The impact of installer business models on the uptake of residential microgeneration in the UK: Evidence from a nation-wide survey

This paper arises from a doctoral thesis comparing the impact of alternative installer business models on the rate at which microgeneration is taken up in homes and installation standards across the UK. The paper presents the results of the first large-scale academic survey of businesses certified to install residential microgeneration. The aim is to systematically capture those characteristics which define the business model of each surveyed company, and relate these to the number, location and type of technologies that they install, and the quality of these installations. The methodology comprised a pilot web survey of 235 certified installer businesses, which was carried out in June last year and achieved a response rate of 30%. Following optimisation of the design, the main web survey was emailed to over 2000 businesses between October and December 2011, with 317 valid responses received. The survey is being complemented during summer 2012 by semi-structured interviews with a representative sample of installers who completed the main survey. The survey results are currently being analysed. The early results indicate an emerging and volatile market where solar PV, solar hot water and air source heat pumps are the dominant technologies. Three quarters of respondents are founders of their installer business, while only 22 businesses are owned by another company. Over half of the 317 businesses have five employees or less, while 166 businesses are no more than four years old. In addition, half of the businesses stated that 100% of their employees work on microgeneration-related activities. 85% of the surveyed companies have only one business location in the UK. A third of the businesses are based either in the South West or South East regions of England. This paper outlines the interim results of the survey combined with the outcomes from additional interviews with installers to date. The research identifies some of the business models underpinning microgeneration installers and some of the ways in which installer business models impact on the rate and standards of microgeneration uptake. A tentative conclusion is that installer business models are profoundly dependent on the levels and timing of support from the UK Feed-in Tariffs and Renewable Heat Incentive.

Interviewer experience, vocal skills and the recruitment of telephone survey respondents

Although telephone interviewing is the main market research method used in Australia, response rates are often low and possibly declining overall. Interviewers are the means by which respondents are recruited and it was hypothesised that their verbal skills and experience would affect response rates. Using data from four market research companies, interviewer experience was shown to be positively related to strike rate (interviews per hour). Apart from having a discernible accent which dampened strike rates and increased refusals, other verbal characteristics had only a weak effect on response rates.

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.

The recruitment and selection of vice-chancellors for Australian universities: an overview

This paper is based on recent Ph.D research. Recruitment and selection practices for appointing Vice Chancellors (VC's) of Australian Universities were examined. The methodology employed involved the use of a survey instrument administered to present and former VC's, Chancellors and members of selection panels, supplemented by interviews. Public domain material was also extensively used. Some key results of the research are reported, including the importance of informal processes such as networking in the selection ofVC's, the key role played by Chancellors, and the continued practice of appointing VC's from within academia rather than the private sector. This is in spite of evidence that the role of the VC has changed to one of strategic planner and business manager rather than the more traditional role, in the context of a rapidly changing external environment.

Small business perceptions of postal and online survey research

Concerns over the overall cost of marketing research and the cost per usable response have in large measure caused marketing practitioners to turn to online marketing research techniques, either as a solus technique, or in a mixed mode application. However, the use of e-mail and mixed mode surveys such as postal invitations to complete online questionnaires present both familiar and new issues, as the extant literature illustrates. This paper examines an earlier study before reporting findings from the present study, which employs a method that ascertains the probability of commissioning four survey research methods, described in scenarios and delivered using e-mail and the World Wide Web (Web). It is evident that while perceptions of e-mail, the Internet, and privacy have changed since early use of the Internet and more particularly the World Wide Web, and there is acknowledgement in the literature concerning the lower costs and faster response speeds of online marketing research, small businesses do appear to discriminate in favour of targeted online survey methods over postal surveys, portrayed as scenarios in this study, but that this perception does not apply to all hybrid survey modes.

