Exempt treatment of financial intermediation services under a value-added tax: an assessment of alternatives

Most countries with a value-added tax (VAT) exempt financial intermediation services from the tax. While exemption is generally perceived to be undesirable, it is also widely regarded as unavoidable because of technical difficulties in applying VAT to these services. This article reviews the standard rationale for exempt treatment and then considers the relative merits of two recent challenges raised in the tax literature. The first challenge involves the application of cash flow taxation to financial intermediation services in a manner that is consistent with an invoice/credit VAT (which is the dominant form). The second challenge proposes a comprehensive system of zero-rating of financial intermediation services, which is supported by a characterization of the household consumption of such services as non-taxable. The author argues that each of these alternatives to an exemption system suffers from both theoretical and practical implementation difficulties that make maintenance of exempt treatment the preferred approach, at least in the short term. There is, however, a simpler alternative to these fundamental reform options, involving modification of just one aspect of an exemption system to relieve some of its more problematic aspects. Many of the interpretative problems and associated inefficiencies that plague an exemption system arise from the need to distinguish between taxable and exempt financial services. The author argues that these difficulties can be eliminated, to a large extent, by basing the distinction on the form of prices. In support of this approach, he points out that it is consistent with the underlying reasons for the application of exempt treatment. The author considers a number of other possible modifications, but these are either rejected outright or viewed with a healthy skepticism. For example, the author is critical of the apparent rationale for the application of cash flow taxation to property and casualty insurers. He also rejects proposals that accept some looseness in the formulaic allocation by financial intermediaries of the costs of business inputs between exempt and taxable services for input credit purposes. In his view, an explicit reliance on pricing structures to draw the boundary between exempt and taxable services is preferable to the provision of relief for blocked input tax credits of financial intermediaries. Finally, the author is skeptical of the case for a policy response intended to address the tax bias under an exemption system for financial intermediaries to insource supplies.

`Zealotry or nostalgic regret`? women leaders in technical and further education in Australia : agents of change, entrepreneurial educators or corporate citizens?

Education has been restructured in many Western post-industrial nation states during the 1990s. The Australian Technical and Further Education sector (TAFE) has been particularly susceptible to discourses of responsiveness to the market and the new entrepreneuralism. This article explores how women have been repositioned in contradictory and ambiguous ways as the new entrepreneurial middle managers by existing and emergent discourses that circulated in and through TAFE organizations. In turn, it points to how discourses of change management and client responsiveness took on particular readings within specific institutional and professional cultures of the eight Technical and Further Education institutions (TAFEs). At the same time, the restructuring that arose from the corporatization of TAFE, in a highly gendered process, through the twin strategies of marketization and the new managerialism produced new possibilities for individual women educators who moved up into middle management. Yet these individual women were positioned within highly masculinist 'neo-corporate bureaucratic cultures' that co-opted their passion for the capacity of education to make a difference and incorporated these new entrepeneurial work identities.

The effects of technical and social conditions on workplace trust

This paper investigates the extent to which the technical and social contexts of organizations independently affect levels of workplace trust. We argue that, in an organizational context, trust is not just a relationship between an individual subject (the truster) and an object (the trustee) but is subject to effects from the conditions of the work relationship itself. We describe the organizational context as comprising both a technical system of production (where work gets done through the specification of tasks) and a social system of work (where problems of effort, compliance, conformity and motivation are managed). We analyse the relationship between trust and these two aspects of workplace context (technical and social systems). We also operationalize this in terms of differences between industries,  occupational composition and human resource management practices. The model is tested using data drawn from the 1995 Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey. The results confirm that differences in industry, occupational composition and HRM practices all impact on levels of workplace trust. We review these results in terms of their implications for future research into the problem of analysing variation in trust at both the workplace and individual levels.

