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A conceptual framework for assessing sustainable development in regional SMEs

- Salimzadeh, Parisa, Courvisanos, Jerry

  • Authors: Salimzadeh, Parisa , Courvisanos, Jerry
  • Date: 2015
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management Vol. 17, no. 4 (2015), p. 1-17
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  • Description: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are significant regional development agents. Therefore, if SMEs adopt sustainability and regional economic strategies at the same time, it enables local communities to benefit from sustainable development, innovation and economic development in their regions. In the SME literature, there is a lack of appreciation of the sustainability issue and its connection with its local community. Bringing together the relevant literature, this paper develops a sustainability assessment framework for SMEs by providing the internal and external drivers and inhibitors affecting the adoption of social and environmental friendly practices in SMEs within the regional context. This framework can be used as a basis for application in regional development. It will also be a valuable tool for evaluation and monitoring of strategies for sustainability adoption. © 2015 Imperial College Press.

Cycles, crises and innovation : path to sustainable development--a Kaleckian-Schumpeterian synthesis.

- Courvisanos, Jerry

  • Authors: Courvisanos, Jerry
  • Date: 2012
  • Type: Text , Book
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  • Description: Cycles, crises and innovation are the major economic forces that shape capitalist economies. Central to this book is a critical realist political economy approach based on the works of Joseph Schumpeter and Michal Kalecki who identified cycles, crises and innovation as the three dynamic forces plotting the path of economic development. The book examines how the rise of capital, through investment, enshrines innovation in profit and power which determines the course of cycles and crises. Based on this analysis, strategic intervention by transformative eco-innovation is proposed as a public policy path to ecologically sustainable development

Urban growth centres on the periphery : Ad hoc policy vision and research neglect

- Jain, Ameeta, Courvisanos, Jerry

  • Authors: Jain, Ameeta , Courvisanos, Jerry
  • Date: 2009
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Australasian Journal of Regional Studies Vol. 15, no. 1 (2009), p. 3-26
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  • Description: The focus of this paper is peripheral urban growth centres on the edges of capital cities in Australia and the challenges they face as dormitory suburbs attempting to establish their own local business development. These challenges create dilemmas as infrastructure and climate change place pressure on long commuting times, while developing strong locally based communities is limited by many resource and demand constraints. The main research question is to examine how these challenges are being addressed in both public policy and academic research. Two propositions emerge from this analysis. The first is that, despite clear recognition of these challenges by public policy makers, there is a lack of coherent policy vision in addressing the dilemmas that are facing these urban growth centres. The second is that, despite all the concerns and lack of policy vision, there is a dearth of useful academic research in Australia to understand the dilemmas and provide guidance for appropriate policy options. In the context of ad hoc policy and academic neglect; Casey, Melton and Wyndham are the three major urban peripheral local government areas in Victoria that are profiled in this paper. They serve as examples in examining incoherence of policy and then analysing the elements that are needed for effective and strong peripheral growth centres that could propel these centres towards efficient and equitable liveable communities. A broad composite model of regional economic development is used to examine the attendant problems in these urban centres and the various viable policy options for addressing these problems. In the process, this paper aims to provide a basis for further rigorous academic investigation of peripheral urban growth centres in Australia and, arising from this, more coherent policies for the economic development of such centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
  • Description: 2003007339

Sustainable practices in small and medium sized enterprises in regional Australia

