several different strategies. Pre-takeover financial profiles vary for the major strategies. Post-takeover outcomes differ for the strategies, in accord with the expectations derived from both the strategic theory behind the model and also the empirical pre-takeover data for the particular takeovers in the sample. The outcomes show how the three general theories of takeover behaviour are complementary explanations, when perceived within a strategic framework.
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ItemShop stewards in the Latrobe Valley( 1988)In Australia, industrial relations research has focused almost exclusively on the major industrial relations institutions and their role in the determination of the rules of the workplace. Local workplace industrial relations and the interaction between worker and representatives and enterprise management has been a neglected area of research. This study attempts to rectify this situation. By focusing attention on the workplace a number of important questions are raised that have not been systematically addressed in Australian industrial relations research. In particular, what, if any, is the role of shop stewards in a centralised system dominated by unions, employers and tribunals organised on a state and national basis? If there is a role for shop stewards, how does this role manifest itself in terms of the stewards’ relationships with members, fellow shop stewards, union officials and management? Finally, what factors explain variations in role perceptions, and how does the adoption of a particular role affect the behaviour of shop stewards? This thesis will address these questions. It examines in some detail the behaviour of shop stewards in the coal winning and power generation industry in the Latrobe Valley. After reviewing the existing literature, a model of shop steward behaviour is proposed based on the stewards' leadership style and orientation to unionism. This model, in conjunction with union and employment variables, is then used to analyse differences in levels of bargaining, shop-f1oor organisation and industrial action as well as stewards' relationships with members, management and their union. By utilizing a survey questionnaire, interviews and two case studies the thesis demonstrates that the shop stewards of the Latrobe Valley play a significant role in workplace industrial relations. Further, it is argued that variations in stewards' behaviour are, at least in part, explained by the stewards' orientation to unionism, their leadership style, the type of union they belong to and their place of work.
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ItemThe evolution of Australian Treasury thought since 1945( 1982)This thesis aims to provide an understanding of the changing economic philosophy of the Australian Treasury, an institution of undoubted importance in influencing the nature of post-war economic policy but one which has been largely neglected by economic historians. As a corollary, the thesis aims also to make some (though of course a very limited) contribution to an even more significant gap in Australia's post-war economic history: an analysis of the contours of Australian economic thought in general. Recently, Fred Gruen has provided a survey of Australian economics from 1968 to 1978 and Geoff Harcourt has discussed the leading schools of economic thought in Australia - monetarist, bastard Keynesian, and post- Keynesian - and has related them to some key economic institutions, including the Treasury. Both of these are valuable contributions but are notably brief. Barry Hughes's Exit Full Employment is much more comprehensive and discusses Treasury thought in some detail but, as with Gruen and Harcourt, is concerned essentially with the 1970s. This thesis, by contrast, covers not only the 1970s but stretches back to the 1930s in an attempt to show how Treasury thought has evolved over more than four decades (with emphasis on the post-war period). To be more specific, the thesis is not a history of how the Treasury has influenced policy but aims to piece together the various elements of the Treasury's outlook - the way it views the economy and economic agents - to show how this view has changed over time, and to explain why it has changed. Given these aims, it seems essential to abandon a narrative style for an explicitly analytical and hermeneutical approach. For narrative would tend to obscure the extent and nature of the changes which have occurred in Treasury thought and obscure also the interrelatedness of the department's ideas. Liberal (but hopefully not excessive) use has been made of quotations. Such quotations are essential for giving flavour to the ideas discussed. More importantly, in an interpretative essay language is crucially important. Finally, some mention should be made of possible complaints concerning the style of the thesis. Perhaps the main complaint which could be raised is that the thesis is overly relativistic, in that it concentrates on tracing the evolution of Treasury thought and says little about the validity of the department's views. This is openly acknowledged. Nevertheless, before one can criticise (or support) the Treasury it seems essential to know something about what the department really thinks. It seems essential also to know why the Treasury thinks the way it does. In both these respects the thesis has some value. Hopefully, the thesis will convince the reader of an important fact: ideas about the world are not static but variable and assumptions made about human nature are of fundamental importance in determining one's view of the world and the economy. One has to be quite clear of these assumptions before one can engage in debate over which is more realistic.