Major factors contributing to marketing success in the Australian corporate finance market

This thesis investigated the major factors contributing to marketing success, as measured by average annual Return on Shareholders Funds, within the Australian corporate finance market, during the period 1983 to 1987. The study's findings are based on the analysis of the responses to a detailed mail questionnaire, and several follow-up in-depth interviews. The questionnaire was mailed to nearly five hundred of the most senior executives working in the corporate finance market in late 1987. A total of ninety one completed, useable questionnaires were received, representing a response rate of 19.2 per cent. This sample was representative of the several different types of organisations then competing within the chosen market. The main findings of this thesis, based on an extensive analysis of the respondents' questionnaires, are that the organisations which were most successful in terms of their marketing activities were smaller in size than their competitors, had a more systematic approach to their marketing, and were primarily involved in providing either stock broking or investment banking services to their customers. The other major finding is that modern marketing concepts and management practices did not appear to be fully understood, or implemented, within the responding organisations, despite the deregulation of the Australian capital market and the consequent intenSification of competition

Autonomous Agents for Business Process Management

Traditional approaches to managing business processes are often inadequate for large-scale organisation-wide, dynamic settings. However, since Internet and Intranet technologies have become widespread, an increasing number of business processes exhibit these properties. Therefore, a new approach is needed. To this end, we describe the motivation, conceptualization, design, and implementation of a novel agent-based business process management system. The key advance of our system is that responsibility for enacting various components of the business process is delegated to a number of autonomous problem solving agents. To enact their role, these agents typically interact and negotiate with other agents in order to coordinate their actions and to buy in the services they require. This approach leads to a system that is significantly more agile and robust than its traditional counterparts. To help demonstrate these benefits, a companion paper describes the application of our system to a real-world problem faced by British Telecom

Effects of chromatic surrounds on the perceived color balance of reflection prints

Many have pursued an understanding of factors that affect color perception. One such factor is the viewing condition under which an observation occurs. For example, the appearance of a color patch is altered by the color and luminance of the area surrounding it. Even if this perception is subconscious, it still influences the viewer\u27s judgments. Thus, one expects that the perception of a complex scene, a photograph, will also be changed by a colored surround. This paper investigates such an effect, thereby increasing the understanding of color perception

Sales - Privity - Disclaimer of Implied Warranty

Husband purchased a new automobile from a dealer. The contract of sale contained on its reverse side an express warranty from the manufacturer to the original purchaser providing for the replacement of any parts which were returned to the manufacturer and were in its judgment defective. The warranty was ... expressly in lieu of all other warranties expressed or implied .... The dealer warranty was substantially identical to that extended by the manufacturer; both adhered to the form prescribed by the Automobile Manufacturer\u27s Association. Shortly after the delivery of the automobile, wife was injured in a collision caused by a defective steering mechanism. Wife instituted suit against both dealer and manufacturer to recover for personal injuries and husband joined to recover for property damage and consequential losses arising from his wife\u27s injuries. The action was submitted to the jury on the issue of implied warranty of merchantability; judgment was rendered for the plaintiffs against both the manufacturer and dealer. On appeal, held, affirmed. The express disclaimer of implied warranty is invalid as against public policy; the implied warranty of merchantability extends from both the manufacturer and the dealer to the ultimate purchaser, members of his family, and to others occupying or using car with his consent. Henningsen v. Bloomfield Motors, Inc., 161 A.2d 69 (N.J. 1960)