An empirical analysis of Australian and Portuguese consumers within the context of CSR and environmentalism

This cross country study examines the potential environmental predictors of consumers' green behaviour. It uses consumer’s self reported environmental behavioural intentions and examines its potential influence on corporate practice of social responsibility (CSR). A conceptual model was developed and was subjected to empirical verification using survey research design. It was hypothesised that CSR improves green behavioural purchase intension. PLS was used to estimate the measure of respondents’ overall perception of green products and their intention to purchase. It was found that in both countries, Australia and Portugal, CSR influenced purchase intentions. In both cases there was evidence of association between CSR and the consumers’ intention to purchase environmentally safe products.

An empirical analysis of sugarcane production in Fiji, 1970-2000

Fiji is a small island country in the South Pacific. Sugar is its oldest industry, being in the vanguard of economic growth and development for over a century. Today the oldest industry, not only in Fiji but also in the South Pacific Island countries, is shrivelling and is poised on the precipice of collapse. The literature to date has singled out expiring land leases and the inability of the government to resolve this issue as the key to the current calamity. This paper aims to estimate a sugarcane production model for Fiji, delineating the short-run and long-run determinants. It expands the Cobb-Douglas production function in specifying the sugarcane production model and uses time series data (1970-2000) in estimating it. The major findings are that area harvested and fertiliser (capital), labour force and prices paid to sugarcane farmers have made positive contributions to sugarcane production in both the short- and long-run. The finding on the statistical significance of area harvested has direct relevance to the current land problems in Fiji. It is envisaged that the results will appeal to Fijian policy makers and that a speedy solution to the problem of expiring and non-productive use of sugarcane land will be achieved.

An empirical analysis of Fiji’s import demand function

Purpose – This paper aims to estimate a disaggregated import demand model for Fiji using relative prices, total consumption, investment expenditure and export expenditure variables for the period 1970 to 2000.

Design/methodology/approach – The recently developed bounds testing approach to cointegration to test for a long run relationship is used, while the autoregressive distributed lag model is used to estimate short run and long run elasticities. These methodologies are shown to perform well in small sample sizes, particularly given that the bounds F-test critical values for small sample sizes generated by Narayan in 2004 and 2005 are used.

Findings – Amongst the key results it is found: a long run cointegration relationship among the variables when import demand is the dependent variable; and import demand to be inelastic and statistically significant at the 1 per cent level with respect to all the explanatory variables in both the long-run and the short-run.

Originality/value – The disaggregated import demand model estimated here provides a complete picture of the determinants of Fiji's imports. This model can be used by Fijian policy makers to draw pertinent policies and forecast import demand for Fiji.

Battlefield tourism - Anzac day commemorations at Gallipoli : an empirical analysis

This thesis used theoretical constructs of personal values, emotions, motives, event components of ceremony, transport and amenities to develop an empirical model that provided an understanding of the experiential components of the event and the antecedents associated with attendance, satisfaction and recommending behaviour of the Anzac Day Ceremonies at Gallipoli.

An empirical analysis of the Australian dollar swap spreads

This paper examines the relationship between the Australian dollar interest rate swap spread and the term structure of the interest rates, and also the determinants of interest rate swap spreads. For this purpose, we estimate the term structure of interest rates using the parsimonious fitting function of Nelson and Siegel [Journal of Business 60 (1987) 476] for the Australian government bonds and Australian interest rate swaps for certain maturities that are not available. We analyse the swap spread over the term structure of the government bonds and how changes in swap determinants affect the changes in swap spreads. The sample period covers the daily interval from 6 December 1996 to 31 December 1999.

An empirical analysis of the factors affecting bank crises in Japan : learning points for Bangladesh

This paper analyzes the factors that affect bank crises in Japan. There are numerous factors, qualitative and quantitative, identified from the analysis. For the quantitative analysis, the study employs the factor analysis, which detects three major components of factors that affect banking or financial crises in Japan. These are (i) common macro factors; (ii) bank sensitive micro factors; and (iii) household spending related factors. There are other factors, for example, policy dilemma, delayed or faulty deregulation measures and weak banking activities, which are not extracted from the factor analysis but adversely affect bank crises in Japan and hence discussed in details. The paper indicates some policy implications for the banking/financial sector of Bangladesh.

An empirical analysis of colour image segmentation using fuzzy c-means clustering

In this paper, an empirical analysis to examine the effects of image segmentation with different colour models using the fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering algorithm is conducted. A qualitative evaluation method based on human perceptual judgement is used. Two sets of complex images, i.e., outdoor scenes and satellite imagery, are used for demonstration. These images are employed to examine the characteristics of image segmentation using FCM with eight different colour models. The results obtained from the experimental study are compared and analysed. It is found that the CIELAB colour model yields the best outcomes in colour image segmentation with FCM.

An empirical analysis of the effects of the exchange rate on Canadian tourism

The effects of depreciation of the Canadian dollar on the Canadian tourist industry are estimated, and it is shown that the exchange rate had a modest impact in attracting U. S. visitors to Canada. However, the favorable exchange rate effects seem to be offset by other factors.