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The purpose of this paper is to understand some of the barriers people with learning disabilities experience with regards to relationships and consider the possible changes professionals could make to address these.

The current paper will draw on case studies extracted from Bates et al. (2016), using them to illustrate a number of themes/issues that relate to the support that people with learning disabilities received and needed from staff to develop and maintain relationships.

People with learning disabilities continue to experience barriers with regards to relationships. Their rights and choices are not always respected and a climate of risk aversion persists in areas such as sexual relationships. The research highlighted the balancing act staff must engage in to ensure that they remain supportive without being controlling or overprotective of individuals in relationships.

Professional/support provider views were not included but these could have lent an additional perspective to the issues discussed.

An increased understanding of human rights entitlements should be encouraged among people with learning disabilities so they know when their freedom is being unlawfully restricted. Sexuality and relationship training would be beneficial for support staff. This could cover a wider range of areas such as contraception and supporting individuals who have experienced sexual/domestic abuse in starting new relationships.

This paper explores the barriers to relationships from the perspective of people with learning disabilities and offers practical solutions to address them.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the work of the Supported Loving Network from its origin in academic research to the practical development of a national Network supporting relationships for people with learning disabilities.

First, the need for the Network is established through a review of the research literature. The paper goes on to critically discuss the Network’s progress to date including its limitations and difficulties encountered, concluding by considering plans for future growth and development.

There is evidence that having a national Network is helpful in supporting intimate relationships for people with learning disabilities. The Network is having a positive impact on professionals who support people with learning disabilities by providing a space for discussion, inspiration and to share positive practice. However, an increase in resources would enable Supported Loving to have a wider reach and possibly a greater influence on organisations that provide social care to adults with learning disabilities.

The research indicates that people with learning disabilities are still less likely to have a loving relationship. The level of interest and engagement with Supported Loving implies that the Network is of value to people with learning disabilities and the professionals who work with them.

Moving away from the stories of financial disaster we encountered in Chapter 2, Chapter 3 examines what it means for fans when their club is suddenly awash with more financial muscle than some nation-states due to the generosity of a wealthy benefactor who is seemingly more interested in sporting glory than in financial gain. This chapter engages with the notion of the football club as a billionaire’s plaything. Roman Abramovich’s acquisition of Chelsea in 2003 saw the West London club embark on an eye-watering spending spree and a sustained period of on-field successes, one that was unknown in the club’s history to that point. As a result, we take Chelsea during the Abramovich era as a starting point for considering how this model of ownership affects the relationship between fans and the connection that they have with their club. The evident success that financial muscle can bring shows owners what a happy fanbase is capable of, what they are capable of doing, and what they are capable of ignoring. The success of the financially doped teams of the 2000s created a precedent for winning over a fanbase with a successful football club, but nevertheless sat awkwardly with the normative ideals of how a football club should exist in the world and relate to its supporters.

Adds to the stream of research concerned with understanding the relationship between good service and profit. Takes a broader perspective than recent studies and asks does the financial performance of those organisations with a reputation for service excellence differ markedly from those with a poor reputation? Focuses on three questions: “Does size matter?”; “Are the better organisations more productive?”; and “Are the better organisations more profitable?” The findings, based on a large and wide‐ranging empirical study undertaken in the UK, found that, whether measured in terms of total assets, turnover or number of employees, both large and small organisations are capable of being both excellent and poor. In terms of productivity the findings suggest that provision of better service is staff intensive but yields significantly greater profit per employee. The better service providers have significantly better return on equity and return on total assets than the poorer ones.

Two prior survey papers on the use and perceived merit of customer accounting (CA) practices, one in Australia and one in New Zealand (NZ), disclosed contrasting results with confusing elements. The purpose of this paper is to replicate and extend previous survey research in order to update and clarify our understanding of CA practices in NZ.

Within a contingency theory framework, a mail questionnaire survey is used to measure the use and perceived merit of CA practices in NZ and investigate their relationship with six contingent factors: competitive strategy, market orientation, environmental uncertainty, costing methodology, company size and industrial sector.

Mean CA usage and perceived merit scores in NZ in 2009 are much higher than was found in NZ in 2007 and similar to those found in Australia in 2002. A significant gulf between usage rates of historical and forward-looking CA measures is now found in NZ. There is strong evidence for a positive contingent relationship between the marketing concept of marketing management and both the use and perceived merit of historical CA measures. Also found is a significant positive relationship between the customer concept of marketing management and the use and perceived merit of customer profitability analysis at the individual customer level.

The survey method used prevents follow-up questions and clarification of ambiguities, but the survey results do provide new insights and potential avenues for further research.

This survey provides researchers, teachers and firms using or considering using CA practices, with an improved understanding of current usage and perceived merit of CA practices in NZ companies.

KEK, the grinding, screening and process plant specialists, announce the appointment of Mr. Alan J. Boulton as marketing director.

Finding foolproof ways in which to retain customers has been the holy grail of good business since the very dawn of commerce. On the surface the premise seems simple enough; create a product or service that people want and through skilled delivery ensure that your customers keep coming back for more. However, never has such a seemingly straightforward ambition proved so elusive. Organizations in all industries are letting customers down. And as geographical boundaries dwindle and competition increases, disillusioned customers are unlikely to look back.

The classics will circulate wrote a public librarian several years ago. She found that new, attractive, prominently displayed editions of literary classics would indeed find a substantial audience among public library patrons.