Leigh Drake and Barry Howcroft
Outlines previous research on the efficiency of financial institutions and builds on an earlier study of the relative efficiency of 190 UK bank branches by the authors to…
Abstract
Outlines previous research on the efficiency of financial institutions and builds on an earlier study of the relative efficiency of 190 UK bank branches by the authors to determine their size efficiency relationship and their determinants of relative inefficiency. Explains the data envelopment (DEA) method used, the data set and the input/output configuration; and summarizes the results of the previous study. Shows that size is related to efficiency and suggests that the pattern is an asymmetric U‐shaped average cost curve, with an optimum branch size of ine staff and a lending range of £3.0‐£5.25 million. Analyses the sources of scale and technical inefficiency in an individual branch and across the sample to show that diversification reduces efficiency while use of technology and management control improves it. Concludes that DEA can provide the means to raise efficiency, reduce cost income ratios and increase profitability.
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Leigh Drake and Adrian R. Fleissig
This chapter examines factors that cause violations of regularity conditions and biases in estimates of substitution. In the context of the Fourier demand system, failing to…
Abstract
This chapter examines factors that cause violations of regularity conditions and biases in estimates of substitution. In the context of the Fourier demand system, failing to impose curvature restrictions but correcting for serial correlation results in few violations of the curvature conditions. In contrast, imposing curvature restrictions without correcting for serial correlation biases substitution estimates and can cause violations of monotonicity. For serially correlated data, results suggest that correcting for serial correlation may be more important than imposing curvature. Furthermore, the artificially break-adjusted data that are inconsistent with consumer optimization can severely bias estimates. Results from the Bank of England's (BOE) preferred non-break-adjusted data establish that money and goods are substitutes in demand.
Leigh Drake and David T. Llewellyn
Analyses alternative forms of pricing and pricing strategies ofbank payments services and reports the results of an internationalsurvey of pricing practices in 11 countries. Makes…
Abstract
Analyses alternative forms of pricing and pricing strategies of bank payments services and reports the results of an international survey of pricing practices in 11 countries. Makes a distinction between implicit and explicit pricing and, in the context of British banks′ policy of implicit pricing for personal accounts maintained in credit, compares the pricing practice of British banks and those in other countries. Considers how each compares with optimal strategies indicated by the theoretical analysis. Finds that British banks are alone in not making explicit charges for payments services which is sub‐optimal: there is no incentive for customers to economize on their use of current account; this induces behaviour which raises the costs of banks, and there is no incentive for consumers to use cheaper forms of payment media. Implies a structure of cross‐subsidies which is unlikely to be sustainable in a more competitive market environment.
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ANDREW ADAMS and SETH ARMITAGE
The mutualisation of two English third division football clubs in 2001 and the creation of a large number of supporters' trusts make it timely to consider whether there is a case…
Abstract
The mutualisation of two English third division football clubs in 2001 and the creation of a large number of supporters' trusts make it timely to consider whether there is a case for mutualisation of football clubs. This paper assesses whether mutuality would be of economic benefit for clubs, drawing heavily on the experience of mutuals in the financial sector. Our conclusions are mixed. The economic case rests on the distinctive feature of customer loyalty to a club, presuming this to be much stronger than loyalty to a financial institution. However, club members in a mutual must expect to be called upon to provide financial support.
Zoe Stephenson, Jessica Woodhams and Leigh Harkins
The purpose of this paper is to explore the views and opinions of offender supervisors and offender managers regarding the sequencing of interventions for prisoners in England…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the views and opinions of offender supervisors and offender managers regarding the sequencing of interventions for prisoners in England. More specifically, the research aims to gain an understanding of any barriers to implementing desired practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten participants located across four HM prisons in the West Midlands. Questions were designed to gather information and views regarding: current practice in the area of sequencing of interventions; opinions on the potential importance of coherent sequencing of interventions; views on how interventions should be sequenced; and what, if any, issues impacted upon coherent sequencing. Thematic analysis was used to identify, analyse and report themes within the interviews.
Findings
Participants discussed current practice regarding the sequencing of interventions and made suggestions regarding tailoring the sequence of interventions to the individual offender. The issue of readiness to change was emphasised (i.e. engagement with interventions will increase where offenders are able to participate in an intervention when they feel ready to do so). In addition, participants commented that they felt there to be insufficient resources at their disposal which led to barriers to the coherent sequencing of interventions (e.g. waiting lists for treatment programmes).
Practical implications
Suggestions were made by participants regarding the coherent sequencing of interventions; for example, providing prisoners with experience of a generic group intervention prior to an offence-specific intervention, prioritising motivation to change and being responsive to the needs of individual offenders.
Originality/value
The study provides insight regarding the sequencing of interventions from the perspective of offender supervisors and offender managers who are involved in the planning of treatment programmes across the course of an offender’s sentence.
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Few issues in recent times have so provoked debate and dissention within the library field as has the concept of fees for user services. The issue has aroused the passions of our…
Abstract
Few issues in recent times have so provoked debate and dissention within the library field as has the concept of fees for user services. The issue has aroused the passions of our profession precisely because its roots and implications extend far beyond the confines of just one service discipline. Its reflection is mirrored in national debates about the proper spheres of the public and private sectors—in matters of information generation and distribution, certainly, but in a host of other social ramifications as well, amounting virtually to a debate about the most basic values which we have long assumed to constitute the very framework of our democratic and humanistic society.
Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).
The paper has two purposes: to introduce a new perspective on power and resistance in equalities work; and to trouble either or theorisations of success and failure in this work…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper has two purposes: to introduce a new perspective on power and resistance in equalities work; and to trouble either or theorisations of success and failure in this work. Instead it offers a new means of exploring micro‐practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper applies/develops an “actor network theory” (ANT) analysis to a single case study of Iopia, a Black woman equalities practitioner working in a prison education context. It uses this to explore the ways in which Iopia interacts with a variety of human and non‐human objects to challenge racism in this context.
Findings
Iopia, from an initial position of marginality (as a Black woman experiencing racism) is able to establish herself (by virtue of this same identity as a Black woman combating racism) as central to a “new” network for equality and diversity. This new network both challenges and sustains narrow exclusionary definitions of diversity. Thus, Iopia's case provides an example of the contradictions, and paradox, experienced by those working for equality and diversity.
Research limitations/implications
In the future, this type of feminist ANT analysis could be more fully developed and integrated with critical race and other critical cultural theories as these relate to equalities work.
Practical implications
The approach, and, in particular, the notion of translation, can be used by practitioners in thinking through the ways in which they can use material objects to draw in multiple “others” into their own networks.
Originality/value
The article is one of the first to explore equalities workers via the lens of ANT. It is unique in its analysis of the material objects constituting both diversity workers and diversity work and thus its analysis of diversity workers and their work as part of a complex set of social and “material” relations.