Trade-offs between timber production and biodiversity in rainforest plantations: Emerging issues and an ecological perspective

During the past two centuries there have been three major paradigm shifts in the management of Australian rainforests and the use of their timbers: from felling native forests towards growing plantations; from viewing forests and plantations as mainly providers of timber to viewing them as sources of multiple benefits (e.g. timber, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, catchment protection, recreation, regional economic development); and from timber plantations being developed mainly by government on public land towards those established by private citizens, companies, or joint venture arrangements, on previously-cleared freehold land. Rainforest timber plantations are increasingly established for varied reasons, and with multiple objectives. Landholders are increasingly interested in the biodiversity values of their plantations. However, there are few guidelines on the changes to plantation design and management that would augment biodiversity outcomes, or on the extent to which this might require a sacrifice of production. [Abstract extract]

The importance of considering social issues in reforestation schemes

This paper reports the results of a survey of north Queensland landholder attitudes with respect to a number of issues relating to participation in forestry. The survey explored the reasons why landholders plant trees, perceived obstacles to greater farm forestry, and attitudes to tree planting programs such as the Community Rainforest Reforestation Program (CRRP) and Private Joint Venture Scheme (PJVS). The results of the survey are discussed in the context of possible policy prescriptions that can be made at local, state and federal government levels to facilitate greater tree planting in the region. Many of the problems faced by local landholders are shared by landholders in other parts of Australia and throughout the world. This survey can thus serve as a case study, providing information on a number of issues concerning small-scale forestry policies that are of general relevance to the development of farm forestry programs.

Managing the dynamic configuration of enterprises

Due to environmental changes and business trends such as globalisation, outsourcing and virtualisation, more and more companies get involved in business activities that are outside their direct control. This typically occurs by entering into collaborative relationships and joint ventures with specialised companies in order to fulfil the demands of customers quickly (DiMaggio, 2001). Organisational structures that results from such collaborative relationships and joint ventures are referred to in this paper as enterprises and the management of them known as enterprise management. The authors use the definition of the European Commission (2003) that defines an enterprise as “… an entity, regardless of its legal form … including partnerships or associations regularly engaged in economic activities.” Therefore in its most simple form an enterprise could be a single integrated company. However, findings from this research show that enterprises can also be made up of parts of different companies and the structure of the enterprise is contingent upon a variety of different factors. The success of the enterprise as a collaborative venture depends on the ability of companies to intermediate their internal core competencies into other participating companies’ value streams and simultaneously outsource their own peripheral activities to companies that can perform them quicker, cheaper, and more effectively (Lal et al., 1995). In other words, the peripheral activities of one member-company must be complemented by a core competence of another member-company within an overall enterprise.

Estimating additionality and leverage:between public and private sector equity finance in Ireland (2000 – 2002)

This paper aims to contribute to the debate about the role of the public sector in stimulating greater use of private sector equity for business start-up and growth in two ways. First, to examine the extent to which the provision of public sector equity finance enables individual firms to raise additional funds in the private sector market place. Second, to consider the methodological implications for an economic impact assessment of industrial policy interventions (especially those which include an equity component) at the level of the individual firm. We assess the extent to which there may be indirect positive effects (externalities) associated with public sector financial assistance to individual firms and if so how they distort standard evaluation methodologies designed to estimate the level of additionality of that support. The paper draws upon the results of a recent study of the impact of Enterprise Ireland (EI) financial assistance to indigenous Irish industry in the period 2000 to 2002. The paper demonstrates that a process of re-calibration is necessary in estimates of economic impact in order to account for these positive externalities and the result in this study was a ‘boost’ to additionality. In operational and conceptual terms, the study underlines the importance of the relationship between private and public sector sources of equity finance as an important dynamic in the attempt by industrial and regional policy to stimulate the number of firms with viable investment proposals accessing external equity finance.

S100A4 downregulates filopodia formation through increased dynamic instability

Cell migration requires the initial formation of cell protrusions, lamellipodia and/or filopodia, the attachment of the leading lamella to extracellular cues and the formation and efficient recycling of focal contacts at the leading edge. The small calcium binding EF-hand protein S100A4 has been shown to promote cell motility but the direct molecular mechanisms responsible remain to be elucidated. In this work, we provide new evidences indicating that elevated levels of S100A4 affect the stability of filopodia and prevent the maturation of focal complexes. Increasing the levels of S100A4 in a rat mammary benign tumor derived cell line results in acquired cellular migration on the wound healing scratch assay. At the cellular levels, we found that high levels of S100A4 induce the formation of many nascent filopodia, but that only a very small and limited number of those can stably adhere and mature, as opposed to control cells, which generate fewer protrusions but are able to maintain these into more mature projections. This observation was paralleled by the fact that S100A4 overexpressing cells were unable to establish stable focal adhesions. Using different truncated forms of the S100A4 proteins that are unable to bind to myosin IIA, our data suggests that this newly identified functions of S100A4 is myosin-dependent, providing new understanding on the regulatory functions of S100A4 on cellular migration.

