The Services Internationalization Process: An Exploratory Investigation of Australian Service Company Internationalization to China

Service companies possess different characteristics from non-service-based companies, affecting their process of internationalization. This article examines the internationalization of service organizations using case studies of 23 Australian service organizations internationalizing to China. It finds that the internationalization process is influenced by the type of service the organization produces. The Uppsala internationalization model partially explains internationalization for companies producing exportable services but did not explain internationalization for companies, which produce nonexportable services (services that must be located within the market). International experience, government regulations and capital intensity were influential for internationalization. The findings develop a model for service organization internationalization.     

Australian financial firms’ exposures to the level,slope, and curvature of the interest rate term structure

This study examines the risk exposure of Australian financial firms to changes in the term structure of interest rates. Non-linearity in the interest rate term structure is captured by the three-factor model of interest rate level, slope, and curvature. We observe that financial firms have negative exposures to the interest rate level, while non-financial firms have positive exposures. This finding suggests that financial firms need to hedge against rising interest rates, while non-financial firms need to hedge against falling interest rates. Small banks and insurance companies have a positive risk exposure to the slope factor, while real estate firms have a negative risk exposure to the curvature factor. Though the interest rate level is the most important factor, ignoring the slope and curvature factors could lead to underestimating a financial firm’s overall interest rate risk exposure. These findings are robust to controlling for the orthogonalized market return, time-varying equity risk premium, and the global financial crisis. This study offers practical tools to regulators, such as the Reserve Bank of Australia and Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority for assessing interest rate risk exposures of the financial and non-financial sectors.     

John Maynard Keynes and the Keynes of the Commonwealth,Douglas Copland

When Douglas Copland of the University of Melbourne was about to go abroad in 1933, a leading Australian businessman, Herbert Gepp, hailed him as the ‘Keynes of the Commonwealth’. Gepp was referring to Copland's contributions to Australian economic policy, not that of the British Commonwealth, but there were similarities between Copland and John Maynard Keynes. In full flight, Copland impressed his compatriots with his prodigious work ethic, networking skills, persuasive powers with policy-makers, and practice of popularising economics in order to effect stabilisation policy. For a short time, there were two Keynes, one at the centre, the other at the periphery.     

During play,the break,and the drive home: the meaning of parental verbal behaviour in youth sport

Problems surrounding parental involvement in youth sport have received much attention in the international academic community. Most of the focus has surrounded the frequency and nature of parental verbal behaviour such as criticism, swearing and abuse. While such behaviour has the potential to exert a negative influence in youth sport, little is known about the socially constructed meaning of parental verbal behaviour. In other words, there is a current lack of understanding surrounding the social significance (or lack thereof) of parental comments, criticisms and abuse in the context of youth sport. Addressing this oversight is important given that parents and youth do not always share a common appreciation of parental involvement in sport. This paper reports on a study which sought to generate a greater understanding of parental involvement in the junior Australian football experience. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with parents and youth participants (n = 86) currently involved in a competitive Australian football season. Data were manually transcribed verbatim and subjected to a thematic analysis. The findings reveal how parents and youth attribute different social meaning to parental verbal behaviour during play, the breaks and the drive home. While youth appear to experience parental verbal behaviour in polarising ways, parents rationalise their own verbal behaviour and in doing so, contribute to a broader social reproduction of sport parenting behaviour.     

Examining the forward pricing function of the Australian equity index futures contract

The relationship between the Australian equity index futures and spot prices is examined. Tests indicate that futures prices with one, two and three months to maturity are unbiased predictors of the spot and hence provide an efficient hedging mechanism for Australian equity index market participants, while six‐, nine‐ and twelve‐month futures prices are biased predictors of spot prices, indicating that speculative opportunities may exist in futures contracts for these time spreads. An analysis of the short‐run dynamic properties of the long‐run equilibrium relationship found that for all time spreads the futures prices respond to changes in the long‐run equilibrium, and for the twelve‐month contract, both futures and spot prices adjust to return to the long‐run equilibrium.     

