The paradox of transparency : short-termism and the institutionalisation of Australian capital markets

As the ultimate corporate decision-makers, directors have an impact on the investment time horizons of the corporations they govern. How they make investment decisions has been profoundly influenced by the expansion of the investment chain and the increasing concentration of share ownership in institutional hands. By examining agency in light of legal theory, we highlight that the board is in fact sui generis and not an agent of shareholders. Consequently, transparency can lead to directors being 'captured' by institutional investor objectives and timeframes, potentially to the detriment of the corporation as a whole. The counter-intuitive conclusion is that transparency may, under certain conditions, undermine good corporate governance and lead to excessive short-termism.

Short-termism : challenges and resolutions

The global financial crisis has highlighted the vulnerability of our economy to systemic risks. While its causes are numerous and relate to complex problems deeply embedded in capital markets, ‘short-termism’ (excessive focus on short-term outcomes at the expense of long-term wealth creation and sustainability) has frequently been flagged as a major contributor to this crisis. Although short-termism is not new, the global financial crisis has highlighted the presence of short-termism among institutional investors, and the failure of global markets and regulators to deal with such perverse and destructive behaviour (Guyatt 2009). Solutions are clearly needed. Although there is a body of research that provides evidence of the presence of short-termism in capital markets and the consequences of short-term decision-making on the financial wellbeing of both individuals and organisations, there is no consensus on mitigating solutions to short-termism. What emerges from the literature is the need to take a broad interdisciplinary perspective in seeking solutions to the problem.

Role of corporate governance in mitigating the selective disclosure of executive stock option information

We examine the nature and extent of statutory executive stock option (ESO) disclosures by Australian listed companies over the 2001 to 2004 period, and the influence of corporate governance mechanisms on these disclosures. Our results show a progressive increase in overall compliance from 2001 to 2004. However, despite the improved compliance, the results reveal managements’ continued reluctance to disclose more sensitive ESO information. Factors associated with good internal governance, including board independence, audit committee independence and effectiveness, and compensation committee independence and effectiveness are found to contribute to improved compliance. Similarly, certain external governance factors are associated with improved disclosure, including external auditor quality, shareholder activism (as proxied by companies identified as poor performers by the Australian Shareholders’ Association), and regulatory intervention.

The role of the board of directors : perceptions of managerial elites

We highlight how directors and senior managers perceive the roles of a board to involve overseeing risk and compliance, strategy, governance, developing the CEO and senior management and managing stakeholders. We find that managers and directors perceive board effectiveness as linked to different combinations of these roles and that there appear to be differences in perceptions between different types of firms. We conclude that clarity around the board’s role set is critical to furthering the corporate governance research agenda, and that the relationship between board roles and perceived board effectiveness differs between managers and directors.

Reparations for Indigenous People: International and Comparative Perspectives

Published in concomitance with the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, this volume brings together a group of renowned legal experts and activists from different parts of the world who, from international and comparative perspectives, investigate the right of indigenous peoples to reparation for breaches of their individual and collective rights. The first part of the book is devoted to general aspects of this important matter, providing a comprehensive assessment of the relevant international legal framework and including overviews of the topic of reparations for human rights violations, the status of indigenous peoples in international law, and the vision of reparations as conceived by the communities concerned. The second part embraces a comprehensive investigation of the relevant practice at the international, regional, and national level, examining the best practices of reparations according to the ideologies and expectations of indigenous peoples and offering a comparative perspective on the ways in which the right of these peoples to redress for the injuries suffered is realized worldwide. The global picture painted by these contributions provides a view of the status of relevant international law that is synthesized in the two final chapters of the book, which include a concrete example of how a judicial claim for reparation is to be structured and prescribes the best practices and strategies to be adopted in order to maximize the opportunities for indigenous peoples to obtain effective redress. As a whole, this volume offers a comprehensive vision of its subject matter in international and comparative law, with a practical approach aimed at supporting legal academics, administrators, and practitioners in improving the avenues and modalities of reparations for indigenous peoples

The core role of the nurse practitioner: practice, professionalism and clinical leadership.

