Identifying, attracting and retaining successful foster parents. This research project will improve Australian foster care systems. By developing tools to identify, attract and retain successful foster parents more effectively we will address two critical problems facing foster care organisations: decreasing numbers of foster parents and increasing numbers of 'placement breakdowns'. Improvements of these factors will (1) give foster children a more positive and healthier start to life; (2) reduc ....Identifying, attracting and retaining successful foster parents. This research project will improve Australian foster care systems. By developing tools to identify, attract and retain successful foster parents more effectively we will address two critical problems facing foster care organisations: decreasing numbers of foster parents and increasing numbers of 'placement breakdowns'. Improvements of these factors will (1) give foster children a more positive and healthier start to life; (2) reduce the extent to which foster children develop antisocial and emotional attachment problems; (3) reduce the incidence of criminal and antisocial behaviours among foster children; and consequently (4) have a positive long-term effect on the social fabric of Australia.Read moreRead less
Implementation and evaluation of a comprehensive sun protection program for adolescents. Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world, costing our health system an estimated $300 million each year. The majority of skin cancers are preventable, if the public could be persuaded to adequately protect themselves from the sun, especially during childhood and adolescence. Australia currently leads the world in the development of sun protection education campaigns for children. Howev ....Implementation and evaluation of a comprehensive sun protection program for adolescents. Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world, costing our health system an estimated $300 million each year. The majority of skin cancers are preventable, if the public could be persuaded to adequately protect themselves from the sun, especially during childhood and adolescence. Australia currently leads the world in the development of sun protection education campaigns for children. However, adolescent sun protection behaviours continue to decrease, and very few programs have shown potential for any impact on this key target group. This project will provide much-needed evidence on the effectiveness of carefully researched and targeted programs for adolescents.Read moreRead less
The use of social marketing theory and practice to develop innovative and comprehensive sun protection campaigns. This project uses both academic theory and best-practice in real-world campaigns to develop a comprehensive strategy for the development of theoretically-sound and innovative campaign for the promotion of sun protection behaviours. It then utilises this strategy for the actual development, implementation, and evaluation of the campaign, conducted under the auspices of the highly-reg ....The use of social marketing theory and practice to develop innovative and comprehensive sun protection campaigns. This project uses both academic theory and best-practice in real-world campaigns to develop a comprehensive strategy for the development of theoretically-sound and innovative campaign for the promotion of sun protection behaviours. It then utilises this strategy for the actual development, implementation, and evaluation of the campaign, conducted under the auspices of the highly-regarded industry partner, The Cancer Council NSW. Further, the knowledge gained in the review of existing campaigns, the analysis of literature in theory and practice, and the campaign development and evaluation will greatly enhance our ability to develop cost-effective social marketing campaigns to improve the well-being of Australians.Read moreRead less
Linking Brand Equity Modelling and Measurement with Behavioural and Affective Consumer Decision Processes. Brand equity monitoring often fails to account for image-related and habit-entrenched consumer decision rules. This research takes an established brand equity monitoring tool, A C Nielsen's Winning Brands, and incorporates work on decision heuristics into it. Heuristics occur when consumers simplify their decision task using rules sub-optimal with respect to selecting their preferred alte ....Linking Brand Equity Modelling and Measurement with Behavioural and Affective Consumer Decision Processes. Brand equity monitoring often fails to account for image-related and habit-entrenched consumer decision rules. This research takes an established brand equity monitoring tool, A C Nielsen's Winning Brands, and incorporates work on decision heuristics into it. Heuristics occur when consumers simplify their decision task using rules sub-optimal with respect to selecting their preferred alternative, but effective in terms of reducing cognitive effort. The project will conduct a meta-analysis of over 250 branding strategies followed by a new data collection and latent segmentation analysis. The result will be a more comprehensive decision support tool for brand development, focusing management actions and improving marketing efficiency.Read moreRead less
A Longitudinal Study of the Role of Marketing Competencies in Individual and Organisational Performance. The general aim of this project is to demonstrate the role of competencies in aspects of marketing, in relation to individual and organisational performance, relevant to the Ford Motor Company of Australia Limited. The focus will be on the conceptualisation and operationalisation of marketing competencies within the practical, competitive international automotive business environment, and not ....A Longitudinal Study of the Role of Marketing Competencies in Individual and Organisational Performance. The general aim of this project is to demonstrate the role of competencies in aspects of marketing, in relation to individual and organisational performance, relevant to the Ford Motor Company of Australia Limited. The focus will be on the conceptualisation and operationalisation of marketing competencies within the practical, competitive international automotive business environment, and not principally on the role of the formal educational system in delivering potential employees with general marketing knowledge. Primary research will be conducted among Ford Marketing employees, and among Ford suppliers and dealers, in a dynamic environment, over several years.Read moreRead less
