The corporatisation of local body entities: A study of financial performance

The New Zealand electricity industry provides us with a unique opportunity to examine how entities responded to major restructuring of the industry. This research studies the financial performance of three entities, each with a different ownership structure, over a 15 year period from 1988 to 2002. The aim is to examine the possible influence of ownership type and corporatisation on the development and financial performance of the entities by examining the changes that took place from the pre-corporatisation period to the post-corporatisation period and comparing and contrasting the performance and funding of the three entities over that time. In this way an assessment is made of the possible influence of ownership type on financial performance. This research can be framed to some extent by agency theory aspects of positive accounting theory. In addition legitimacy theory has been used to explain the behaviour of managers and the process of organizations adapting to a changing environment. Both theories acknowledge the interaction of organizations and their environment. The comparison shows that at the end of the study period the council owned company was the smallest, in terms of total assets, of the three companies examined (although it was similar in size to the biggest one at the outset). The council owned company also returned most capital to its shareholders and is the most conservatively financed one of the three with only 10% debt at the end of 2002 compared to 28% for the trust-held company and 87% for the listed company. The listed company ended up being the biggest and the one with the highest gearing, the highest ROA and the highest profit margin. The study concludes that ownership structure did have an influence on financial performance and level of debt funding

FORMAT 2 - Second version of FORTRAN matrix abstraction technique. Volume 2, supplement 2 - Description of digital computer program system/360 Final report, Jan. - Sep. 1968

FORTRAN matrix conversion for implementing FORMAT 2 on system 360 for airframe structural strain analysi

Kiwi talent flow : a study of chartered accountants and business professionals overseas

New Zealanders have always had a propensity to travel overseas. The globalisation of the world has seen an increase in the number of people who, having completed their education and gained some work experience, set off on their overseas experience. Concern has been expressed as to the potential “brain drain” that would result should these well-educated and talented citizens remain overseas permanently. This research considers the propensity to return of over 1,500 expatriate Kiwis working in the areas of accounting and finance. It examines their demographics, attitudes, values, motivations, factors of attraction to, and repulsion from, New Zealand and their concerns for change in New Zealand. It therefore provides insights into the nature and purpose of this significant group of professionals resident mainly in the United Kingdom and Australia. We find that less than half are likely to return to New Zealand. This is because of the lack of career and business opportunities despite the “pull” of family and relations in New Zealand

Assessment of practicality of remote sensing techniques for a study of the effects of strip mining in Alabama

Because of the volume of coal produced by strip mining, the proximity of mining operations, and the diversity of mining methods (e.g. contour stripping, area stripping, multiple seam stripping, and augering, as well as underground mining), the Warrior Coal Basin seemed best suited for initial studies on the physical impact of strip mining in Alabama. Two test sites, (Cordova and Searles) representative of the various strip mining techniques and environmental problems, were chosen for intensive studies of the correlation between remote sensing and ground truth data. Efforts were eventually concentrated in the Searles Area, since it is more accessible and offers a better opportunity for study of erosional and depositional processes than the Cordova Area

Ferrite attenuator modulation improves antenna performance

Ferrite attenuator inserted into appropriate waveguide reduces the gain of the antenna element which is causing interference. Modulating the ferrite attenuator to change the antenna gain at the receive frequency permits ground tracking until the antenna is no longer needed

Feminist solidarity building as embodied agonism: An ethnographic account of a protest movement

Feminist solidarity, after early and idealistic conceptions of an all‐encompassing sisterhood, has become preoccupied with understanding and theorising differences between women. This study develops an account of solidarity as embodied agonism, where difference and contest are experienced and negotiated through the body. Difference and contest are reframed within feminist solidarity projects as resources for, rather than inhibitors to, generating collective agency. This is done through an ethnography of a protest movement in Montenegro, which drew together diverse groups of women, and bring our data into conversation with theories of agonistic democratic practice and embodied performativity. Embodied agonistic solidarity is theorised as a participative and inclusive endeavour driven by conflictual encounters, constituted through the bodies, language and visual imagery of assembling and articulating subjects. Our account of solidarity is presented as constituted through three dimensions, each of which represents a different emphasis on sensory experience: exposing, which is to make one's body open to the hardship of others, enabling alliances between unlikely allies to emerge; citing, which is to draw on others’ symbolic resources and to publicly affirm them; inhabiting, which is to embody the deprivations of others, enabling alliances to grow and persist

Negotiating the Coaching Landscape: Experiences of Black men and women coaches in the United Kingdom

The current article provides a critical examination of the racialised and gendered processes that reinforce disparities in sport coaching by exploring the experiences of Black men and women coaches in the United Kingdom. The findings are based on in-depth qualitative interviews with coaches from two national governing bodies of sport. Using a Critical Race Theory approach and Black feminist lens, the coaches’ narratives illuminate the complex, multifaceted and dynamic ways in which ‘race’, ethnicity and gender are experienced and negotiated by sport coaches. The coaches’ reflections are discussed under three themes: negotiating identities; privilege and blind spots; and systemic discrimination. The narratives from the coaches’ experiences emphasise the need for key stakeholders in sport to recognise the intersectional, structural and relational experiences that facilitate, as well as constrain, the progression of Black coaches in order to challenge racialised and gendered inequalities

Students as co-creators of teaching approaches, course design and curricula: implications for academic developers

Within higher education, students’ voices are frequently overlooked in the design of teaching approaches, courses and curricula. In this paper we outline the theoretical background to arguments for including students as partners in pedagogical planning processes. We present examples where students have worked collaboratively in design processes along with the beneficial outcomes of these examples. Finally we focus on some of the implications and opportunities for academic developers of proposing collaborative approaches to pedagogical planning