The measurement of socio-economic status: investigation of gender-and age-specific indicators in Australia: national health survey 1995

Objective: To investigate thecorrelations between age- and gender-specificmeasures of socio-economic status versus healthstatus as measured by the SF-36.

Design: Population based study.

Participants: 38187 people aged between18 to 79 years who participated in the NationalHealth Survey in 1995.

Results: Factor analysis producedconsistent results that were interpreted interms of five conceptually meaningful domains(employment, housing, migration, family unitand education). The relative rank of thefactors differs between groups and in somecases factor composition requires items to beadded or deleted from the conceptual domains.

Conclusions: Age- and gender-specific SESscores based on these factors had strongerassociations with the physical and mentalcomponents of SF-36 than either an area basedindex or scores derived from males aged 40–44years. Overall the results supported thehypothesis that SES measures composed of socialand demographic items exhibit important age-and gender-specific differences which arerelevant for health.

The link between self-managed work teams and learning organisations using performance indicators

Both the learning organization literature and the self-managed work team literature have alluded to the potential links between teamwork and learning. However, as yet the link between these two concepts remains undeveloped. This study uses a survey of a random sample of 200 Australian organizations to empirically examine the relationships between self-managed work teams and the learning organization using performance indicators as a medium. It was found that the learning organization concept displays a moderate to strong link with three measures of performance used in this study: knowledge performance, financial performance and customer satisfaction. Although the self-managed work team concept did not display any significant relationship with performance, the qualitative component of the survey did emphasize that there is a common belief that self-managed teams can increase performance in the right setting. While an insignificant relationship between self-managed teams and the learning organization was also found, this study suggests some methodological concerns for future research into the relationship between self-managed teams and the learning organization.

Equity indicators: measures of socio-economic status at an Australian university

After reviewing relevant literature on socio-economic status (SES) and the ways in which it is used for higher education institutional research and policy, a detailed data analysis of Victoria University (Australia) student data was undertaken. Between 10,000 and 15,000 domestic student addresses were ‘geocoded’ to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) collection district level. A survey of individual reenrolling 2001 students that included parental occupation and education data was also analysed. The most important findings were: (1) The debate for practical reasons tends to focus on area versus individual measures, but SES is a richer and more complex subject and must be acknowledged as such. (2) It is apparent that VU’s student catchment is on average of lower SES than the Melbourne average, using various area measures of SES, including the DEST-Martin indicators. (3) There is only a very small difference between average area SES measures at the collection district and the postcode level. In practical terms this means that the postcode method is adequate, as well as being cheaper and more efficiently obtained, for analyses at an aggregated (or average) level. (4) Individual surveys of students do not prima facie add to the quality of aggregated institution level SES results delivered by area analyses. This again suggests that the postcode method is best for practical reasons.

Snapshot of Singapore biotechnology boom indicators

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one on the biotechnology industry players in Singapore and another on a market audit survey on the Singapore biotechnology sector.

Survey commentaries and analysis on SWOT analysis of Singapore biotechnology boom indicators

The article presents survey commentaries and analysis on Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis of biotechnology boom indicators in Singapore as of April 2006. SWOT is the process whereby the strengths and weaknesses in the internal environment are analyzed in association with the opportunities and threats arising from the external environment. The success of Singapore's biotechnology sector depends on the effectiveness and efficiency of the interface between the external and internal environments. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the industry are discussed.

Catchment to regional scale indicators of sustainability

Ecologically sustainable development requires an integrated approach to environmental integrity, social equity and economic performance. Development of sustainability strategies and empowerment of communities to achieve sustainability will only be effective if progress is monitored. This project provides an opportunity to work within a regional partnership to develop indicators for measuring progress toward sustainability in the south west region of Victoria, Australia. As sustainability is contextual, local organizations have been involved in the identification of key regional values (social, environmental, economic and institutional) and in selecting indicators that can be used to assess to what extent these values are being protected, depleted or enhanced. These indicators are to be used as the basis for exploring relationships between biophysical and socio-economic indicators, to determine what can be deduced from these relationships about sustainability and whether these relationships hold at different spatial scales (catchment, regional and sub-catchment). A rigorous and systematic analysis of indicators and the relationships between them will assist in developing a tool to facilitate decision making for regional sustainability.

An assessment tool for sub-catchment to catchment scale indicators of sustainability - a case study in south west Victoria, Australia

The research reported in this paper represents an attempt to produce a practical, indicator-based sustainability assessment tool incorporating all these elements is based on relationships between indicators determined considering spatial influences. Through the use of an existing sustainability indicator set and data currently available, relationships will be determined using Arcview Geographic Information Systems (GIS), correlation analysis and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Indicator interactions will be identified at two spatial scales and compared to determine impacts of changing spatial scale. Further PCA and multiple regression analyses will then be used to reduce the complexity of the indicator set. These findings will be incorporated into a practical indicator-based assessment tool through the adoption of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) combined with GIS techniques that will then be validated. Once validated the tool can be used to aid in guiding planning and decision-making regarding sustainable development in the Glenelg Hopkins catchment, Victoria; while also moving towards producing a standard set of procedures for assessing sustainability.

Global branding and strategic CSR : an overview of three types of complexity

Purpose – There is general agreement that global brands should ensure that they incorporate social responsibility. To do this properly, organisations must understand what it means to be socially responsible and how they can leverage their actions. The paper proposes consideration of three distinct areas: the range of social responsibility issues, what the organisations actually do and how to leverage those corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions. This paper seeks to conceptually develop these three areas of complexity – Issue, Organisational and Communication – as it is only after organisations understand these three areas that they can effectively leverage socially responsible activities in their brands.

Design/methodology/approach – This research undertakes a review and synthesis of the academic, practitioner and industry literature examining CSR and the brand, addressing the three areas of complexity – issue, organisational and communication.

Findings – The research finds that within these three areas of complexity there are a number of sub-issues that must be addressed if CSR is to be strategically integrated into a global brand. This includes sub-issues associated with social issue complexity (identification, heterogeneity, measurement, and interpretation); organizational complexity (overall corporate brand, multiple products and brands, functional activities, and supply chain); and communication complexity (intensity of action/positioning, communicating action, types of programs utilised, and integration issues.) It thus provides an agenda for future research.

Research limitations/implications – There is limited academic literature examining how global organisations incorporate CSR activities into their brand and the research proposes the issues that need to be considered when integrating CSR into branding strategy. Future research needs to be undertaken to explore the internal processes that global firms use to develop their CSR positioning strategies and some research propositions for future research are proposed. Additionally further exploration of each of the issues (and sub-issues) identified in this paper is warranted, and some suggestions are made for this.

Practical implications – The results of this study show that developing a CSR leveraged brand in a consistent way that is salient to all stakeholders is no simple task for global organisations. By considering the three areas of complexity developed here organisations will be able to better understand and align their activities in line with CSR related issues. Being global means that organisations will likely need to ensure they address the highest set of global expectations, as any lower level may be criticised as being less than appropriate.

Originality/value – The paper develops the sub-issues of issue, organisational and communication complexity associated with global brands' CSR activities. This strategic perspective goes beyond focusing on the tactical activities undertaken or the philosophical issue of whether CSR should be undertaken. The work therefore allows global organisations to look at CSR more strategically as a branding issue.