July staff news

Brianna Newland and Dr. Matt Bowers have had a paper, titled 'Managing a confederation of rivals', published in Sport Management Review.

Roberto Bergami has had a book chapter published: 'Incoterms 2010 – A Risk Management Approach', in Papanikos, G.T. (ed.), Economic Essays, Athens Institute for Education and Research, Athens, Greece, ISBN 978-960-9549-84-4, pp. 311-325.

Last month Dr Colin Drake, a Lecturer in Event Management with the School of International Business, was interviewed by journalist Tom Nightingale for ABC Radio National’s PM program. Colin was asked to comment regarding the economic evaluations of the Adelaide Fringe Festival where it is now the largest arts festival in Australia, boasting attendances in excess of 1.4 million over its season.

Congratulations to Paul Whitelaw and Fiona Henderson, who have been granted research funding by the Office for Learning and Teaching for their proposed paper 'Working from the centre: supporting unit/course co-ordinators to implement academic integrity policies, resources and scholarship'. We are pleased to announce that the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research has approved funding for the proposal to the amount of $130,000.

VU & Partner Conference, Beijing

Several Faculty staff were among conference participants

Several Faculty staff – Colin Clark, Elisabeth Wilson-Evered, Wei Dai, Joanne Pyke, Min Jiang, Torgeir Watne and Alan McWilliams - recently participated in the highly successful 7th Victoria University and Chinese partner conference, held at the Central Garden Hotel, Beijing.

This year the conference title was “Enriching Partnerships: Deepening Learning and Research Opportunities for Global Graduates and Academics”, reflecting an enhanced Research focus, which addressed VU and Chinese institution feedback from previous conferences. This meant there was a Research stream running concurrently with a Teaching and Learning stream.

All of VU’s mainland Chinese partners participated and with the added objective of building VU’s profile in HDR, graduating students and new researchers from Beijing Jiaotong University and Central University of Finance and Economics were also invited. Feedback from participants ranged from “I did not know VU did so much research” to “really important” to “what else can we research together?”

Meet our People: Dr. Leanne White

Dr. Leanne White

Dr Leanne White is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing the School of International Business. Leanne began her association with the VU 30 years ago when she was undertook a Bachelor of Arts degree at Footscray Institute of Technology (FIT). Leanne was also given the honour of being awarded FIT’s inaugural Student of the Year. Her father (Ron White) also taught in some of the same buildings in the 1940s – as Footscray Technical School. Like many who enjoy a long-standing relationship with VU, Leanne has witnessed a few changes in the organisation, seen some faces come and go, and enjoyed a solid working relationship with many outstanding staff across the University.

After her BA, Leanne completed a Graduate Diploma in Education and a Bachelor of Education at La Trobe University. She later returned to Victoria University of Technology (VUT) to complete a Master of Arts degree and teach part-time. Her PhD was undertaken at Monash University and examined official and commercial nationalism at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Prior to rejoining VU and the Faculty of Business and Law in 2004, Leanne was the foundation coordinator of the Communications and Media Studies major at Monash University. During her nine years at Monash, she was responsible for establishing what became the Faculty’s flagship program at the Berwick, Clayton and Caulfield campuses. Leanne also shared her experiences of teleteaching along with other early forms of flexible learning at seminars, conferences and in publications. She was responsible for securing a significant grant which resulted in establishing the University’s online lecture system. Leanne also played a key role in negotiating the establishment of the Monash Centre in Prato, Italy.

Leanne’s research interests include: national identity, Australian popular culture, advertising, commercial nationalism, destination branding, commemorative events, and heritage tourism. She is the author of more than 30 book chapters and refereed journal articles. Her extensive expert commentary and media coverage includes: Radio Australia, The Australian, The Age, Herald Sun, The West Australian, and Campus Review.

