The impact of corporatisation and management reform on the role and working life of managers in an Australian electricity utility: A triangulated study, 1994-2002

For decades electricity has been a critical source of energy for all major industries, nationally and internationally. In 2002 the Australian electricity supply industry had assets in excess of $86 billion and accounted for more than 1.4 percent of gross domestic product. It is a major employer with more than 33,000 people serving more than 8 million customers. This study explores the impact of corporatisation and management reform on the role and working life of managers within the broader context of this industry. It is an industry identified by academics, commentators and the business media over the past two decades as one of poor management performance and inefficiencies - often seen as significant contributors to historically high electricity costs to consumers in Australia. As a result, electricity utility reform has been high on the agenda of national and state governments from the early 1980\u27s and throughout the 1990\u27s. Macro and micro economic reforms driven by significant government sponsored reports were considered central to Australia\u27s efforts to improve its economic position. Underpinning this orthodoxy was the call for managerial responsibilities and incentives for managers of public utilities to be redefined in accord with the government\u27s objectives. Managerialism became the ideological driver for management reform and corporatisation. This in tum became the major change process employed by state governments seeking micro (agency level) economic reforms. These economic reforms incorporated efficiency, productivity and contestability considerations in line with National Competition Policy

A COEVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING THE PARADOX OF SOCIAL PRESSURES VERSUS ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY ACROSS THE WORLD'S FOOD CHAINS

Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Sharp Estimates of the Embedding Constants for Besov Spaces

Sharp estimates are obtained for the rates of blow up of the norms of embeddings of Besov spaces in Lorentz spaces as the parameters approach critical values.Sharp estimates are obtained for the rates of blow up of the norms of embeddings of Besov spaces in Lorentz spaces as the parameters approach critical values

CONTEST : a Controllable Test Matrix Toolbox for MATLAB

Large, sparse networks that describe complex interactions are a common feature across a number of disciplines, giving rise to many challenging matrix computational tasks. Several random graph models have been proposed that capture key properties of real-life networks. These models provide realistic, parametrized matrices for testing linear system and eigenvalue solvers. CONTEST (CONtrollable TEST matrices) is a random network toolbox for MATLAB that implements nine models. The models produce unweighted directed or undirected graphs; that is, symmetric or unsymmetric matrices with elements equal to zero or one. They have one or more parameters that affect features such as sparsity and characteristic pathlength and all can be of arbitrary dimension. Utility functions are supplied for rewiring, adding extra shortcuts and subsampling in order to create further classes of networks. Other utilities convert the adjacency matrices into real-valued coefficient matrices for naturally arising computational tasks that reduce to sparse linear system and eigenvalue problems

A review of selection criteria used by medical scheme advisers to approve or deny procedures with a cosmetic component

Objective. To review and apply statistical tests to the selection criteria used by two medical advisers to approve or deny applications for three common cosmetic or reconstructive procedures within a large group of medical schemes.Design. A retrospective descriptive study which applied multiple regression analysis, frequency analysis, comparison of means and simple correlations to the data sets for three procedures.Setting. Administrative records from the clinical files of medical advisers and the administrator's claims database.Subjects. Data were reviewed for 1 143 members who, between January and December 1996, submitted applications for breast reduction, excimer laser refractive surgery, or otoplasty.Main outcome measures. The primary outcome measure was the statistical relationship between medical advisers' selection criteria and final decision. In addition, the financial implications of these cosmetic/reconstructive procedures were assessed.Results. For the three procedures reviewed there was a statistically significant relationship behveen 5 of 13 preoperative criteria requested and the medical advisers' opinion. Excimer laser surgery was generally approved on the basis of the refractive error (myopia> -3.00; astigmatism > -1.5 dioptres); otoplasty was generally approved for children aged :≤ 12.years; and breast reduction was usually covered for women with a sternal-nipple distance > 29.0 cm and with a cup size ≥ DD. The other data submitted were similarly distributed between the approved and denied groups.Conclusions. Review of medical advisers' decisions is important in an era of protocols, guidelines and 'standard operating procedures'. Selection criteria for approval of applications for medically necesssary cosmetic/reconstructive surgery must be reviewed and revised to provide a reliable, reproducible and statistically valid process