Analysis of the transaction costs and administration benefits associated with Behind The Label

Compliance with government regulations represents a cost to business operations. Of all compliance activities, compliance with taxation regulations and legislation constitutes a significant proportion of business expense. Estimates obtained in this study by Phillip O\u27Neill and Grahame O\u27Leary suggest that compliance with licensing and other arrangements of the proposed Ethical Clothing Trades Act account for less than five per cent of total compliance costs

MODELLING LONG-TERM COMMODITIES: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SIMULATION MODEL FOR THE SOUTH AFRICAN WINE INDUSTRY WITHIN A PARTIAL EQUILIBRIUM FRAMEWORK

Econometric demand and supply models of agricultural commodities and crops have been around for a long time with extensive research and adaptations being made in the grain and livestock sectors. This much attention has, however, not been afforded to long term commodities. This paper presents a partial equilibrium framework for modelling long term commodities using the South African wine industry as an example. The model structure and important assumptions are presented, after which the usefulness of the model is tested in the form of baseline projections and the analysis of a typical “what if” question. The wine model presented in this paper is housed and maintained in the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) at the Department of Agriculture, Western Cape and the Universities of Pretoria and Stellenbosch.wine market, South Africa, partial equilibrium model, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis,

Internal Market Harmonisation and Trade Implications for Non-EU Companies

After the formation of the European Union internal market in 1992, member state specific obstacles and barriers were largely removed. This was especially the case in harmonised industries where standardisation and technical regulation have led to legal certainty. Despite this, a large range of trade regulation continues to remain distortional to trade, in addition to the ongoing tariffs and subsidies. The key trade regulations relate to a number of areas involving technical regulations such as production labelling and the protection of intellectual property rights. Whilst policy makers claim justification based around the need to correct market failure in delivering desired outcomes, the question is whether these regulations are appropriate responses to market failures or if they have simply been imposed in an attempt to protect domestic markets. These regulations become especially clear for non-EU companies exporting their products to the EU internal market. When entering the EU, a large amount of primary and secondary legislation and case law becomes applicable, further compounding the difficulties found within different cultural affinity zones. In light of recent legislative developments, this paper seeks to conduct a research study on the Australian wine industry, an industry in European favour over the last decade. Through an examination of industry developments and the underlying EU legislation, the extent to which barriers and obstacles impede the natural forces of free market trade will be determined

Machina ex Deus? From Distributed to Orchestrated Agency

In this chapter, the author draws on a historical case study of the Australian wine industry to explore variations in collective agency. The inductively derived process model illustrates the emergence of a new profession of scientific win- emaking, which unfolds in three phases. Each phase is characterized by a dis- tinct form of agency: distributed agency during the earliest phase, coordinated agency during later phases, and orchestrated agency during consolidation. In addition to exploring the temporal shifts in agency, the study includes a detailed analysis of the early stages of distributed agency, examining how col- lective agency is achieved in the absence of shared intentions

New Wine in Old Bottles: A Case Study of Innovation Territories in "New World" Wine Production

This article applies the concept of "innovation territories" to explain the recent export success of the Australian Wine Industry. Recent data collected from four "New World" wine producing countries are contrasted in order to investigate "innovation territories" that in the Australian context transcend geographic and policy boundaries. The international comparison shows that these territories can be mapped and their interaction compared. A major finding from teh study is that one of the major contributors to Australia's success in gaining comparative advantage in this industry is the way local and national investments in R&D have transcended geographic and policy boundaries. Coordination driven by strong national policies is required to make this happen. This suggests that "knowledge intensive clusters" driven by national policies can be turned to advantage for regional development. The present study serves to sketch out how the idea of innovation territories might be operationalised for the purpose of future industry policy research

What are the options? pricing and taxation policy reforms to redress excessive alcohol consumption and related harms in australia

Increasing community and political concern about excessive alcohol consumption and related harms in Australia has prompted calls for the introduction of tighter regulatory controls. From an evidence-based, research perspective, measures which increase alcohol prices and taxes, in particular, are considered most effective for reducing alcohol consumption and related harms. Accordingly, this report presents a review of pricing and taxation policy levers that have been considered and/or implemented nationally and internationally. These policies include: alcohol taxation and differential price by beverage; special/additional taxation on alcopops; minimum pricing; and bans on price discounts and promotions. Industry response to these policy initiatives is discussed, in addition to the role of public opinion in policy-making, and the issue of substitution and complementarity with other drugs. This review is designed to inform policymakers of useful taxation and pricing policy levers to redress alcohol-related harm in the Australian community. We conclude that each policy holds some promise, and it appears that they would be more successful when used in combination than as individual uncoordinated strategies

A 'civilized' drink and a 'civilizing' industry: wine growing and cultural imagining in colonial New South Wales

My starting point for this thesis was the absence of a foundation history of Australian wine growing conducted by an historian rather than researchers in other disciplines or the media. I have used existing work on wine history in New South Wales from 1788 to 1901 alongside a significant body of new research to create an historical argument suitable for incorporation into more broadly-themed narratives of Australian history and to inform studies of wine growing in other academic fields. My main argument is that although wine growing proved of little economic value in colonial primary production compared with nation-building commodities - such as pastoralism, wheat growing and gold - advocates of the cultivation of wine grapes believed wine growing embodied beneficial, even transformative, cultural value so they persisted in attempting to create a ‘civilizing’ industry producing a ‘civilized’ drink despite lacklustre consumption of their product and very modest profits. Several times, from 1788 to 1901, these advocates spoke out or wrote about wine and wine growing as capable of creating order in a wild or ‘savage’ landscape and within a settler society shaped culturally by shifting adaptations to both imported and ‘native’ influences in agriculture as well as alcohol production, consumption and distribution. While the methodological framework employed here falls mainly within cultural and economic history, sociological theories have contributed to findings on causation. The result is a comprehensive narrative of colonial wine growing in New South Wales enriched by links to key developments in Australian colonial history and with reference to wine growing in other British colonies or former territories