Social capital and neighbourhood centres in Queensland : qualitative case studies of three neighbourhood centres

This research paper examines the potential of neighbourhood centres to generate and enhance social capital through their programs, activities, membership associations and community engagement. Social capital is a complex concept involving elements of norms, networks, and trust and is generally seen as enhancing community cohesion and the ability to attain common goals (outlined in more detail in Section 3). The aim of this research project is to describe the nature of social capital formation in terms of development and change in norms, networks and trust within the context of the operations of neighbourhood centres in three Queensland locations (i.e., Sherwood, Kingston/Slacks Creek, and Maleny). The study was prompted by surprisingly little research into how neighbourhood centres and their clients contribute to the development of social capital. Considering the large volume of research on the role of community organisations in building social capital, it is remarkable that perhaps the most obvious organisation with 'social capitalist' intentions has received so little attention (apart from Bullen and Onyx, 2005). Indeed, ostensibly, neighbourhood centres are all about social capital.

The Australian corporate rescue provisions : how do they compare?

A notable feature of corporate legislative development in western countries for the past 30 years is the various mechanisms introduced to facilitate the survival of company structures facing insolvency. Australia’s corporate rescue version, called a “voluntary administration”, is now contained in Part 5.3A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), although first introduced in 1993. The Australian provisions apply to all corporate entities and commence with a short moratorium followed by a meeting of creditors. At the creditors’ meeting a “rescue” plan called a deed of company arrangement may be entered into, or, alternatively the company may be liquidated. The voluntary administration provisions have become a significant part of Australia’s corporate insolvency landscape and are critical to the operation of corporate law outside of insolvency. Australia does not have a specialist bankruptcy court, rather it utilises the English approach where insolvency practitioners are accountants and appointed to the insolvent company as administrators. In Australia, insolvency practitioners must be registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (“ASIC”), the corporate and securities regulator. A voluntary administration is usually commenced by the board of directors appointing an insolvency practitioner to the company. There exists no opportunity for a voluntary administration to commence at the creditors’ or court’s behest. This chapter seeks to address the comparative necessity of Australia’s corporate regime.

Corporate social responsibility in Japanese firms in transport sector

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting has become common practice for large organisations globally, yet there is variance in the CSR related activities claimed in disclosures. CSR researchers argue that cultural and historical backgrounds are the influential drivers of CSR behaviour. However, the links between actual activities claimed in CSR reports and the cultural systems that underpin these reported activities is an under-explored area. This thesis discusses the uniqueness of Japanese socio-cultural aspects. While Japan is well-known for having the most advanced energy efficient technologies in the world, it is also known for being below international standards for gender equality in the workplace. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore and examine organisational behaviours through the lens of relativism in order to understand what organisations are reporting and how and why managers prioritise these activities. This thesis is based on longitudinal qualitative research focusing on the Japanese transport companies that published CSR reports between 2005 and 2009. The findings from manually coded content analysis revealed: (1) that activities related to providing public safety, waste management and the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle), and environmental innovation were the top three most frequently reported CSR activities; and (2) complying with laws, career planning, flexible work practices, and providing public safety were the three categories that showed the most significant increase in reporting frequency from 2005-2009. This thesis extends the previous literature. Takagaki (2010b) identified that the transport industry, particularly the air and water sub-sectors, is the industry where the environmental problems are serious and require urgent attention. Takagaki (2010b) chose to explore the electronics industry as this industry is considered to be middle ground for its level of seriousness and urgency. This research: (1) examines the transport industry; (2) investigates the links between the actual activities reported, and the activities reported to be influential drivers of these activities.

Characteristics of Bangladeshi corporate networks

Over the past 40 years, Bangladesh has been undergoing economic reforms and institutional transitions to a market economy. An important product of this strategic transition has been the emergence of interlocking directorates, where a director sits on multiple directorate boards of corporations. Given this background, this thesis seeks to examine the attributes of the corporate network of interlocking directorships in Bangladesh. To date, the study of interlocking directorates has concentrated on Western economies. This study provides the results from a systematic exploration of the corporate network of Bangladesh based on data drawn from 100 largest listed companies in 2010.