Entry modes and performance of foreign direct investment in China

How does a firm choose a proper model of foreign direct investment (FDI) for entering a foreign market? Which mode of entry performs better? What are the performance implications of joint venture (JV) ownership structure? These important questions face a multinational enterprise (MNE) that decides to enter a foreign market. However, few studies have been conducted on such issues, and no consistent or conclusive findings are generated, especially with respect to China. It’s composed of five chapters, providing corresponding answers to the questions given above. Specifically, Chapter One is an overall introductory chapter. Chapter Two is about the choice of entry mode of FDI in China. Chapter Three examines the relationship between four main entry modes and performance. Chapter Four explores the performance implications of JV ownership structure. Chapter Five is an overall concluding chapter. These empirical studies are based on the most recent and richest data that has never been explored in previous studies. It contains information on 11,765 foreign-invested enterprises in China in seven manufacturing industries in 2000, 10,757 in 1999, and 10,666 in 1998. The four FDI entry modes examined include wholly-owned enterprises (WOEs), equity joint ventures (EJVs), contractual joint ventures (CJVs), and joint stock companies (JSCs). In Chapter Two, a multinominal logit model is established, and techniques of multiple linear regression analysis are employed in Chapter Three and Four. It was found that MNEs, under the conditions of a good investment environment, large capital commitment and small cultural distance, prefer the WOE strategy. If these conditions are not met, the EJV mode would be of greater use. The relative propensity to pursue the CJV mode increases with a good investment environment, small capital commitment, and small cultural distance. JSCs are not favoured by MNEs when the investment environment improves and when affiliates are located in the coastal areas. MNEs have been found to have a greater preference for an EJV as a mode of entry into the Chinese market in all industries. It is also found that in terms of return on assets (ROA) and asset turnover, WOEs perform the best, followed by EJVs, CJVs, and JSCs. Finally, minority-owned EJVs or JSCs are found to outperform their majority-owned counterparts in terms of ROA and asset turnover.

Knowledge acquisition in international strategic alliances among Malaysian manufacturing firms

This thesis examines the process of knowledge acquisition by Malaysian manufacturing firms through their involvement in international strategic alliances. The strategic alliances can be with or without equity involvement. Firms involved with a foreign partner with equity involvement are joint venture firms while non-equity involvement are firms that engaged in contractual agreements. Using empirical evidence from 65 international alliances gathered through a survey conducted in high-technology manufacturing sectors, several factors that influence the process of knowledge acquisition are examined. The factors are: learning capacity, experience, goals, active involvement and accessibility to the foreign knowledge. Censored regression analysis and ordered probit analysis are used to analyse the effects of these factors on knowledge acquisition and its determinant parts, and the effects of knowledge acquisition and its determinants on the performance of the alliances. A second questionnaire gathered evidence relating to the factors, which encouraged tacit knowledge transfer between the foreign and Malaysian partners in international alliances. The key findings of the study are: knowledge acquisition in international strategic alliances is influenced by five determining factors; learning capacity, experience, articulated goals, active involvement and accessibility; new technology knowledge, product development knowledge and manufacturing process knowledge are influenced differently by the determining factors; knowledge acquisition and its determinant factors have a significant impact on the firm’s performance; cultural differences tend to moderate the effect on the firm’s performance; acquiring tacit knowledge is not only influenced by the five determinant factors but also by other factors, such as dependency, accessibility, trust, manufacturing control, learning methods and organisational systems; Malaysian firms involved in joint ventures tend to acquire more knowledge than those involved in contractual agreements, but joint ventures also exhibit higher degrees of dependency than contractual agreements; and the presence of R&D activity in the Malaysian partner encourages knowledge acquisition, but the amount of R&D expenditure has no effect on knowledge acquisition.