Technical efficiency in Australian textile and clothing firms: evidence from the business longitudinal survey

This paper estimates technical efficiency of Australian textile and clothing firms based on the data obtained from the Business Longitudinal Survey (BLS) conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Using a Cobb Douglas stochastic production frontier the paper examines firm level technical efficiency in the time varying inefficiency effect model with technical inefficiency effects assumed as an independently distributed truncated normal variable. Estimates of the production frontier revealed significant but small elasticities of labour and capital for textile and clothing firms, respectively, and a negative (but insignificant) Hicks neutral technical change for both. Estimated coefficients of the explanatory variables for inefficiency effects indicated that technical efficiency varied significantly according to firms’ age, size, capital intensity, proportion of non-production to total workers and type of legal status. Predicted firm specific efficiency varied from 16 per cent to 95 per cent and mean efficiency ranged between 30 to 70 per cent. In view of these results policies have been suggested to improve technical efficiency of the firms as well as productivity growth of the sub sectors.

Technical rationality and professional artistry in RD practice

This paper outlines the limitations of a technical rationalist approach to HRD practice without seeking to negate it. It then offers a complementary view based on Schon's notion of the reflective practitioner which exhorts HRD practitioners to embrace complexity and reflection. We outline, first, a number of dimensions of diversity which confer complexity upon HRD practice, and, second, a series of suggested questions that may aid the framing of practical problems in a more effective way than might be the case with a purely technical rationalist approach. We urge novice (and expert) HRD practitioners to adopt a mind set that is contemplative of the diversities that they may encounter in practice and which is conjectural with regard to how these diversities may impact upon problems and their solutions.

Technical development for deconstruction management

The Australian construction industry, particularly in the area of demolishing existing facilities, is responsible for up to 40% of the country's enormous solid waste streams, totalling about 14 million tonnes annually. The recently created concept of deconstruction, rather than destruction for demolishing a constructed facility, came about because of the rapidly increasing number of demolished buildings and changes in levels of environmental awareness. However,  reconstruction processes are now seen as only an interesting concept for reducing waste through reuse and recycling, but they fail to achieve widespread understanding or acceptance. The challenges faced by deconstruction are significant and diverse. The maturity of deconstruction practice depends on not only on tlle development of deconstruction techniques and management, but also on the enhancement of deconstruction awareness by the owners, designers, and construction teams, as well as the development of environmental regulations. These practical limitations are interrelated and mutually promotional. The technical developments in deconstruction management resulting from this research will have direct effects on various aspects, including the development of design and construction for deconstruction, deconstruction technology, reused material certification, recycl ing technology, and a method by which to calculate environmental benefits so that deconstruction would be promoted from an interesting concept mainly in theory to wide acceptance in practice. 

Utilisation of intranets for knowledge sharing : a socio-technical study

Although intranets appear to be ideal environments for employees to share knowledge quickly and efficiently, usage in practice appears limited. We report findings from two case studies that highlight three key issues limiting intranet utilisation for knowledge sharing: organisational structures and strategies, the impact of the receiver on sharer choices, and the availability of alternative channels for knowledge sharing. This study suggests that for companies to obtain more effective intranets, they need to better align organisational structures and strategies with intranet objectives, develop a comprehensive corporate communication plan, and find new ways to better link sharers with receivers’ knowledge needs.

Investigation of the value chain for creative products : a phenomenological study of the perceptions of music intermediaries

During the past decade, innovative digital technology and Internet marketplaces have created a variety of 'phenomena' of businesses, media and institutions considered to be important interaction channels in the music industry, along with an influx of Peer-to-Peer services such as Napster, and Kazaa shifting the business models of major music labels and distributors. Considering the Australian Music Association reported an annual retail turnover of approximately $300 million in 1992 and later in 1999, an increase in figures reported at $396.8 million with the inclusion of music DVD sales, the notion of value-adding to a music product emerges as a profitable venture at each length of the music industry's value chain. In spite of this, Australian studies have often overlooked the underlying perceptions, fears and ideas of those working within the value chain, especially regarding the impact of new technology on their roles. This paper identifies the perceptions of various intermediaries within the Australian Music Industry, identifying common themes and viewpoints amongst the study's participants. Consequently, the paper concluded that the perception of value in the music industry is somewhat influenced by a variety of factors, including music knowledge, communication and dependence on intermediaries to name a few. Common themes were revealed throughout the study include the perception of competitive advantage, new opportunities from new technology and the notion of defining a gimmick versus Value-Adding emerged as indicative of adding value from the study participants.