- Salimzadeh, Parisa

  • Authors: Salimzadeh, Parisa
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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  • Description: Global warming, through rising greenhouse gas emissions, is not only impacting on human populations and ecosystems; it is also causing negative impacts on economic development. Commercial activities of businesses are contributing to global warming through unethical social behaviours, so businesses have a role to play by adopting environmental friendly practices in their actions and strategies, so as to reduce their impact on ecosystems. Also, successful businesses to be sustainable need to consider the social concerns within their local communities. Socially friendly businesses attempt to increase human capital through skill improvement and contribute to social capital in a way that community and social groups respect their social responsibility and support them. Sustainability adoption refers to the actual implementation of sustainable practices in currently operating businesses. Such adoption in terms of ecology and community has been commonly accepted as a requirement for large businesses under the rubric of corporate social responsibility. Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have not been scrutinised anywhere near to the same level in terms of their attention to sustainability adoption in their business mission and strategies. Owner/managers of SMEs are no more exempt from environmental and social ethics than anyone else in society. Furthermore, SMEs are significant regional development agents contributing to the increased productivity and an improved quality of local life. Especially in Regional Australia where SMEs constitute approximately 95% of businesses in services and industry sectors, so for Regional Australian SMEs to adopt sustainability and regional economic strategies at the same time, enables local communities to benefit from sustainable development, innovation and economic development in their regions. In the SME literature, there is a lack of appreciation of the sustainability issue and its connection with its local community. Bringing together the relevant literature, this research develops a sustainability assessment framework for SMEs by determining the internal and external drivers and inhibitors affecting the adoption of social and environmental friendly practices in SMEs within the regional context. This framework can be used as a basis for application in regional development. It will also be a valuable tool for evaluation and monitoring of strategies for sustainability adoption. To gain a deep understanding of sustainability adoption by regional SMEs, this research investigates social and environmental practices adopted by regional SMEs in order to respond to the sustainability challenge. This research explores factors affecting the sustainability adoption by regional SMEs. Also the research undertaken seeks to identify whether some demographic variables (i.e. business size, business category, business age, owners/managers‟ experience and educational level) have any significant impact on the adoption of social and environmental practices. This quantitative research has a response rate of 28.77% and stands on pre-test, a pilot study and the main study. It draws on the response of 233 SME owner/managers within the regional city of Ballarat. The research uses descriptive statistics, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), analysis of variance (ANOVA), and logistic regression and is guided by the conceptual framework. The results show that the SMEs are actively engaged in employee support and they tend to be close to the local community while lacking environmental practices. However, despite being active in the areas of recycling, energy efficiency, and using environmentally friendly products, these SMEs showed an inability to grasp the strategic importance of overall environmentally sustainable policy and practice. Moreover, findings reveal that business size and owner/managers‟ education have significant positive effects on the adoption of socially responsible practices. The results of this research contribute significantly to understanding of sustainability adoption by SMEs in a regional context. This research is one of the first empirical studies undertaken to investigate the factors affecting the sustainability adoption by regional SMEs in Australia. Thus, this research builds a platform for future research in relation to understanding better the factors that are barriers to adoption of sustainable practices outside major metropolitan regions, and a theoretical framework to guide such future research. The findings of this research highlight significant implications for both theory and practice in the context of a non-metropolitan urban setting. These implications include addressing practices in a way that brings business operators together to network and collaborate with the communities in the region.
  • Description: Doctor of Philosophy

Innovation policy framework for sustainable development in regional economies : An Australian perspective

- Courvisanos, Jerry

  • Authors: Courvisanos, Jerry
  • Date: 2008
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: Paper presented at 2008 Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Conference : Spirit of Innovation III Forum, Tacoma, Washington, USA : 14th-16th May 2008
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  • Description: The paper develops a broad macroeconomic innovation policy framework for ecologically sustainable economic development that can be applied to regional economies, from the perspective of Australia. Australia is one of the three huge per capita greenhouse emitting nations in the world. The increased frequency of drought and dramatic storms, together with mounting international scientific evidence, has raised the spectre of greenhouse gas emissions significantly deteriorating the economic viability of regional communities. Up until now from a regional perspective, ecological concerns of pollution and resource depletion have generally been part of the overall management approach to agriculture and regional economic development – more successful in some places and some time periods than others, but still part of the existing economic paradigm. Greenhouse is “the inconvenient truth” that now faces all regional communities, but its existing economic paradigm is clearly inappropriate for responding effectively and timely to this ecological concern. A completely different economic framework, based on economic activity that is satisficing (under conditions of ecological uncertainty) rather than optimising (under conditions of calculable risk) is required to address the ecological concerns of the future. An “eco-sustainable framework” is developed in this paper which sets out an innovation policy aimed at satisficing towards sustainable regional development from an Australian high-emission economy perspective. The framework is based on the work of two economists, Micha
  • Description: 2003006404

