A comparison of business ethics commitment in private and public sector orgnaizations in Sweden

This paper reports the results of a study of the top 500 private sector organizations and the top 100 public sector organizations in Sweden. It is a replication of the study by Svensson et al. (2004). The aim of the study was to describe and compare the business ethics commitment of organizations across the two sectors. The empirical findings indicate that the processes involved in business ethics commitment have begun to be recognized and acted upon at an organizational level in Sweden. Some support is provided to show that codes of ethics are developing in some of Sweden’s largest private and public sector organizations – although this is happening to a lesser extent in the public sector. It is noted that an effect of a code of ethics on the bottom line of the business was acknowledged by respondents in both private and public sector organizations. We believe that the supporting measures of business ethics commitment appear to be underutilized in both private and public sector organizations in Sweden (among those that possess codes of ethics), thus indicating that the commitment to business ethics in Swedish organizations has potential for future development.

Convergence among the sub-markets in Australian regional building and construction sector

Studies on market convergence are well considered in the literature. However, the majority of the previous research focused on housing markets and few studies have concentrated on construction markets. Owing to a simultaneously dramatic increase in the construction prices of the sub-markets in the building construction sector in Australia, this paper aims to identify the convergence among these markets, involving house construction market, other-residential building construction market, and non-residential building construction market. To achieve it the Granger causality test and generalized response function depending on the vector error correction model with the quarterly data of Australia’s eight states from 1998 to 2010 will be applied. Based upon the econometric tests, the price diffusion patterns among these construction markets have been identified. Research on the convergences of construction markets not only helps construction firms perform well in business operations and arbitrage activities, but also provides policy makers with useful information for enacting effective construction policies for national perspectives and approaches to infrastructure planning.

Bringing innovation to centre stage : the rhetoric of commercialisation and cross-sector collaboration

As a key element in Australia's national innovation system, public sector organizations, such as universities and public-funded research agencies, have increasingly become involved in R&D collaborations with firms. Government policy has encouraged this cross-sector collaboration, and in the most recent policy "act" has focused on the commercialisation of research findings (through which R&D outputs are translated into marketable commodities) and has encouraged public sector organizations to become more directly involved in this activity. But while the policy rhetoric has contributed to a discourse of marketization, through which cultural change in the research performing organizations is both promoted and legitimised, there are other voices in the unfolding policy drama which point to the complex and multifaceted nature of commercialisation in national economies. These countervailing voices emphasise the multiple roles that public sector organizations play in national innovation systems, and this introduces organizational role ambiguity into the discourse leading to confusion among the research performing actors. It is concluded that, given the complex and subtle nature of innovation processes, the traditional dichotomy between applied (or commercially-focused) research and "public good" research is no longer tenable nor helpful in the policy debates.

Determinants of green supply chain implementation in the food and beverage sector

Using a grounded theory approach, this paper extracts emerging concepts in the implementation of green supply chain management from case data of New Zealand food and beverage (F&B) companies. In search of factors that may lead to theory-building, the study relates case studies in fruit, juice, and dairy product companies through in-depth interviews with ranking general and line managers. We uncover the outline of a theoretical framework focusing on determinants of GSCM behaviour. These include strategic and operational planning; management structure, systems, and decision-making; management of people and company culture; and relationships with supply-chain members.

Sugar and spice: the golden age of the Hindi movie vamps, 1960s-70s

How do we define the globalized cinema and media cultures of Bollywood in an age when it has become part of the cultural diplomacy of an emerging superpower? Is it still an 'other' industry in a world dominated by Hollywood? Bollywood and Its Other(s) aims to compensate for the lack of scholarly literature on Indian film by opening up hitherto unexplored sites or sites that are in formation. It focuses on the aesthetic-philosophical questions of the other, Indian diaspora's negotiations with national identity, alternative reading strategies/research methods, marginal genres (sci-fi, horror), marginal characters (flaneuse, vamps), marginal gender (non-normative sexualities), marginal cinema (Hindi avant-garde), marginal language (Hinglish), and marginal regions (the Kashmir valley). It intends to address film scholars, South Asian studies researchers, cinephiles and lay readers alike.

Persistence, capital account openness, and financial sector health in exchange rate regime choice

This paper investigates empirically the persistence in exchange rate regimes as well as the role of capital account openness and financial sector health (measured by financial development and financial sector fragility) in exchange rate regime determination for a panel of 143 countries covering the post-Bretton Woods period. The results demonstrate that while low- and high-income countries exhibit highly persistent exchange rate regimes, middle-income countries display relatively lower persistence. For middle-income countries, capital account openness and the level of financial development play important roles in exchange rate regime choice. The fragility of the financial sector does not affect the exchange rate regime determination.

The politics of public sector change: trends in health and education sector change in South Australia

BACKGROUND: As the changes underpinning the Coordinated Care Trials in South Australia have become more apparent, similarities have emerged between the rationalisation of public schooling in the mid 1980s and the transformation of public health in the 1990s.

OBJECTIVE: This article aims to discuss the evolution of health services in South Australia and help us answer the question of how best to manage our public and private health infrastructure in a changing economic and social context.

DISCUSSION: Both strategies in education and health share common elements of cost cutting, attempts at improving efficiencies, a flirting with the private sector and the attendant risk of reduced quality of services to the public. This situation in both sectors is indicative of a shift in public policy and a growth in the belief that private management of public sector infrastructure can help resolve the funding crises around our education and health systems.

Effects of sugar and fat consumption on sweet and fat taste

Excessive consumption of fat and sugar is associated with development of diet related diseases. While there are multiple factors involved with overconsumption of sweet and fatty foods, the taste system is responsible for identifying sugars and fats in foods, and in this way inform consumption of potential foods. Published research linking sweet taste and sugar consumption is limited and conflicting with one recent dietary intervention supporting a link between sweet taste and sugar consumption. Fat taste is an emerging area of interest, and recent research illustrates a direct link with high-fat diet increasing fat taste thresholds while low-fat diets decrease fat taste thresholds.