Ownership, corporate governance and liquidity in Caribbean firms

This thesis provides the first evidence on how ownership structure and corporate governance relate to stock liquidity in the Caribbean. Based on panel data of 71 firms from three selected Caribbean markets − Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago − results show that firms with concentrated ownership are associated with lower liquidity. The identity of the largest shareholder also matters: family firms and firms with foreign holding companies are more liquid than government firms. Although the second largest shareholding does not appear to matter to liquidity, there is some evidence showing that firms with foreign holding companies as the second largest shareholder are less liquid. Caribbean firms suffer from poor corporate governance but this study is unable to establish a significant relationship between corporate governance and liquidity.

Capturing opportunities for business and innovation in knowledge intensive services

Research on opportunity has been extensively studied in contexts of new firm or new venture creation (Choi & Shepherd, 2004; Mullins & Forlani, 2005; Ozgen & Baron, 2007) where start-ups and new ventures use both opportunity discovery and opportunity creation (Alvarez & Barney 2005, 2007). Less research is found on examining the relationship between opportunity and innovation in existing firms (with Drucker (1985) an exception). In large firms, opportunity recognition has been analysed in terms of antecedent conditions, elements and outcomes (Ireland, Covin & Kuratko, 2009), but to date less attention has been given to how small and medium enterprises capture and use opportunities to remain competitive. Little research has been carried out regarding how smaller firms use opportunities to create new business with existing customers or use technological advances with new customers to create new economic activity, growth and competitive advantage. This study presents findings from a comparative case analysis of 20 diverse firms in the spatial information industry and identifies constructs associated with identifying opportunities that lead to better business performance and firm level innovation.

Students' cultural capital : a study of assessment for learning as a field of exchange

This study was conducted within the context of a flexible education institution where conventional educational assessment practices and tests fail to recognise and assess the creativity and cultural capital of a cohort of marginalised young people. A new assessment model which included an electronic-portfolio-social-networking system (EPS) was developed and trialled to identify and exhibit evidence of students' learning. The study aimed to discern unique forms of cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986) possessed by students who attend the Edmund Rice Education Australia Flexible Learning Centre Network (EREAFLCN). The EPS was trialled at the case study schools in an intervention and developed a space where students could make evident culturally specific forms of capital and funds of knowledge (Gonzalez, Moll, & Amanti, 2005). These resources were evaluated, modified and developed through dialogic processes utilising assessment for learning approaches (Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, 2009) in online and classroom settings. Students, peers and staff engaged in the recognition, judgement, revision and evaluation of students' cultural capital in a subfield of exchange (Bourdieu, 1990). The study developed the theory of assessment for learning as a field of exchange incorporating an online system as a teaching and assessment model. The term efield has been coined to describe this particular capital exchange model. A quasi-ethnographic approach was used to develop a collective case study (Stake, 1995). This case study involved an in-depth exploration of five students' forms of cultural capital and the ways in which this capital could be assessed and exchanged using the efield model. A comparative analysis of the five cases was conducted to identify the emergent issues of students' recognisable cultural capital resources and the processes of exchange that can be facilitated to acquire legitimate credentials for these students in the Australian field of education. The participants in the study were young people at two EREAFLC schools aged between 12 and 18 years. Data was collected through interviews, observations and examination of documents made available by the EREAFLCN. The data was coded and analysed using a theoretical framework based on Bourdieu's analytical tools and a sociocultural psychology theoretical perspective. Findings suggest that processes based on dialogic relationships can identify and recognise students' forms of cultural capital that are frequently misrecognised in mainstream school environments. The theory of assessment for learning as a field of exchange was developed into praxis and integrated in an intervention. The efield model was found to be an effective sociocultural tool in converting and exchanging students' capital resources for legitimated cultural and symbolic capital in the field of education.

CFO inside debt and corporate innovation

This thesis examines the importance of CFO incentives on the value maximization of firm. It examines the association between CFO inside debt compensation i.e., CFO pensions and deferred compensation, and investment in corporate innovation. It finds that instead of encouraging innovation, CFO inside debt appears to have a dampening effect on investment in innovation.

