Over the past few decades the brisk development of information and communication technologies (ICT) has had a phenomenal impact on the economic stability and development of many countries. Empirical studies show that most developed economies have gained significant payoffs (in terms of economic...

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between labour productivity and employment in Australian manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The results indicate that labour productivity of SMEs varies substantially between industries within the manufacturing sector, but on average...

Trade in services has outpaced trade in merchandise over the last two decades. The services sector has increased steadily in importance both in terms of it shares in GDP and employment over the lat 30 years in Australia and its contribution to trade will continue to increase. The significance of...

There has been a significant shift in trade policy orientation in Bangladesh over the last two decades. A dirigiste policy orientation has gradually been replaced by a more outward oriented economic policy. In line with such policy orientation, a series of trade liberalisation measures has been...

Purpose – A better understanding of the response of shoppers in developing countries to inevitable product stock-outs would help logisticians to put structures in place to reduce the disruption. The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences in orientations that characterize...

Purpose – The aim is to examine whether supermarkets may be losing the opportunity to increase customer purchase outlays by means of loyalty points, convertible to acquire specialty goods and services provided by “bonus partners”. Design/methodology/approach – Two econometric models were...

Background: Private psychiatric services are produced and consumed on a fee-for-service (FFS) basis in Australia. The Commonwealth Government subsidises these (and all) medical services via Medicare, a universal, comprehensive, tax-financed medical and hospital financing mechanism. A key purpose...

The rapid growth in the size and nature of ‘non-standard’ work arrangements (such as co-employment) has raised questions about their effect on the commitment and loyalty of the workers concerned. While maintaining and encouraging employee commitment is a core human resource management...

Australia’s share of intra-industry trade (IIT) in its total trade of textiles and clothing (TAC) is one of the lowest among the OECD countries. However, over the recent years there has been a rising trend in Australia’s IIT in some categories of TAC products. The purpose of this paper is to...

This paper draws attention to the innovative but neglected work of Hans Singer on the dynamics of unemployment. Influenced by Keynes, in the late 1930s Singer enquired into the relationship between the inflow into unemployment— resulting primarily from (involuntary) separations from...