This paper aims to study a major aspect of the recent Treasury‐led Review of Sub‐national Economic Development and Regeneration in attempting to integrate work currently performed…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study a major aspect of the recent Treasury‐led Review of Sub‐national Economic Development and Regeneration in attempting to integrate work currently performed under the separate economic and spatial strategies through the preparation of single regional strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyses several aspects of the existing work of regional development agencies (RDAs) to illustrate where they could be better informed to undertake their anticipated role in regional spatial planning.
Findings
The Labour Government has been forced to change its approach to reforms at the sub‐national level. In November, 2008 it performed a late compromise in response to the consultation on the Review, in giving equal status to the work of local authorities and RDAs in writing single regional strategies. This is welcomed, as is a strengthening of the scope of sub‐regional governance. Nonetheless the reforms do little to address the socio‐economic disparities between regions.
Practical implications
The paper informs approaches to the preparation of single regional strategies and highlights the need to give greater attention to the links between policy making and delivery at national, regional and local scales.
Originality/value
The paper draws on the perspectives of a senior academic who has also worked both as a civil service research officer in regional economic planning and as a member of local, district and county committees in local governance. This experience suggests that the Government's approach to reform was informed by an agenda that was too biased towards economic and too little to environmental and social priorities.
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Lee Pugalis, Alan Townsend and Lorraine Johnston
The form of crisis-governance responses to austerity urbanism that is the focus of this paper is ‘fleet-of-foot’ partnerships. These non-statutory mechanisms which champion…
Abstract
Purpose
The form of crisis-governance responses to austerity urbanism that is the focus of this paper is ‘fleet-of-foot’ partnerships. These non-statutory mechanisms which champion dispersed forms of leadership are crafted in policy discourse as lean, mean, crisis-tackling fighting machines. Their perceived agility and entrepreneurialism are often lauded, yet empirical evidence for these traits remains sparse. This paper investigates this concern through the lens of the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in England, which are deemed by some to exude some of the defining characteristics of ‘fleet-of-foot’ mechanisms.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed method approach was utilised, including analysis of socio-economic datasets and qualitative policy analysis of primary and secondary material. The quantitative element includes analysis of employment and journey-to-work data, whereas the qualitative material originated from a review of LEP proposals, and narrative analysis of transcripts of interviews undertaken since 2010, together with other textual artefacts.
Findings
The findings reveal that dispersed public leadership is problematic as a mode of crisis-governance. LEPs were adopted as a crisis-governance fix. These loose (or looser) constellations of many, varied actors, are considered to be more flexible, responsive and delivery-orientated than more traditional and statutory democratic-administrative mechanisms: lean, mean, crisis-tackling fighting machines. Flexibility is a primary trait of ‘fleet-of-foot’ configurations and perhaps the defining feature of LEPs.
Research limitations
The programme of research remains on-going, which reflects the continual shifts in the form and configurations of LEPs.
Practical implications
Detecting some of the primary weaknesses of ‘fleet-of-foot’ public leadership arrangements, the research draws attention to some of the dangers of pushing austerity down and through ‘fleet-of-foot’ formations. The practical implications are highlighted by examining the limits of LEPs to achieve efficient outcomes or to open up a shared leadership space.
Originality/value
Through an engagement with current conceptual and policy debates where austerity ‘blows out’ across Europe, it is observed that austerian politics may be pushing partnership bodies too far, thus risking the danger of overburdening and under-resourcing the very distributed leadership mechanisms that are expected to reconcile local economic crises and stimulate local growth. This paper also contributes to the literature on dispersed public leadership, which runs counter to traditional command and control leadership constructs.
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Kevin J. Krizek, Dave Newport, James White and Alan R. Townsend
The purpose of this paper is to describe four phases for how universities have addressed a sustainability agenda and offer specific lessons for how and where experiences on one…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe four phases for how universities have addressed a sustainability agenda and offer specific lessons for how and where experiences on one campus, the University of Colorado Boulder, have been met with success and other challenges. The authors offer general reflections for executing university‐wide sustainability initiatives with a central intent of illuminating central barriers against, and incentives for, a coordinated and integrated approach to campus sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach for arriving at four phases and a description of the University of Colorado Boulder is based on experiences from learning, teaching, and administering within universities–collectively for almost a century among the authors–and lessons from “war room” discussions.
