Performance Benchmarking of Australian Business Regulation : Submission to the Productivity Commission

The need to “reduce red tape” and regulatory inconsistencies is a desirable outcome (OECD 1997) for developed countries. The costs normally associated with regulatory regimes are compliance costs and direct charges. Geiger and Hoffman (1998) have noted that the extent of regulation in an industry tends to be negatively associated with firm performance. Typically, approaches to estimation of the cost of regulations examine direct costs, such as fees and charges, together with indirect costs, such as compliance costs. However, in a fragmented system, such as Australia, costs can also be incurred due to procedural delays, either by government, or by industry having to adapt documentation for different spheres of government; lack of predictable outcomes, with variations occurring between spheres of government and sometimes within the same government agency; and lost business opportunities, with delays and red tape preventing realisation of business opportunities (OECD 1997). In this submission these costs are termed adaptation costs. The adaptation costs of complying with variations in regulations between the states has been estimated by the Building Product Innovation Council (2003) as being up to $600 million per annum for building product manufacturers alone. Productivity gains from increased harmonisation of the regulatory system have been estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars (ABCB 2003). This argument is supported by international research which found that increasing the harmonisation of legislation in a federal system of government reduces what we have termed adaptation costs (OECD 2001). Research reports into the construction industry in Australia have likewise argued that improved consistency in the regulatory environment could lead to improvements in innovation (PriceWaterhouseCoopers 2002), and that research into this area should be given high priority (Hampson & Brandon 2004). The opinion of industry in Australia has consistently held that the current regulatory environment inhibits innovation (Manley 2004). As a first step in advancing improvements to the current situation, a summary of the current costs experienced by industry needs to be articulated. This executive summary seeks to outline these costs in the hope that the Productivity Commission would be able to identify the best tools to quantify the actual costs to industry.

Research productivity levels of Chinese TEFL academics

Since China’s Economic Reform and its Open Door Policy, China has entered a new era of education (Adamson, 2002; Hu, 2005a). English has gained status as a language for international relations (Graddol, 1997) and international trade (Qu, 2007). Hence, in 2001, China’s Ministry of Education (MOE) required universities to offer 5-10% of their course units in English, particularly in the fields of information technology, biotechnology, finance and law (Jen, 2001; MOE, 2001). However, “the upgrading of national English proficiency, then, is predicted largely on the professional competence of the teaching force” (Hu, 2005b, p. 655). For TEFL academics, one component of this competence is the capacity to conduct research (Day, 1991; Shu, 2002). Indeed, research productivity has become essential for university success, and academics’ employment and promotional prospects. This study aims to investigate 182 Chinese TEFL academics’ research outputs across three Chinese higher education institutions through the research question: What are the research productivity levels of Chinese TEFL academics? A survey instrument was devised to gather TEFL academics’ calculations of research productivity and, in particular, the quality and quantity of research outputs over a five-year period (2004-2008). Descriptive statistics through SPSS were used to analyse data across research output fields (e.g., journal articles, conference papers). Academic status varied (n=182; teaching assistants 23.6%, lecturers 47.3%, associate professors 22.5%, and professors 6.6%) as did years of teaching (1-5 years 27.4%, 6-10 years 24.7%, 11-15 18.1%, 16-20 years 13.7%, > 21 years 15.9%). Results (n=182, male=27%, females=73%) indicated 18% had not produced any research in the five-year period. Indeed, more than 70% had produced no research in all categories except non-core journal articles and provincial projects. An overwhelming majority of TEFL academics had zero productivity in 10 of the 12 categories. Nevertheless, there were highly-productive TEFL academics, who had produced five or more pieces of research across the 12 categories. In addition, there was not much difference between sole and co-authored research outputs, except non-core journal articles where sole authored work was 20% higher than co-authored work. China’s desire for international competitiveness in education will require measures that facilitate higher levels of research productivity. These measures must include professional development, support and mentoring programs, and employment of personnel who can guide these processes. Research performance is an outcome, hence there is a need to understand Chinese TEFL academics’ perceptions about research, and experiences that may hinder and facilitate higher research productivity.

To work or not to work? Child development and maternal labor supply

We estimate the effect of early child development on maternal labor force participation. Mothers of poorly developing children may remain at home to care for their children. Alternatively, mothers may enter the labor force to pay for additional educational and health resources. Which action dominates is the empirical question we answer in this paper. We control for the potential endogeneity of child development by using an instrumental variables approach, uniquely exploiting exogenous variation in child development associated with child handedness. We find that a one unit increase in poor child development decreases maternal labor force participation by approximately 10 percentage points.

Dragline automation: experimental evaluation through productivity trial

Since 1993 we have been working on the automation of dragline excavators, the largest earthmoving machines that exist. Recently we completed a large-scale experimental program where the automation system was used for production purposes over a two week period and moved over 200,000 tonnes of overburden. This is a landmark achievement in the history of automated excavation. In this paper we briefly describe the robotic system and how it works cooperatively with the machine operator. We then describe our methodology for gauging machine performance, analyze results from the production trial and comment on the effectiveness of the system that we have created. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.

