Lídia Oliveira, Ana Caria and Patrícia Gomes
The paper aims to understand why and how paratextual elements are included in annual reports, hence how meaning is made through the workings of language and imagery.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to understand why and how paratextual elements are included in annual reports, hence how meaning is made through the workings of language and imagery.
Design/methodology/approach
A comprehensive framework of analysis, combining Genette’s paratextual elements with Barthes’ rhetoric and denotation and connotation concepts, is applied to the case study of the dstgroup, a Portuguese engineering and construction group.
Findings
The study demonstrates the potential of the annual report as a communication tool between an organisation and its stakeholders. The framework of analysis evidences that the paratextual elements highlight and supplement accounting information and that the denotative and connotative meanings associated with them make visible and enhance intangible features of the organisation.
Originality/value
The paper extends theories from other interdisciplinary fields to accounting communication and proposes a comprehensive framework that combines the writings of Genette and Barthes. By exploring the Portuguese under-researched context, it also adds to the literature by analysing the rationales and choices of the preparers on the inclusion of paratextual elements in annual reports.
Propósito
Este artículo pretende entender por qué y cómo se incluyen elementos paratextuales en los informes anuales y, cómo se construye el significado a través del funcionamiento del lenguaje y las imágenes.
Diseño/metodología/enfoque
Se desenvolvió un marco de análisis global, que combina los elementos paratextuales de Genette y los conceptos de retórica y denotación y connotación de Barthes. Este marco se aplicó al estudio de caso del grupo dst, un grupo portugués de ingeniería y construcción.
Resultados
El estudio muestra el potential del informe anual como herramienta de comunicación entre una organización y sus grupos de interés. El marco de análisis evidencia que los elementos paratextuales resaltan y complementan la información contable y que los significados denotativos y connotativos asociados a ellos hacen visibles y realzan rasgos intangibles de la organización.
Originalidad/valor
Este artículo extiende teorías de otros campos interdisciplinarios a la comunicación contable y propone un marco global que combina los escritos de Genette y Barthes. Explorando el contexto portugués, insuficientemente investigado, también se añade a la literatura mediante el análisis de las motivaciones y opciones de los preparadores de los informes anuales sobre la inclusión de elementos paratextuales.
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Paul R. Drake and Bethan M. Davies
This paper aims to help public sector managers that are formulating strategies for outsourcing home care from the independent sector.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to help public sector managers that are formulating strategies for outsourcing home care from the independent sector.
Design/methodology/approach
A review was performed of relevant literature on the outsourcing of home care and its political drivers in the UK. This indicates that the future of home care services, taking into consideration outsourcing and how Best Value will be achieved, has not been researched widely. Therefore, an exploratory approach to research was adopted here using in‐depth analysis of a small number of particularly informative local authorities and private providers selected by purposive/judgemental (extreme and critical case) sampling. Personal contact was deemed necessary in order to perform an intensive investigation to pursue in‐depth information.
Findings
The British Government's Best Value regime is driving local authorities towards increasing levels of outsourcing in the provision of home care. A local authority may choose to outsource all of its home care or maintain some in‐house provision based on capacity or capabilities that are complementary to those provided by the independent sector. The 100 per cent outsourcing strategy places enabling demands on the local authority, whereas the alternative strategy requires decisions to be made on what should be outsourced. Across the authorities surveyed, six strategies for creating a mixed economy of care have been identified, with the mix being based on complementary capacity and/or capabilities. With Best Value driving authorities to consider lower‐cost options, the outcome may be a reduction in the amount of complementary capacity provided in‐house, in favour of strategies involving complementary capabilities that deliver the Best Value possible. Re‐enablement is emerging as a common, complementary or core capability that is remaining in‐house. Outsourcing also requires decisions to be made on the number of independent providers to be used and the type of contracts to be employed. This paper considers the decisions that have been made in the local authorities surveyed and critiques the alternative home care outsourcing strategies so derived.
Research limitations/implications
To date, the research has focused on Wales in general plus a few local authorities in England. The next stage will be to survey England in more detail along with other countries that are implementing substantial outsourcing of home care, such as Canada.
Practical implications
This paper provides timely guidance to public sector and health care managers seeking Best Value in home care through outsourcing.
