Beyond the Pale: Cultural Diversity on ASX100 Boards

This report presents a qualitative study of the cultural diversity of Australian boardrooms, a significantly under-researched, yet critical area of organisational leadership. The evidence we present was gathered through in-depth interviews with 18 ASX100 board members who were questioned on aspects of cultural diversity on boards; and 9 representatives from leading executive search firms responsible for board recruitment. The interviewees are key insiders into the dynamics of boards and gave fascinating insights into the research question: What are the key inhibitors and enablers for cultural diversity on Australian boards? The findings indicate that there are both perceptual and systemic barriers to cultural diversity on boards and also highlight the complexity of cultural diversity, raising issues around how we define cultural background and ‘fitting in’, influence, contribution, voice and leadership.Australian Institute of Company Directors; Australian Human Rights Commissio

The evolution of Australian Treasury thought since 1945

Deposited with permission of the author. © 1982 Dr. Greg WhitwellThis thesis aims to provide an understanding of the changing economic philosophy of the Australian Treasury, an institution of undoubted importance in influencing the nature of post-war economic policy but one which has been largely neglected by economic historians. As a corollary, the thesis aims also to make some (though of course a very limited) contribution to an even more significant gap in Australia's post-war economic history: an analysis of the contours of Australian economic thought in general. Recently, Fred Gruen has provided a survey of Australian economics from 1968 to 1978 and Geoff Harcourt has discussed the leading schools of economic thought in Australia - monetarist, bastard Keynesian, and post- Keynesian - and has related them to some key economic institutions, including the Treasury. Both of these are valuable contributions but are notably brief. Barry Hughes's Exit Full Employment is much more comprehensive and discusses Treasury thought in some detail but, as with Gruen and Harcourt, is concerned essentially with the 1970s. This thesis, by contrast, covers not only the 1970s but stretches back to the 1930s in an attempt to show how Treasury thought has evolved over more than four decades (with emphasis on the post-war period). To be more specific, the thesis is not a history of how the Treasury has influenced policy but aims to piece together the various elements of the Treasury's outlook - the way it views the economy and economic agents - to show how this view has changed over time, and to explain why it has changed. Given these aims, it seems essential to abandon a narrative style for an explicitly analytical and hermeneutical approach. For narrative would tend to obscure the extent and nature of the changes which have occurred in Treasury thought and obscure also the interrelatedness of the department's ideas. Liberal (but hopefully not excessive) use has been made of quotations. Such quotations are essential for giving flavour to the ideas discussed. More importantly, in an interpretative essay language is crucially important. Finally, some mention should be made of possible complaints concerning the style of the thesis. Perhaps the main complaint which could be raised is that the thesis is overly relativistic, in that it concentrates on tracing the evolution of Treasury thought and says little about the validity of the department's views. This is openly acknowledged. Nevertheless, before one can criticise (or support) the Treasury it seems essential to know something about what the department really thinks. It seems essential also to know why the Treasury thinks the way it does. In both these respects the thesis has some value. Hopefully, the thesis will convince the reader of an important fact: ideas about the world are not static but variable and assumptions made about human nature are of fundamental importance in determining one's view of the world and the economy. One has to be quite clear of these assumptions before one can engage in debate over which is more realistic

Japanese FDI in Australia in the 1990s: Manufacturing, Financial Services and Tourism

This paper develops an agency-transaction cost model of foreign direct investment (FDI) by Japanese MNEs in Australian manufacturing, financial services and tourism in the 1990s. A survey questionnaire, constructed using the theory, was completed by 69 Japanese MNEs operating in Australia. Based on the questionnaire information, this study uncovers the staged involvement in the Australian economy by Japanese MNEs. The firm-specific ownership advantages and location-specific determinants leading to Japanese FDI are analysed, with comparisons across industry sectors and time. Strategic factors in the FDI decision are found to be unimportant. The paper also investigates the choice of licensing as an alternative type of involvement in Australia by Japanese MNEs.

Candidates Night

North Mississippians competing for the vacant 1st Congressional District attend a “Candidates Night” at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics on the Ole Miss campus. Invitations were sent to all 13 candidates; 11 of the 13 participated. Each candidate is given five minutes to speak uninterrupted

The German-Jew that Bandmann drew: Daniel E. Bandmann’s Shylock on the Australian colonial stage, 1869–1870

Anae, N ORCiD: 0000-0001-8441-2771A particularly noteworthy tragedian enacting Shylock on the Australian colonial stage between 1869 and early 1870 was visiting German touring star Daniel Edward Bandmann (1840–1906). His Australian tour in its initial stages was framed within the discourse of legitimacy, based both on his success in mastering the English language and perhaps above all on his ability to withstand the test of critical English audiences. Yet, the reportage of his appearances as Shylock tracked a radical turn toward a dramaturgical reconceptualisation of the part. This paper contends two separate but interrelated points: that as a German-Jewish actor Bandmann's Shylock both evoked the dramaturgical techniques of the British theatre in this role and pushed the limits of English conventions essentially to rework the enactment of Shylock for a modern Victorian audience for specific dramaturgical ends. The examination draws extensively on extant Australian colonial press ephemera covering Bandmann's tour to re-read his enactment of the role as a revolution polarising the critical nineteenth-century debates about Shylock’s emotional aesthetic, and by extension, explores Bandmann's influence in reimagining the so-called “Jew that Shakespeare Drew” in The Merchant of Venice. In this way, the analysis reclaims Bandmann's dexterity in manipulating the potential of The Merchant of Venice to redirect audiences’ attention back to the conditions and representations of colonial race politics