Australia is rapidly becoming a divided nation in which regional and rural communities slip further behind their counterparts in the major cities. Government policy is struggling to find a balance between the increasing economic and social marginalisation of the regional and rural areas, and the...

Universities play a key role in the national innovation system as generators and disseminators of intellectual property (IP) (Porter 2001; Lundvall 2007). Australia's 38 universities have become active players in the globally competitive field of commercialisation (Harman 2004). While the research...

This paper examines the issues of purpose, identity and the development of member value within co-operative and mutual enterprises (CMEs). It aims to explain the nature and importance of “purpose” in CMEs and how this is communicated by such firms to their members. The paper finds that while...

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the role of leadership in influencing the level of organisational innovation performance among small and medium enterprises (SMEs). A theoretical model was developed where transformational and transactional leadership was posited as having...

This paper outlines the findings from a study of 241 small business owner-managers who were asked to complete a diagnostic assessment questionnaire designed to examine their management practices. This was part of a best practice benchmarking study being undertaken by the University of Western...

Manufacturing remains an important sector in most economies and offers the most value adding of all sectors. Over the past 40 years globalisation as impacted on manufacturing; making it more challenging for advanced economies with high labour costs to compete. However, there has been a major...

Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) comprise the majority of businesses in the Australian economy. Most are run by owner-managers who have little formal education in business and their level of innovation remains low. Universities offer the potential to enhance both the management skills and...

This paper reports on a research study that aims to map the size and structure of the Co-operative and Mutual enterprise (CME) sector in Australia. The Australian CME Index (ACMEI) is a longitudinal study that can provide a better understanding of these firms and their economic and social...

This paper reports on a research study that maps the size and structure of the Co-operative and Mutual enterprise (CME) sector in Australia. The Australian CME Index (ACMEI) is a longitudinal study that can provide a better understanding of these firms and their economic and social contribution...