Australia
There has been substantial involvement of Australian representatives in the work of WCPS over many years. Key individuals were Walter Aigner and Dr. M.R.'Ram' Ramsay who became involved in the 1980s. However it is not clear as to when the Australian Chapter was officially established and recognised. Certainly some of those within Australia thought a Chapter existed and correspondence in 1990 describes Dr. Ramsay as President of the Australian Chapter though the status of this is unclear.
In 1991, Walter Aigner proposed that there should be an 'Oceania' region for both WCPS and WAPS and 'officers' were duly appointed to fulfil key roles.
Over a period of several months there was discussion between Brita Borge, Vice-President of WCPS responsible for National Chapter Development and Walter Aigner together with these newly appointed officers. Brita Borge pointed out that WCPS did not - deliberately - have a regional structure and suggested the creation of an Oceania Chapter... the first multi-nation Chapter since it included New Zealand some of the island states. This Oceania Chapter seems to have operated - quite successfully -over the period 1992 - 1994 and correspondence in 1994 written by Ron Davison refers to the Oceania Division (with Ron Davison as president). A letter to Martin J.Stone - the previous 'President' - from Brita Borge suggests that no formal recognition has been given to any of these entities.
Eventually in 1995, Ron Davison persuaded the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology to act as host organization for a formally recognised Chapter and this Chapter was finally approved at a WCPS Board of Directors meeting in Montreal in March 1996. The Chapter was to be hosted by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
However, some of the 'old guard' representing the former 'Oceania Division' found it difficult to accept this new arrangement and for a time, the old structure existed alongside the new one.
In 1997, Martin J. Stone was still seeking 're-affirmation' of the status of the former organisation as a valid Chapter of WCPS. The correspondence does not explain how this situation was resolved.
Co-ordinator: Ron Davison
Following a round of correspondence in 2000-2001, the Graduate Management Centre of the Southern Cross University in Australia was awarded Network Partner status in March 2001 as a second centre of co-operation in Australia.
Primary contact:
Philip Neck
Professor of International Management & Development
Southern Cross University
Tweed Gold Coast Campus
PO Box 877
Tweed Heads
NSW 2485
Australia
In 2006, Philip retired and the primary contact became:
Sivarama (Shankar) K. Sankaran
Associate Professor, Graduate College of Management, Southern Cross University
(address as above)
