Adopts the label “tenanted non‐residential property” (TNRP) rather than employ loaded terms such as “commercial” or “investment”. Deals with the perceived objectives for which…
Abstract
Adopts the label “tenanted non‐residential property” (TNRP) rather than employ loaded terms such as “commercial” or “investment”. Deals with the perceived objectives for which local authorities hold TNRP and the functional, financial and legal setting. Compares category bases for property holdings and, in particular, examines attitudes to acquisition, management, retention and disposal of TNRP. Notes the confusion between investment and indirect service objectives and the consequential expected returns. Discusses the findings of a survey of councils centring on the characteristics and management of their TNRP holdings. Concludes that objectives and management strategy for local authority‐owned TNRP remain undeveloped. Suggests that the ability to properly manage and develop a real investment portfolio may be ultra vires. Recommends, in the shorter term, if not ultra vires, dividing TNRP between those held primarily for indirect service and those held primarily as financial investments. Expects, however, in the longer term, pressures from local service needs and central government will encourage, indeed force, the progressive disposal of all non‐operational property, including TNRP. Identifies a new form of TNRP, one within the council. Seeks to clarify and effect the different strategies for operational property between the centralized corporate council landlord and decentralized service tenants, and proposes the creation of “internal leases”.
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The total capital value of the tenanted non‐residential property ofEnglish and Welsh local authorities is immense, more even than the totalholdings of the top eight, UK‐based…
Abstract
The total capital value of the tenanted non‐residential property of English and Welsh local authorities is immense, more even than the total holdings of the top eight, UK‐based, property companies. However, while property investment companies own tenanted property for financial returns, the primary reason for its ownership by local authorities is far from clear. A survey of councils revealed that while many considered much of their tenanted non‐residential property was held for investment, it rarely formed part of wider financial investment aims. Moreover, investment objectives and management strategies were not clearly stated, prioritized, effected, or measurable. These failings were true of both individual properties and overall portfolios. Where property does not primarily meet a function of a statutory local authority, it must at least be regarded as non‐operational. The opportunity for a council to create a credible investment property portfolio is markedly restricted by the absence of the statutory objective of “property investment”. If, after review, property remains unsuited for assisting any real function of local government, it should be classed as surplus. It is proposed that local authority investment property may therefore justifiably be considered surplus to the functional objectives and requirements of a statutory local authority. If also unsuitable for operational use, such property should be programmed for disposal.
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Hannah Grannemann, Jennifer Reis, Maggie Murphy and Marie Segares
Shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) across the United States at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic created entrepreneurial opportunities for sewists and makers. In…
Abstract
Shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) across the United States at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic created entrepreneurial opportunities for sewists and makers. In the United States in March and April 2020, masks were not readily available to the general public from existing retailers and PPE for medical use was being rationed for healthcare workers. Sewists and crafters, professionals and amateurs alike, began making and selling and/or donating masks. For individuals with sewing skills and time, sewing and selling masks became a lifeline financially, personally, and socially. To understand the experiences of people who made and distributed handmade masks during the early months of the pandemic in the United States, an interdisciplinary team developed an online cross-sectional survey instrument using a qualitative-dominated approach with both open and closed questions. This chapter explores themes identified from a sample of 94 participants, predominantly female-identifying, who created an enterprise or added a product line to an existing business. The sample includes individuals who did not identify as a ‘creative entrepreneur’ prior to the pandemic but did identify as an entrepreneur after starting a mask-making venture. Informed by entrepreneurship literature, the authors observed that these nascent entrepreneurs articulated recognisable motivations for social entrepreneurship, showed signs of pre-existing entrepreneurial mindsets, and employed business models and marketing tactics of entrepreneurs, largely without any business training. Implications for the study include increased recognition of latent entrepreneurial readiness, interest of women in social entrepreneurship, and higher levels of business knowledge among women than previously recognised.
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The health movement that has been sweeping this country has given rise to increased consumer awareness of both prescription and nonprescription medications. One of several…
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The health movement that has been sweeping this country has given rise to increased consumer awareness of both prescription and nonprescription medications. One of several responses to this heightened interest has been a plethora of drug information publications aimed at the general public audience. Some of these publications became so popular they attained positions on the best‐seller list. At the same time books, such as the PDR, that had generally been available only to health professionals began to find their way into popular bookstores.
