This dissertation critically evaluates the rationale for, and implementation of, the regulatory scheme governing third party access to essential infrastructure services (the 'national access regime') set out in Part IIIA of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth). The analysis and synthesis of background reports, economic and legal theory, statutory provisions, existing case law, academic commentary and regulatory guidelines contained herein represents a useful and necessary contribution to this nascent area of Australian competition law. In particular, the comprehensive nature of the research has permitted informed assessment of the Productivity Commission's recent review of the national access regime and the Commonwealth Government's response to that inquiry. While the dissertation endorses both the Productivity Commission's finding that retention of the Part IIIA access regime is warranted and many of the (notably light-handed) recommendations advanced by the Commission to improve aspects of the regime's operation, it takes issue with the Commission's failure to propose a more substantial refashioning of the regime's architecture. Stepping into this breach, the dissertation specifies the systemic changes to Part IIIA that are imperative to enhancing the efficacy of the national access regime.

The trade of shipping is necessarily international in nature. Courts and international bodies often express the need to ensure international consistency in matters of maritime law. However, it has been an extremely difficult goal to achieve. Many countries have refused to be party to international conventions that seek to ensure comity. Some have enacted laws that reflect part but not all of those conventions, or seek to improve the protection offered by the conventions. The domestic law of each country also adds its own flavour to shipping law as recognised and applied by the courts in that jurisdiction. In 1974 Australia enacted the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) (TPA), heralding a new era in corporate and commercial law. However, its impact on maritime law on Australia has only been felt over the last 10 – 15 years. It is potentially relevant to many areas of maritime law, including carriage of goods by sea, cruise ships, and towage. This thesis explores the encroachment of the TPA on a number of different areas of shipping law, using the few case examples on offer and extrapolating the impact that the TPA may have. It also considers the extent to which the TPA is stymied by simple contractual agreements to litigate or arbitrate in a non Australian forum, despite the TPA’s status as a mandatory statute within Australia. Raised at various points in the thesis is the possibility of law reform, which is a complex compendium of issues overlaid with a moral dimension – does shipping, as an industry, deserve to be exempted from the operation of the Act which sets a high standard of corporate behaviour? If so, how could that reform be shaped? In the meantime, what steps can the shipping industry take to work within the legal framework of the TPA?

Emerging markets such as India have witnessed waves of domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. This historical analysis, which consists of two parts, tests central tenets of resource dependence theory. The first part entails an analysis of the transition in public policy governing corporations between 1991 and 2005. The second part tests hypotheses derived from resource dependence theory relating to a firm’s decision to acquire. The analysis explores the factors that explain why firms engage in mergers and acquisitions by examining three specific policy periods (i.e., 1991-1996, 1997-2001 and 2002-2005). The findings from the historical analysis suggest that firms did not merely react to the conditions (i.e., constraints on capital) in their environment by undertaking merger and acquisition activity, but attempted to alter them as resource dependence theory suggests. Findings from the event history logit model also support resource dependence theory. Overall, the study shows that merger and acquisition activity increased during a period of intense deregulation (i.e., 1991-2005) brought about by the adoption of neo-liberal reforms, change to the multilayer subsidiary form, deregulation of the banking and financial sectors’ and reforms in foreign direct investment and equity markets. During this period of uncertainty, firms controlling more resources in terms of earnings, efficiency and number of subsidiaries were more likely to undertake acquisition activity as they have leverage in organization-environment relationships. The effect of number of subsidiaries on acquisition activity was the most consistent across policy periods’. This dissertation is organized in the following manner: Following the introductory chapter, Chapter II is a historical examination of the three policy periods and includes an analysis of the effect of the political-legal environment on mergers and acquisitions between 1991 and 2005. Chapter III reviews the propositions of resource dependence theory that pertain to organizational change and presents research hypotheses related to mergers and acquisitions. Chapter IV describes the data, measurement and methodology employed in the quantitative analysis. Chapter V presents the findings from the quantitative analysis and discusses the results. The concluding chapter (Chapter VI) includes a presentation of the theoretical findings and discussion of the limitations and scope of the study.