Vice chancellors for the 21st century? A study of contemporary recruitment and selection practices in Australian universities

This article is based on recent Ph.D research. The practices for appointing Vice Chancellors (VC's) in Australian Universities were examined, together with the changing role of the VC and new demographic patterns in VC backgrounds. A number of other issues were also examined, including the training and preparation of VC's, mentoring and the changing skill base required to be effective in the role. In addition, the paradox was investigated of appointing academics from the ranks of individuals with non-business backgrounds, to run large enterprises which are being compelled to adopt an increasingly business-oriented focus. The methodology employed involved the use of a survey instrument administered to present and former VC's, Chancellors and members of selection panels, supplemented by interviews. Representatives of the Australian Vice Chancellors Committee (AVCC) and consultants operating in the academic field were also interviewed. In addition, extensive use was made of public domain material. The research was mainly qualitative in nature. However, use was also made of descriptive statistics to provide an insight into how higher education in Australia is changing and to analyse survey findings. Some key results of the research are reported, including the importance of informal processes such as networking in the selection of VC's, the key role played by Chancellors, and the continued practice of appointing VC's from within academia rather than the private sector. This is in spite of evidence that the role of the VC has changed to one of strategic planner and business manager rather than the more traditional role, in the context of a rapidly changing external environment. Suggestions are also made for ongoing research in the area.

The recruitment and retention of Indigenous criminal justice agency staff in an Australian state

In Australia, as in other countries that have experienced colonisation, indigenous people are massively overrepresented in all stages of the criminal justice system. If criminal justice agencies are to provide culturally responsive and effective services to this group, it is important that they employ significant numbers of indigenous staff across all levels of their organisations. Despite the positive intentions of many justice agencies to increase the proportion of indigenous staff members they employ, the numbers remain low. In this article, we explore some of the possible reasons for this by reporting the results of focus groups conducted with existing indigenous justice agency employees. The employees raised a number of issues relevant to recruitment and retention. These are discussed in terms of their potential value in improving justice agency indigenous recruitment and retention strategies.

From ivory towers to international business : are universities export ready in their recruitment of international students?

The main hypothesis examined in this study is that the success of export recruitment strategies of universities is partly determined by their export readiness, defined as a function of market orientation. This article seeks to fulfil both a research and a practitioner gap in the export of education field. There currently exists a lack of research and discussion concerning the business aspects of export education. Suspicion of the commercial aspects of what is essentially a public good is suggested as a possible reason for this absence of research. With the commercialisation of education growing at the phenomenal rate that it currently is, it is largely time that this research gap be addressed. This study provides an important contribution by examining the export readiness of universities, in particular pre-export market orientation, and its impact on subsequent export recruitment performance.

The seraphim profile of Australia's business angels : a survey of the identifying characteristics, behaviour patterns and investment criteria of informal venture capitalists in Australia

In Australia, as it is all over the world, finding and acquiring equity capital is one of the major problems facing entrepreneurs who are starting or growing entrepreneurial ventures. The informal venture capital market, made up of high net worth non-institutional private equity investors (or 'business Angels') provides risk capital directly to new and growing businesses and has been shown to be considerably more significant than institutional providers as a source of finance for entrepreneurial businesses. Building upon and comporting with Angel research undertaken overseas, this study generated and evaluated data resulting from an investigation of Australian business Angels which focused upon three primary research questions: (i) Who are Australia's Informal Venture Capitalists (Business Angels)? (ii) How do they behave? (iii) What are their investment criteria? Analysis of answers resulting from the in-depth survey of 36 carefully screened respondents produced a detailed portrait, summarised and depicted in twelve key graphs. Together, the graphs form a descriptive construct - the 'Seraphim Profile' - which articulates Australian business Angels' identifying characteristics, patterns of investment behaviour and investment criteria.

A brief review of recent research trends on applications of computational and statistical techniques in financial and business intelligence

Artificial neural networks and statistical techniques like decision trees, discriminant analysis, logistic regression and survival analysis play a crucial role in Business Intelligence. These predictive analytical tools exploit patterns found in historical data to make predictions about future events. In this paper we have shown some recent developments of a few of these techniques in financial and business intelligence applications like fraud detection, bankruptcy prediction and credit rating scoring.