Antecedents and consequences of market orientation : an examination in the joint ventures' relational context

Market oriented behaviours have been found to be important predictors of business success across a wide array of studies. Despite their potential importance, research into market oriented behaviours in the joint venture (JV) context is very scarce. This study represents a novel attempt to address this gap by examining a set of antecedent factors which arises from sources outside a traditional firm’s boundary. An extensive review and synthesis of the market orientation and JV literature yielded a set of context-specific antecedent factors relevant to the JV’s relational context. In accordance with the perspective offered by the transaction cost theory, a system of hypotheses about the effects of these antecedent factors on JV’s market oriented behaviours was developed. In order to test these hypotheses, empirical evidence was collected by means of a mail survey to international joint ventures operating in the coastal regions of mainland China. A sample of 191 JV firms was collected as a result. Following well established procedures for scale development and purification as recommended in the methodology literature, the scales were critically trimmed and reviewed for their psychometric properties. The conceptual model was tested with a structural equation model. Results suggested that a number of context-specific antecedents are in fact important determinants of JVs’ level of market oriented behaviours. In addition, the linkage between market oriented behaviours and market performance was also successfully established.

Cell surface analysis of the basidiomycete yeast cryptococcus neoformans

Cell surface properties of the basidiomycete yeast Cryptococcus neoformans were investigated with a combination of novel and well proven approaches. Non-specific cell adhesion forces, as well as exposed carbohydrate and protein moieties potentially associated with specific cellular interaction, were analysed. Experimentation and analysis employed cryptococcal cells of different strains, capsular status and culture age. Investigation of cellular charge by particulate microelectrophoresis revealed encapsulated yeast forms of C. neoformans manifest a distinctive negative charge regardless of the age of cells involved; in turn, the neutral charge of acapsulate yeasts confirmed that the polysaccharide capsule, and not the cell wall, was responsible for this occurrence. Hydrophobicity was measured by MATH and HICH techniques, as well as by the attachment of polystyrene microspheres. All three techniques, where applicable, found C. neoformans yeast to be consistently hydrophilic; this state varied little regardless of strain and culture age. Cell surface carbohydrates and protein were investigated with novel fluorescent tagging protocols, flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. Cell surface carbohydrate was identified by controlled oxidation in association with biotin hydrazide and fluorescein-streptavidin tagging. Marked amounts of carbohydrate were measured and observed on the cell wall surface of cryptococcal yeasts. Furthermore, tagging of carbohydrates with selective fluorescent lectins supported the identification, measurement and observation of substantial amounts of mannose, glucose and N-acetyl-glucosamine. Cryptococcal cell surface protein was identified using sulfo-NHS-biotin with fluorescein-streptavidin, and then readily quantified by flow cytometry. Confocal imaging of surface exposed carbohydrate and protein revealed common localised areas of vivid fluorescence associated with buds, bud scars and nascent daughter cells. Carbohydrate and protein fluorescence often varied between strains, culture age and capsule status of cells examined. Finally, extension of protein tagging techniques resulted in the isolation and extraction of two biotinylated proteins from the yeast cell wall surface of an acapsulate strain of C.neoformans.

Cost models for engineering services

This thesis describes the procedure and results from four years research undertaken through the IHD (Interdisciplinary Higher Degrees) Scheme at Aston University in Birmingham, sponsored by the SERC (Science and Engineering Research Council) and Monk Dunstone Associates, Chartered Quantity Surveyors. A stochastic networking technique VERT (Venture Evaluation and Review Technique) was used to model the pre-tender costs of public health, heating ventilating, air-conditioning, fire protection, lifts and electrical installations within office developments. The model enabled the quantity surveyor to analyse, manipulate and explore complex scenarios which previously had defied ready mathematical analysis. The process involved the examination of historical material costs, labour factors and design performance data. Components and installation types were defined and formatted. Data was updated and adjusted using mechanical and electrical pre-tender cost indices and location, selection of contractor, contract sum, height and site condition factors. Ranges of cost, time and performance data were represented by probability density functions and defined by constant, uniform, normal and beta distributions. These variables and a network of the interrelationships between services components provided the framework for analysis. The VERT program, in this particular study, relied upon Monte Carlo simulation to model the uncertainties associated with pre-tender estimates of all possible installations. The computer generated output in the form of relative and cumulative frequency distributions of current element and total services costs, critical path analyses and details of statistical parameters. From this data alternative design solutions were compared, the degree of risk associated with estimates was determined, heuristics were tested and redeveloped, and cost significant items were isolated for closer examination. The resultant models successfully combined cost, time and performance factors and provided the quantity surveyor with an appreciation of the cost ranges associated with the various engineering services design options.

