Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1910. / Published also as Studies in economics and political science ... no. 35 in the series of monographs by writers connected with the London school of economics and political science. Bibliography: p. 189-191.

Wool production in this country has decreased greatly in the face of constantly increasing demands for wool. The decrease has taken place largely since World War II. Wool is a very essential product to a nation during war time. Therefore it is necessary that the decline in production be stopped if possible.

M.S.

M.S.

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Achieving the successful development, transfer and adoption of new agricultural technology is a popular issue in the innovation literature. Innovation diffusion and economic theory has informed this literature by emphasising the central role that technology attributes and economic rationality play in the adoption of new technology. In agricultural innovation context, research has traditionally taken a technological determinist perspective, assuming that technologies shape society and that all technological change is positive and progressive. As a result of limitations of the linear, determinist perspective of agricultural innovation to explain how new technologies are adopted and diffused, social constructivist approaches to agricultural innovation have emerged as a complement to this approach. However, a unifying framework of the social construction of new agricultural technologies has not been presented in the agricultural innovation literature. In this study Karl Weicks seven properties of sensemaking are used as the foundation for the development of a unifying conceptual framework for the examination of the social construction of agricultural technology. This thesis is a study of sensemaking in the context of agricultural innovation. It examines how participants in the Australian wool industry make sense of new technologies and how that sensemaking shapes their use of new technologies over time. The focal innovation initiative studied in this thesis is the development, transfer, adoption and abandonment of objective wool fibre testing technologies. This initiative commenced in the 1960s and has resulted in significant changes in the way that Australian wool is produced, marketed and processed. An interpretive research paradigm is adopted in this study. A theory-building case study approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis is used to capture the ongoing, iterative, enactive and social actions and interactions that occur throughout the agricultural innovation process. The case study is divided into three separate but interlocking empirical analyses which examine how industry participants' sensemaking shaped their use of wool testing technologies at the industry, technological system and individual farm level. The findings and implications of the three empirical studies in this thesis are discussed in relation to (1) the interpretation frameworks of agricultural industry participants and technology enactment, (2) the sensemaking process, (3) the social construction of shared technology frames, and (4) the social construction of industry belief systems. This study contributes to the debate on the social construction of agricultural technology and sensemaking in the innovation process by exploring the development, transfer, adoption and abandonment of new wool fibre testing technologies by industry participants over time. It builds on theoretical and empirical agricultural innovation and sensemaking research, and draws on a theoretical framework sensitive to the social construction of technology at the individual, group and industry levels. In doing so this study develops the concept of sensemaking in the agricultural innovation process as a way of deepening our understanding of how new agricultural technologies are transferred, adopted and diffused.

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Typescript Includes bibliographical references

