New product development process in the Australian grocery market

This paper examines the new product development processes in the Australian grocery market and provides a new product development process that can be applied to large, medium and small grocery organisations. The research findings highlight the importance of senior management support during the new product development process. This support is a key factor in the performance of the new product development activity and the proposed new product development process for Australian grocery organisations emphasises senior management's role as a key element in the new product development process.

An Australian response to recent developments in the market for audit services

Where the quality - both competence and independence - of an audit is tested, often in the circumstance of a corporate failure, auditors frequently have good defenses as to their competency but rarely do they have equally convincing defenses for the objectivity of their decision-making or the independence of their audit. It is recommended that large audit firms establish an independence board with the authority to define, review and decide upon all threats and potential threats to independence. It would also have responsibility for quality-control and educational programs in respect of audit firm's independence decision-making. Firms would make transparent the processes of the boards, their membership and quality-control procedures. Firms would compete on their independence control processes and not just competence and price. Additionally, firms need to encourage a culture that rewards personnel for seeking counsel on issues pertinent to independence.

Australian forex market anaylsis using connectionist models

The need for intelligent monitoring systems has become a necessity to keep track of the complex forex market. The forex market is difficult to understand by an average individual. However, once the market is broken down into simple terms, the average individual can begin to understand the foreign exchange market and use it as a financial instrument for future investing. This paper is an attempt to compare the performance of a Takagi-Sugeno type neuro-fuzzy system and a feed forward neural network trained using the scaled conjugate gradient algorithm to predict the average monthly forex rates. The exchange values of Australian dollar are considered with respect to US dollar, Singapore dollar, New Zealand dollar, Japanese yen and United Kingdom pound. The connectionist models were trained using 70% of the data and remaining was used for testing and validation purposes. It is observed that the proposed connectionist models were able to predict the average forex rates one month ahead accurately. Experiment results also reveal that neuro-fuzzy technique performed better than the neural network.

Over and undernutrition in the children of Australian immigrants : assessing the influence of birthplace of primary carer and english language use at home on the nutritional status of 4-5-year-olds

Objective. To document the relationship between childhood nutrition status and ethnicity (defined as the birthplace of primary carer and English language use at home) using a nationally representative sample of 4- to 5-year-old children. Design and participants. Cross-sectional population survey of 4 983 4- to 5-year-old children (2 537 boys and 2 446 girls) as part of Wave 1 (2004) of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Main outcome measures. Overweight/obesity and thinness using the newly published body mass index cut-off points of Cole (2007). Results. In total, 20.6% (95%CI 19.5, 21.7) of children aged 4 to 5 years were estimated to be overweight or obese, while 1.0% (95%CI 0.8, 1.3) was thin. Unadjusted analyses showed a significant relationship between childhood overweight/obesity and primary carer's country of birth (χ2=15.9, p<0.01), but the significance became minimal after adjusting for socio-economic and demographic factors. The adjusted model suggests that boys of primary carer's born in Europe (excluding UK and Ireland) were less likely to be overweight/obese than boys whose primary carers were born in Australia, but the overall effect size was negligible. No difference was found for girls. In addition, boys who mainly spoke English at home were less likely to be overweight/obese (OR=0.49; 95%CI 0.27, 0.88; p=0.017) and thin (OR=0.27; 95%CI 0.12, 0.62; p=0.002) than boys who spoke a language other than English at home. No difference was found for girls. Conclusions. There is a relationship between main language spoken at home and nutritional status in 4-5-year-old boys but not girls. The use of English language at home may be a protective factor for normal weight in young boys. After adjustment for socio-economic and demographics characteristics, there was a negligible relationship between overweight/obesity in children and their primary carer's country of birth.

The information content of directors' trades: empirical analysis of the Australian market

We examine the trading activities of directors in shares of their own companies on the Australian Stock Exchange during the July-December 2005 period. We find that directors of small companies in particular earn abnormal return after both their 'Purchase' and as well as their 'Sale' trade. Directors of these companies have an uncanny ability to time the market by trading when mispricing is greatest, and are able to predict the future performance of their firms in short run. For directors of medium and large companies, we find evidence that 'Sale' trades are the ones which work as loss avoiders. Outsiders recognise to some extent that directors' trades are informative, however they are slow to incorporate the new information into prices, refuting much of the market efficiency literature.

