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The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of a technology alliance for B2B marketplaces.

In this paper there was a lack of rigorous empirical evidence in the area upon which to base this study, so an exploratory methodology chosen was deemed appropriate. An interpretative case study was undertaken in the Eutilia B2B marketplace. Data gathering took place over a three‐month period from July to September 2003. The data‐gathering techniques used were semi‐structured interviews and document analysis.

This paper draws upon research on co‐operative partnerships and strategic alliances to explore the applicability of technology alliances to business‐to‐business (B2B) electronic marketplaces. The paper explains a model developed by Eutilia, a leading B2B marketplace in the utilities sector, to justify such a technology alliance. The case study illustrates how Eutilia operationalised this model and entered a technology alliance with a competing B2B marketplace. The analysis shows how both marketplaces benefited from the technology‐alliance, and the paper concludes by proposing determinants of technology alliances for B2B electronic marketplaces.

In this paper a single case study was the method adopted, so findings may not be generalisable.

This paper illustrates how B2B electronic marketplaces can benefit from technology alliances. This paper is of interest to both academics and practitioners involved in B2B electronic marketplaces.

Since 1995, Internet banking has allowed consumers to utilise the Internet as a platform to interact with their bank. Initially, the hype surrounding Internet banking was immense. However, more realistic expectations about the value of Internet channels and changes in the financial services sector are affecting opinions of Internet banking systems. This study examines contemporary Internet banking systems in five leading ‘clicks and mortar’ banks operating in the North‐Eastern part of the United States. The findings reveal a move towards viewing Internet banking as an operational rather than a competitive instrument, with consequential changes in how banks evaluate their Internet banking systems. The paper concludes by proposing some changes to expectations on how Internet banking is likely to develop.

This paper aims to explore the ways in which firms utilise hierarchical relationships and the market system to supply and acquire intellectual property (IP) and/or innovation capabilities from sources external to the firm.

The authors conduct a field study to explore emerging governance structures for open innovation, using multiple data sources including documents (e.g. white papers) and interviews published by the firms studied, analysis of the firms' web‐based systems (where applicable), secondary content (e.g. news articles) and elite interviews with key personnel.

The analysis of seven exemplars of open innovation reveals that inter‐organisational relationships that facilitate open innovation can be categorised based on whether they are mediated or direct, and seek to exchange intellectual property or innovation capability. Using this categorisation, the authors present an analysis that reveals four governance structures along ten dimensions, and discuss the influence of knowledge dispersion, uncertainty and transaction costs on the emergence of such structures. The authors conclude that the appropriateness of hierarchical/market relationships or intermediaries to source IP and/or innovation capability is dependent on the information asymmetry in relation to the existence and availability of potential solutions/solvers; the suitability of potential innovation partners (solution providers and solvers); and the acquisition process for external innovations (including problem specification, solution evaluation, transfer, etc.).

The research is exploratory in nature, and designed to serve as a foundation for future research efforts. In particular, the work highlights the need for research that takes an inter‐organisational perspective on facilitating open innovation.

The research highlights the prominence of information asymmetry as a key issue in choosing and designing appropriate governance structures for open innovation.

The paper presents an exploratory study of an emerging, and consequently under‐researched phenomenon.

The limited success of electronic health records (EHRs) implementation in the healthcare services in general, and a national EHR in particular, requires better understand and documentation of the current drivers and inhibitors of EHR adoption, together with a definition of a national EHR. This paper aims to address these issues.

Factors affecting EHR adoptions are elicited from extant literature and the stakeholder/actor framework is used as the theoretical framework. The multiple case study approach is used as the research method, and data are collected in Ireland and Israel by interviews and analysed using text coding methods.

Factors elicited in the literature are generally corroborated, yet the salient factor on the localized perspective appears to be the degree of centralization of the healthcare services; while different factors affect the national perspective. In summary, it seems that Israel is more ready for national EHR implementation than Ireland due to the high level of computerization and high levels of integration of primary and secondary care patient data.

Contribution to research is in the definition of a national EHR, the illustration of various levels of analysis and their relative impacts on EHR adoption, the analysis framework, and by showing that EHR adoption is a top‐down, change management process.

EHR adoption should be driven by a powerful actor in the healthcare sector addressing the need for a high level of integration within and between care levels, while focusing on clinicians' requirements. Technological and legislative infrastructures are mandatory for establishing a national EHR.

Data for this study are collected in two countries that represent different healthcare structures, one being highly centralized while the other is just the opposite. These differences provide an additional interesting lens through which factors affecting EHR adoption can be assessed. As far as we know, not many previous studies have compared EHR adoption across two diverse healthcare systems.

