Knowledge@Australian School of Business - Video Interviews theBox

A two-year study into the services sector – where 85% of employed
Australians now work – shows intangible factors, such as progressive
leadership, the employee experience and innovation, may have a far
greater impact on an organisation's profitability than old-school number
crunching, cost-cutting and capital considerations. As manufacturing
dwindles in significance, a shift in focus to intangible attributes
presents the new way forward for employers. Now the federal
government-funded research project – led by Christina Boedker of the
Australian School of Business –  is moving into phase two to develop
intervention strategies to find effective ways to improve productivity, a
field in which Australia is leading the way.

Sources of innovation have exploded over the past decade as companies no
longer look internally for bright ideas but also tap into the public's
smarts via the Internet. The possibilities are seemingly infinite, so
pinning down exactly which next new things to develop requires a clear
understanding of the big picture. Patrick Medley, managing partner of
Global Consumer Products at IBM Business Services, identifies three
game-changing trends coming from the evolution of smart phones – the
gadget of the future – and cloud computing. It's early days yet, but
could the days of the PC really be numbered?

The cost of the devastation from Australia's recent natural disasters is
still being counted. Floods in Victoria and severe storms on both sides
of the country, along with the earthquake damage in New Zealand, have
impacted on the lives of thousands. Strangely enough, these events often
occur in clusters which means insurers are also hard hit. But, these
days insurance companies can transfer their risk to the capital markets
through catastrophe bonds. With these relatively new assets increasing
in popularity, Julian Lorkin of Knowledge@Australian School of Business
asks Morton Lane, head of the financial engineering program at the
University of Illinois, about insurers' latest means of passing on
risk.

Entrepreneur and innovator Michael Crouch, chairman and
CEO of Zip Industries, once saw a big opportunity in a small white box
with red taps. By fostering an innovative spirit and daring to be
different, his business created the world's first instant boiling water
system. Today Zip water heaters are in service in the royal household in
Buckingham Palace and numerous offices and factories across the globe.
Innovation – as an ongoing process and vital mindset within
organizations – has become Crouch's driving passion. In an interview
with Knowledge@Australian School of Business, he outlines how it could
apply heat to Australia's tepid productivity record.

From video games to remote surgery, virtual possibilities abound. In
workplaces, distributed teams and simulations are considered smart
productivity-enhancing ways of tapping into new technologies. However,
the virtual world needs a reality check, argues Stanford University's
Stephen Barley, an expert in the impact of new technologies at work.
Cutting edge it may be, but virtuality is not directly reducing costs
for business, instead it's increasing accuracy and accelerating
turnaround times. At an Australian School of Business seminar, Barley
outlined the upsides – and downsides – of succumbing to the lure of the
virtual.

It's a year since the release of the report on Australia's Future Tax System Review,
headed by recently retired Treasury chief Ken Henry. The review was
just the start of the Labor Party fulfilling its election promise of a
"root and branch" overhaul of taxation. But one year on, not many of the
review's 138 recommendations – including a resources rent tax, a 5% cut
in company tax and a leap in the personal tax threshold – have been
enacted. However, review panel member, John Piggott, an economics
professor at the Australian School of Business, says there are positive
early signs of change, and several decades for reform.