From words to integers and beyond in corporate life

Poets have a licence to couch great truths in succinct, emotionally powerful, and perhaps slightly mysterious and ambiguous ways. On the other hand, it is the task of academics to explore such truths intellectually, in depth and detail, identifying the key constructs and their underlying relations and structures, hopefully without impairing the essential truth. So it could be said that in January 2013, around 60 academics gathered at the University of Texas, Austin under the benign and encouraging eye of their own muse, Professor Rod Hart, to play their role in exploring and explaining the underlying truth of Yan Zhen’s words. The goals of this chapter are quite broad. Rod was explicit and yet also somewhat Delphic in his expectations and aspirations for the chapter. Even though DICTION was a key analytic tool in most chapters, this chapter was not to be about DICTION per se, or simply a critique of the individual chapters forming this section of the book. Rather DICTION and these studies, as well as some others that got our attention, were to be more a launching pad for observations on what they revealed about the current state of understanding and research into the language of institutions, as well as some ‘adventurous’, but not too outlandish reflections on future challenges and opportunities.

Do positional concerns destroy social capital : evidence from 26 countries

Research on the effects of positional concerns on individuals' attitudes and behavior is sorely lacking. To address this deficiency, we use the International Social Survey Programme 1998 data on 25,000 individuals from 26 countries to investigate the impact of relative income position on three facets of social capital: horizontal and vertical trust as well as norm compliance. Testing relative deprivation theory, we identify a deleterious positional income effect for persons below the reference income, particularly for their social trust and confidence in secular institutions. Also often a social capital-lowering effect of relative income advantage occurs, while a rise in absolute income almost always contributes positively. These results indicate that a rise in income inequality in a society too large is rather detrimental to the formation of social capital. (JEL Z130, I300, D310)

Corporate ownership, corporate governance reform and timeliness of earnings : Malaysian evidence

This paper provides the first evidence showing that ownership concentration and the identity of the largest shareholder matter to the timeliness of corporate earnings, measured by a stock price-based timeliness metric and the reporting lag. Using panel data of 1276 Malaysian firms from 1996 to 2009, we find a non-linear relationship between concentrated ownership, measured by the largest shareholding in a firm, and the reporting lag but not the timeliness of price discovery. Although firms with government as the largest shareholder and political connections have a significantly shorter reporting lag, only the former are timelier in price discovery. Firms with family and foreigners as the largest shareholder however are less timely in price discovery. While the reporting lag is shorter in the period after the integration of the Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance (MCCG) into Bursa listing rules, its impact on the timeliness of price discovery is mostly immaterial.

The Role of Social and Human Capital Among Nascent Entrepreneurs

This study examines nascent entrepreneurship by comparing individuals engaged in nascent activities (n=380) with a control group (n=608), after screening a sample from the general population (n=30,427). The study then follows the developmental process of nascent entrepreneurs for 18 months. Bridging and bonding social capital, consisting of both strong and weak ties, was a robust predictor for nascent entrepreneurs, as well as for advancing through the start-up process. With regard to outcomes like first sale or showing a profit, only one aspect of social capital, viz. being a member of a business network, had a statistically significant positive effect. The study supports human capital in predicting entry into nascent entrepreneurship, but only weakly for carrying the start-up process towards successful completion.

Realigning capital portfolios : international students' educational experiences in higher education

This paper reports on first year experiences of international students who use English as an additional language (EAL) in higher education in Australia. It examines how valued resources can foster a positive educational experience of these students from sociological perspectives. It draws data from an interview study, exploring narrative accounts of 17 EAL international students from nine countries about their educational relations and strategies across their first year of study. Their narratives were analysed through Bourdieu's concepts of field, habitus, capital and legitimation, as well as tools of narrative inquiry. The paper finds that the students took up strategies to realign their capital portfolios with new rules of the game. Their decisions were dependent on their personal trajectories and conditions on offer. This paper suggests that more effort needs to be made to understand international students' differentiated access to valued resources in higher education.

The Internet of Things : new digital capital in the hands of customers

The Internet of Things facilitates the identification, digitization, and control of physical objects. However, it is the availability of cost effective sensors, mobile smart devices, scalable cloud infrastructure, and advanced analytics that have consumerized the Internet of Things. The accessibility of digital representations of things has transformative potential and provides entire new affordances for organizations and their ecosystems across most industries.