Findings
Sustainability initiatives on campus may evolve through a series of phases labeled: grassroots; executive acceptance of the business case for sustainability; the visionary campus leader; and fully self‐actualized and integrated campus community. The University of Colorado Boulder, while a leader in many respects of sustainability (research, student activities, facilities management) has experienced serious challenges for coordination.
Originality/value
The four phases are a relatively novel contribution for the specific literature on sustainability education. Second, the tangible examples from University of Colorado Boulder demonstrate how coordination is difficult in these situations; these examples allow readers to better relate to and understand such challenges. Finally, the authors reflect on central issues according to three categories: self‐reflection, recommendations, and advantages.
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The results of a study of long‐term unemploymentbased on a survey in County Durham arepresented. It was found that the long‐termunemployed do not lack motivation to get a jobnor…
Abstract
The results of a study of long‐term unemployment based on a survey in County Durham are presented. It was found that the long‐term unemployed do not lack motivation to get a job nor impose unreasonable restrictions on, for example, the kind of job they would take or the minimum acceptable pay. There was some evidence that the longer‐duration unemployed tended to be less able in terms of qualifications and were less advantaged in various ways, but the conclusion was that the long‐term unemployed are not unemployable. There is, however, a mismatch problem in that the skill/experience requirements of the current vacancies make them unsuitable for the long‐term unemployed. Experience in County Durham suggests that public sector job creation schemes might offer only limited possibilities for dealing with the problem.
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Edwin Amenta, Beth Gharrity Gardner, Amber Celina Tierney, Anaid Yerena and Thomas Alan Elliott
Purpose – To theorize and research the conditions under which a high-profile social movement organization (SMO) receives newspaper coverage advantageous to it.Design/methodology…
Abstract
Purpose – To theorize and research the conditions under which a high-profile social movement organization (SMO) receives newspaper coverage advantageous to it.
Design/methodology approach – To explain coverage quality, including “standing” – being quoted – and “demands” – prescribing lines of action – we advance a story-centered perspective. This combines ideas about the type of article in which SMOs are embedded and political mediation ideas. We model the joint influence of article type, political contexts and “assertive” SMO action on coverage. We analyze the Townsend Plan's coverage across five major national newspapers, focusing on front-page coverage from 1934 through 1952, using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analyses (fsQCA).
Findings – We find that only about a third of the Townsend Plan's front-page coverage was initiated by its activity and very little of it was disruptive. The fsQCA results provide support for our arguments on coverage quality. Disruptive, non-institutional action had no specific influence on standing, but its absence was a necessary condition for the SMO expressing a demand; by contrast, assertive action in combination with movement-initiated coverage or a favorable political context prompted the publication of articles with both standing and demands.
Research limitations/implications – The results suggest greater attention to a wider array of SMO coverage and to the interaction between article type, SMO action, and political context in explaining the quality of coverage. However, the results are likely to apply best to high-profile SMOs.
Originality/value – The paper provides a new theory of the quality of newspaper coverage and finds support for it with fsQCA modeling on newly collected data.
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Globalization has fostered greater interest in all aspects of standardization theory including the 4Ps of the marketing mix or program and process marketing. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Globalization has fostered greater interest in all aspects of standardization theory including the 4Ps of the marketing mix or program and process marketing. The purpose of this paper is to probe the question: “Is there a benefit to the firm's strategy of marketing standardization that correlates positively to the firm's profit?”.
Design/methodology/approach
Multinational firms from Australia, Japan and the USA operating in a global environment were studied in order to correlate marketing standardization to profit performance. Several methods of analysis were used including regression and analysis of variance measures.
Findings
The results indicate there is increasing support for a strategy of standardizing marketing mix components and contributing to a firm's profit performance.
Originality/value
The paper adds to the current literature by providing further empirical research correlating marketing mix standardization to profit.
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M.R. Denning, Edmund Davies and L.J. Megaw
January 28,1971 Trade union — Rules — Discretion conferred on domestic tribunal to approve or disapprove elected shop steward — Committee decision not to endorse elected shop…
Abstract
January 28,1971 Trade union — Rules — Discretion conferred on domestic tribunal to approve or disapprove elected shop steward — Committee decision not to endorse elected shop steward — One of three reasons given erroneous and defamatory of shop steward — Action for declarations and damages — Finding by trial judge that bad reason played no part in committee's decision — Appellate court bound by judge's finding — Whether decision not to approve election within committee discretion.
The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online…
Abstract
The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories: