Charlotte Humphrey, Kathryn Ehrich, Bairbre Kelly, Jane Sandall, Sally Redfern, Myfanwy Morgan and David Guest
Explores the implications for continuity of care of the wide range of policy initiatives currently affecting the management and use of human resources in the UK National Health…
Abstract
Explores the implications for continuity of care of the wide range of policy initiatives currently affecting the management and use of human resources in the UK National Health Service. Draws on the findings of a short study undertaken in 2001 comprising a policy document analysis and a series of expert seminars discussing the impact of the policies in practice. A variety of potential long‐term gains for continuity of care were identifiable in the current raft of policy initiatives and seminar participants agreed that, when these policies are fully implemented, continuity of care should be enhanced in several ways. However, the impact to date has been rather more equivocal because of the damaging effects of the process of policy implementation on continuity within the system and on staff attitudes and values. If continuity of care is accepted as an important element of quality in health care, more attention must be given to developing strategies which support system continuity.
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Frances Myfanwy Miley and Andrew F. Read
The purpose of this paper is to make visible the relationship between accounting and stigma in the absence of accounting. This research examines how failure to implement mandatory…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to make visible the relationship between accounting and stigma in the absence of accounting. This research examines how failure to implement mandatory accounting and auditing requirements in the management of indigenous wages contributed to stigmatisation of indigenous Australians and led to maladministration and unchecked financial fraud that continued for over 75 years. The accounting failures are by those charged with protecting the financial interests of the indigenous population.
Design/methodology/approach
An historical and qualitative approach has been used that draws upon archival and contemporary sources.
Findings
Prior research has examined the nexus between accounting mechanisms and stigma. This research suggests that the absence of accounting mechanisms can also contribute to stigma.
Research limitations/implications
This research highlights the complex relationship between accounting and stigma, suggesting that it is simplistic to examine the nexus between accounting and stigma without considering the social forces in which stigmatisation occurs.
Social implications
This research demonstrates decades of failed accounting have contributed to the ongoing social disadvantage of indigenous Australians. The presence of accounting mechanisms cannot eradicate the past, or fix the present, but can create an environment where financial abuse does not occur.
Originality/value
This research demonstrates that stigma can be exacerbated in the negative space created by failures or absence of accounting.
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The Internet provides a fundamentally different environment for international marketing and requires a different approach. Now it is unrealistic to apply the same marketing…
Abstract
The Internet provides a fundamentally different environment for international marketing and requires a different approach. Now it is unrealistic to apply the same marketing strategies without making some modifications to be appropriate to the electronic edge. This paper touches on the effect of international Internet marketing (IIM) on the marketing mix and explains the need for a new marketing paradigm. The aim is to determine some building blocks in the new marketing paradigm.
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Myfanwy M. Davies and Peter A. Bath
Although the information needs of women receiving antenatal and postnatal care are well understood, few studies have examined the use of information by minority ethnic women. This…
Abstract
Although the information needs of women receiving antenatal and postnatal care are well understood, few studies have examined the use of information by minority ethnic women. This paper describes a pilot study that aimed to identify the main maternity information sources used by Somali women living in a northern city in the UK. The study described here utilised unstructured exploratory focus group and semi‐structured interviews with Somali women. All discussions and interviews were audiotaped, translated and transcribed in their entirety and then analysed using a variation of the theme analysis method. Sources of information emerged as a sub‐theme from the data. Women sought and used information from several interpersonal sources. Many were dependent on general practitioners and health visitors for maternity information, although participants favoured community health forums addressed by health professionals. Women also sought maternity information from friends and neighbours. Interpersonal sources as a whole were viewed as having a number of advantages. Informal sources in particular were perceived as being approachable and providing a means through which further information could be sought, while each information source was also evaluated according to specific criteria. The implications of these findings for minority ethnic women are discussed and recommendations for further research are outlined.
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Bill Merrilees, Dale Miller and Carmel Herington
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether multiple stakeholders imbue a single or multiple meanings to a city brand.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether multiple stakeholders imbue a single or multiple meanings to a city brand.
Design/methodology/approach
The branding literature hints at multiple stakeholders but most studies take a single stakeholder perspective. A two‐stage quantitative study was used to examine similarities and differences between two stakeholder groups. The context for the study is city branding.
Findings
The evidence suggests that different external stakeholders do have different brand meanings associated to a city brand. Each stakeholder group applies their own filter to interpret the meaning of the city brand. Essentially, a new conceptualisation of the city brand is provided.
Research limitations/implications
Although the samples are reasonably large, it is important to apply the framework to other city brands to test for generalisability. Future research might also test the filter concept in the more general context of corporate branding.
Practical implications
Organisations need to recognise the multi‐faceted, multiple meanings of the brand as a whole. Corporate communication requires adjustment from a convergence approach to one that recognises different brand purposes for each stakeholder group. The ideas are readily usable in not‐for‐profit communities.
Originality/value
The paper joins a small number of studies that challenge the conventional wisdom that convergence of brand meaning across stakeholder groups is an ideal state. The paper develops a filter concept as a way of showing that different stakeholder groups might use a different filter or lens to interpret a city brand.
