Economics - Theses
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ItemEssays on competition, product design and firm formation(University of Melbourne, 2008)
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ItemEssays in corporate governance, innovation and R&D alliances(University of Melbourne, 2008)
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ItemThe socially optimal level of education and human capital(University of Melbourne, 2008)
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ItemEssays on the economics of services outsourcing : the case of the Indian software services industry(University of Melbourne, 2007)
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ItemThe attainment and influence of skill in Australia(University of Melbourne, 2007)
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ItemA statistical analysis of the origins and impacts of twenty-six years of regulatory regime changes in the Australian occupational superannuation industry( 2008)Until 1980 in Australia, occupational superannuation had played only a peripheral role in securing retirement savings for the workforce at large with less than 40% of all employees at this time receiving superannuation benefits. By the time the twenty-first century began, however, 91% of all Australian employees and 81% of all workers were covered by superannuation, and, by 2007, total superannuation assets had reached $1.2 trillion with superannuation fund balances the largest financial asset held by households. This substantial growth in superannuation coverage did not occur as a result of free market forces operating between producers and consumers in the superannuation industry. Rather, this increase was found to be directly related to the level of intervention in the industry by both the Labor and Coalition Governments throughout the last three decades. The rationale provided by these Governments highlighted the public interest necessity of ensuring that there was an adequate coverage, level and rate of growth of retirement savings. Criticisms of this rationale have, however, continued to grow unabated. These concerns focus on the failure of the regulatory regime changes introduced to actually achieve their public-interest rationales in terms of improving Australia’s national savings rates or to produce effective governance mechanisms to protect the security of the worker-owned trillion-dollar asset pool now under investment. The primary objective of this thesis was to investigate these opposing claims (within the framework of the public interest and private interest theories of regulation), via the combination of a detailed literature review and a statistical analysis which utilised factor analysis, and logistic and multiple regression modelling techniques. This combined analysis suggested three primary conclusions: (1) the origins of the regulatory regime change process needed to be considered as a political game with the simultaneously experienced detriments of key interest groups resulting in a groundswell of pro-regulatory reform activity which sought to obtain relief from “suffering”. The private interest prediction that governments/politicians in electoral democracies were concerned about finding a support coalition to promote their re-election chances was, therefore, confirmed; (2) in comparison, there was less than convincing evidence to support the public interest claims of bothgovernments in relation to the origins of the regime change process; and (3) as opposed to these origins-related findings, the regulatory impact story analysis of the review period confirmed that the primary “winner” of the regulatory regime changes was the fund manager group in general and the large, incumbent, life office entities in particular with statistically significant improvements in fund manager “detriments” (e.g. in terms of the total superannuation assets held within the statutory funds of life offices variable). While the government/politicians group was also a “winner” given the significant increases in the “bureaucratic empire building” variable, it was a significant “loser” in terms of the downturn in the public interest variables of household savings rates, net personal savings rates and voluntary superannuation contributions. The ACTU, the employers and workers in general were also all “losers” in that: union membership rates were characterised by downturns; employers do not appear to have been able to “offset” increased occupational superannuation benefits with reductions in wages and/or employment levels; and there was no significant improvement in either of the fund member indicators (i.e. in terms of the fund member welfare index or their real rate of returns). Thus, the private interest prediction that, in terms of regulatory impacts/outcomes, there would be significant wealth transfers away from fund members primarily to the fund managers was confirmed. These findings raise implications for the ongoing development of regulation in this area which will need further consideration. For example, is it likely that future, private interest-based regulatory changes will be imposed on the occupational superannuation industry which will lead to further detriments to fund members and increasing wealth transfers to the fund managers? Alternatively, is it likely that, at some point, a regulatory backlash will occur which could lead to more public interest outcomes? Or, is it possible that the interest groups studied might “mutate” or change to adapt to future circumstances which could then, in some future period, change the “winning” and “losing” profiles highlighted in this research? Also of interest is whether these findings, which were performed within a relatively unique set of political circumstances, are robust to alternative settings or time periods? These issues are ideal topics for future research projects.