Originality/value
Little has been found in the literature on strategies for outsourcing home care, yet such strategies are needed urgently in the UK to achieve Best Value. The World Health Organization stresses that strategies should be drawn up for providing support to patients and carers at community level in order to avoid costly institutional care.
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Canada's institutions, by comparison with America's, have created a unique normative regime. When it comes to conflict of interest, the main problem in Canada has not been that…
Abstract
Canada's institutions, by comparison with America's, have created a unique normative regime. When it comes to conflict of interest, the main problem in Canada has not been that private interests encumber governmental judgment, but that government itself, and in particular the publicly sourced emoluments controlled by the prime minister, can encumber the judgment of ministers and legislators. When it comes to campaign finance law, the problem is that parties are treated as if they are self-interested entities, while interest groups have often been treated as if they are parties. I explore the institutional causes and regulatory consequences of Canada's unique normative approach.
There are several contenders for the title of being the “pioneer of photography,” of which in France, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre (1787–1851) is the most internationally famous…
Abstract
There are several contenders for the title of being the “pioneer of photography,” of which in France, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre (1787–1851) is the most internationally famous. In Britain, it is widely accepted that although William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877) was not the first to produce photographs, he had a major contribution to the development of photography.
Humberto Falcão Martins, Ricardo Corrêa Gomes and Renata Vilhena
D.M. Bastidas, E. Cano and E.M. Mora
To provide a selective bibliography for graduate students and new faculty members with sources which can help them develop their academic career.
Abstract
Purpose
To provide a selective bibliography for graduate students and new faculty members with sources which can help them develop their academic career.
Design/methodology/approach
A range of published (1951‐2004) works, which aim to discuss the main parameters of the volatile corrosion inhibition process. The sources are sorted into sections: transport of the volatile corrosion inhibitor (VCI) to the metallic surface, vapour pressure of a VCI, dependence of vapour pressure upon temperature, effect of pH on VCI behaviour, formation and destruction of adsorbed films, and volatile corrosion inhibitor monitors (VCIM).
Findings
Provides information about each source, indicating what can be found there and how the information can help. Recognises the lack of real training of many academics before they are expected to take on teaching/researching duties and finds some texts which help.
Research limitations/implications
It is not an exhaustive list and apart from several UK and US books all the rest are EU and US publications which perhaps limits its usefulness elsewhere.
Practical implications
A very useful list of the most common compounds used as VCIs is reported.
Originality/value
This paper fulfils an identified information/resources need and offers practical help to an individual starting out on and academic career and to professional with some experience on corrosion inhibition.
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The use of offsets is one of the main characteristics of international defence trade. The rising costs of defence equipment and the significant contraction of defence spending…
Abstract
The use of offsets is one of the main characteristics of international defence trade. The rising costs of defence equipment and the significant contraction of defence spending have resulted in an environment that favoured the use of offset policies, the latter becoming increasingly demanding in both quantitative and qualitative terms. The chapter analyses the role of offsets on the process of integration of defence equipment markets, with a specific focus on the EU. Particular attention is given to the offset-relevant regulation and practice and to their recent evolution in the EU following the adoption of European Directive on defence and security procurement (81/81/EC). Offsets play a dual role with regard to the integration of defence industries: on one hand they can be trade-distorting and contribute to the survival of inefficient suppliers in arms importing countries; on the other hand, they can contribute in overcoming barriers that may otherwise prevent some potentially efficient suppliers from accessing the supply chains of the big system integrators. The chapter draws the attention on the need to complement the regulatory evolution by further initiatives aiming at improving the access of non-incumbent suppliers to the supply chains of the large defence system integrators.
Bernard Burnes, Michael Katsouros and Trefor Jones
Over the last 20 to 30 years, privatisation has become a world‐wide phenomenon. This article explores the rationale for and changing nature of privatisation. In particular, it…
Abstract
Over the last 20 to 30 years, privatisation has become a world‐wide phenomenon. This article explores the rationale for and changing nature of privatisation. In particular, it draws attention to the range of definitions of “privatisation” and the differing views on its effectiveness in providing improved services to consumers. The main focus of the article is a study of the privatisation of the Public Power Corporation (PPC) of Greece. Examines why and how it was privatised and discusses its future as a private enterprise. It shows that the structure and operation of the privatised PPC and the liberalisation of the Greek electricity market were, and will continue to be, determined principally by the EU's commitment to free market competition.