Search results

This study examines the effectiveness of passive value capture mechanisms as an effective form of mechanisms in funding infrastructure from an Australian perspective. The lukewarm response of active value capture mechanisms such as betterment levies in Australia is also discussed.

A case study of the Sydney Metro City and Southwest (SMCSW) project in Sydney is used to illustrate passive value capture mechanisms.

Unlike many developed countries, passive value capture mechanisms have been adopted in Australia. This approach is an effective form of value capture mechanisms to capture the value uplift to offset the total development cost of the SMCSW project. However, this approach is highly sensitive to property transaction activities that could be affected by the general economic conditions and unprecedented events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, there is a widespread discussion of the efficiency of land tax in New South Wales (NSW) in capturing all properties subject to the value uplift. Consequently, a shift towards a broad-based land tax is recommended in which it would provide a more efficient way of infrastructure funding.

Policymakers should consider a broad-based land tax for residential and commercial properties in order to improve the efficiency of passive value capture mechanisms. This also highlights property valuers should play a greater role in the development of broad-based land tax system.

Previous studies have extensively demonstrated property value impacts of transit investments; very little research assesses the growth of value capture funding mechanisms, particularly passive value capture mechanisms. Specifically, this paper is the first paper to assess the effectiveness of passive value capture mechanisms.

Aboriginal students experience disproportionate academic disadvantage at school. It may be that a capacity to effectively deal with academic setback and challenge (academic buoyancy) can reduce the incidence of academic adversity. To the extent that this is the case, academic buoyancy may also be associated with positive educational intentions. This study explores the role of academic buoyancy in Aboriginal students’ post-school educational intentions.

The survey-based study comprises Aboriginal (N = 350) and non-Aboriginal (N = 592) high school students in Australia.

Academic buoyancy yielded larger effect sizes for Aboriginal than non-Aboriginal students’ educational intentions – particularly in senior high school when educational intentions are most likely to translate into post-school educational behaviour.

Post-school education is one pathway providing access to social opportunity. Any thorough consideration of students’ passage into and through post-school education must first consider the bases of students’ academic plans and, by implication, their decision to pursue further study. Identifying factors such as academic buoyancy in this process provides some specific direction for practice and policy aimed at optimizing Aboriginal students’ academic and non-academic development.

Academic buoyancy is a recently proposed construct in the psycho-educational literature and has not been investigated among Aboriginal student populations. Its role in relation to post-school educational intentions is also a novel empirical contribution for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students alike.

Since the end of the 1970s, the restructuring of the economic landscape and the drive by governments throughout Europe to deregulate markets, reduce institutional rigidities, and flexibilise the movement of capital and labour, have confronted trade unions with the most serious challenges they have faced for more than half a century. According to many commentators, a process of decollectivisation and decentralisation of industrial relations is now firmly established. For example, Baglioni (1990) describes decentralisation as one of the dominant trends in contemporary European industrial relations. In his view ‘Decentralisation, all in all, is part of the general retreat of the labour movement. It is often a manifestation of the alteration of the power balance in favour of management, and it has created complicated problems for union strategy.’

Researcher Highlight: Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950)

A proactive stakeholder approach by a multinational firm is explored as regards to the ways to choose and influence key political, social and business actors in a market. The stakeholders are assessed in terms of their power, legitimacy and urgency of action as well as degree of their support of the firm's market entry. The study is based on the case study of IKEA entering Russia and China, composed of 44 in-depth interviews with managers and suppliers. The results suggest that during its market entry, a firm chooses those local stakeholders that can provide it with the most support and activates them with participative roles. This approach allows it to successfully alter the market context and create the win-win situation for itself and local actors. The study suggests a novel stakeholder classification into reactive (resistant), passive, reactive (supportive) and proactive types, contributing to stakeholder and marketing strategy research.

As program managers seek to improve the quality, speed and financial benefits of the programs they manage, many are turning to process improvement methodologies, such as Lean Six Sigma (LSS). However, although existing literature includes multiple studies that apply the methodology to non-manufacturing environments, there is no specific framework for applying LSS within program management (PM). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between LSS tools, project scope, program phase and functional area and project outputs, in PM organizations.

The study uses archival data from 511 LSS projects completed from 2006 to 2015 by a large government agency in the USA composed of 13 PM organizations. The study focuses on four types of input factors: LSS tools, project scope, program phase and functional area; and two output variables: LSS project average financial benefits and percentage of improvement. Multiple regressions are applied to determine what relationships exist between the input and output variables, as well as the nature of such relationships.

The results of this study show LSS is beneficial to PM and also indicate which tools and organizational contexts have positive and negative associations with project outcomes, serving as guide for future applications. In addition, this study can provide clarity and confidence to program managers who are currently skeptical of LSS, by showing that it can provide cost, schedule and performance improvements beneficial to their programs.

Limitations of this research include the use of a single government agency in the USA, the non-experimental design of the study and limitations associated with the nature and data collection process of the archival data. Future studies should include additional PM organizations, input variables and research designs.

There is no specific framework formalizing the concept of LSS application within PM. The literature includes several studies that apply the methodology to non-manufacturing environments, but not to PM specifically. Furthermore, the existing literature on PM does not explicitly cite any continuous improvement methodology as a critical success factor or provide any detailed guidelines for the application of LSS in PM. This paper contributes by studying the relationships between LSS tools, project scope, program phase and functional area, and project outputs, in a PM environment.

The authors reflect on the academic bachelor and master programs of architecture. From the perspective of higher education policy in Flanders, Belgium, they examine the intrinsic challenges of the academic educational setting, and the way architectural education can fit in and benefit from it, without losing its specific design oriented qualities. Therefore, they unravel the process of architectural design research, as a discipline-authentic way of knowledge production, leading to the identification of a number of implicit features of an academic architectural learning environment. The disquisition is based on educational arguments pointed out by literature and theory. Furthermore, the authors analyze whether this learning environment can comply with general standards of external quality assurance and accreditation systems. Doing so, they reveal the Achilles’ heel of architectural education: the incompatibility of the design jury with formalized assessment frameworks. Finally, the authors conclude with an advocacy for academic freedom. To assure the quality of academic architectural programs, it is necessary that universities maintain a critical attitude towards standardized policy frameworks.