Scale economies with regard to price adjustment costs and the speed of price adjustment in Australian manufacturing

This paper aims to examine the impact of firm size, industry concentration and the length of production on industry speed of price adjustment. To motivate the paper, an industry pricing model in error correction form is derived from firm pricing behaviour. As a new development, firms are assumed to have price adjustment costs that are a function of their size. The empirical model is estimated using two‐digit Australian manufacturing industry data for the period 1994:3 to 2006:1. The results suggest that the industry speed of price adjustment is positively related to firm size and negatively related to industry concentration and the production lag. Implied values for industry speeds of price adjustment are generally small when compared to other country industry studies. However, the industry average median lag of 7.1 quarters indicates a slightly faster speed of price adjustment than the estimate for the Australian consumer price index by Dwyer and Leong (2001 Dwyer, J. and Leong, K. 2001. Changes in the determination of inflation in Australia 1–44. Reserve Bank of Australia Research Discussion Paper 2001‐02 [Google Scholar]).     

Dividend payout determinants for Australian Multinational and Domestic Corporations

I investigate the determinants of dividend payments for Australian Multinational Corporations (MCs) and Domestic Corporations (DCs). Six measures of dividend payout ratios are investigated, and five international factors are employed in addition to traditional factors. I find: MCs pay significantly less regular cash, special cash, total dividends and net dividends relative to DCs; the degree of foreign involvement is important in determining special cash and net dividend payments; MCs are more active than DCs in dividend increasing activities; and MCs are significantly less likely to be a dividend payer relative to DCs due to tax disadvantages coupled with unfavourable foreign risk exposures.     

Wine tasting: To charge or not to charge?

In Australia there is an inconsistency of practice between cellar door operators as to whether they charge for a wine tasting or not. The liquor licensing legislation in each State permits cellar door operators to charge for a wine tasting. Some charge for tastings but deduct this from any purchase made, some provide food to accompany the tasting and others provide a free tasting. This paper considers the practice from a consumer’s (wine tourist’s) viewpoint. A survey was conducted of wine tourists who have attended a cellar door wine tasting to gauge their attitude about charges for wine tastings and probable impacts on their purchasing decisions. The majority expressed a preference for free tastings and stated they would not stay if there was a charge for tastings. However, some tourists were willing to pay in a range of circumstances, depending on the services provided and overall experience.     

Australian expatriates in Thailand: some insights for expatriate management policies

Expatriates are critical to the navigation of an increasingly complex international business world and, as such, the demand for their skills, knowledge and experience, as well as their supply, needs to be better understood. Furthermore, the role of human resource policies is of key concern in ensuring the right people are chosen to represent companies in overseas locations, as is the provision of pertinent support policies, such as preparation for overseas assignments and cross-cultural training. The purpose of this research is to examine these issues with the focus on Australian expatriates in Thailand. A questionnaire survey was conducted of members of the Australian-Thai Business Council in Thailand, an association representing Australian expatriates, in 1999. The findings provide some insights for expatriate management policy, including the notable conclusions that the market for expatriates is changing and becoming more demanding and that the imperatives of the emerging global market for human capital require a much more structured approach to expatriate management development.     

Issues of management identity: attitudes to management within the Australian Institute of Management, 1940–73

While a number of studies have considered the evolution of Australian business and management, less attention has been paid to the discourse used by Australian managers to conceptualise their identity as managers. This study of management discourse within the Australian Institute of Management (AIM) from 1940 up to 1973 does not, however, reveal a progressive evolution towards a hegemonic conception of management. Rather the discourse of practising managers within the AIM reveals a continual unresolved wrestling with rival conceptions of possible managerial identities as administrators, leaders, professionals and even workers, and how the AIM was continually frustrated in articulating its own institutional identity as a ‘society of managers’.