Financial development and economic growth : Evidence from a panel study on South Asian countries

- Hasan Rana, Rezwanul, Barua, Suborna

  • Authors: Hasan Rana, Rezwanul , Barua, Suborna
  • Date: 2015
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Asian Economic and Financial Review Vol. 5, no. 10 (2015), p. 1159-1173
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  • Description: The paper examines the relationship between financial development and economic growth using panel data for five emerging South Asian countries - Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The heterogeneous panel data is collected from the World Bank for the period of 1974 to 2012. Economic Growth is represented by GDP growth rate, and for Financial Development, five major variables have been used: (i) Domestic Credit Provided by Financial Sector, (ii) Total Debt Services, (iii) Gross Domestic Savings, (iv) Broad Money, and (v) Trade Balance. Fixed Effect Panel regression model has been used and Time Fixed Effect, Cross Sectional Dependence, Heteroskedasticity, Serial Correlation and Cointegration have been tested for model fitness. The results indicate that growth of total debt services and domestic savings have significant impact on economic development of these countries. Interestingly, broad money, trade balance and domestic credit have no considerable influence on fostering economic growth which is generally unexpected. The paper places several arguments to explain these results. The study appears to be a first hand examination on the South Asian countries and adds new insight into the existing literature. The findings and discussions presented would be valuable in designing long term financial and macroeconomic policies by these countries.

Integrating the historiography of the nineteenth-century gold rushes

- Reeves, Keir, Frost, Lionel, Fahey, Charles

  • Authors: Reeves, Keir , Frost, Lionel , Fahey, Charles
  • Date: 2010
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Australian Economic History Review Vol. 50, no. 2 (2010), p. 111-128
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  • Description: In the century preceding World War I, the world experienced a series of gold rushes. The wealth derived from these was distributed widely because of reduced migration costs and low barriers to entry. While gold mining itself was generally unprofitable for diggers and mine owners, the increase in the world's gold supply stimulated global trade and investment. In this introductory article we integrate the histories of migration, trade, colonisation, and environmental history to identify endogenous factors that increased the world's gold supply and generated sustained economic growth in the regions that were affected by gold rushes.

Agricultural distortion patterns since the 1950s: what needs explaining?

- Anderson, Kym, Croser, Johanna, Sandri, Damiano, Valenzuela, Ernesto

Gender integration in enterprise development programmes

- Huq, Abdul, Moyeen, Afreen

  • Authors: Huq, Abdul , Moyeen, Afreen
  • Date: 2011
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Women's Studies International Forum Vol. 34, no. 4 (2011), p. 320-328
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  • Description: Despite the intent for gender balanced development in their strategy and policy documents, donor-funded enterprise development programmes are still implicitly guided by the women in development (WID) approach that considers women as mere 'beneficiaries' of economic growth. This paper is based on data collected from enterprise development programmes that operate within the framework of Business Development Service (BDS) market development, women entrepreneurs associations and BDS providers in Bangladesh. The findings suggest that the current approach to addressing gender is often weak and without adequate strategic focus on how programmes could contribute to changing the wider picture of existing gender inequality. The paper concludes that instead of over emphasising the "cost-effectiveness" criterion that may exclude gender from programme interventions, enterprise development programmes should rather consider integrating gender as a matter of 'priority'. The important considerations should be the 'outreach', 'sustainability' and tangible 'impact' that such integration could make in attaining gender-balanced development. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

Innovation and investment in capitalist economies 1870-2000 : Kaleckian dynamics and evolutionary life cycles

- Courvisanos, Jerry, Verspagen, B.

