Revisiting the standing of International Business journals in the competitive landscape

© 2016.Journal rankings are contentious, proliferating and bring about a significant change to research productivity and quality assessment. In this paper, we assess the quality and impact of International Business (IB) journals in relation to each other and management and business journals more broadly. In so doing, we overcome methodological limitations of previous journal rankings by adopting a novel approach that incorporates a worldwide meta-ranking. Its key advantage is the ability to look at the standing of journals both within and between subject-areas. Comparisons between subject areas are important because centralization of resource allocation decisions within institutions has ramifications for disciplines and staff involved. Results indicate that within the IB domain, JIBS continues to top the list, JWB has solidified its position and joined the upper tier of IB journals, the space below JIBS and JWB is increasingly contested, pointing to the emergence of a multi-tier set of "core" IB journals. In the wider competitive landscape of management and business journals, IB journals perform well in the upper tier, but there is a long tail of IB journals at the lower end of our meta-ranking

The strengths and capacities of Authentic Followership

Purpose - Exploring a new conceptual framework for authentic followership (AF) comprised of three components: individual, dyadic and organisational. The purpose of this paper is to explain how the components of AF interact as a positive, non-linear feedback loop. It presents three propositions of positive outcomes arising from AF. First, AF builds follower's strengths and capacities. Second, AF strengthens dyadic relationships between followers and leaders. Third, AF deepens and strengthens positive organisational culture thereby improving organisational performance. It discusses the practical significance of these propositions for followers, leaders and firms. Design/methodology/approach - The paper provides an overview of AF. Then three propositions of positive outcomes arising from AF are presented. It identifies how these propositions could benefit followers, leaders and firms. In conclusion, it offers suggestions for future research directions and notes some limitations of this work. Findings - The key finding of this paper is that AF could potentially strengthen the capacities and performance of followers, leaders and organisations if the propositions presented in this work are correct if the three components of AF interact with each other as a positive feedback loop strengthening and reinforcing each component of AF. To establish the validity of the AF model and the three propositions the paper suggests that investigations in different empirical settings are undertaken: SME's and multinational corporations, in different countries under different market conditions, with followers and leaders of different gender, age, education level, roles and tenure of employment. Originality/value - The paper's core contention that the components of AF interact as a positive feedback loop has significant practical implications - beneficial outcomes for followers, leaders and firms. P1 explains how AF enables followers to gain confidence, maturity and create solid foundations from which to thrive and flourish. P2 explains how dyadic relationships between followers and leaders could be strengthened, deepening trust and respect between each party, thereby enhancing leadership effectiveness. P3 explains how the dynamic processes of AF can strengthen and deepen positive organisational culture and enhance organisational performance

Using entrepreneurial activities as a means of survival: Investigating the processes used by Australian universities to diversify their revenue streams

This study provides a profile of the actions taken by Australian universities to diversify their revenue streams in order to generate more independent (non-government) income. Marginson's taxonomy of Australian universities is used to catergorise universities and contrast levels of independent income (Marginson and Considine 2000). This study finds that some Australian universities have used isomorphic tactics in their attempts to diversify their revenue streams. Unitechs (Universities of Technology) and New Universities are over-reliant upon income earned from overseas student fees, whilst earning comparatively small amounts of revenue from Royalties, Trademarks and Licences, Consultancy, Contract Research and Investments. This work discusses the dangers inherent in over-reliance on a single type of independent income. It argues that if Australian universities seek to enhance their success competing in global research, staff and student markets then they need to augment efforts to diversify revenue streams with structural and cultural changes, transforming themselves from being rigid hierarchical public bureaucracies to become more flexible network enterprises (Castells 2000)

Academic units in a complex, changing world: Adaptation and resistance

This book uses case studies of academic units from Australian public universities to explore the reasons why those units respond in different ways to similar contemporary challenges. The 'academic units'-departments, schools and faculties-in the world's public universities may be their own administrative fiefdoms, but the wider environment within which they operate is both complex and dynamic. In fact, today's academic landscape is barely recognizable from what it was like two decades ago. The globalization of higher education markets for students, faculty and research funding has expanded the challenges and opportunities for academic units beyond the boundaries of nation states. However, academic units must also deal with the diverse needs and expectations of national and local stakeholders, as well as operate within government regulatory and policy frameworks. In addition, they are required to adhere to policy and operational directives from institutional executives and consider the often-competing needs and expectations of other stakeholders such as faculty, students, employers, funding bodies and professional associations. As public funding slowly evaporates some university faculties have embraced the imperative to be more business-oriented. Others have shrunk from congress with Mammon. The milieu of tertiary education is having to adapt to fresh trends in this domain, such as the advocacy of marketization, entrepreneurialism and corporatization, the three pillars of so-called 'new public management'. With its case studies from different academic disciplines and types of university, this book asks some key questions: Why do some units adapt to environmental challenges and others resist change? How and why do academic units adopt different modes and processes of adaptation or resistance? Along with its new conceptual framework for the wider context, the text makes an important contribution to scholarship on leading and managing change in universities, while at the same time offering those in academic leadership positions relevant advice and practical suggestions to guide their units through these complex challenges. Where other academic studies have examined the university as an institution in its entirety, this focused study compares the decision-making on a lower rung of the administrative ladder

Dracula : the anatomy of fear

This thesis looks into the concept of otherness as it is presented in Bram Stoker s gothic fantasy, Dracula (1897). Otherness is that which deviates from the know and the acceptable, which is called the self . My thesis is inspired by Rosemary Jacson s Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion (1981), which presents an interesting approach to gothic fantasy. I have also provided a survey of the origin of vampires, as Dracula is both a culmination and destroyer of a tradition. Vampirism represents otherness attacking the self . The novel is practically a catalogue of Western fears and desires, and all the major sources of otherness are explored as they seem to blend into one another. Some critics have found evidence of homophobia and anti-Semitism, whereas others have focused on the New Woman and gender perspectives. A general fear of death and degeneracy is also analysed. As a contrast to Dracula, John Polidori s The Vampyre (1819) presents us with the first literary vampire, but being the first of its kind, it hardly represents otherness on the same level as Dracula. Through this analysis of otherness , I have shown that in the history of vampire-literature, Dracula represents an already evil character at its most grotesque, allowing the readers to project a variety of fears and desires

Combustion oscillations in sudden-expansion flows

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN035958 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Organisational culture and values and the adaptation of academic units in Australian universities

This study explores connections between the organisational culture and values of academic units in Australian universities and their efforts to adapt to external environmental pressures. It integrates empirical findings from case studies with theories of organisational culture and values and adaptation. It identifies seven dimensions of academic unit's organisational culture and values that influenced how case study academic units adapted. Then patterns of heterogeneity and homogeneity within these dimensions are noted and their associations with different modes of adaptation are discussed