Flinders Business - Collected Works
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Item Does kindness lead to happiness? Voluntary activities and subjective well-being(Elsevier, 2018-09-19) Magnani, Elisabetta; Zhu, RongThis paper investigates empirically the effects of voluntary activities on subjective well-being. After controlling for individual fixed effects, we show that volunteering significantly improves people’s subjective well-being. The positive well-being effects of volunteering are highly heterogeneous, with larger impact at the lower end of the distribution of subjective well-being. Our dynamic analysis shows that the beneficial effects of volunteering are transitory. We find evidence of complete subjective well-being adaptation one year after volunteering. We show that more frequent socialisation, increasing satisfaction with feeling part of local community and rising satisfaction with neighbourhood living in are three channels for the contemporaneous positive linkage between volunteering and subjective well-being.Item Lobbying, campaign contributions, and electoral competition(Elsevier, 2018-05-29) Le, Thanh; Yalcin, ErkanThis paper studies the effect of lobby groups on electoral competition and equilibrium policy outcomes employing a ‘money for policy favours’ model of lobbying. Our results show that when a lobby group seeks to influence an electoral outcome, it will make a financial contribution to only one political party whose policy is closely aligned to its own ideal policy. When misappropriation of campaign funds occurs, political parties that divert more funds for personal gain stand on more independent platforms and require larger contributions from lobby groups. Greater electoral competition could reduce policy distortions but this, in turn, sparks more intense lobbying thereby increasing the scope of misappropriation of funds. In the case of multiple lobbying, political parties either demand different levels of campaign contributions or leave them with different levels of satisfaction.Item Intellectual capital system perspective: a case study of government intervention in digital media industries(University of Adelaide Press, 2015) Corral de Zubielqui, Graciela; O'Connor, Allan; Seet, Pi-ShenSouth Australia is a small economy that faces a fundamental need to re-shape its approach to innovation. The manufacturing sector, as the backbone of the state’s economy, has and will continue to change in its nature and form. This necessitates a re-think about how innovation happens and how the respective actors within an economy interact and engage with each other. In effect, innovation relies on intersections between people, knowledge, information sharing, ideas, financial and other resources. Innovation happens through regional social and economic system dynamics; innovation relies on a system view of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship can be taken as a study of the entrepreneur and new business creation. However, this conception of entrepreneurship misses the critical link to economic outcomes; the ebb and flow of social and economic fortunes that are underpinned by the actions, reactions and engagement of individuals in a specific social and economic system that brings about innovation and change. In this book the authors are exploring how the linkages within the system can be conceptualised and made transparent.Item Understanding the Barriers to and Opportunities for Access to Private Equity for Small to Medium sized Family owned Enterprises (SMFEs).(CPA Australia, 2010) Seet, Pi-Shen; Graves, ChrisThe main finding of this study was that there is growing interest within the private equity (PE) community to invest in family businesses. However, finance, knowledge and empathy gaps between SMFE owners and the PE community limit the extent to which PE is a practical solution to the growth and succession of family firms. Interestingly, there was no statistically significant difference in attitude to PE between family and non-family firms. Rather, it was the attributes of the owners (intended succession / exit strategy, knowledge of PE, objectives) which determined attitudes towards using PE. These findings suggest that PE investment in family firms can be encouraged through the education of owners and their accountants (their preferred advisers) on how PE can assist family firms in growth and ownership transition. Accountants can also play a key role in professionalising the managerial capabilities within family firms and thereby making them a more attractive investment to PE providers. Specifically, SMFEs are in need of assistance in developing strategic business plans and succession plans, the establishment of independent / advisory boards, the utilisation of outside managerial expertise and the development of performance measurement systems.Item Silver Entrepreneurship Agenda in Malaysia: A Proposed Model for Productive Aging(BINUS University (Bina Nusantara University), 2012) Seet, Pi-ShenThis paper aims at proposing a framework for productive aging among those aged 45-plus or retiree via entrepreneurial initiatives, known as ‘silver entrepreneurs’. Evidence has shown that the number of Malaysians aged population is estimated to be more than 1.4 million and is projected to increase to 3.3 million in the year 2020 (Mafauzy, 2000). It is acknowledged that a group of these will comprise of professionals who are aged 45-plus and retirees with relevant industry experience as well as knowledge and well-established networks built up over their working careers which will enable them to effectively identify entrepreneurial opportunities and secure resources efficiently to exploit them. However, there is little research on and understanding of what drives these ‘silver entrepreneurs’, with most of the research, focussed on entrepreneurial ventures started by 18-35 year-olds. This means that policy-makers are ill-equipped to develop specific measures that will assist retirees into a second or sunset career in entrepreneurship. This research aims to bridge the gap by assessing the profile and motivations of silver entrepreneurs in Malaysia with a specific focus on understanding the internal and external factors that affect their intentions to start new ventures as well as factors that affect the success and growth of these ventures.Item Organization Capital and Firm Life Cycle(Elsevier, 2017-12-13) Hasan, Mostafa Monzur; Cheung, Adrian (Wai-Kong)We hypothesize, and examine empirically, two types of association between organization capital and firm life cycle. Are firms with high organization capital more likely to be in a particular stage of their life cycle than firms with low organization capital? Are firms' transitions from one life cycle stage to another over time associated with how much they