Acknowledgments
During my research work in conducting this study, I have benefited from the guidance, encouragement and help of a number of people.
My heartfelt thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Gary Gregory, whose assistance, support and encouragement were crucial to the successful completion of this thesis. His compassion and knowledge made this research journey a very enjoyable one.
My sincere thanks go to professors Muris Cicic and Paul Patterson for their initial guidance when I started my research. Their advice is highly valued. I would also like to thank professors Chris Styles, Ian Wilkinson, and John Rossiter for valuable suggestions during my research study, and Dr. Hua Lin and Dr. Borhan Uddin for providing extensive assistance with my statistical analysis.
This research could not have been done without the assistance of people from Austrade, Tim Harcourt and Edwin Kuller, and exporters who participated in the interviewing process and survey, patiently giving their time and sharing their valuable experiences and knowledge with me. Honest thanks to Alan Pomering, who is also doing his PhD, for having painstakingly proof read this thesis.
Many thanks go to my family in Bosnia, for their great emotional support for my work on this thesis. I would also like to thank them for their love and support, and for taking pride in whatever success I may have.