Service and support needs of Australian carers supporting a family member with disability at home

Background As part of an international, multicentre project, the service and support needs of Australian family carers were investigated.

Method A sample of 1,390, 448 family carers completed a self-report survey, including an adaptation of the Family Needs Survey (FNS) and several open-ended questions. A mixed method design was used, employing quantitative and qualitative analyses.

Results On the FNS the most frequently endorsed items were those relating to the need for information about services and, in particular, future, out-of-home accommodation. Similarly, the need for respite services was endorsed by over 80% of respondents. Comments indicated that access to and the quality of respite, day support, and therapy programs were a priority.

Conclusions Participants expressed the need for greater access to information. Access to appropriate respite options, together with quality day support and therapy services, remain a priority for family carers.

Doing business in China : how Australian companies make their decisions when entering the Chinese market

This report describes and analyses the experiences of Australian businesses which have established operations or conduct business in China, both successfully and unsuccessfully. The information was collected over the period from August to November in 2007. It involved interviews with 43 respondents from 40 different Australian businesses across both manufacturing and service industries. The project was motivated by the increasing significance of China to Australia’s economy (such as the demand for Australian iron and coal exports and the transfer of much of Australia’s manufacturing operations there) and its extraordinary growth and development over the past 10 years. Using the contemporary modes of international expansion as a framework, the research considered companies which had entered China through Wholly Owned Foreign Enterprises (WOFEs), Joint Ventures, exporting and other forms such as licensing and agents. Most of the participants had located their operations in China in the eastern region, including Shanghai, Beijing, Guanzhou, Shenzhen and Tianjin.

Effect of a low-resource-intensive lifestyle modification program incorporating gymnasium-based and home-based resistance training on type 2 diabetes risk in Australian adults

OBJECTIVE--The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a low-resource-intensive lifestyle modification program incorporating resistance training and to compare a gymnasium-based with a home-based resistance training program on diabetes diagnosis status and risk.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS--A quasi-experimental two-group study was undertaken with 122 participants with diabetes risk factors; 36.9% had impaired glucose tolerance (1GT) or impaired fasting glucose (IFG) at baseline. The intervention included a 6-week group self-management education program, a gymnasium-based or home-based 12-week resistance training program, and a 34-week maintenance program. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and 2-h plasma glucose, blood lipids, blood pressure, body composition, physical activity, and diet were assessed at baseline and week 52.

RESULTS--Mean 2-h plasma glucose and FPG fell by 0.34 mmol/1 (95% CI--0.60 to--0.08) and 0.15 mmol/l (-0.23 to -0.07), respectively. The proportion of participants with IFG or IGT decreased from 36.9 to 23.0% (P = 0.006). Mean weight loss was 4.07 kg (-4.99 to -3.15). The only significant difference between resistance training groups was a greater reduction in systolic blood pressure for the gymnasium-based group (P = 0.008).

CONCLUSIONS--This intervention significantly improved diabetes diagnostic status and reduced diabetes risk to a degree comparable to that of other low-resource-intensive lifestyle modification programs and more intensive interventions applied to individuals with IGT. The effects of home-based and gymnasium-based resistance training did not differ significantly.

Cultural impact on entry mode strategies into Chinese market by Australian companies

This Paper examines the cultural impact on the choice of entry mode strategies of Australian companies entering the Chinese Market. The Paper stresses the view that cultural differences must be considered when making entry mode  decisions. The evidence gained from an analysis of case studies undertaken of two Australian companies is presented in this paper. In both cases cultural differences have major affects on the decision-making process of China operations at a strategic level. It also indicates that a uniform process of entry mode stages, as suggested in the literature on entry options, may not be  suitable. Entry mode strategy should be determined on a case-by-case base and evaluated with culture considered prior to other criteria.