invest in organization capital? Our findings suggest that firms with high (low) organization capital are more likely to be in the introduction and decline (growth and maturity) stages. Our results also show that firms that invest more in organization capital (i.e., changes in organization capital) are less (more) likely to move to the introduction, shake-out and decline (growth and maturity) stages in the subsequent five years. Our results are robust to alternative specifications of organization capital, life cycle proxies and endogeneity concerns.Item Using Balanced Time Perspective to Explain Well-Being and Planning in Retirement(Frontiers Media S.A., 2017-10-13) Mooney, Anna; Earl, Joanne K; Mooney, Carl Howard; Bateman, HazelThe notion of whether people focus on the past, present or future, and how it shapes their behavior is known as Time Perspective. Fundamental to the work of two of its earliest proponents, Zimbardo and Boyd (2008), was the concept of balanced time perspective and its relationship to wellness. A person with balanced time perspective can be expected to have a flexible temporal focus of mostly positive orientations (past-positive, present-hedonistic, and future) and much less negative orientations (past-negative and present-fatalistic). This study measured deviation from balanced time perspective (DBTP: Zhang et al., 2013) in a sample of 243 mature adults aged 45 to 91 years and explored relationships to Retirement Planning, Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Positive Mood, and Negative Mood. Results indicate that DBTP accounts for unexplained variance in the outcome measures even after controlling for demographic variables. DBTP was negatively related to Retirement Planning and Positive Mood and positively related to Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Negative Mood. Theoretical and practical implications regarding balanced time perspective are discussed.Item The Power of Reconciliation in the Face of a Dilemma: Lessons from Business, War and Nature(Children's International Summer Villages (CISV), 2003) Tse, Terrence; Kangaslahti, Vesa; Seet, Pi-ShenItem Changing management development initiatives with firm growth: a comparison of family and non-family small and medium-sized enterprises(Common Ground Publishing, 2009) Jones, Janice ThereseUsing data available from Australia’s Business Longitudinal Surveys, this study examines how management development initiatives in family and non-family small and medium-sized enterprizes (SME) change with business growth. The results show the adoption of formal management development initiatives increase with SME growth in family and non-family SMEs. This increased commitment of resources to management development suggests SMEs may be adopting a more ‘strategic’ approach to management development as they progress through growth development pathways. The study also revealed a greater significant difference between low and moderate than moderate and high growth SMEs, in the proportion of non-family enterprises that implement management development practices, suggesting the transition toward more formal management development begins early in the growth process. In contrast, significant differences between both low and moderate and moderate and high growth family SMEs suggest this transition is more evolutionary in family SMEs.Item Pedagogic practices and Vocational Education and Training: a study of growing small firms(Common Ground Publishing, 2009) Jones, Janice ThereseFrom an examination of pedagogic practices and vocational education and training (VET) in three categories of growing small firms, the results indicate on-the-job training provided by owner/managers is the most prevalent training method regardless of growth category. The results also show the proportion of firms adopting formal pedagogic practices increases with enterprise growth. Although there is an increase in the proportion of firms using the widely recognised providers of accredited VET with firm growth, only the minority of lower growth firms use these providers. Again, there is a positive association between firm growth and the implementation of VET; however, less than half of the firms in the three growth categories provide apprenticeship training and traineeships. Taken together, the results demonstrate small business engagement in structured VET, particularly at the lower end of the growth continuum, is, at best, minimal.Item Indirect taxation of wine: an international comparison(Australasian Tax Teachers Association, 2009) Kenny, PaulThe highly competitive international wine market imposes serious pressure on the viability of small wine producers as well as emerging wine nations. In this light this paper will examine the indirect taxes levied on wine manufactured in new world wine nations, Australia and New Zealand, and an old world wine nation, France. These indirect taxes include value added taxes, excises and customs duties. This paper will focus on wine produced for domestic consumption and export, as well as imported wine. The aim of comparing these indirect taxes is to help inform the debate about the indirect taxation of wine. This is highly relevant given the current review of Australia’s taxation system.Item Was tax policy after the Norman conquest determined by ability to pay? - using regression and data envelopment analysis to find the answer(Thomson Reuters, 2009) McDonald, John MalcolmThe article investigates English tax policy some twenty years after the Norman Conquest, almost 1,000 years ago. Evidence that the tax system was not arbitrary, but reflected modern sentiment in that it was based on capacity to pay is examined. But the main focus is to examine the gold tax assessments listed in Domesday Book to determine whether the estates of King, church and laity were assessed on a common basis. Statistical methods (data envelopment analysis and regression) are used to examine these issues.Item Wayward bullets: more small business tax concessions(Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, 2009) Kenny, Paul; Demosthenous, MariosWith the advent of the global financial crisis, this is clearly a challenging time for small business. Whilst the former Coalition Government introduced a succession of small business incentives, as commentators have noted these ‘benefits' are somewhat problematical. In light of the recent Labor Government proposals for further small business incentives (the 20 per cent PAYG instalment reduction and the bonus depreciation deduction for businesses) and the current review of Australian taxation, Australia’s Future Tax System, (hereinafter known as the Henry Review), this paper examines the small business entity (SBE) tax concessions. This paper calls for a more targeted and simpler approach to the taxation of small business.