Do dot coms add value : a preliminary study of the market capitalisation of Australian and Indian telecoms and banking sectors

E-Business is increasingly reshaping the way businesses operate across the globe. Globally, businesses in the banking and telecoms sectors have been re-engineering their value chains by adopting e-Business presence by means of dot com launches. The second half of the 1990s, however, saw both the rise and subsequent collapse of dot com entities as a major focus of investment interest, with consequent speculation over the viability of this corporate vehicle. The perceived increase in market capitalisation by means of these ventures during the boom period is now not so certain. In this paper, we report the results of a preliminary study which investigated the impact of dot com launches on market capitalisation within the banking and telecoms sectors of Australia and India.

Implemetation of electronic commerce and human resource strategies in an Australian retail banking context

As organisations deploy eCommerce and internet technologies for competitive advantage and to satisfy increasingly demanding customers, they will need to develop human resource (HR) strategies that prepare their employees to work with these technologies effectively. Little systematic investigation has been undertaken to discover how companies manage their HR functions to achieve these outcomes. In the retail banking sector these issues have become very important with increased competition, industry changes and heightened competition. This paper examines HR management strategy in one Australian bank as it moves towards online service provision and adopts other eCommerce applications. The paper draws on theoretical insights from Porter’s (2001) views of competitive advantage from the internet and writers discussing the informational society (Castells, 2001) and post-fordist organisations (Clegg, 1990). An analysis of interview data from this case study shows the issues that one bank is dealing with as it seeks competitive advantage from its customer service offerings while it revises its HR strategies.

Testing the factor structure of the behavioral-intentions battery: an empirical study of the Australian banking industry

The five-factor ‘Behavioural-Intentions Battery’ was developed by Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman (1996), to measure customer behavioural and attitudinal intentions. The structure of this model was re-examined by Bloomer, de Ruyter and Wetzels (1999) across different service industries. They concluded that service loyalty is a multi dimensional construct consisting of four, not five, distinct dimensions. To date, neither model has been tested within a banking environment. This research independently tested the ‘goodness of fit’ of both the four and five-factor models, to data collected from branch bank customers. Data were collected via questionnaire with a sample of 348 banking customers. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted upon the two opposing factor structures, revealing that the five-factor structure has a superior model fit; however, the fit is ‘marginal’.

Employee development strategies in the B2C banking environment: two Australian case studies

The implementation of technology and, in particular, eCommerce technologies has had unforeseen consequences for the relationship between managers and employees. To be able to operate in an increasingly global and competitive environment, retail banks have had to develop new ways of dealing with their employees. Issues have arisen that have necessitated a rethink in the way employees interact with customers and this, in turn, has required changes to human resource strategies. The question we address in this paper is what are the employee capabilities and qualities retail banks must develop to satisfy both more sophisticated customers (who demand flexibility of interactions, responsiveness and convenience) as well as the organisation’s own needs (including expanded sales opportunities, cost containment or reduction and customer loyalty) when implementing eCommerce technologies. The paper discusses two case studies illustrating some of the issues with which banks, as service organisations, have had to deal. These two banks have taken rather different approaches in their use of technology to interact with their customers and this has implications for the way they manage their employees who deal with those customers.

The road to internet banking: understanding emerging customer issues

This paper presents findings from an empirical study of banking customer experiences with the adoption of Internet banking. Using a qualitative, interpretive grounded theory approach and single and group interviews, the study explores customer perceptions and experiences and provides an understanding of how and why specific factors affect their decision whether or not to bank on the Internet in the current era. The findings are used to develop a theoretical framework which conceptualizes and links consumer issues influencing the adoption of this application, and we also provide a set of recommendations for banks. Specifically, the findings suggest that convenience – in particular, time savings – is the major motivator to bank on the Internet, while there are a range of other influential factors which could be modulated by banks. The results also highlight increasing online risk acceptance by customers and the growing importance of deep levels of customer support for online services. Key gender differences in attitudes to Internet banking are highlighted. This study suggests that organizations will improve their management of customer attitudes to new Internet service applications by understanding the need to proactively address customer fears and misconceptions about the technologies involved.

Productivity and efficiency analysis of Australia banking sector under deregulation

This paper conducts productivity and efficiency analysis of banks operating in Australia since the deregulation of the Australian financial system in early 1980s. Applying data envelopment analysis (DEA), with a moving window, the Malmquist indices are determined in order to investigate the levels of and the changes in the efficiency of Australian banks over the period from 1983 to 200 I. The DEA window analysis is adopted in order to relieve the small sample problem that in previous studies has proved problematic in the study of the Australian banking sector. The pal1icular window used in this case has been carefully designed to ensure the robustness of the efficiencies scores to changes in the window width. A second-stage regression is conducted by using the unconditional bootstrap approach suggested by Xue and Harker (1999) to overcome the dependency and heteroskedasticity of DE A efficiency scores. The empirical results demonstrate the effect of deregulation on the performance of individual banks, banks of different organizational types and the entire Australian banking sector.

Directors' remuneration and performance in Australian banking

This paper explores the relationship between directors' pay and performance within Australian banking, using panel data for the 1992-2005 period. The relationship between CEO pay and performance is investigated also. Several earnings models are estimated, using different dependent variables, alternate measures of performance and different estimation techniques. The results indicate an absence of a contemporaneous relationship between directors' pay and bank performance, and no association with prior year performance. However, there is a more distant pay-performance relationship, with total directors' pay having a robust positive association with earnings per share lagged two years, as well as with ROE lagged two years. The other key determinants of directors' pay in Australian banking are bank specific managerial policies, lags in the administration of pay, bank size, directors' age and directors' stock ownership. In contrast to total directors' pay, the evidence confirms a strong positive and direct association between CEO remuneration and prior year bank performance. The pay-performance association is stronger and more direct for CEO remuneration than it is for total directors' remuneration. The responsiveness of CEO pay with respect to bank performance appears to have increased over time.