The Webquality Analyser: Benchmarking Industry Websites

The structure and layout of various websites across a wide spectrum of service industries was analysed using the WebQuality Analyser (WQA). The WQA incorporated forty five critical success elements delivered by quality on-line websites. These success elements covered information technology (IT) and marketing-services related sectors, and were further divided into five key drivers encapsulating each sector. Each sector driver was then divided into four or five customer-enabler features (covering structure and function), each with several feature components. A present / absent approach determined each component. A seven-point, Likert scale encapsulated the relative presence of the features of each driver. Although it houses both measurable and subjective components, the WQA offers a useful means to compare relevant websites, and to understand the differences with respect to one’s competitors. Further investigation of the specific on-line driver ratings demonstrated where key competitive advantage may reside. This benchmarking tool defined website strengths and weaknesses thereby allowing for corrections to the website structure of the specific business. This paper introduces the WQA, and reports on the marketing-services sector of this new benchmarking tool

Indigenous economic development policy: A discussion of theoretical foundations

Current media attention on policy about Indigenous people has largely focused on the plight of rural and remote Indigenous communities and has centred around two main areas: land and economic well-being. The second dimension defines the Indigenous person as an economically rational being seeking to maximise individual benefit and share costs across the community. Policy options based on individual wealth maximising behaviour and rational self interested actions may serve to explain economic growth in the dominant culture of developed countries but is less useful in other contexts. We argue that assumptions inherent in capitalist policies are unlikely to mesh with traditional Aboriginal settings. Capitalist enterprises establish labour contracts founded on notions of individual self interest that may conflict with cultural community responsibilities and expression of identity. Individual identity in community and connection to place may undermine the motivational assumptions of free market solutions. Where norms and social interactions are important policy options should explicitly consider ownership structures and property relations. Cooperatives as a form of organisation offer the potential for economic development initiatives to align with the sociological and citizenship features of Indigenous communities. We propose that business can be structured so that it meets collective needs, operates to develop a competitive advantage from its cultural base, and competes in a western socio-economic dominant market. Explicit consideration can and should be given to the culturally evolving landscape in remote Indigenous communities. Policy alternatives incorporating traditional conceptions of citizenship offer some prospect for discontinuing colonialist legacies

Property rights, individual incentives and remote-area Aboriginal economic development

Development policy seeks to deliver improvements in various economic and social indicators, yet compared with the general population few indicators indicate success for Indigenous Australians in non-urban locations. Markets are failing to progress economic development in remote Aboriginal communities. Institutional constructions such as the form of organisation of activity for governance and accountability have been Western-free-market-oriented. Yet these communities often lack the 1ong history of preceding development of trade, individual appropriation of benefits and opportunity for individual wealth accumulation of Western societies. Traditional cultural influences should influence institutions. Kinship, relatedness, cooperation, sharing and reciprocity are an important\ud component of the traditional social context in some situations. This collectivism can be harnessed by the form of organisation to mediate alienation from competitive market interactions

Students' perceptions of on-line assessment: financial and educational implications

Increasing regulatory and financial pressures combined with heightened demand for education brought about by the faster paced economic development of India and China and proliferation of multiple social media is placing enormous pressure on tertiary education organisations to provide a quality, low cost education to the masses. Online offerings play an important role in this regard, as does the associated online assessment.The introduction of wholly online Bachelor of Business offerings at an Australian university in 2013, combined with a lack of studies into students' perceptions of on-line assessment stimulated this research. This paper compares the initial results of the quantitative analysis of students' perceptions of on-line assessment in two first-year School of Business subjects.The students' perceptions of regular (weekly) online assessment in one subject are compared with a single online assessment in another subject and indicate some differences with those undertaking the single test being more positive.The results have financial and educational implications for all tertiary education organisations

Designing online assessment for improved student learning and experience

Australian universities are experiencing a period of unprecedented complexity in providing quality higher education experiences for an increasingly diverse student body. Institutions are grappling with ways to tackle and respond to conflating pressures of reduced resourcing,Federal government participation targets,flexibility of provision and increased accountability.Universities are increasingly turning to online learning spaces as a solution to these challenges. This paper first provides a rationale for the conceptual frameworks used in the research design.It then presents the findings from the first phase of a mixed-method study which investigated first year students' experiences of online assessment at an Australian university. Using aninnovative methodological and conceptual (design thinking) approach, the inquiry found that deeper understandings of students’ lived experiences were important in online assessment design. Where design was attentive to students' life-worlds, participants were positive about online assessment regardless of age, gender or previous experiences with technology and reported that it facilitated improved learning. The study provides valuable insights into: particular challenges transitioning students encounter in juggling competing life/study priorities and; online assessment design elements that impact positively on the student experience. These findings have relevance for online assessment and course design generally and contribute towider equity debates centring on the student learning environment and experience