In and out of place: Civilizational interaction and the making of Australia in Oceania and Asia

- Smith, Jeremy

  • Authors: Smith, Jeremy
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Comparative civilizations review Vol. , no. 80 (2019), p. 37-49
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  • Description: The making of Euro-Australia occurred against the backdrop of two dimensions of its historical constitution. First, it occurred on the back of Britain's entry into the Oceanian world and its intercivilizational encounters with Pacific cultures. The second dimension was the appropriation of the land of a complex and internally diverse Aboriginal civilization and suppression of its social world view. This was vital to a lasting sense of ambivalence in Australian identity and in the relations of the Commonwealth of Australia with island states in the Pacific. After Federation (1901), Australia became more independent in the context of devolution of the Commonwealth. Engagement in the Pacific War heralded a turn from allegiance to Britain to alliance with the United States. A new orientation to the Asia-Pacific was not a chosen course, but one compelled by geo-political conditions and a growing dynamism in this multicivilizational world region. From the 1970s to the end of the twentieth century, engagement in Asia accelerated with the onset of a policy regime of multiculturalism and a process of neo-liberal modernization. This essay argues that Euro-Australia emerged out of complex intercivilizational interactions entailing colonialism, diverse migratory and cultural flows, and the creation of a homogenizing collective memory. I contend that Australian modernity, due in part to its suppression of its indigenous civilization and accompanying denial of that suppression, has borne considerable cultural and political ambivalence about its place in the region - an ambivalence which structures its economic and political relations with neighbouring countries. In this essay, I focus on Pacific relations. I compare developments and turns in Australian foreign policy with patterns of cultural engagement since the 1970s. Towards the end, I raise the Australian regime of refugee detention in relation to climate refugees. The essay concludes with notes on the merits of civilizational analysis in understanding the Oceanian constellation and its potential futures and points for further research on Australia in a multi-civilizational context.

The triple blow effect : retailing in an era of disasters and pandemics—the case of Christchurch, New Zealand

- Dyason, David, Fieger, Peter, Prayag, Girish, Hall, C. Michael

  • Authors: Dyason, David , Fieger, Peter , Prayag, Girish , Hall, C. Michael
  • Date: 2022
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Sustainability (Switzerland) Vol. 14, no. 3 (2022), p.
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  • Description: In the last two decades, the retail sector has experienced unprecedented upheaval, having severe implications for economic development and sustenance of traditional inner-city retail dis-tricts. In the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, this effect has been exacerbated by a series of earthquakes in 2010/2011 which destroyed much of the traditional retail precinct of the city. After exten-sive rebuild activity of the city’s infrastructure, the momentum of retailers returning to the inner city was initially sluggish but eventually gathered speed supported by increased international vis-itation. In early 2020, the return to retail normality came to an abrupt halt after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study uses spending and transaction data to analyze the compounding impact of the earthquake’s aftermath, shift to online shopping, and the retail disruption in the Christchurch central retail precinct because of COVID-19. The findings illustrate how consumers through their spending respond to different types of external shocks, altering their consumption patterns and retail mode (offline and online) to cope with an ever-changing retail landscape. Each event triggers different spending patterns that have some similarities but also stark differences, having implications for a sustainable and resilient retail industry in Christchurch. Implications for urban retail precinct development are also discussed. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

American protectionist thought: the economic philosophy and theory of the 19th century American protectionists