An assessment of construction labour productivity in Malaysia

The construction industry is one of major strategic importance. Its level of productivity has a significant effect on national economic growth. The analysis of published census/biannual surveys of construction by the Department of Statistics of Malaysia shows that Malaysia managed to achieve construction labour productivity growth between 1996 and 2005 despite increases in cost per employee. The decrease in unit labour costs is attributed to the value added improvement per worker through the increase in capital intensity. The marginal decline in capital productivity is due to the gestation period and the overcapacity of the industry. The civil engineering sub-sector recorded the highest labour productivity and is the most labour competitive in terms of unit labour cost and added value per labour cost. The residential sub-sectors recorded greatest change in the productivity indicators between 1996 and 2005.

International comparisons of Malaysian construction labour productivity

Productivity is basic statistical information for many international comparisons and country performance assessments. This study estimates the construction labour productivity of 79 selected economies. The real (purchasing power parities converted) and nominal construction expenditure from the Report of 2005 International Comparison Programme published by the World Bank and construction employment from the database of labour statistics (LABORSTA) operated by the Bureau of Statistics of International Labour Organization were used in the estimation. The inference statistics indicate that the descending order of nominal construction labour productivity from high income economies to low income economies is not established. The average construction labour productivity of low income economies is higher than middle income economies when the productivity calculation uses purchasing power parities converted data. Malaysia ranked 50th and 63rd position among the 79 selected economies on real and nominal measurement respectively.

Mining robotics

Mining is the process of extracting mineral resources from the Earth for commercial value. It is an ancient human activity which can be traced back to Palaeolithic times (43 000 years ago), where for example the mineral hematite was mined to produce the red pigment ochre. The importance of many mined minerals is reflected in the names of the major milestones in human civilizations: the stone, copper, bronze, and iron ages. Much later coal provided the energy that was critical to the industrial revolution and still underpins modern society, creating 38% of world energy generation today. Ancient mines used human and later animal labor and broke rock using stone tools, heat, and water, and later iron tools. Today’s mines are heavily mechanized with large diesel and electrically powered vehicles, and rock is broken with explosives or rock cutting machines.

Dragline automation - a decade of development : shared autonomy for improving mining equipment productivity

Draglines are massive machines commonly used in surface mining to strip overburden, revealing the targeted minerals for extraction. Automating some or all of the phases of operation of these machines offers the potential for significant productivity and maintenance benefits. The mining industry has a history of slow uptake of automation systems due to the challenges contained in the harsh, complex, three-dimensional (3D), dynamically changing mine operating environment. Robotics as a discipline is finally starting to gain acceptance as a technology with the potential to assist mining operations. This article examines the evolution of robotic technologies applied to draglines in the form of machine embedded intelligent systems. Results from this work include a production trial in which 250,000 tons of material was moved autonomously, experiments demonstrating steps towards full autonomy, and teleexcavation experiments in which a dragline in Australia was tasked by an operator in the United States.

Examining research productivity of Chinese TEFL academics across departments and institutes

This study aims to benchmark Chinese TEFL academics’ research productivities, as a way to identify and, subsequently, address research productivity issues. This study investigated 182 Chinese TEFL academics’ research outputs and perceptions about research across three Chinese higher education institutions using a literature-based survey. ANOVA, t-tests and descriptive statistics were used to analyse data from and between the three institutions. Findings indicated that more than 70% of the TEFL academics had produced no research in 10 of the 12 research output fields during 2004-2008. The English Language and Literature Department in the national university outperformed all other departments at the three institutes for most of the research output categories. While a majority of the participants seemed to hold positive perceptions about research, t-tests and ANOVA indicated that their research perceptions were significantly different across institutes and departments. Developing TEFL research capacity requires tertiary institutions to provide research-learning opportunities.

Enhancing research productivity of TEFL academics in China

As research has become an important indicator of TEFL academics’ overall performance in Chinese higher education institutions, it is critical that TEFL academics are able to meet the expectation of conducting research. This mixedmethod study investigated research productivity of Chinese TEFL academics and associated influences, with the ultimate objective of constructing a framework to help build their research capacity in the future. Using an initial survey, the study provided a snapshot of research productivity of 182 TEFL academics from three Chinese higher education institutions, and individual and institutional characteristics that influenced their research productivity. Using interviews and documents as the data sources, the subsequent qualitative case study of two purposively-sampled Chinese TEFL departments provided insights into Chinese TEFL academics’ perceptions about research, and individual, institutional and departmental efforts in meeting the research expectation. The findings from this study revealed that the 182 Chinese TEFL academics’ research productivity during 2004-2008 was relatively low as a whole as was the quality of their research. This study identified four influences that impacted on Chinese TEFL academics’ research productivity: TEFL disciplinary influences, institutional and departmental research environments, individual characteristics desirable for research, and TEFL academics’ perceptions about research. Drawing upon the above findings from this study, a Framework towards Enhancing Chinese TEFL Academics’ Research Productivity (FECTARP) was constructed. The FECTARP synthesised the findings from the study, and presented a framework for Chinese institutions and TEFL departments to enhance their TEFL academics’ research capacity.