In his report for the year 1919, Dr. WILLIAM J. HOWARTH, C.B.E., Medical Officer of Health for the City of London, makes some very important observations in regard to the conveyance and handling of meat. He points out that a considerable responsibility rests upon the Sanitary Committee to ensure that the food passing through the City is of a satisfactory character, and the following matters are of interest. Meat is purchased at Smithfield by butchers from all parts of Greater London, and even from districts outside. It is removed from the market either in the purchaser's own carts, or in vans belonging to the numerous carriers who attend the market. From the stalls in the market it is carried to the waiting carts either by the purchasers or by market porters. The meat is either conveyed in trucks which are provided or on the backs and shoulders of these persons. The number of carts in waiting to receive meat is so considerable that during the busier hours they form practically a continuous barricade round the market. The rear parts of the carts are brought up to the edge of the causeway. These vans and carts carry a considerable amount of meat, in the form of quarters or cuts of larger or smaller size and offal. The division of the meat facilitates increased loading. It often happens that the supply arrives at the carts more quickly than it can be packed, and, as a consequence, it is allowed to stand about on the trucks for a longer time than is desirable. During this waiting period the meat is sometimes deposited on the footway. It should be noted that the sectioning of meat results in large areas of muscular tissues being exposed, and as the cut surface is moist, dust readily settles on it with the resulting disadvantages which are common to dust deposition; dust is excessive in dry weather as the streets in the loading‐up areas are fouled by the large number of horses which stand about. As regards the pavement, I need only mention that there is considerable fouling of the surface by blood and particles of fat, etc., which are trodden into a hard layer mixed with street refuse. The further risk of contamination by animals is obvious. Dr. HOWARTH further observes, I have had occasion officially to complain of one more than usually gross instance of piling meat on the ground. In this case the meat was separated from the wet ground by a layer of coarse sacking, the edge of the cover being also practically flush with the sides of the pile. The surroundings were foul. As regards the carts, the general practice is to cover the bottom of the cart with straw. In other cases a kind of sacking is used with or without an under layer of straw, and in exceptional cases white calico or some similar matter is used. Some of the carts do not come to the market in a thoroughly clean condition. They are certainly washed at times but not every day. The straw may be clean but it is not a suitable material on which to place the cut sections of meat. The cloths I have seen used day by day, being washed, in some cases, not oftener than once a week. Blood‐stained cloths should be washed before being used again. White cloths are more desirable, as staining and dirt readily show and this results in greater care being displayed. The procedure during packing is open to criticism. I have often seen, even on wet days, men, whose boots were soiled with road dirt, get into the cart to fill the front part. In doing so they soil the straw or cloth at the rear and on this soiled part meat is afterwards laid. If a white cover were used this would probably be rolled up at the back, whilst the front was being packed, and it would be straightened out as the packing progressed. I have seen a dog in a cart in which uncovered joints of meat were lying, and the dog would have been driven away in the cart if I had not objected. My protest in this and other cases was received badly. This is simply mentioned as an instance of disregard of an obvious precautionary essential. I have seen men stretching over uncovered meat to reach the front of the cart, and in exceptional cases have seen them with their feet on it. I have also noticed, at times, meat soiled with roadway dirt. As regards the transfer of meat from the stalls to the cart, I take exception to the infrequency of change of overalls by the porters, and to meat being carried on a man's head when he is wearing a cap which has done duty for weeks without being washed. Meat is not allowed to be placed on the floor of the stalls inside the market, and practically every trader has slightly raised wooden benches. There are no such facilities outside the market, nor are there any powers to require them to be provided. It seems strange that whilst in the slaughterhouses due regard must be paid to the observance of cleanliness, and in the markets the traders recognise the advantage of cleanliness and order, and further that butchers at their shops encourage brightness and cleanliness as is evidenced by good lighting, clean benches bright brass and steel fittings, and clean‐looking tiles to line the shop, so little regard should be paid to the elementary rules of cleanliness in the interval which elapses between purchase from the wholesale dealer and the reception of the meat at the shop.

This paper contributes to a dialogue about the psychoanalytic concept of free association and its application in the context of qualitative research interviewing. In doing so, it also adds to wider discussion regarding the relationship between clinical psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic psychotherapy and qualitative research.

Critical consideration of different perspectives on the application of free association in the qualitative research interview, extending earlier work addressing this issue. Differences and similarities in the way the concept of free association is articulated are examined regarding its framing in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy.

Whether researchers see themselves as borrowing, applying or drawing inspiration from free association, there is scope for muddling distinct ways of viewing it as it is conceived in psychoanalysis.

Considerations are outlined for researchers interested in psychoanalytically informed methods to be mindful of.

The purpose of this paper is to report findings from a service evaluation undertaken within a single specialist child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) team. The team works closely with local authority children’s services to serve specific populations recognised as experiencing higher levels of mental health need, including children living in alternative care and with adoptive families. The evaluation sought to better understand the experience of this provision during the COVID-19 pandemic and concomitant increase in remote and digitally mediated care delivery.

Analysis of the accounts of 38 parents, carers and professionals involved with the team gathered via telephone interviews and email and postal questionnaires.

Similar views were expressed from participants involved with the team before and following the onset of the pandemic. Overall, satisfaction was high; however, changes in care appeared more challenging for those already involved with the team before the pandemic. Differences in experience between groups were also evident. Whereas foster carers’ accounts were generally appreciative of the involvement of clinicians, particularly regarding clinician–patient relationships, amongst adoptive parents and members of children’s birth families there were more mixed and negative impressions.

Locally based service evaluations can help inform care pathway planning in specialist CAMHS provision as part of wider quality improvement initiatives. This is especially relevant considering the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and as the longer-term acceptability of remote working practices is appraised.

The purpose of this paper is to report findings from a service evaluation of a training initiative in participatory practice with children and young people (CYP) for early help (EH) professionals. The training was based on the Lundy model of child participation.

A questionnaire-based survey was undertaken of staff completing the training. Within the sample of professionals surveyed, various work contexts were represented.

Reported benefits arising from the training included increased understanding of the utility of the tenets of the Lundy model, as well as changes in practice with CYP. Barriers and issues encountered in seeking to work in a participatory way were identified in relation to time for relationship-building, resources and interprofessional and interagency working.

The evaluation findings provide insight into ways training in participatory practice with CYP is experienced by EH professionals. The role of networks of practitioner champions in influencing participatory practice is also addressed, as well as the interface between participatory and relationship-based practice.