Modelling the Influence of Organisational Identification and Marketing Actions on Membership Behaviour for Australian Football League Clubs. This project involves an innovative extension of the current international focus on the role of individual and organisational identification in managing marketing relationships, from a static perspective to a dynamic systems model. This project will examine the influence of organisational marketing activities on the relationship between consumers and organi ....Modelling the Influence of Organisational Identification and Marketing Actions on Membership Behaviour for Australian Football League Clubs. This project involves an innovative extension of the current international focus on the role of individual and organisational identification in managing marketing relationships, from a static perspective to a dynamic systems model. This project will examine the influence of organisational marketing activities on the relationship between consumers and organisations, longitudinally over five years. A combination of experimental and quasi-experimental methods will be used to estimate the relationships between aspects of individual-organisational identification and marketing activities, and organisational affiliation, in the context of Australian Football League club membership, conducted in partnership with every AFL club nationally.Read moreRead less
Brand Value, Sporting Sponsorship, and Return-on-Marketing-Investment: A Longitudinal Study including the Development of a Measurement Instrument. This project will examine three related aspects of marketing, within the context of sport sponsorship (Geelong Football Club and Baytec Institute): the valuation of major brands; the evaluation of sponsorship related to major brands; and the evaluation of non-commercial activities related to sponsorship. Three of the key components of the model to be ....Brand Value, Sporting Sponsorship, and Return-on-Marketing-Investment: A Longitudinal Study including the Development of a Measurement Instrument. This project will examine three related aspects of marketing, within the context of sport sponsorship (Geelong Football Club and Baytec Institute): the valuation of major brands; the evaluation of sponsorship related to major brands; and the evaluation of non-commercial activities related to sponsorship. Three of the key components of the model to be studied in this research project are: the sponsor's decision-making process, e.g., the determination of return on investment (ROI) in this alliance; the value of this association, e.g., the sponsee's brand value to the sponsor; and the sponsee's decision-making process, e.g., the determination of ROI in this alliance.Read moreRead less
Measuring Marketing Effectiveness: State of the Art, Current Practice and Areas of Leverage. Marketing performs a useful role in society by identifying customer needs, focusing the resources of the firm towards meeting those needs, and communicating to customers how best to access the products available to fulfill their needs. Without good metrics marketing is fragmented and ineffective. By improving the measurement of marketing effort there will be less waste, resulting in higher profits and ....Measuring Marketing Effectiveness: State of the Art, Current Practice and Areas of Leverage. Marketing performs a useful role in society by identifying customer needs, focusing the resources of the firm towards meeting those needs, and communicating to customers how best to access the products available to fulfill their needs. Without good metrics marketing is fragmented and ineffective. By improving the measurement of marketing effort there will be less waste, resulting in higher profits and greater focus and improved customer satisfaction within Australian markets. In global markets, Australian firms will have access to the tools necessary to assist them to better meet the needs of overseas' customers, resulting in improved export performance.Read moreRead less
International franchising success factors: A guide for Australian franchise systems. Australia is considered the most 'franchised' nation in the world. With 850 franchisors, it has over three times the number of systems per capita than the United States. However, Australian franchises are small due to the country's limited population, with 60% of systems holding fewer than 30 units. One third of Australian franchisors now operates internationally, however little is known about how they plan an ....International franchising success factors: A guide for Australian franchise systems. Australia is considered the most 'franchised' nation in the world. With 850 franchisors, it has over three times the number of systems per capita than the United States. However, Australian franchises are small due to the country's limited population, with 60% of systems holding fewer than 30 units. One third of Australian franchisors now operates internationally, however little is known about how they plan and implement their expansion strategies. It appears that franchisors are reacting to approaches made by overseas investors rather than proactively developing international expansion strategies. This research will examine the practices of successful exporters to develop a model of best practice for future activity in the sector.Read moreRead less
Faster, cheaper, better: mathematical advances for improved design and scheduling of robotic instrumentation. This project extends previous research addressing mathematical challenges in the optimal design and scheduling of robotic instrumentation. The Partner Organisation manufactures instruments for cancer diagnostics, and designs instruments that need to produce rapid, high-quality results, at a reasonable cost in a competitive market. It is intended that powerful new scheduling algorithms wi ....Faster, cheaper, better: mathematical advances for improved design and scheduling of robotic instrumentation. This project extends previous research addressing mathematical challenges in the optimal design and scheduling of robotic instrumentation. The Partner Organisation manufactures instruments for cancer diagnostics, and designs instruments that need to produce rapid, high-quality results, at a reasonable cost in a competitive market. It is intended that powerful new scheduling algorithms will be devised to handle their complex problem, which is more challenging than standard problems. The developed methodologies aim to reduce the product development cycle and boost the competitiveness of Australian manufacturers. In addition, new theoretical and algorithmic contributions aim to enable improved scheduling in other application areas.Read moreRead less