Rationalisation and improvement of a company's engineering design procedures

There is a great deal of literature about the initial stages of innovative design. This is the process whereby a completely new product is conceived, invented and developed. In industry, however, the continuing success of a company is more often achieved by improving or developing existing designs to maintain their marketability. Unfortunately, this process of design by evolution is less well documented. This thesis reports the way in which this process was improved for the sponsoring company. The improvements were achieved by implementing a new form of computer aided design (C.A.D.) system. The advent of this system enabled the company to both shorten the design and development time and also to review the principles underlying the existing design procedures. C.A.D. was a new venture for the company and care had to be taken to ensure that the new procedures were compatible with the existing design office environment. In particular, they had to be acceptable to the design office staff. The C.A.D. system produced guides the designer from the draft specification to the first prototype layout. The computer presents the consequences of the designer's decisions clearly and fully, often by producing charts and sketches. The C.A.D. system and the necessary peripheral facilities were implemented, monitored and maintained. The system structure was left sufficiently flexible for maintenance to be undertaken quickly and effectively. The problems encountered during implementation are well documented in this thesis.

The management of diversification in a large industrial company

This work is the result of an action-research-type study of the diversification effort of part of a major U.K. industrial company. Work in contingency theory concerning the impact of environmental factors on organizational design, and the systemic model of viable systems put forward by Stafford Beer form the theoretical basis of the vvork. The two streams of thought are compared and found to offer similar conclusions about the design of effective organizations. These findings are taken as the framework for an analysis both of organization structures for promoting innovation described in the literature, and of those employed by the company for this purpose in recent years. Much attention is given to the use of venture groups, and conclusions are drawn on particular factors which may influence their success or failure. Both theoretical considerations, and the examination of the company' s recent experience suggested that the formation of the policy of diversification, as well as the method of implementation of the police, might affect its outcorre. Attention is therefore focused on the policy-making and planning process, and in particular on possible problems that this process could generate in a multi-division company. The view finally taken of diversification effort is that it should be regarded as a learning system. This view helps to expose some ambiguities in the concepts of success and failure in this area, and demonstrates considerable weaknesses in traditional project evaluation procedures.

Marketing resources of actively involved exporters

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the impact of the market orientation and market based resources of actively involved exporters and their distributors on export venture performance. Previous literature in marketing channels has examined the effect of the market orientation of suppliers and their distributors on supplier-distributor relationships, mainly in a domestic context, as well as the impact of the quality of their relationship on business performance in domestic and international contexts. Little or no research focuses on the interplay between the relevant marketing resources, such as market orientation, proactive market orientation, selling, pricing reputation, and market innovation, of an export venture and their distributor, and consequently on export venture performance. This dissertation is mainly a quantitative study using a mail survey among Greek exporting firms in various industries. The final sample comprised 190 exporting ventures. The survey was enhanced through open interviews with export venture managers and their respective distributors and was pre-tested with a small-scale dyadic survey. Survey data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The main research objective was to assess the impact of marketing support resources, namely market orientation and proactive market orientation, and market-based resources of an export venture and its distributor on export performance. In addition, the relationship of marketing support resources of the export venture and those of the distributor was examined. Some of the relationships examined are a migration of traditional domestic theory (Hooley et al. 2005), to an exporting context, testing whether there are differences in the relationships in a different context. This study contributes to the resource-based view, marketing, and export business literature, as findings indicate that high levels of export venture proactive market orientation lead to distributors with high levels of market orientation. In line with findings of domestic context research, the proactive market orientation of the venture renders its market orientation statistically not significant.

The EU an actor sui generis? A Comparison of EU and ASEAN actorness

The core argument of this article is to advocate the recognition of regional organizations as international actors. Conceptions of the European Union (EU) as an international actor are not new. However, a great deal of the literature regards the EU as sui generis in nature and lacking in external capabilities when compared to nation-states. Other regional organizations, such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) fare even worse. This article notes that we need to move beyond a state-centric view of world politics to assess the actor capabilities, nascent or advanced, of other players in the global arena, particularly regional organizations.

Strategic positioning of manufacturing operations within global supply chains

In global environment, a company has to make many decisions that impact upon its position in global supply chain networks such as outsourcing, offshoring, joint venture, vertical/horizontal integration, etc. All these decisions impact on the company’s strategic position, and hence on competitive space and performance. Therefore, it is important for a company to carefully manage strategic positioning by making careful decisions about the adoption of alternative manufacturing and supply chain activities. Unfortunately, there is no complete process studied in strategic positioning of manufacturing operations within global supply chain. Therefore, the work presented in this paper has investigated leading research and industrial practices to create a formal and rational decision process. An analysis of previous literature, industrial practices, and the resulting decision process are all presented in this paper.