AIM: To draw on empirical evidence to illustrate the core role of nurse practitioners in Australia and New Zealand. BACKGROUND: Enacted legislation provides for mutual recognition of qualifications, including nursing, between New Zealand and Australia. As the nurse practitioner role is relatively new in both countries, there is no consistency in role expectation and hence mutual recognition has not yet been applied to nurse practitioners. A study jointly commissioned by both countries' Regulatory Boards developed information on the core role of the nurse practitioner, to develop shared competency and educational standards. Reporting on this study's process and outcomes provides insights that are relevant both locally and internationally. METHOD: This interpretive study used multiple data sources, including published and grey literature, policy documents, nurse practitioner program curricula and interviews with 15 nurse practitioners from the two countries. Data were analysed according to the appropriate standard for each data type and included both deductive and inductive methods. The data were aggregated thematically according to patterns within and across the interview and material data. FINDINGS: The core role of the nurse practitioner was identified as having three components: dynamic practice, professional efficacy and clinical leadership. Nurse practitioner practice is dynamic and involves the application of high level clinical knowledge and skills in a wide range of contexts. The nurse practitioner demonstrates professional efficacy, enhanced by an extended range of autonomy that includes legislated privileges. The nurse practitioner is a clinical leader with a readiness and an obligation to advocate for their client base and their profession at the systems level of health care. CONCLUSION: A clearly articulated and research informed description of the core role of the nurse practitioner provides the basis for development of educational and practice competency standards. These research findings provide new perspectives to inform the international debate about this extended level of nursing practice. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The findings from this research have the potential to achieve a standardised approach and internationally consistent nomenclature for the nurse practitioner role.

Wireless sensor devices for animal tracking and control

This paper describes some new wireless sensor hardware developed for pastoral and environmental applications. From our early experiments with Mote hardware we were inspired to develop our devices with improved radio range, solar power capability, mechanical and electrical robustness, and with unique combinations of sensors. Here we describe the design and evolution of a small family of devices: radio/processor board, a soil moisture sensor interface, and a single board multi-sensor unit for animal tracking experiments.

Theorizing about board governance of nonprofit organizations : surveying the landscape

Leading scholars on nonprofit governance have urged that future research be more informed by theory in order to promote more rigorous analysis. The aim of this paper is to survey the major theories on board governance, including those based in the disciplines of economics, management, sociology, psychology, politics, history and theology, in order to respond to this challenge. In addition, the relevance of these theories to a critical set of board behaviors - that is, how boards monitor, judge and influence organizational performance - is examined. Gaps in the theoretical literature are identified, and implications for public policy are explored. We conclude that a multi-theory and multi-disciplinary perspective is needed if research on governance of nonprofit organizations is to be complete in scope, rich in content, and relevant.

Internal audit department characteristics/activities and audit fees : some evidence from Hong Kong firms

This study provides preliminary support for the notion that internal audit function assists in reducing external audit effort and fees. Data on internal audit characteristics and activities are obtained from survey respondents of Hong Kong companies and audit fee model data are acquired from their annual reports. The results of this study suggest that the external auditor of firms in Hong Kong rely on the internal audit function and subsequently charge a lower fee. Lower external audit fees are associated with a larger internal audit department and certain activities carried out by the internal audit. Specifically, lower external audit fees are associated with more internal audit effort spent on activities relating to financial statements, systems development and maintenance, operating efficiency and effectiveness, fraud investigations and unlimited access to internal auditors’ working papers. The results of this study suggest that the contribution of the internal audit may substitute for some substantive external auditing processes and lower monitoring costs.

Ownership structure and business evaluation practices in family SMEs : evidence from empirical research in Italy