Leanne is the co-editor of Tourism and National Identities: An International Perspective (2011), and is currently working with colleague Dr Elspeth Frew on the forthcoming edited volume: Dark Tourism and Place Identity: Marketing, Managing and Interpreting Dark Places (2013), and with co-editors Dr Matt Harvey and Dr Warwick Frost on Wine and Identity: Heritage, Branding and Terroir (2014). All three books are Routledge publications.

In her spare time Leanne enjoys spending time with family and friends, gardening, photography, reading and travel. Find out more about Leanne’s publications at the Victoria University Institutional Repository.

International banking under the microscope

Staff from the school of Accounting and Finance have papers examining sectors of the international banking industry due for publication in the upcoming issue of Corporate Ownership and Control.

Managerial decisions are the main cause of inefficiency in the Sri Lankan banking industry, according to Lalith Seelanatha. Dr Seelanatha and co-researcher, Hilary E. Silva from the University of Jayewardenepura's paper presents findings from their study of efficiency in Sri Lankan banks over a 20-year period.

Although Sri Lankan banks were, overall, "relatively efficient", managerial decisions and operational scale had contributed to recorded inefficiency. The research revealed that management issues appeared to be more pronounced in medium-sized banks. While large banks were relatively more efficient than small banks, new commercial banks performed better than large other banks, he said.

In a separate paper,  Abdi (Abdiwahid) Hassan, Yongqiang Li, Esse Abdirashid, Bruno Zeller and Miaoli Du examine the performance of 91 Islamic banks around the world, from 1991 to 2010. Their paper examines the impact on investment protection on the Islamic banking sector.

Mr. Hassan and his colleagues argue that because many Islamic banks rely on financing methods such as mark up or lease financing, instead of profit-and-loss sharing methods (which are considered the core Islamic financing methods), they are exposed to default risks.

"The empirical results [show]... investor protection has a positive impact on the financial performance of Islamic banks. The legal approach to corporate governance in Islamic banks holds the key issue of protecting the investors from outside parties. This legal approach includes both conventional law and Shariah law, represented by the Shariah supervisory board. The policy implication is one of improving investor protection," Mr Hassan and his co-researchers explain. Mr Hassan said further research was needed because of the dramatic growth in the Islamic banking sector.

"We need to investigate what the optimal level of investor protection should be. This is important in orderto leverage between the improvement of short-term performance and sustainable development within the framework of Shariah principles."

Marlene takes centre-field

As VU School of Accounting and Finance Administrator, Marlene Alvares' weekdays are kept busy with paperwork and supporting staff in myriad ways.

On weekends she devotes her time to relaxing and cheering on her beloved Western Bulldogs in the AFL.

A spectator at most at-home games, Marlene was thrilled when she won a VU staff competition to act as official coin-tosser for the VU-sponsored match between the Bulldogs and Port Adelaide at Etihad Stadium on 17 June.

Marlene said it was a great day and a thrill to be centre stadium, tossing the coin, while the crowd roared for the action to begin.

"It was so exciting to be part of it all. I feel like I helped the Bulldogs win the game, because we won the toss and then won the game by 38 points."

Professor Russell Craig, Head of the School of Accounting and Finance, said Marlene's "15 minutes of fame" was particularly well-deserved, as she was recently awarded a staff commendation in the Faculty of Business and Law's staff awards.

"All of us in the School were pleased to see Marlene enjoy this honour. She is a dedicated staff member and received her service commendation for consistent high level of service provided to both staff and students, particularly her contribution to improving the Student Experience Surveys and involvement in the SES Review Working Party."

Accounting researcher wins AFAANZ grant

A School of Accounting and Finance postgraduate and her mentors have been awarded a 2011-2012 Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand Research Fund grant.

Dr Maria Prokofieva, Professor Beverley Jackling and Dr Riccardo Natoli have received a $6000 grant under the AFAANZ scheme. The grant will help Dr Prokofieva, an emerging researcher, develop her academic profile through cooperative work with Professor Jackling and Dr Natoli, established researchers in their field.