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ItemEducation: tests of whether it enhances productivity or merely conveys information on individual productivity in the labour market( 2001-04)Human capital and screening theories of the role of education in the labour market have similar predictions about individual behaviour and labour market outcomes. This makes it difficult to test between the theories. Nevertheless, the task of doing so is important since the social return to education is likely to be small unless education adds to productivity as human capital theory, but not screening theory, assumes. Education may only convey information about likely individual productivity under screening. It serves this function because individual productivity is difficult for employers to observe. In fact, there is very little evidence from existing tests of the theories that education does not add to productivity. However, few of the tests that have been undertaken between the theories are convincing. The three empirical chapters of this thesis contain tests of some aspects of the theories.
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ItemMarket orientation and business performance: empirical evidence from Thailand( 2001)This thesis studies the business performance of Thai firms in both domestic and export markets by using the market orientation theoretical framework to explain why some firms are more successful than others. It also investigates how firms become more market-oriented and whether the relationship between market orientation and business performance is moderated by business environment.
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ItemHow do organisations align human resource management with information technology: an exploratory study of four Australian firms( 2003)While there is significant evidence to suggest that the alignment of Human Resources (HR) and Information Technology (IT) has a positive impact on firm performance, there is little discussion on how to achieve alignment. Literature in both the HR and IT disciplines provides confirmation of the need to identify and address the people management issues in order to realise the expected returns from IT investments. This research will contribute to these discussions with insights into how an organisation with alignment between IT and HR might appear, who should be responsible for the alignment, and how enabling and inhibiting factors impact the alignment process. The Reich & Benbasat (2000) model of social alignment distinguishes between intellectual planning intentions and executives' understanding of the implications and actions required to implement those intentions. The latter, defined as social alignment provided a useful lens through which to examine the alignment between HR and IT. The social alignment framework, originally designed to investigate executives' understanding of the alignment between IT and business strategies, has been adapted and extended to provide a useful tool to analyse the relationship between IT and HR. Four Australian firms were examined using case study methodology in order to gather and analyse the richness of the data in a field with little prior research. Findings support the view that shared domain knowledge and history of IT and HR implementation success impact on the communication and planning activities that ultimately determine levels of social alignment. Executives interviewed understood that alignment between HR and IT was important to achieving the firm’s strategic goals. Examples were identified and discussed where lack of attention to the IT/HR relationship resulted in outcomes that fell short of expectations. Shared domain knowledge of the business and the IT and HR function, was likely to have a significant impact on the communication and planning connections between the HR manager and the CIO. Similarly, past experiences of working together either in general business projects or in function specific projects such as the HRIS affected the willingness of the HR manager and CIO to collaborate. Management of the alignment process by line or project executives was likely to limit people management considerations to short term implementation issues without reference to longer term strategic directions. As a result of this research the social alignment model has been adapted to provide a valuable tool for the assessment of the alignment process between HR and IT in firms. Two additional factors have been added: responsibility and accountability, and power and influence as contributing factors that are important for management to understand so that they might develop and enhance strategic communication and connections between HR and IT.
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ItemHigh-profile crisis management in Australian and New Zealand organisations( 2007-10)This thesis demonstrates that it is paramount to develop crisis-preparedness strategies and practices based on empirical research, in order to improve an organisation‘s ability to manage effectively and, ultimately to survive, a high-profile crisis event. Although there are many high-profile crises that have been managed successfully by applying strategies to make organisations more resilient, there is still considerable confusion and uncertainty about the way these crises have been evaluated and the way their success can be measured in relation to other crises.There are no international crisis-preparedness standards in relation to a set of crisis outcomes indicators that could be applied. This lack of empirically proven relationships between crisis-preparedness strategies and their effect on crisis outcomes makes the identification of effective strategies very difficult. Case studies, anecdotal evidence and a limited number of empirical crisis management studies (i.e. effect on share price) suggest a great variability in the effectiveness of certain strategies and practices that have produced inconclusive results. This study analyses the strategies variability to advance knowledge in the field of crisis management. (For complete abstract open document)