ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It would not have been possible to complete this thesis without the support of many
people.

My heartfelt thanks to Dr Terry Gatfield, whose guidance, support and encouragement

were crucial to the successful completion of this thesis, and his compassion,
knowledge and brilliance made this research journey a most enjoyable one. Sincere
thanks also give to my associate supervisors, Professor Christine Smith and Associate
Professor Michael Harker, for their invaluable advice, patience and assistance
throughout this research.

My deepest gratitude to the Office of Economy Development for Brisbane, Brisbane

City Council (OED) for their tremendous supports in areas of finance and assistance
for arranging appropriate interviewees for interviewing and conducting the mail
survey. Special thanks should directed to Ms Maria Pollicina, Mr Ben Topham and
Brett Fraser of OED and Mr Alex Lever-Shaw of the Investment attraction Division of
Queensland State Government for their kind assistance for this research project. I
would also thank ARC grant provided by Griffith University for this studies. Without
this financial assistance and the patron from local government for the field work in
conducting this project, the completion of this research would be impossible.

I would like to thank the participants and interviewees who patiently gave their time
and shared their valuable experience and knowledge with me during the research. I
wish especially to thank Mr Michael Symes, Managing Director of Filtronic Pty Ltd
Australia, who kindly introduced several executives of appropriate companies to me
for the in-depth interview. This research could not have been completed without their
help.

I wish to express my gratitude to Associate Professor Patrick Mullins of the University

of Queensland for his proofreading and correcting my thesis; and my thanks also give

iv
to other academics and administration staff in Faculty of Commerce and Management
at Griffith University for providing excellent facilities and equipment for completion
of this thesis.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my family and friends for all of their love,
understanding and moral support throughout this thesis.

Cathy Hong Yang

August 2004