Toward an integrative role for intranets : an interpretive case study of intranet-based dynamic knowledge integration in socio-technical networks

An increasing challenge for contemporary businesses is to be able to respond to perceived opportunities and threats by dynamically integrating knowledge dispersed across and beyond the organisation. This paper provides findings from two interpretive case studies that illustrate how corporate intranets can be dynamically interwoven with other knowledge technologies in socio-technical networks (STNs) to integrate distributed formal and infonnal knowledge. A key finding suggests that businesses should carefully examine employee use of intranets for dynamic knowledge integration, and any implications stemming from this new integrative role for intranets. The paper also provides a theoretical framework for dynamic knowledge integration in STNs, which can underpin future research in this area.

Dynamic knowledge integration in socio-technical networks: an interpretive study of intranet use for knowledge integration

A major challenge facing firms competing in electronic business markets is the dynamic integration of knowledge within and beyond the firm, enabled by internet-based infrastructure and emergent fluid socio-technical networks. This paper explores how social actors dynamically employ intranets to integrate formal and informal knowledge within evolving socio-technical networks that emerge, permeate and extend beyond the organisational boundary. The paper presents two case studies that illustrate how static intranets can be useful for dynamically integrating knowledge when they are interwoven with other knowledge channels such as e-mail through which flows the informal knowledge needed to make sense of and situate formal organisational knowledge. The findings suggest that businesses should carefully examine how employees integrate intranets with other channels in their work, and the shaping of knowledge outcomes that flows from such use. There are practical implications for the proper skilling of thepeople who share and integrate knowledge in this way. The paper also provides a framework for dynamic knowledge integration in socio-technical networks, which can help underpin future research in this area.

A proposed smart-card solution for Australian health services : the problems encountered

This case study describes the experience of a state government health department in evaluating the use of smart card technology to redesign health benefits programs for the disabled in Australia. The social and political context of the system is explained in detail, and the potential benefits and risks accruing to the government, health care intermediaries and the community are examined.

Technical and scale efficiency of Islamic banking operations in Malaysia: an empirical investigation with a longitudinal perspective

Against the background of increasing competition from globalization and the trend towards consolidation, diversification and rationalization, the study of efficiency is most relevant in the Malaysian Islamic banking context, where all domestic commercial banks operate Islamic banking schemes. Using the non-parametric method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), this study investigates the recent efficiency of the Malaysian Islamic Banking system. The attributions of technical efficiency (utilization of capacity) and scale efficiency (optimality of scale achieved) are identified. Further, Islamic Banking Schemes operating under the dual banking system of foreign and domestic commercial banks were benchmarked to the country's two full-fledged Islamic banks to provide insight of the relative efficiencies. Amidst an overall improvement in TE and SE, it was noted that foreign banks (FB) increased efficiency levels to achieve full efficiency over the six-year period, and domestic banks (DB) followed by smaller improvement while the fully-fledged Islamic banks (FFIE) experienced a general decline in efficiency which was solely attributed to scale inefficiency. The findings provide useful guidelines for policy implications and may also assist banks concerned with their strategic planning with regard to the future of Islamic banking.

eCommerce in service industries : extending the socio-technical paradigm

The socio-technical framework (STF) is useful for describing how technologies are embedded in social systems and how people, groups and technologies are interrelated. This perspective, however, lacks theoretical specificity and has limited usefulness in explaining the dynamics of actual situations. In this paper we address the question of how to extend the STF to better analyse technologies in their social context. We build on the STF by including the concept of ‘information ecology’ and research on service provision to suggest a more empirically focussed way of analysing the relationships between people and technologies. In particular, we examine changes that have occurred as B2C eCommerce technologies have been implemented in service organisations, using case study findings from retail banking to introduce the concept of ‘Coactive Commerce Systems’. This concept provides a theoretically based descriptor for understanding the technologically-mediated interrelationships between organisations and their customers.