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To examine the governance network in Northamptonshire, an area awarded the status of the most enterprising place in Britain in 2012.
Abstract
Purpose
To examine the governance network in Northamptonshire, an area awarded the status of the most enterprising place in Britain in 2012.
Methodology
A combination of original interviews and documentary analysis to track the development of governance across two place-based initiatives.
Findings
Governance and leadership efforts were hindered by three factors prior to 2010; geographical, issues of legitimacy and a lack of stimulus for action in a successful economy. Changes since the General Election have enabled the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to overcome the first of these but work on the other two is ongoing.
Research limitations
The research has been conducted in the early stages of the LEP’s work and more time is needed to see if the progress made to date translates into a meaningful role.
Social implications
Place-based strategies need to be based around pre-agreed territorial boundaries. In addition development agencies need to be able to demonstrate competency in order to be seen as legitimate actors.
Originality/value of chapter
The chapter offers an insight into establishing governance and leadership in an already successful economy. Most papers in this area either examine deprived areas or areas where governance is key to the success.
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Abstract
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Gill Maxwell, Laura Rankine, Sheena Bell and Anna MacVicar
The aim of this article is to investigate the incidence and impact of FWAs in smaller businesses in Scotland, as an integral part of a recent European Social Fund project. From…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this article is to investigate the incidence and impact of FWAs in smaller businesses in Scotland, as an integral part of a recent European Social Fund project. From theoretical perspectives it discusses the influences on, and impacts of, flexible working arrangements. The focus is then placed on the smaller business sector as regards its distinctive features and flexible working arrangements.
Design/methodology/approach
The papers presents the findings from empirical work comprising a large‐scale survey of, and series of interviews with, owner‐managers of smaller businesses in Scotland.
Findings
Part‐time work, time off in lieu, staggered working hours and shift swapping are the main types of flexible work in smaller businesses. In many incidences flexible working arrangements are requested by employees, operated informally, and centred on the business needs. There is significant scope for greater uptake of flexible working arrangements in smaller businesses, especially in services sector businesses. Positive impacts of flexible work arrangements in recruitment and retention, enhanced employee relations, commitment and loyalty are found, together with disadvantages of operational problems and administrative burdens. It is proposed that the gap between the potential for, and current practice in, flexible working arrangements may be narrowed by targeting information and guidance on such arrangements specifically to the owner‐managers of smaller businesses.
Originality/value
The literature on flexible working mainly concentrates on large organisations. With the growing economic importance and distinguishing features of the smaller business sector in the UK, there is a need to focus as much on this sector as large organisations.
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Although the gap between rhetoric and reality is not a specific human resource management (HRM) feature, the disconnection between discourse and action seems to have reached…
Abstract
Although the gap between rhetoric and reality is not a specific human resource management (HRM) feature, the disconnection between discourse and action seems to have reached unusual stages in this case. Not much is known about HRM in Portugal, but it is clear that Portuguese academics and practitioners have extensively adopted the global HRM rhetoric. With an environment apparently unfavorable to the HRM normative model, this paper examines the ways in which global HRM rhetoric meets Portuguese reality.
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This chapter addresses the question how entrepreneurial synergies can be stimulated in places by leadership and network governance in the context of the knowledge economy. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter addresses the question how entrepreneurial synergies can be stimulated in places by leadership and network governance in the context of the knowledge economy. The chapter not only analyses the role of leadership in a regional case in the Netherlands, but also assesses to what extend place-based characteristics play a role.
Methodology/approach
The chapter is based on a case-study-analysis of the region Brainport Eindhoven. Data were collected via 27 interviews in 2 rounds (in 2008 and in 2012), and retrieved from academic literature, case documents and governmental plans.
Findings
This chapter shows the importance of knowledge leadership in creating entrepreneurial synergies in the region Brainport Eindhoven. Entrepreneurial synergies is defined here as the creation of governance conditions and a context for effective entrepreneurial activities and regional co-operation between entrepreneurs, to enhance innovation. The socio-spatial quality of this place, path-dependency and the establishment of a regional regime explain the clustering of high-tech firms in a context of pro-active policy support, embedded in a cultural tradition of public–private co-operation. Key-persons of the private sector, science, and government enabled the development by taking initiative, co-operating, framing issues and aligning people around the agenda of Brainport.
Practical implications
The chapter gives insights on how leaders can enhance entrepreneurial synergies rooted in place-based assets and characteristics, by using network power, resources, ‘windows of opportunity’ and by linking ideas, inspiration and individuals from different strands of the triple-helix.
Social implications
Revealing normative leadership lessons – how leadership is enacted in ‘everyday’ practice – may also allow us to explain, at least to some limited extent, why some localities are able to adapt to the ever changing social and economic conditions of the modern world, and are successful in creating entrepreneurial synergies. Beyond this, deeper critical appreciations provide us with insights into the interplay between leadership, power and resources – and shed light on the questions of why and for whom economy and society are ‘organised’, in different places and at different times.
Originality/value of chapter
The chapter offers new insights in the importance of place and the leadership dimension in the context of the continuing debate around the effectiveness of sub-national economic development policy for the so-called ‘knowledge era’.