Tania von der Heidt

Sustainability in the undergraduate and postgraduate business curriculum of a regional university: a critical perspective

The challenge to embed sustainability in the formal curriculum has been greatest for the business studies curriculum. Schools of business have been perceived as key socialising agencies for the intelligentsia of advanced capitalist societies, whereas the students of sustainability need to be helped to critique the dominant capitalist paradigm and consider its alternatives. Drawing on a critical perspective of education for sustainability, this paper presents a detailed examination of the sustainability curriculum at a regional university in Australia. The paper contributes to the discussion needed to understand what sustainability skills are required by managers and how tertiary education programs may need to change to develop these skills. In this way the nature of the role that business schools should be playing in leading and managing change towards sustainability is further informed.

Business as usual? barriers to education for sustainability in the tourism curriculum

There is little research on how “sustainability” is embedded within tourism programs. This article draws on findings from a study of education for sustainability within the 1st-year business/tourism curriculum at an Australian regional university. Using an interpretive methodology, interviews took place with 16 academics regarding the barriers in trying to incorporate sustainability. Three key themes were revealed: (1) a crowded curriculum; (2) staff and student resistance to sustainability; and (3) the realities of a complex, multicampus institution. These impediments will be important to consider if we want to engender a more transformational approach to sustainability leadership in tourism education.

Concept maps for assessing change in learning: a study of undergraduate business students in first-year marketing in China

This paper explains the application of concept mapping to help foster a learning-centred approach. It investigates how concept maps are used to measure the change in learning following a two-week intensive undergraduate Marketing Principles course delivered to 162 Chinese students undertaking a Bachelor of Business Administration programme in China. Using four scoring procedures (breadth of knowledge, relational quality, structural quality and holistic quality), student learning is assessed in terms of prior and new knowledge, as well as improvement in knowledge structure. Concept map scores are correlated with conventional measures of overall student performance. The results provide strong evidence for improvement in students’ ability to externalise new learned concepts resulting from intensive instruction. Incorporating concept maps as a contemporary method of learning in the curriculum potentially enriches student learning, provides a measure of the impact of teaching on students’ learning and adds value to students’ higher education experience.This paper explains the application of concept mapping to help foster a learning-centred approach. It investigates how concept maps are used to measure the change in learning following a two-week intensive undergraduate Marketing Principles course delivered to 162 Chinese students undertaking a Bachelor of Business Administration programme in China. Using four scoring procedures (breadth of knowledge, relational quality, structural quality and holistic quality), student learning is assessed in terms of prior and new knowledge, as well as improvement in knowledge structure. Concept map scores are correlated with conventional measures of overall student performance. The results provide strong evidence for improvement in students’ ability to externalise new learned concepts resulting from intensive instruction. Incorporating concept maps as a contemporary method of learning in the curriculum potentially enriches student learning, provides a measure of the impact of teaching on students’ learning and adds val...

Rethinking the role of external collaboration in product innovation

Investigating the associations between inter-organisational relationship- and innovation-oriented antecedents and consequences of cooperative multiple stakeholder product innovation and their effects on overall firm performance of Australian manufacturing firms, we found that involving external stakeholders in product innovation indirectly enhanced the quality of stakeholder relationships, but did not predict market- or technical-based product innovation outcomes as hypothesised. The key driver of overall firm performance was market-driven product innovation performance, which was predicted by product innovation strategy and product innovation spending. Our results suggest the need for simultaneous consideration of product innovation- and multiple external stakeholder-based strategic orientations in enhancing business success.

A method for measuring excessive environmental regulatory burden in the Australian rail industry

For the Australian rail industry, environmental regulation is a regulatory hotspot causing suboptimal rail operations and business performance. Attempts to measure the cost of regulatory burden are few, more so given the conceptual and practical challenges. This article employs the prism of environmental regulation pertaining to the Australian rail industry to recap the concept of regulatory burden and evaluate possible measurement tools for costing regulatory burden. Existing models of regulatory cost measurement are adapted and applied to priority areas of dysfunctional environmental regulation across Australia. By drawing on results from a pilot study, the suitability of the methodology for quantifying an industrys regulatory burden is assessed. The article should be of interest to managers and regulators striving for more equitable and efficient regulatory approaches.