- Frith, Mathew

  • Authors: Frith, Mathew
  • Date: 2024
  • Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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  • Description: This study contributes to economic knowledge by recovering the system of economic philosophy and theory developed by the 19th century American Protectionists. The account provided in this thesis is comprehensive and covers all major aspects of their theoretical system. Put simply, this study provides an explication and clarification of the economic philosophy and theory of this important, yet neglected, school of economic thought. In doing so, the approach undertaken is one which goes beyond the writings of Alexander Hamilton, Friedrich List, and Henry Charles Carey, and instead draws upon the full corpus of American Protectionist literature. By drawing upon the writings of roughly seventy economists and statesmen from within this neglected tradition, this study has been able to consolidate and distil their ideas into a general and coherent system of economic theory. This thesis therefore recovers an important and original lens through which to interpret and understand the workings of the economy. This is important for both economists and historians of economic thought alike. Whereas most literature in the history of economic thought relegate the American Protectionists to a position of insignificance, this study demonstrates that their system is a refined and sophisticated doctrine of economic thought which rivalled, and even surpassed, other 19th century schools of economic thought. Indeed, against the Whig theory of history, which presupposes that economic knowledge progresses in a linear and upward manner, this thesis contends that superior theories can often be displaced by inferior ones, with knowledge being lost as a consequence. This thesis therefore advances the view that the system of thought developed by the American Protectionists is an example of where important and relevant economic knowledge has been lost. Rediscovering this lost knowledge is thus important not only for purely historical reasons, but for its ability to aid modern economic analysis.
  • Description: Doctor of Philosophy

Latrobe Valley Authority career pathways project report 2022

- Porter, Joanne, Prokopiv, Val, Prezioso, Michelle, Ghasemiardekani, Maryam, Wildblood, Robyn, Dabkowski, Elissa, Barbagallo, Michael

  • Authors: Porter, Joanne , Prokopiv, Val , Prezioso, Michelle , Ghasemiardekani, Maryam , Wildblood, Robyn , Dabkowski, Elissa , Barbagallo, Michael
  • Date: 2022
  • Type: Report
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  • Description: Commissioned by the Latrobe Valley Authority (LVA), Swinburne University produced ‘Modelling Gippsland’s Future Health and Community Service Workforce: Summary Report’ in 20191. This analysis of the healthcare and social assistance sector workforce was part of the development of a smart specialisation strategy to promote economic and social development of the Gippsland region in Victoria. The analysis provided an understanding of the effect of the growth of the sector on the local labour market, identified key trends and provided a framework for action to 2036. One of the key recommendations from this report included the promotion of career pathways in the sector. CERG was commissioned by the LVA to deliver the Career Pathways Project (the project) that focussed on exploring the experiences of individuals and recording their stories in health and community services. The project was a collaboration with the LVA and a Network of Gippsland health education providers and key stakeholders (the Network) brought together to inform the project.

The development of the Gippsland Economic Modelling Tool

- Lawton, Alan, Valenzuela, Ernesto, Duffy, Michelle, Morgan, Damian

  • Authors: Lawton, Alan , Valenzuela, Ernesto , Duffy, Michelle , Morgan, Damian
  • Date: 2014
  • Type: Text , Report
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  • Description: This study develops a measurement tool to assess the economic health, human capital, social well-being and liveability of regional locations. The study is guided by developments in the professional literature related to measuring these four dimensions. Information was compiled from existing databases for 72 indicators used to generate four indices: Economic Health, Human Capital, Social Well-being, and Liveability. Index measures are reported for local government authority (LGAs) and Victorian State levels. The four indices provide a new quantitative tool to capture the effects from, and so reflect, economic, social and policy changes impacting across Victoria. Further application of this tool may be provided through periodic data updates over time using data captured on a national scale. The regional focus of the present study is the Latrobe Valley located in the Gippsland region of Victoria. The Latrobe Valley encompasses the LGAs of Baw Baw, Latrobe City and Wellington Shires. In addition, index values are reported for 16 towns located within the three LGAs and we include these findings as Appendix 1. For comparative purposes, the study also reports index values for the Gippsland region (comprising LGAs of Baw-Baw, Bass Coast, East Gippsland, Latrobe City, South Gippsland and Wellington Shire), the State of Victoria, and regional (non-metropolitan areas) using averages. Data were gathered for all 79 Victorian LGAs. The study results provide a measurement framework constructed from a comprehensive application of available databases. The end-product is a significant “tool” that identifies and summates enablers of economic productivity and social and community development. The tool provides evidenced-based measures to inform policy recommendations with regard to strategic intervention options and ensuing impacts on regional sustainability.
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