Dr Prokofieva said she was thrilled to receive the grant and looked forward to working with her two mentor researchers on a one-year project.

"Beverley and Riccardo are very good researchers, I have worked with them on another project, and that was very useful and instructive," Dr Prokofieva said.

"I hope that I can learn more on how to do qualitative research as well as how to manage grant projects in general."

The three researchers will investigate the impact of negative experiences on accounting students who withdraw from study.

"Our study will analyse telephone survey data of 200 undergraduate accounting students who withdrew from their studies in 2011. We will look at reasons for departing, with particular reference to demographic factors and pathways into higher education," Dr Prokofieva said.

"The research outcomes from this study will identify activities that ‘attach’ students to the university community and help to align tertiary courses with student expectations."

Dr Prokofieva completed her doctorate in 2004 and has four years' industry experience. Her research interests include accounting education, use of IT in education, and business information systems.

Awards add up for John

John Ibrahim accepts his award from CPA Australia representative, Diana McGowan

A Bachelor of Business (Accounting) student has taken out Most Outstanding Second-Year Student honours in this year's Faculty of Business and Law Awards - a year after receiving the Most Outstanding First-Year Student award. The Most Outstanding Second-Year Student Award was sponsored by CPA Australia.

John Ibrahim, a mature age student, said he was delighted to follow on his first-year success with another award. "It is nice to get the recognition, as I have worked hard," he said.

John admits being mature-aged student has its advantages, giving him a focus, ambition and commitment he may not have had earlier in life. He decided to embark on an accounting degree after 10 years spent managing petrol stations with a business partner.

"Being married and having small children, I realised that I needed a career with longevity that would not be too strenuous as I got older. And I have always had a strong mathematical background: numbers interest me, as does understanding the tax system. I think that kind of knowledge is good to have for anyone interested in business and making good decisions in their career and retirement," John said.

So where does one of the School's most promising students hope to be in five to ten years' time?

"I would be happy to be working with some accounting firm, or have my own accounting firm or a small establishment with a few others." Joanne Carpenter was awarded the Matthews Steer Scholarship for Most Outstanding First Year Student.

See a full list of award winners.

Green Growth and Travelism: Letters from Leaders

Travel and tourism leaders are calling for a new enlightened framework for sustainable tourism in a ground breaking collection of essays compiled by VU academics.

'Green Growth and Travelism: Letters from Leaders' includes pieces by Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson, the Bhutanese Prime Minister and secretaries general of several United Nations agencies, as well as major airline and hotel chain presidents and tourism ministers.

The book, with its 46 ‘letters’ addressing critical issues in global tourism and travel, was launched at last month's United Nations Rio+20 summit on sustainable development.

VU's Adjunct Professor Geoffrey Lipman, Professor Terry DeLacy and Dr Min Jiang edited the high-profile collection aimed at assisting the travel and tourism sector’s transformation to the emerging green growth economy, which is a key theme of the Rio summit.

Professor DeLacy said Rio+20 was the most significant global event in at least a decade for charting a sustainable future.

“The book will help set the future agenda for the tourism and travel industry in relation to sustainability,” he said. “Travel and tourism is by any measure a massive modern day industry – in the same league as cars, oil, telecommunications and agriculture: It drives trillions of dollars in GNP, underpins millions of jobs, makes international business function and is the essence of leisure and happiness. Now this book outlines how it can take its rightful leadership place in moving to the new green economy.”

The book is dedicated to Secretary General of the first Rio Earth Summit in 1992, Maurice Strong, who was at the launch to receive the first copy from Professor Lipman and United Nations World Tourism Organisation Secretary General Taleb Rifai.

While the book brings a global focus to green growth in tourism, it also includes a letter showcasing Melbourne as a sustainable and “most liveable city”, which is co-authored by VU’s Professor Brian King and Destination Melbourne CEO Chris Buckingham.