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Myfanwy Trueman, Nelarine Cornelius and James Wallace
The aim of this research is to investigate how local company web sites can contribute towards the value and characteristics of city brands online, particularly where…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this research is to investigate how local company web sites can contribute towards the value and characteristics of city brands online, particularly where post‐industrial cities are concerned, and to establish a predictive model for this.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews were conducted to gain an understanding of how post‐industrial city brands can be influenced by local companies, leading to the notion of a “constructed” city brand. An overarching brand model was developed based on the works of Christodoulides et al. and Merrilees and Fry and a survey of company web sites conducted. Structural equation modelling was then fitted to these data.
Findings
Trustworthiness, responsiveness, online experience and emotional connection were confirmed as dimensions of company online brand value. It was further shown that company brand and constructed city brand are influenced by customer perceptions of brand value. Company brand was not, however, related to constructed city brand for the case study of Bradford, UK, which has a pervading negative reputation.
Originality/value
A model incorporating company brand and city brand has been developed and validated for a typical post‐industrial city that is in decline. The influence that local companies can exert on these brands via their web sites and behaviours was established. It is further demonstrated that company brands become disassociated from a city if it has a negative brand image.
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In America they do not tell Englishmen the story of George Washington and his exceptional devotion to the truth. The reason for that is, I think, because they are too busy telling…
Abstract
In America they do not tell Englishmen the story of George Washington and his exceptional devotion to the truth. The reason for that is, I think, because they are too busy telling us yarns illustrative of their conviction that we are entirely devoid of any sense of humour, the favourite, of course, being the one about “we eat what we can and can what we can't.” But even if we are dense and slow‐witted and have no Washington story, we are not without our Washingtons. Myself, I have discovered one and in the most unexpected of situations—in the milk trade, in fact, It was not with a little hatchet he said he had done it, of course; it was with his little bucket. And having prefaced his statements, as did the illustrious original, with the ringing declaration “I cannot tell a lie,” he explained just how the water found its way into the milk. It was because, taking his little bucket and filling it with water, he went round all the milk pails and he swilled them out and then added all the rinsings to the churn containing the milk, all ready for distribution. It was not that he wanted to adulterate the milk; it was that he wanted to make sure that no single drop of milk given by the cows was lost. Not for a moment did it occur to him that the rinsings consisted mainly of water and that the bulk of the milk would be diluted to such an extent that in the churn containing 7½ gallons about a gallon was water. How there could be so much, my lacteal Washington could not understand, as for rinsing purposes he was convinced he used no more than a pint. No one in court or in the witness box could tell him, or his judges either for that matter, and so it finished up with him being called upon to pay a fine of £10 with costs £2 18s. And all because he used his little bucket as he ought not to have used it. I forget what G. Washington's father did to him for demolishing the cherry tree with his little hatchet. The next time I am in America, interrupting somebody's funny story about the uselessness of expecting an Englishman to see anything funny in a funny story, I must ask about this.
Ru‐Jen Lin, Rong‐Huei Che and Chiu‐Yao Ting
Organizations are facing a rapidly changing environment and there is a greater need to understand customers' demands and competitors' strategies for the development of product…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizations are facing a rapidly changing environment and there is a greater need to understand customers' demands and competitors' strategies for the development of product innovation. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of market orientation, market knowledge and customer knowledge management on product innovation performance from the perspective of dynamic capability.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected from high‐tech firms in Taiwan. This study employs the structural equation model (SEM) to examine the relationships between market orientation, market knowledge, customer knowledge management and product innovation performance.
Findings
The findings of this study suggest market orientation has no significant impact on product innovation performance, and market knowledge and customer knowledge management mediate the relationship between market orientation and product innovation performance.
Research limitations/implications
This paper suggests the consideration of various types of mediators or moderators in order to acquire more information for future study; the framework can be expanded to other industries due to this study's limited focus on the high‐tech industry.
Practical implications
This paper implies that besides utilizing market orientation for innovative practices, the high‐tech industry should focus more on market knowledge and customer knowledge management. In high‐tech industries, the process of knowledge management, which transfers customer knowledge to product innovation, can effectively seize market information.
Originality/value
This study examines the mediating effects of market knowledge and customer knowledge management and clarifies the relational inconsistencies between market orientation and product innovation performance from knowledge management viewpoints.
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The aim of this study is two-fold: (1) to promote a model of youth participatory research and offer a window of understanding into how it can be enacted and (2) to understand…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is two-fold: (1) to promote a model of youth participatory research and offer a window of understanding into how it can be enacted and (2) to understand youth perspectives on youth empowerment. This study asks: “how can youth help us understand youth empowerment?”
Design/methodology/approach
The study applies youth participatory action research (YPAR) and interpretative phenomenological analysis. The study illustrates how to enact a model of YPAR by engaging youth in the process of research in a youth-serving community non-profit organization.
Findings
This study sets out to make two important contributions, one methodological and one theoretical: First, the study contributes to our understanding of the opportunities and benefits of youth-engaged, peer-to-peer research. Specifically, this study promotes a model of youth participatory action research and knowledge making processes, and the associated social and formal benefits for youth. By extension, this study illustrates an approach to engage youth in formal contexts which has implications for both management and organizational studies and education. Finally, the study extends our understanding and conceptualization of the phenomenon of youth empowerment (as informed by youth perspectives).
Originality/value
The study offers insight into how to conduct youth participatory action research and specifically how to address two limitations cited in the literature: (1) how to authentically engage youth including how to share power, and (2) how to perform youth participatory action research, often critiqued as a black box methodology.