The purpose of this paper is to explore how British cycling brand Rapha innovatively embeds stories throughout its touchpoints and in its garments.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how British cycling brand Rapha innovatively embeds stories throughout its touchpoints and in its garments.
Design/methodology/approach
Using narrative inquiry methodology and subjective personal introspection, it analyses published brand texts, cycling apparel, primary interviews and lived experience to establish a key story theme and the role, form, value and continuity of stories in the brand’s canon.
Findings
It claims that Rapha’s texts reveal evidence of a specific story plot, the “Quest” (Booker, 2015), which acts as a structural editorial device and provides a rich lexicon that taps into a transformative personal experience. The study proposes that the brand’s employees identify themselves with quester values that define the brand’s essence, providing a coherent message and magnifying the agency in Rapha’s stories.
Research limitations/implications
This inquiry offers insight into a single consumer brand, yet it is the material manner in which stories are embedded within the brand offerings plus how lived experiences are recounted through structured storytelling that are of significance to wider practice and understanding.
Originality/value
It brings together industry, academic and personal insight to Rapha’s storytelling praxis to illustrate how storied content can be used to transmit values, purpose and passion to its audience.
Prisoner access to opiate-based analgesics and gabapentinoids is a concern to prisons through illicit trading. The purpose of this paper is to describe patient needs following…
Abstract
Purpose
Prisoner access to opiate-based analgesics and gabapentinoids is a concern to prisons through illicit trading. The purpose of this paper is to describe patient needs following introduction of nine pilot chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) clinics for chronic pain in three prisons (two male and one female) in the South of England. The study evaluated the effectiveness of this model and assessed the wider practical implementation issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Clinical notes were reviewed for 63 consultations, anonymised and recorded for secondary analysis.
Findings
Alongside CNCP, high levels of substance misuse, physical and mental health histories were noted, especially for female patients. Amitriptyline, pregabalin, gabapentin were the main frontline analgesics prescribed prior to assessment. A total of 41 per cent of patients did not change their medication following the consultation; 25 per cent had their medication increased or reintroduced (greater for women prisoners); with one-third (33 per cent) of patients reducing the prescription of strong opioids and gabapentinoids. Significant differences were noted between male and female patients. Prisoners were amenable to changes in medication to facilitate access to work and other therapeutic interventions.
Social implications
The prescribing of analgesics has largely been couched in terms of disruption to the prison regime through illicit trading. This study highlights the need to place CNCP within wider contexts of substance misuse, physical and emotional health. There is an opportunity to develop a rehabilitative rather than palliative approach to pain management. Gender specific approaches for female patients should be considered.
Originality/value
Few studies of CNCP have been conducted within a prison environment.
Details
Keywords
This synthesis covers academic research on the use of valuation, tax, information technology (IT), and forensic specialists on audit engagements. The importance and role of…
Abstract
This synthesis covers academic research on the use of valuation, tax, information technology (IT), and forensic specialists on audit engagements. The importance and role of specialists on audit engagements have recently increased, and specialist use has garnered significant attention from regulators and academics. Given the PCAOB’s (2017b) recent proposal to revise auditing standards regarding specialists’ involvement, it is important to review the specialist literature as a whole. By integrating research across these four domains, I identify commonalities and differences related to: (1) factors associated with the use of specialists on audit engagements (including the nature, timing, and extent of use); (2) factors impacting auditors’ interactions with specialists (including specialists contracted by the auditor or management); and (3) outcomes associated with the use of specialists. This integrated analysis of the specialist literatures shows variation in the use of specialists, and various factors affecting both if and how they are involved and whether auditors use specialists internal or external to the audit firm. Additionally, research has sometimes (but not always) linked specialist involvement to higher audit quality. The commonalities and areas of variation identified are informative to audit research and practice, particularly as regulators and audit firms look to improve the quality of audits using specialists. Throughout the synthesis, I also provide a number of directions for future research.
Details
Keywords
Much has been written on the nature of gender segregation in the labour market, but it is only recently that researchers have turned to cross‐national comparisons as a means of…
Abstract
Much has been written on the nature of gender segregation in the labour market, but it is only recently that researchers have turned to cross‐national comparisons as a means of developing more sophisticated analyses. This paper presents the findings of one study of women's employment in three different countries, and argues that cross‐national comparisons have a crucial role to play in theory‐development in the area of women's employment. The paper focuses in particular on evaluating cross‐national research methodologies.
