Financial reporting for environmental and social responsibility: a normative strategic concept

Corporate responsibility demands that firms address environmental and social values in their firms' policy and key performance indicators. These are integrated through strategic planning and require firms to merge the long-term environmental and social values with short-term economic objectives and performance measures. Each firm's strategy will differ. This paper provides a normative reporting concept to connect the financial implications associated with long-term planning for environmental and social values, with short-term accounting reports. Reporting variants adapted from total cost assessment, life cycle costing and variable costing are integrated to offer upstream information based on a product segment view.

The role of the board in building strategic capability: towards an integrated model of sport governance research

Governance is a critical issue confronting sport organisations. Its importance in the management of sport organisations has been heightened due to the transition of many sports from predominantly volunteer administered organisations anchored in an amateur ethos, to professionally managed entities catering to a more sophisticated sport marketplace. This paper identifies four elements from the sport governance literature as the key research foci to date: shared leadership, board motivation, board roles, and board structure. Four generic themes (performance, conformance, policy and operations) are also examined and expressed as governance capabilities. The strategic role and performance of the board, while central to the practice of governance, is shown to be a weakness in many sport organisations. Further, the strategic role of the board is underdeveloped in the sport management and governance research literature. Finally, it is noted that the governance literature is shaped by a normative and prescriptive approach that may not fully encompass the diversity that exists within the sport setting. The paper concludes by identifying and affirming the critical gaps in our knowledge of sport governance. Future work should seek to understand sector-specific considerations, such as non-profit and commercial differences in sport; governance designs in response to changing environmental conditions; the impact of the CEO on the board's strategic contributions; and strategic activity by the board. More use of qualitative research methods to probe such issues is recommended

Emotional intelligence and teaching : further validation evidence

Further evidence is presented to demonstrate the validity of a new measure of emotional intelligence: Reactions to Teaching Situations (RTS). Using criterion-related groups of high and low scorers on the RTS, it is shown that high scorers give more responses coded as emotional intelligence in their answers to sentence completion tasks relating to ten situations found in teaching. The questions of convergent and discriminant validity is tackled by examination of correlations of emotional intelligence scores and scores on the Multiple Intelligences Checklist for Adults (MICA) and information processing preferences as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The results confirm that emotional intelligence (as assessed by the RTS) bears significant relationships to both intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences and also to linguistic intelligence, but emotional intelligence shows no significant relationships with the MBTI preferences.

Market research effectiveness : the effects of organisational structure, resource allocation and strategic type

According to the marketing literature and marketing textbooks, market research is required for successful marketing. However organisations differ in the way they both manage and resource their market research. This study hypothesised that market research effectiveness would be a function of internal research buying expertise, resource allocation and strategy. The research was conducted among a sample of 240 Australian marketing managers. Market research effectiveness was measured in terms of a) decision making support, b) contribution to marketing strategy, c) leveraging customer and competitor data, d) its ability to represent the "voice of the customer" and finally, e) bolstering the role of the marketing group and marketing manager within the organisation. The findings showed that having dedicated internal market researchers and allocating internal and external resources to the research function enhanced market research effectiveness. It was also found that organisations with an entrepreneurial strategic orientation were more likely to see value in the market research function, with these organisations being less likely to use market research for internal political purposes.

Strategic Australian biotechnology opportunities

Discusses the biotechnology opportunities in Australia as of April 2005. Specific core activities of Australian biotechnology companies; Number of biotechnology companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange on September 30, 2004; Mutual recognition arrangements that exist with Australia and key international regulatory authorities.

Ecological attributes of strategic land acquisitions for addition to Victoria's public protected area estate : 2004-2005

The development of a comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve system is the key objective of the National Reserve System, and is supported by all Australian States and Territories. In Victoria, the purchase of private land for incorporation into the parks and reserves system assists in the protection of some of the State’s most endangered ecosystems. This article outlines the ecological attributes of private land purchased for addition to the Victorian public protected area system between 2004 and 2005.

Towards a strategic use of computer mediated communication to support flexible learning in the workplace

A number of central precepts of flexible delivery of workplace training are challenged by research showing that vocational learners are typically non-verbal, and prefer structured and social learning environments. That research is reviewed, together with a number of strategies that will assist flexible delivery to these learners. These strategies are largely amenable to
computer-mediated communication.

Emotional intelligence, attachment styles and couple relationship satisfaction

This study examined links between emotional intelligence (EI), attachment styles and gender as part of a larger study into the relationship between EI and relationship satisfaction. Two hundred and forty-six participants (age range 18-79, M=36.41, SD=13.78) were recruited via media advertisements. They completed measures of EI and attachment style in addition to providing demographic information. A significant main effect was found for attachment style across all aspects of EI. For gender, a significant main effect was found only for the empathy aspect of EI. Further, significant effects were found for the interaction of gender and attachment on both the mood and empathy factors of EI. These differences are discussed in the context of attachment style theory.

Working with local government to research strategic development within regional Victoria

Changes in population size and composition, forecasted for regional Victorian cities, have the potential to significantly impact upon their urban environments. The Built Environment Research Group (BERG) at Deakin
University, in collaboration with The Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities at La Trobe University, is currently working with the City of Greater Bendigo and the City of Warrnambool to research this situation. The following paper introduces the work being undertaken to develop strategies for promoting an integrated approach to regional development, and  addresses the administrative context supporting current decision-making processes within local government.