Urban planning and railway corridors: resolving regulatory dysfunction in Australia

In Australia, land adjacent to rail corridors has traditionally been considered blighted owing to the detrimental environmental impacts that rail operations have on their surroundings. However, this adjacent land is now increasingly being used for residential development, which means that there is an increasing number of people living next to rail corridors negatively impacted by rail operations, particularly with respect to noise and vibration. This also means that there is increasing political and regulatory pressure on rail operators and track owners to ameliorate noise impacts. There are a number of issues at play when considering the conflicting relationship between transport corridors and development adjacent to these corridors. These are 1) the willingness of governments to employ adequate planning instruments and Development Application (DA) processes that consider the potentially conflicting interactions between different land uses, 2) the level of sophistication pertaining to noise and vibration reduction technology utilised by rail industry organisations, and 3) the willingness of rail organisations responsible for rail operations and infrastructure to address these conflicts through technological upgrades and negotiate with policymakers. A qualitative research study was undertaken to determine the level of conflict between the regulation of environmental emissions (primarily noise, dust and visible diesel emissions), state-based planning regulations, and DA approvals administered at a local government level.1 As a result, regulatory inefficiency was identified in the context of urban development encroaching on rail corridors and facilities. These inefficiencies are set against a historical background resulting from the Australian federalist system of government, which has led to a disjuncture between the three tiers of government in the administration of environment-specific regulation, particularly where state governments have a high degree of control.

Evaluating Perry's Structured Approach for Professional Doctorate Theses.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate examiner reactions to doctorate of business administration (DBA) theses at an Australian university applying Perry’s structured approach to thesis presentation, which had its origin in the marketing discipline, but is now widely applied to other business disciplines. Design/methodology/approach This paper examines 49 DBA examiner reports relating to 19 DBA theses using the structured Perry approach, with emphasis paid to comments relating to thesis structure and presentation. Only those theses that acknowledged Perry or demonstrated Perry-like characteristics were interrogated. Findings The use of Perry’s structured approach can lead to DBA theses that place excessive emphasis on description rather than practical outcomes, as should occur with a professional doctorate, and also fosters excessive repetition and scaffolding that unduly interferes with the candidate’s “story telling”. Many examiners found theses using Perry’s structured approach problematic, particularly with respect to a lack of integration with the literature and reflection on the findings in relation to previous studies. Research limitations/implications The use of Perry’s structured approach potentially acts as a further barrier to DBA theses, and other professional doctorates by extension, sufficiently differentiating themselves from PhDs. This has implications for the examination of such theses, which are sometimes viewed as lower-quality PhDs instead of professional doctorates. Originality/value Applying a traditional PhD thesis structure, such as the model advocated by Perry with its use of five chapters, to DBA theses potentially exacerbates existing professional doctorate “image” issues, thereby leading to ambiguity for examiners and the candidates themselves.

E-loyalty: its antecedents implications and differences between developed and developing countries

This paper outlines the reasons for and the proposed method to be used in an examination of the antecedents affecting e-loyalty, since loyalty has been identified as being a critical aspect in online retailing (J. Kim, Jin, & Swinder, 2009; Park & Kim, 2003). The relationships between e-Service Quality, e-Service Value, e-Security, e-Satisfaction, e-Trust, and e-Commitment will also be examined in the overall model of e-Loyalty that is developed in this paper. Customers in Indonesia and Australia. as representatives of developing and developed economies, will be used as the subjects for the model examination and will be surveyed using an online survey. Analysis of their responses will utilize structural equation modelling to test the model of the inter-relationships and multi-group analyses will be used to examine the differences between the respondents in the two countries. The results will be used to further develop e-loyalty theory. Businesses, will also be helped to gain a better understanding of their customers and to identify methods of providing better service so as to maintain their loyalty

Towards best practice in measuring regulatory burdens: a case study of environmental regulation in the Australian Rail industry

This article presents a methodology for quantifying the costs of dysfunctional environmental regulation faced by the Australian rail industry and derives indicative lessons for best practice with respect to measuring regulatory burden. By drawing on results from a recent benchmarking analysis, the suitability of the methodology is assessed. The study suggests that the methodology presented could be applied to other industries seeking to measure the policy-inefficient government regulatory burden. Further methodological improvements are also recommended.

Contractual arrangements and their implications for the provision of an Australian HSR system

There has been much debate over the past few decades regarding the implementation of an Australian high-speed rail (HSR) system along the nations eastern seaboard. The cost of building such infrastructure has meant that Australian governments have been reluctant to pursue its development. Changing contextual circumstances, such as the likelihood of an Australian emissions trading scheme, concerns about peak oil, restrictions on airport capacity and the desirability of enhancing transport infrastructure, have added impetus to the call for an Australian HSR system. The magnitude of the investment required implies that a wide range of public-private relationships would be necessary for the networks construction and management. This paper draws on international experiences relating to the arrangements between government funders of HSR projects and service providers contracted to provide HSR services. This review analyses the contractual issues that need to be addressed in any future infrastructure development with respect to HSR and examines the extent to which international contractual arrangements are able to provide insights into the relationship between funding the construction of these assets and their management in an Australian context.