This paper presents early results from a pilot project which aims to investigate the relationship between proprietary structure of small and medium- sized Italian family firms and their owners’ orientation towards a “business evaluation process”. Evidence from many studies point out the importance of family business in a worldwide economic environment: in Italy 93% of the businesses are represented by family firms; 98% of them have less than 50 employees (Italian Association of Family Firms, 2004) so we judged family SMEs as a relevant field of investigation. In this study we assume a broad definition of family business as “a firm whose control (50% of shares or voting rights) is closely held by the members of the same family” (Corbetta,1995). “Business evaluation process” is intended here both as “continuous evaluation process” (which is the expression of a well developed managerial attitude) or as an “immediate valuation” (i.e. in the case of new shareholder’s entrance, share exchange among siblings, etc). We set two hypotheses to be tested in this paper: the first is “quantitative” and aims to verify whether the number of owners (independent variable) in a family firm is positively correlated to the business evaluation process. If a family firm is led by only one subject, it is more likely that personal values, culture and feelings may affect his choices more than “purely economic opportunities”; so there is less concern about monitoring economic performance or about the economic value of the firm. As the shareholders’ number increases, economic aspects in managing the firm grow in importance over the personal values and "value orientation" acquires a central role. The second hypothesis investigates if and to what extent the presence of “non- family members” among the owners affects their orientation to the business evaluation process. The “Cramer’s V” test has been used to test the hypotheses; both were not confirmed from these early results; next steps will lead to make an inferential analysis on a representative sample of the population.

American public journalism versus other international media models

Chapter 2 of 'International Journalism and Democracy' provides examples of what the author dubs "deliberative journalism". Following a definition of deliberative journalism in Chapter 1, the book's second chapter examines major models of deliberative journalism that are in operation around the world. These models include public journalism, citizen journalism, community and alternative media, development journalism and peace journalism. The author argues that when these new forms of journalism are practiced well, they extend people's ability to identify, express, understand and respond to politics and issues affecting their communities. However, the main models of deliberative journalism all have contentious elements. Many deliberative journalism practioners have been subjected to criticism for lack of objectivity and poor professional standards. Many of their activities have clearly been ill-conceived. The author also finds that neither professional nor citizen journalists have a strong understanding of what constitutes "good practice" in deliberative journalism. Furthermore, there is much debate as to whether the type of "citizen journalism" that is posted intermittently on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other social media can even be defined as "journalism". The practice of deliberative journalism can potentially contribute to public deliberation, but it does not always do so in any immediate or obvious way. The author finds that even so, deliberative journalism indirectly strengthens the environments that support fertile deliberation and decision making. (See the Extended Abstract for further details.)

Volunteer visibility : what and how Australian not-for-profit organisations report volunteer contributions

The enhanced social profile of not-for-profit organisations (NFPs) and the role of volunteers have resulted in calls for NFPs to be more accountable and to disclose information relating to such contributions. In this study we identify, locate and categorise the extent of disclosures made in relation to volunteer contributions. We find that disclosure was more prevalent on NFP websites compared to digital annual report disclosures. We find that more NFPs provided disclosure on the activities of their volunteers than other items pertaining to volunteers. The valuation of volunteer contributions was the least likely to be disclosed. The findings contribute to international debate over the inclusion of volunteer contributions in the assessment of a NFP’s accountability over its resources and ultimately the enhancement of its sustainability.

Development and evaluation of an integrated clinical learning model to inform continuing education for acute care nurses