The Sino-Australian wool trade relationship is the most significant in the international wool industry. China accounts for 65 per cent of Australia’s wool exports and Australian wool around 70 per cent of China’s imports. At the same time, it has also been one of the most contentious areas of Sino- Australian trade. There have been frequent disputes, protracted trade negotiations and numerous problems unsettling the smooth flow of product from Australian woolgrowers to Chinese wool textile mills. Despite a number of investigations and several bilateral and multilateral initiatives to improve trade protocols, in particular associated with China’s accession in the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, many of these longstanding problems remain unresolved. A range of different methods are employed by China-located early-stage wool processors (ESWPs) to obtain their raw wool requirements. This research applies transaction cost analysis to examine the extent to which different raw material purchasing channels have changed (and are changing) over time. The research aims both to elucidate how China-located ESWPs govern the wool procurement transaction and to investigate the interaction of socio-economic (asset specificity, frequency, uncertainty) and transactional cost factors (information, negotiation and monitoring costs) influencing the decision-making of the ESWPs. This research is unique in that it has been conducted by a wool industry “insider” who speaks Mandarin and who has applied the Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA) from the perspective of the Chinese management of the ESWP firm in order to identify possible improvements. Transaction Cost Analysis seeks to analyse the “make or buy decision” or in this case the degrees of backwards vertical integration into the Australian wool marketing system by China’s ESWPs. The “make or buy” decision has become a theoretical reality since China’s WTO accession — an institutional change that allows more vertical coordination and the potential for improved fibre selection in Australia’s wool market. Understanding these structures can provide considerable insight into how the Australian wool supply chain (particularly fibre selection and soft attribute differentiation) can be improved to the benefit of stakeholders. This is especially important from the viewpoint of improving the quality of China’s intermediate wool processing — a vital stage where any mistakes in fibre selection cannot be undone and are expensive, often only “discovered” much later at garment or fabric delivery stage. Being a natural fibre destined for the high-end apparel market, quality with consistency is always a challenge for wool, “the fibre”, in the modern textile landscape. The research finds that although the conditions exist for vertical coordination, a hierarchy structure has v only been employed by foreign processors that had pre-existent raw material infrastructure in Australia. Most Australian wool imports still enter China through intermediaries without sufficient completeness of the contract, mainly owing to the uniquely “Chinese” method of price and quality risk management. Two large privately owned Chinese processors have vertically integrated for some of their raw material needs but also use intermediaries to avoid over dependency. The fact that China has still not completely fulfilled WTO entry requirements, specifically in regards to Tariff Rate Quota administration, also contributes to state intermediary participation and sovereign risk issues that periodically destabilise Australian wool markets. Institutional reforms have had little impact on wool quality, and significant improvements in terms of outcomes for both processors and woolgrowers would only be possible by further integration of Chinese processors into Australia’s wool marketing system.

Lesotho’s current production of raw wool is sold to global markets through South African wool merchants. Lesotho does not have any wool processing facilities and as such, the wool from Lesotho gets processed in South Africa or sold to international markets like China where it is processed. Since 2012, the government of Lesotho has publicly showed interest in developing a wool scouring plant that would process locally produced wool instead of selling it in its raw unprocessed form to international markets. The understanding by the Lesotho government was underpinned by perceived economic benefits that could be realised by the country and the wool industry of Lesotho, if the wool scouring plant was developed. The wool industry is important to the economy of Lesotho and as such, wool production in Lesotho contributes to the living standards in the rural areas as their lives are highly depended on the production of wool. A vibrant wool industry in Lesotho therefore has the potential to contribute to the growth of the economy, the manufacturing sector, employment at both the herder and the manufacturing levels, and the export sector. Wool scouring or wool washing is the early stage processing of greasy wool. The purpose of wool scouring is to extract grease, dirt, unpleasant smell and other foreign matter from the greasy wool. Raw wool fibers contain fat, suint (sheep sweat salts), plant material and minerals. It is therefore necessary to remove these from wool by scouring with a combination of detergents, wetting agents and emulsifiers before further processing. Wool can lose up to 30% of its original weight during this process. The Lesotho government feels that there is a need to develop a wool scouring plant in Lesotho because Lesotho does not benefit from the South African wool scouring processes and anything that happens post that process. Given that no viability studies had been conducted in Lesotho to motivate the government’s interest in developing a wool scouring plant, this study was conducted with the aim to investigate the benefits of developing a wool scouring plant in Lesotho. The research design employed in this study was a mixed method, which is a combination of positivism (quantitative) and interpretivism (qualitative) data collection and analysis in parallel form. In terms of the qualitative component of the study, structured interviews were conducted, governed by in-depth interview guidelines developed by the researcher. A questionnaire was used for the qualitative component of the study. Among some of its findings and recommendations the study recommends that there is insufficient wool produced in Lesotho to support a local wool scouring plant, the government of Lesotho should rather focus their effort on the improvement of the wool production value chain to assist farmers. The study finds no grounds for the justification of the development of a local scouring plant in Lesotho and recommends that for such propositions to be made publicly, at least proper groundwork should be undertaken to investigate the technical feasibility of developing the scouring plant.