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The emergence of the global economy between the late 1970s and the late 1980s, with its concomitant intensification of competitive pressures, has been accompanied by a search for appropriate objectives, policies and mechanisms for developing private enterprise in the UK. The current UK Government has attempted to accommodate the varied local needs of the private business sector, and the need for support by public authority, by creating the Training and Enterprise Council (TEC) network. This offers a devolved management structure for the delivery of enterprise support and training services and a means of creating public‐private partnerships in the stimulation of local economic growth. An overall view is given of this initiative, based on an appreciation of the critical interactions between central government, the TECs, private sector organizations and representative forums for local business. Drawing on current theories of governance to suit the new conditions of the 1990s, a contribution is made to discussions of the evolution of public policy and its effect on the development of a healthy and vigorous private enterprise sector.

This paper aims to describe a nurse‐led absence‐management program from Active Health Partners that has been used to monitor and reduce absence at First London and Berkshire, part of First Group, the international transport company.

The paper presents First London and Berkshire's reasons for implementing the system, how it works in the company and the results.

The paper reveals that First London and Berkshire experienced significant cost savings through a 20 percent drop in employee absence. Morale increased as the company invested in employee well being.

The paper presents a program that could benefit many organizations and their employees.

The paper describes how absence‐management schemes can help to manage and reduce absence in a company, by boosting employee health and productivity.

To describe orthopaedic surgical site infection (SSI) surveillance models at two English pilot sites, and to review their effectiveness and integration into clinical governance.

The different organisational models for orthopaedic SSI at two Trusts were examined and assessed.

Both sites recognised that regular feedback to clinical staff and clinical ownership are important determinants of success, and this was addressed by both models. Each site appointed a surveillance coordinator within the infection control service to oversee the programme, but tasked data collection to different staff groups directly involved with the care of orthopaedic patients. Feedback programmes to Clinical Governance Committees, clinical staff and managers were developed, reinforcing surveillance of SSI as a core component of surgical risk management and quality assurance, and an integral part of clinical governance. The pilots demonstrated the importance of a dedicated surveillance coordinator.

Infection following joint replacement surgery is associated with high morbidity and financial costs. In 2004 surveillance of orthopaedic SSI became mandatory in England. A description and assessment of these pilot sites will be of practical value to Trusts that must now implement SSI surveillance.

SSI surveillance is a corner‐stone of risk management and quality clinical care, yet little has been published on organisational frameworks needed for implementation, particularly in the context of clinical governance. This paper addresses these issues in describing and assessing the models at two English pilot sites.

Purpose – This chapter attempts to provide a literary analysis of the various ways in which the importance of basketball in North American Native culture has been represented in literature produced by three Native American authors: James Welch, Stephen Graham Jones, and Sherman Alexie.

Design/methodology/approach – The foundation of this study is derived from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s account of his experiences as a coach of Apache players in Arizona in A Season on The Reservation, and the example of Shoni Schimmel, from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, who is featured in the documentary, Off the Rez. These documentary accounts are supplemented by a critical apparatus drawn from the ideas of the Anishinaabe critic, Gerald Vizenor.

Findings – The character of the Native basketball star functions as a complex signifier that resists Western conceptions of individual achievement and success in favor of Native conceptions of community and cultural survivance.

Research limitations/implications – The limitations of literary analysis stem from the engagement with a body of Native literature that is by no means comprehensive. In addition, the views expressed by each writer are necessarily punctuated by narrative ambiguity and indeterminacy.

Originality/value – The chapter provides a unique introduction to the motif of basketball in contemporary Native American fiction and the storytelling practices from which meaning emerges. The analysis of the works addressed highlights a Native-centered interpretive approach that reveals the complex meaning of basketball in Native American society. The use of this culturally responsive critical paradigm allows readers to approach Native literary achievement on its own terms, rather than from the perspective of the dominant culture.

This paper aims to investigate how digital capabilities associated with building information modelling (BIM) can integrate a wide range of information to improve built asset management (BAM) decision-making during the in-use phase of hospital buildings.

A comprehensive document analysis and a participatory case study was undertaken with a regional NHS hospital to review the type of information that can be used to better inform BAM decision-making to develop a conceptual framework to improve information use during the health-care BAM process, test how the conceptual framework can be applied within a BAM division of a health-care organisation and develop a cloud-based BIM application.

BIM has the potential to facilitate better informed BAM decision-making by integrating a wide range of information related to the physical condition of built assets, resources available for BAM and the built asset’s contribution to health-care provision within an organisation. However, interdepartmental information sharing requires a significant level of time and cost investment and changes to information gathering and storing practices within the whole organisation.

This research demonstrated that the implementation of BIM during the in-use phase of hospital buildings is different to that in the design and construction phases. At the in-use phase, BIM needs to integrate and communicate information within and between the estates, facilities division and other departments of the organisation. This poses a significant change management task for the organisation’s information management systems. Thus, a strategically driven top-down organisational approach is needed to implement BIM for the in-use phase of hospital buildings.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the return performance of different investment strategies in the hedge fund sector, with a particular emphasis on the recent US financial crisis of 2007‐2010. Additionally, the paper aims to investigate the comovement of hedge fund index returns.

The paper identifies broad hedge fund investment strategies using data from the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Database. It examines the return comovement using the cross‐sectional volatility, covariance, and correlation metrics proposed in Adrian (2007). In addition, the paper examines whether correlations and covariance are important determinants of future volatility via traditional time‐series regressions.

The paper finds that the majority of the broad hedge fund investment strategies incurred record level losses and gains during the 2007‐2010 period. In addition, it finds that the crisis period was preceded by high correlations, attributed primarily to a rise in cross‐sectional hedge fund covariances. However, during the crisis period, a decrease in average correlations, stemming from an increase in hedge fund volatility, is documented. The time‐series regressions are supportive of a strong relationship between cross‐sectional covariances and subsequent volatility, suggesting that systemic risk occurs in the hedge fund sector when returns move significantly in dollar terms.

This study is one of the first investigations that focus on the comovement and volatility of hedge fund index returns during the US financial crisis of 2007‐2010.

Purpose – This chapter evaluates the shift in black voter support from Mayor Adrian Fenty to Mayor Vincent Gray in the 2010 DC mayoral election. The complexities of new black leadership are used as a theoretical framework for understanding the salience of gentrification, crossover racial appeal, campaign tactics, and policy implementation in the mayoral transition from one black candidate to another.Design/methodology/approach – This study used polling data from The Washington Post one month prior to the 2010 DC Democratic primary (The Washington Post, 2010). Using a sample of 630 respondents, multinomial logistic regression was used to measure the extent to which substantive policy positions, racial crossover appeal, and/or personal traits factor into voter preferences.Findings – The results reveal that a combination of personal, racial, and substantive factors contributed to Adrian Fenty’s defeat in 2010. The implications suggest a reexamination of the significance of symbolic representation in voter candidate preferences and the shifting complexity of black leadership in the procurement of black substantive representation.Originality/value – This chapter captures the transitional nature of black leadership in order to distinguish viable strategies for blacks to secure both elected office and black empowerment, while offering a more nuanced approach to analyzing the changing nature of the black voting calculus in the United States.