The effect of strategic marketing planning practices on performance: a study of Australian private hospitals

Although many marketing text books and a number of studies claim that strategic marketing planning can help firms improve their organizational performance, little or no study particularly in Australia has examined the effect of strategic marketing planning practices on private hospitals. This paper aims to present the results of a study that addressed whether strategic marketing planning practice is related to private hospitals organizational performance

Strategy implementation and organizational performance: a study of private hospitals

Although there is continuing interest in the concept of strategic planning, very little research has been done to examine whether the extent to which marketing strategies are implemented in private hospitals could explain variations in their organizational performance. This paper aims to present the results of a study that addressed whether there are significant differences in the extent to which marketing strategies are implemented in private hospitals that have high level of organizational performance versus private hospitals that have low level of organizational performance

How well are Australian business graduates prepared for the workplace?

The gap between business graduates' skills and competencies, and the graduates' needs in the workplace has been well researched and documented. However, no comprehensive model appears to have been developed on which to base curriculum decisions in this field. The current paper contributes to this area by investigating Australian graduates' skills needs in terms of the importance of nominated skills and satisfaction with the education received for those developed skills as perceived by graduates. Analysis of a survey shows that generic marketing skills are valued at a lower level than general attribute skills. Thus, university marketing programs may need to focus more on general skills and personal attributes

An Exploratory Examination of the Marketing Philosophy Utilization in the Health Industry: A Case of Preventative Family Home Visiting Health Program in Australia

According to the literature the application of the marketing concept philosophy is fundamental to the success of any program run in organizations. However, despite its importance, limited research has been focused on investigating the adoption of the marketing concept philosophy in the health industry. This paper presents the results of a study that was designed to examine whether the marketing concept philosophy is being utilized in health services programs particularly in a preventative home visiting program operating in a rural community in Australia. The home visiting program investigated in this research was a two-year publicly funded program that involved recruiting and training experienced parents as volunteers to visit and support first-time parents or carers. In order to investigate whether the marketing concept was being applied within this program, a survey questionnaire was developed and distributed to all parents and carers upon entry into the program. Results of the research showed that parents/carers participating in this home visiting program came from a similar socioeconomic background and did not appear to have a need for the program. Further research is warranted to identify segments of society who have a need for such a program and to tailor their needs to these programs

Exploratory study to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of cloud computing in Australian regional municipal governments

Cloud computing is seen as an increasingly important enabler for improving productivity, efficiency and cost reduction. This research aims to investigate the potential for value creation for Australian municipal governments by identifying factors that are perceived likely to influence the adoption of cloud computing. The research model is proposed based on two theories derived from the literature: the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework and the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory. The research employed in-depth interviews of Australian councils’ IT managers. The obtained results indicate that the critical factors that were identified as playing a significant role in Australian regional municipal governments’ adoption of cloud services were: relative advantage, compatibility, cost, technology readiness, competitive pressure. For practitioners, this research identifies key factors for regional municipal governments to make an adoption decision toward cloud computing technology. As for academia, this research can be provided as a useful reference for future studies in this subject field

How well are Australian business graduates prepared for the workplace?

The gap between business graduates\u27 skills and competencies, and the graduates\u27 needs in the workplace has been well researched and documented. However, no comprehensive model appears to have been developed on which to base curriculum decisions in this field. The current paper contributes to this area by investigating Australian graduates\u27 skills needs in terms of the importance of nominated skills and satisfaction with the education received for those developed skills as perceived by graduates. Analysis of a survey shows that generic marketing skills are valued at a lower level than general attribute skills. Thus, university marketing programs may need to focus more on general skills andpersonal attributes.<br /

Measurement of the W-boson mass in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of the mass of the W boson is presented based on proton–proton collision data recorded in 2011 at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, and corresponding to 4.6 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. The selected data sample consists of 7.8 × 106 candidates in the W → μν channel and 5.9 × 106 candidates in the W → eν channel. The W-boson mass is obtained from template fits to the reconstructed distributions of the charged lepton transverse momentum and of the W boson transverse mass in the electron and muon decay channels, yielding mW = 80370 ± 7 (stat.) ± 11(exp. syst.) ± 14 (mod. syst.) MeV = 80370 ± 19 MeV, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second corresponds to the experimental systematic uncertainty, and the third to the physics-modelling systematic uncertainty. A measurement of the mass difference between the W+ and W− bosons yields mW+ − mW− = − 29 ± 28 MeV

Measurement of the W-boson mass in pp collisions at s√=7TeV with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of the mass of the W boson is presented based on proton–proton collision data recorded in 2011 at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, and corresponding to 4.6 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. The selected data sample consists of 7.8×106 candidates in the W→μν channel and 5.9×106 candidates in the W→eν channel. The W-boson mass is obtained from template fits to the reconstructed distributions of the charged lepton transverse momentum and of the W boson transverse mass in the electron and muon decay channels, yielding mW=80370=80370±7 (stat.)±11(exp. syst.)±14 (mod. syst.) MeV±19MeV, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second corresponds to the experimental systematic uncertainty, and the third to the physics-modelling systematic uncertainty. A measurement of the mass difference between the W+ and W− bosons yields mW+−mW−=−29±28 MeV

Measurement of the W-boson mass in pp collisions at s√=7TeV with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of the mass of the W boson is presented based on proton–proton collision data recorded in 2011 at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, and corresponding to 4.6 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. The selected data sample consists of 7.8×106 candidates in the W→μν channel and 5.9×106 candidates in the W→eν channel. The W-boson mass is obtained from template fits to the reconstructed distributions of the charged lepton transverse momentum and of the W boson transverse mass in the electron and muon decay channels, yielding mW=80370=80370±7 (stat.)±11(exp. syst.)±14 (mod. syst.) MeV±19MeV, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second corresponds to the experimental systematic uncertainty, and the third to the physics-modelling systematic uncertainty. A measurement of the mass difference between the W+ and W− bosons yields mW+−mW−=−29±28 MeV

Hospital search and evaluation behaviours of rural Australian health consumers - an exploratory study

This paper investigates the impact of health attitudes (as measured by consumers' perceived control over their health outcomes) on information search and alternative evaluation of rural Australian consumers when selecting a hospital. A self-administered moil questionnaire was sent to 1790 households within three rural communities, with 309 (17.3 per cent) useable questionnaires being returned for analysis. Results showed that while consumers' perceived control over their health outcome influences information search and evaluative behaviours, this factor may not be strong enough to warrant segmenting markets for marketing strategy development