Catherine Vanaise and Gwyneth Edwards
The data set used to write this case was collected from 83 public sources, including company communications, company journals and reports and the company website, along with…
Abstract
Research methodology
The data set used to write this case was collected from 83 public sources, including company communications, company journals and reports and the company website, along with newspaper articles, industry reports, scientific articles and case studies. The data set was used to analyse both the industry and firm in which Arup operated to draw conclusions about the firm’s strategy and competitive advantage, specifically, as it relates to trust and knowledge management.
Case overview/synopsis
Alan Belfield, an employee of Arup Group Limited for 29 years, and the company’s chairman since 2019, had witnessed significant growth since he first joined the firm. Operating globally, Arup had a proud past; since 1946, the company had served 6,931 clients across 143 countries, leading to its important contribution to many world-renowned landmarks within the built environment. From 2018 to 2020, revenue at the global multiservice engineering company had grown almost £250m [1] to £1.809bn.
Over the past few years and as 2021 came to an end, the global engineering services industry had experienced a flood of mergers and acquisitions, as the industry grew towards maturity and clients looked for full-service solutions. Arup’s strategy had proven successful in the past, evidenced by its capacity to grow revenues and partake in the design of well-known structures and buildings. However, with the trend towards consolidation, as Arup headed into 2022, how could the firm retain its position as one of the global leaders in the industry over time?
Complexity academic level
The case can be used in business courses on global strategic management at the bachelor and master levels, as it applies key strategic management concepts within a global context. The case focuses primarily on the transnational corporation (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 2002) and how it creates value through strategy and structure. Instructors who wish to integrate the human resource management aspect into the course are provided with optional material, including an additional reading, along with an assignment question and associated analysis and teaching guidance.
Details
Keywords
Jennifer S. Reinke and Catherine A. Solheim
Using Andersen’s (1968) behavioral model of health services use as a guiding conceptual framework, this study examined how receipt of family-centered care relates to the perceived…
Abstract
Purpose
Using Andersen’s (1968) behavioral model of health services use as a guiding conceptual framework, this study examined how receipt of family-centered care relates to the perceived family challenges for families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Design
Data from the 2009–2010 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN) were analyzed for 812 parents of children with ASD.
Findings
Multiple regression analyses provided substantive statistical evidence that a child’s race, the adequacy of a family’s insurance, and the stability of child’s health care needs significantly contributed to predicting his or her receipt of family-centered care. Further results suggested a relationship between receipt of family-centered care and the perception of challenge for these families; families receiving family-centered care perceive fewer challenges and feel less unmet need for child health services.
Value
Family-centered professionals provide critical voices in the development of policies and programs geared toward improving the health outcomes of children with ASD and their families.
Details
Keywords
Manizha Wafeq, Omar Al Serhan, Kimberley Catherine Gleason, S.W.S.B. Dasanayaka, Roudaina Houjeir and Mohamad Al Sakka
For the present generation of entrepreneurs, the operating environment in Afghanistan has been among the most tenuous in the world. Numerous regime changes, civil unrest and war…
Abstract
Purpose
For the present generation of entrepreneurs, the operating environment in Afghanistan has been among the most tenuous in the world. Numerous regime changes, civil unrest and war have created tremendous uncertainty, making civilian business planning difficult. These challenges incrementally impact female entrepreneurs. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between one aspect of entrepreneurial psychological capital – optimism regarding enterprise success of Afghan female entrepreneurs – and aspects of the marketing function.
Design/methodology/approach
Primary data collection was used for this study. A total of 248 women business owners were surveyed via telephone from five provinces of Afghanistan. Over half (133) of respondents were from the Afghan capital, Kabul. A total of 49 respondents were obtained from Herat, 44 from Mazar, 12 from Nangarhar and ten were obtained from Kandahar.
Findings
We find that a focus on marketing positively and significantly impacts reported optimism by female Afghan entrepreneurs, as do marketing planning efforts. However, self-reliance and orientation toward the outside world do not impact the perceived success of the entrepreneurial venture.
Research limitations/implications
Like other empirical studies, this research has its own limitation. First, we would have liked a larger sample size, but date collection in a war-torn country and from female business women in a male-dominated society is proofed very challenging task. Also, some cities had less representation due to security concerns especially Kandahar province.
Practical implications
Our results have significant relevance for economic development policymakers, non-governmental organizations and entrepreneurs throughout the developing world. What drives the psychological capital of these entrepreneurs under these extreme conditions should be of interest not only from the perspective of the entrepreneurship literature, but also for policymakers who are often uninformed regarding on the ground conditions under which individuals in the environment function.
