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The purpose of this paper is to review the establishment of Primary Health Network (PHN) in Australia and its utility in commissioning Primary Health Care (PHC) services.

This study is an analysis of management practice about the establishment and development of a PHN as a case study over the three-year period. The PHN is the Hunter New England and Central Coast PHN (HNECCPHN). The study is based on “insiders perspectives” drawing from documentation, reports and evaluations undertaken.

HNECCPHN demonstrates a unique inclusive organisation across a substantial diverse geographic area. It has taken an innovative and evidence-based approach to its creation, governance and operation. HNECCPHN addresses the health challenges of a substantial Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander population. It contains significant and diverse urban, coastal and distinct rural, regional and remote populations. It can be described as a “virtual” organisation, using a distributed network of practice approach to engage clinicians, communities and providers. The authors describe progress and learning in the context of theories of complex organisations, innovation, networks of practice, knowledge translation and social innovation.

The study provides initial publication into the establishment phase of a PHN in Australia.

The study describes the implementation and progress in terms of relevant international practice and theoretical concepts. This paper demonstrates significant innovative practice in the short term.

The study describes significant engagement and the importance of that with and between communities, service providers and health professionals.

This is the first study of the results of the implementation of an important change in the funding and delivery of PHC in Australia.

Grounded in DiMaggio and Powell’s (1983) institutional isomorphism perspective of institutional theory, the purpose of this study is to examine the influence of institutional pressures on the performance measurement system (PMS) within banks and financial institutions.

A survey was used to collect data from 71 banks and financial institutions operating in Australia.

Four institutional pressures, the normative pressure “corporate change” and the coercive pressures “economic and financial legislation”, “socio-economic political pressures” and “banking regulations” were found to be associated with the use of multi-dimensional performance measures. In addition, the coercive pressure “economic and financial legislation” and the normative pressure “corporate change” were associated with the use of financial, internal and learning and growth performance measures. Finally, the use of internal and learning and growth measures was positively associated with the coercive force “socioeconomic-political pressures”, and the use of financial measures was associated with the coercive pressure “banking regulations”.

Given the recent global financial crisis, the study offers a reference within the contemporary performance measurement literature in relation to the influence of institutional pressures on the PMS within banks and financial institutions.

While prior research has focused on manufacturing organisations, this study deepens our understanding of the institutional environment of banks and financial institutions and how specific coercive, mimetic and normative forces influence the PMS.

The Smart Book involves the direct application of computer technology to the book marketplace. It employs speacial‐purpose equipment to simplify the user's access to information that would normally be found in a printed book. The concept invovles two distinct components: a reader unit and a book pack. The reader unit is a device that contains computer equipment, a custom liquid crystal display screen, and six user control buttons. All facilities for reading, searching, indexing, and so on can be performed using those six controls. The Smart Book Text Pack, or The Book, is currently a one‐megabyte ROM pack using conventional micro‐computer read‐only memory chips. This on‐megabyte pack contains the text of a book and its appropriate program functions. The text is held on the ROM pack in a proprietary compressed format.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between the use of multidimensional performance measures and four organizational factors with the effectiveness of performance measurement systems (PMSs).

Data were collected by mail survey questionnaire from a random sample of 455 senior financial officers in Australian manufacturing organizations.

The results reveal that the use of multidimensional performance measures is associated with two dimensions of the effectiveness of PMSs (performance and staff related outcomes). The results also reveal that organizational factors were associated with the effectiveness of PMSs. Specifically, top management support was found to be associated with the effectiveness of PMSs in respect to the performance related outcomes, and training was associated with the staff related outcomes.

The findings provide managers with an insight into the desirable PMS characteristics and the specific organizational factors that they can focus on in order to enhance the effectiveness of their performance measurement system.

This study contributes to the limited empirical research examining the effectiveness of PMSs regarding the extent to which organizational processes are achieved. In addition, the study provides an empirical analysis of the association between the five perspective (financial, customer, internal business process, learning and growth, and sustainability) BSC model and four organizational factors with the effectiveness of PMSs.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between three organizational factors (the use of multi‐dimensional performance measures, link to rewards, and training) and three organizational culture dimensions (innovation, outcome orientation, and teamwork) with the effectiveness of performance management systems (PMSs).

Data were collected by survey questionnaire from a random sample of 450 Australian local governments.

The performance management systems of Australian local councils are only moderately effective in relation to performance related outcomes, and less effective in relation to the achievement of staff related outcomes. The results indicate a significant relationship between the use of multidimensional performance measures, link of performance to rewards, training and two organizational culture factors (team work/respect for people and outcome orientation) with the effectiveness of PMSs. Different factors were found to influence the effectiveness of PMSs for large and small sized councils.

The findings imply that there is a need for the managers of local government councils to improve the effectiveness of their PMS.

The study provides an initial empirical examination of the effectiveness of performance management systems and the influential factors in the Australian local government context. The study assists local government managers in effectively managing their employees and operations.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

On September 29, 2003, the staff (“Staff”) of the Division of Investment Management of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) issued a report to the SEC entitled the “Implications of the Growth of Hedge Funds” (the “Report”). The Report recommends amending Rule 203(b)(3)‐1 of the Advisers Act to require a hedge fund manager to “look through” each existing client and count each of the hedge fund’s underlying beneficial owners as a “client” of the hedge fund manager for the purpose of determining whether an investment adviser has 15 or more clients and therefore must register under the U.S. Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Such a registration requirement effectively would increase the minimum investment requirement for a hedge fund. The Report does not necessarily support the argument that subjecting hedge funds to periodic examinations by the SEC will help in early detection of fraud and prevention of resulting investor losses. Despite the Staff’s intentions to identify distinctions between customary hedge fund vehicles and other types of investment funds, no clear hedge fund definition or standard was provided in the Report. As a result, there is a danger that the scope of new hedge fund regulations will be too broad

To examine whether indigenous critiques of globalization and critical theories of modernity are compatible, and how they can complement each other so as to engender more realistic theories of modern society as inherently constructive and destructive, along with practical strategies to strengthen modernity as a culturally transformative project, as opposed to the formal modernization processes that rely on and reinforce modern societies as structures of social inequality.

Comparison and assessment of the foundations, orientations, and implications of indigenous critiques of globalization and the Frankfurt School’s critical theory of modern society, for furthering our understanding of challenges facing human civilization in the twenty-first century, and for opportunities to promote social justice.

Modern societies maintain order by compelling individuals to subscribe to propositions about their own and their society’s purportedly “superior” nature, especially when compared to indigenous cultures, to override observations about the de facto logic of modern societies that are in conflict with their purported logic.

Social theorists need to make consistent efforts to critically reflect on how their own society, in terms of socio-historical circumstances as well as various types of implied biases, translates into research agendas and propositions that are highly problematic when applied to those who belong to or come from different socio-historical contexts.

An effort to engender a process of reciprocal engagement between one of the early traditions of critiquing modern societies and a more recent development originating in populations and parts of the world that historically have been the subject of both constructive and destructive modernization processes.

Suggests that in transforming their companies CEOs and management teams often do not act extensively enough to reposition their businesses. States that companies should be prepared to implement programs that are fast, focused and simultaneous in order to create a better and long‐lasting shareholder value. Concludes that successful turnarounds require management to act rapidly, comprehensively and dramatically, which in turn will achieve speedier rewards.