Christopher K. Hsee and Bowen Ruan
This chapter reviews and integrates recent research on curiosity. We discuss potential costs and benefits of curiosity, both hedonic and motivational. In particular, we examine…
Abstract
This chapter reviews and integrates recent research on curiosity. We discuss potential costs and benefits of curiosity, both hedonic and motivational. In particular, we examine the Pandora effect, the teasing effect, and the motivating-uncertainty effect.
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J. Gordon Murray, Andrew Erridge and Neil Rimmer
This paper aims to report lessons learnt from six countries in addressing financial crises; what they have done and the impact. It is intended that these lessons are constructive…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to report lessons learnt from six countries in addressing financial crises; what they have done and the impact. It is intended that these lessons are constructive in shaping responses to the current and future financial crises.
Design/methodology/approach
A multiple, mini case study approach is taken which makes use of social media.
Findings
The findings suggest that the strategy being pursued within the UK for addressing the financial crisis is generally untested and therefore high‐risk. The evidence cautions that local recovery can be expected to be significantly longer than one political cycle, that social impacts will be greater than expected, and there is over‐optimism in some of the strategic tools being adopted in the UK's deficit recovery.
Research limitations/implications
Those participating, while in senior roles, were being asked to answer big questions, and although there is no reason to believe they were not answering truthfully, there are limits to what they could have reasonably been expected to know.
Practical implications
The research provides lessons for local government on how their international peers have responded to the financial crises. The intention is these international lessons will help central and local government shape timely, effective and appropriate responses, while minimising costly mistakes. It is also hoped the lessons will serve as a “reality check” for policy makers.
Social implications
The research also suggests there is a high risk that existing policy may be ambitious and have unintended adverse social implications.
Originality/value
The research approach is innovative in its use of social media. The research probes the impact on councils of financial crises at a local level and reports unintended consequences which might not otherwise have been identified. Lessons from other countries' responses may also be of benefit in developing future responses.
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Richard L. Brinkman and June E. Brinkman
Sets out to review the points for and against the concept of cultural lag. First clarifies the cultural lag concept and theory. Addresses the issue of empirical verification, and…
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Sets out to review the points for and against the concept of cultural lag. First clarifies the cultural lag concept and theory. Addresses the issue of empirical verification, and discusses the relevance of the concept and theory of cultural lag to socioeconomic policy.
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The relationship between the women’s reform movement and scientific management has been neglected because secondary literature has focussed primarily on class relations rather…
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The relationship between the women’s reform movement and scientific management has been neglected because secondary literature has focussed primarily on class relations rather than on gender. Moreover, the neutral‐sounding formulations of scientific management discourse and the diversification of the women’s activism after suffrage has obscured linkages between both movements. Through the case study of the International Institute of Industrial Relations, through which many women reformers of different stripes found each other, the author argues that scientific management had a special appeal for women reformers and should prompt a reconsideration of the connections between gender and the scientific management movement.
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The fragmentation of knowledge poses serious threats to a survival when scientific and technological know‐how constantly outrun understanding of societies and individuals. A…
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The fragmentation of knowledge poses serious threats to a survival when scientific and technological know‐how constantly outrun understanding of societies and individuals. A significant problem associated with this state of affairs is the unquestioned separation of facts and values. This paper has two immediate aims. The first is to argue that there is knowledge of values. The second is to look at some issues in the social sciences and to show this conclusion bears on the possibilities for the reunification of knowledge. Issues in economics, sociology, and anthropology are examined kin terms of detailed examples.
Weerahannadige Dulini Anuvinda Fernando
This paper takes a social constructionist approach to explore how highly skilled women workers in Sri Lanka manage gender stereotyping in their workplaces. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper takes a social constructionist approach to explore how highly skilled women workers in Sri Lanka manage gender stereotyping in their workplaces. The purpose of this paper is to contribute new insights into existing understandings of women's careers in diverse socio‐cultural contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on one‐to‐one in‐depth interviews with 24 Sri Lankan women in early, mid and late career.
Findings
The findings reveal how the women in this sample used eight strategies to navigate through the various gender biases they perceived to impact on their careers. The implications of respondents' actions are highlighted.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the limited literature on women's careers in South Asia and develops existing understandings of how women's actions contribute towards maintaining and/or redefining the gender biases they encounter (see Powell et al.). Furthermore, the empirical findings highlight differences in the ways women from public and private organisations manage gender biases, while illuminating the differential impact of gender stereotypes on women in early, mid and late career.