Background Significant ongoing learning needs for nurses have occurred as a direct result of the continuous introduction of technological innovations and research developments in the healthcare environment. Despite an increased worldwide emphasis on the importance of continuing education, there continues to be an absence of empirical evidence of program and session effectiveness. Few studies determine whether continuing education enhances or develops practice and the relative cost benefits of health professionals’ participation in professional development. The implications for future clinical practice and associated educational approaches to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse multigenerational and multicultural workforce are also not well documented. There is minimal research confirming that continuing education programs contribute to improved patient outcomes, nurses’ earlier detection of patient deterioration or that standards of continuing competence are maintained. Crucially, evidence-based practice is demonstrated and international quality and safety benchmarks are adhered to. An integrated clinical learning model was developed to inform ongoing education for acute care nurses. Educational strategies included the use of integrated learning approaches, interactive teaching concepts and learner-centred pedagogies. A Respiratory Skills Update education (ReSKU) program was used as the content for the educational intervention to inform surgical nurses’ clinical practice in the area of respiratory assessment. The aim of the research was to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing the ReSKU program using teaching and learning strategies, in the context of organisational utility, on improving surgical nurses’ practice in the area of respiratory assessment. The education program aimed to facilitate better awareness, knowledge and understanding of respiratory dysfunction in the postoperative clinical environment. This research was guided by the work of Forneris (2004), who developed a theoretical framework to operationalise a critical thinking process incorporating the complexities of the clinical context. The framework used educational strategies that are learner-centred and participatory. These strategies aimed to engage the clinician in dynamic thinking processes in clinical practice situations guided by coaches and educators. Methods A quasi experimental pre test, post test non–equivalent control group design was used to evaluate the impact of the ReSKU program on the clinical practice of surgical nurses. The research tested the hypothesis that participation in the ReSKU program improves the reported beliefs and attitudes of surgical nurses, increases their knowledge and reported use of respiratory assessment skills. The study was conducted in a 400 bed regional referral public hospital, the central hub of three smaller hospitals, in a health district servicing the coastal and hinterland areas north of Brisbane. The sample included 90 nurses working in the three surgical wards eligible for inclusion in the study. The experimental group consisted of 36 surgical nurses who had chosen to attend the ReSKU program and consented to be part of the study intervention group. The comparison group included the 39 surgical nurses who elected not to attend the ReSKU program, but agreed to participate in the study. Findings One of the most notable findings was that nurses choosing not to participate were older, more experienced and less well educated. The data demonstrated that there was a barrier for training which impacted on educational strategies as this mature aged cohort was less likely to take up educational opportunities. The study demonstrated statistically significant differences between groups regarding reported use of respiratory skills, three months after ReSKU program attendance. Between group data analysis indicated that the intervention group’s reported beliefs and attitudes pertaining to subscale descriptors showed statistically significant differences in three of the six subscales following attendance at the ReSKU program. These subscales included influence on nursing care, educational preparation and clinical development. Findings suggest that the use of an integrated educational model underpinned by a robust theoretical framework is a strong factor in some perceptions of the ReSKU program relating to attitudes and behaviour. There were minimal differences in knowledge between groups across time. Conclusions This study was consistent with contemporary educational approaches using multi-modal, interactive teaching strategies and a robust overarching theoretical framework to support study concepts. The construct of critical thinking in the clinical context, combined with clinical reasoning and purposeful and collective reflection, was a powerful educational strategy to enhance competency and capability in clinicians.

Manufacturing practices and performances: A Malaysian study

The purpose of this study is to identify the most common manufacturing practices adopted by the Malaysian manufacturers, company performance factors and relationship between practices and performances. To fulfil the study objectives, 400 manufacturers were surveyed by a standard 400 questionnaire. Three research methodologies such as descriptive analysis, ANOVA and regression analysis have been employed in this study. The analysis revealed that Malaysian manufacturers focus on optimizing three critical performance factors: product development, less customer return rate and on time delivery (OTD). The most important competitive factor was found to be company reputation and design and manufacturing capacity is the least important factor. The findings also proved that manufacturing practices significantly influence company performances

The adoption of advanced quality practices and its impact on manufacturers

Presently, the manufacturing sector faces unprecedented levels of competition in both the domestic and international markets. This competition is mainly as a result of rapidly expanding international trade, gradual removal of protection, substantial reforms in labour markets and industrial relations, rapid technological changes and discerning customers. Intense global competition requires manufacturers to deliver products with higher quality in a shorter time. Simultaneously, owing to new technological innovations, the complexity of the products is increasing. In Australia, the impact of this intense competition and structural changes appear to be having negative effects on the manufacturing sector. This paper discusses the quality and reliability (Q & R) practices and associated drawbacks of Australian manufacturers and presents the findings of an investigation of the challenges Australian manufacturers are currently facing. The results reported in the paper are based on the data collected from a survey using the standard questionnaire. The study was driven by a conceptual model, which relates advanced quality practices to manufacturing performance and manufacturing difficulties.Evidence indicates that Q & R is the main competitive factor for Australian manufacturers. Design capability and on time delivery (OTD) came second. Results show that Australian manufacturers in general are facing some manufacturing difficulties. The relationship between advanced quality practices and company performance and manufacturing difficulties are explored. It is found that the companies who have more emphasis on advanced quality practices have fewer problems in manufacturing practices. Moreover, companies who have actively implemented the advanced quality practices have managed to improve the quality of the product continuously. The results validate the proposed hypothesis and lend credence to current thinking that improvement in Q & R is a vital tool for competitive advantage.