Social implications
It is our hope that our results inform those in a position of power so that they support the development of human capital of Afghan women who are or who seek to be entrepreneurs. We also hope to raise questions for other researchers related to the importance of human capital investment and the business functions for entrepreneurs in other less developed, conflict-prone environments with low mean educational levels.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to use proprietary, hand collected survey data from Afghani female entrepreneurs to collect, analyze and draw conclusions and recommendations from a sample of 248 women-owned businesses regarding the relationship between the marketing function and one aspect of psychological capital – perceived optimism – in five Afghan cities.
Details
Keywords
Catherine Komugisha Tindiwensi, Ernest Abaho, John C. Munene, Moses Muhwezi and Isaac N. Nkote
The purpose of this paper is to analyse how entrepreneurial bricolage empowers smallholder commercial farming, from a family business perspective.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse how entrepreneurial bricolage empowers smallholder commercial farming, from a family business perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employed a multiple case study design to analyse entrepreneurial bricolage in smallholder commercial farming in Uganda. It used multiple data collection methods and applied content analytical tchniques to establish cross-case correlations, patterns and relationships to aid in theory development and testing.
Findings
The study shows that entrepreneurial bricolage empowers smallholder commercialization through resource reallocation, improvization and prioritization as interconnected, self-reinforcing bricolage processes in smallholder farming. It provides evidence of how smallholder farms may not enact institutional limits, and overcome constraints imposed by their resource environments. It further reveals that smallholder commercial farms can be construed as family businesses given the interconnected relationship between farming business, family and smallholder farm(er).
Research limitations/implications
The study was conducted in smallholder farms hence results may be used cautiously in other sectors and economies where resource environments are not structurally defined. However, it provides lessons for family businesses in developed countries particularly the micro- and small businesses. It also renders smallholder farming as a lucrative area for family business research.
Originality/value
This study deepens our understanding of bricolage in smallholder farming and provides a springboard for scholarship in enhancing smallholder commercialization. It proposes a model for entrepreneurial bricolage in smallholder commercial farming.
Details
Keywords
Elise Catherine Davis, Ashley Evans, Caroline Uptmore, Sarah Lang, Jessica K. McElroy, David Ellenburg, Tony Nguyen and Bita A. Kash
The purpose of this paper is to present proposed solutions and interventions to some of the major barriers to providing adequate access to healthcare in Kenya. Specific business…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present proposed solutions and interventions to some of the major barriers to providing adequate access to healthcare in Kenya. Specific business models are proposed to improve access to quality healthcare in low- and middle-income countries. Finally, strategies are developed for the retail clinic concept (RCC).
Design/methodology/approach
Google Scholar, PubMed and EBSCOhost were among the databases used to collect articles relevant to the purpose in Kenya. Various governmental and news articles were collected from Google searches. Relevant business models from other sectors were considered for potential application to healthcare and the retail clinic concept.
Findings
After a review of current methodologies and approaches to business and franchising models in various settings, the most relevant models are proposed as solutions to improving quality healthcare in Kenya through the RCC. For example, authors reviewed physician recruitment strategies, insurance plans and community engagement. The paper is informed by existing literature and reports as well as key informants.
Research limitations/implications
This paper lacks primary data collection within Kenya and is limited to a brief scoping review of literature. The findings provide effective strategies for various business and franchising models in healthcare.
Originality/value
The assembling of relevant information specific to Kenya and potential business models provides effective means of improving health delivery through business and franchising, focusing on innovative approaches and models that have proven effective in other settings.
Details
Keywords
Jordan Peele’s critically acclaimed directorial debut Get Out (2017) highlights the issues regarding racism and Black identity that have seldom been the subject of horror film…
Abstract
Jordan Peele’s critically acclaimed directorial debut Get Out (2017) highlights the issues regarding racism and Black identity that have seldom been the subject of horror film. More specifically, Get Out offers representations of Black masculinity that push against the stereotypical and reductive ways that Black men have often been depicted in horror cinema. The portrayal of Black men in Get Out takes shape in ways influenced by a range of relationships featured in the film. Amongst these is the dynamic between the leading character Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his white girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams), in addition to Chris’s interactions with Rose’s mother Missy (Catherine Keener), as well as his best friend Rod (Lil Rel Howery). As such, scrutiny of Get Out yields insight into the construction of Black masculinity in horror film, including how on-screen inter- and intra-racial relations are implicated in this. The writing that follows focuses on how Get Out offers complex and scarcely featured representations of Black masculinity, and boyhood, in horror. As part of such discussion, there is analysis of the entanglements of on-screen gender and racial politics, which contribute to the nuances of depictions of Black masculinity in Get Out.