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Book part
Publication date: 15 July 2015

Robert A. Stodden, Kaveh Abhari and Eran Kong

This chapter focuses upon high school preparation and transition planning activities as they apply to students with disabilities. The reader will find a review of needs for reform…

Abstract

This chapter focuses upon high school preparation and transition planning activities as they apply to students with disabilities. The reader will find a review of needs for reform of high school standards-based curricula, the development of inclusive general education curriculum content, and strategies for integrating functional and daily living skill training and meaningful transition planning activities, which include collaboration with adult agencies. The authors further present a number of evidence-based practices to address these needs and make recommendations for moving forward in ways to improve post-school outcomes for youth with disabilities.

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Transition of Youth and Young Adults
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-933-2

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Book part
Publication date: 17 January 2022

Isla Kapasi, Rebecca Stirzaker, Laura Galloway, Laura Jackman and Andreea Mihut

This chapter evaluates the motivations that inform engagement in enterprise creation and operation by individuals experiencing poverty. An in-depth, empirical qualitative…

Abstract

This chapter evaluates the motivations that inform engagement in enterprise creation and operation by individuals experiencing poverty. An in-depth, empirical qualitative exploration of motives for enterprise amongst a sample of 42 people in the UK who are experiencing poverty conditions is presented. The results demonstrate that traditional push–pull thinking about enterprise motivation lacks nuance, specifically that the financial motive previously assumed to be prioritised in a context of resource deficit, in this research it was not. Second, push–pull motivations and intersections with intrinsic–extrinsic motivations are mapped, creating and developing a more refined understanding of enterprise motivations. Third, contexts and circumstances are recurrent factors reflexively informing motivations of those experiencing poverty and engaging in enterprise creation and operation.

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Disadvantaged Entrepreneurship and the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-450-2

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Book part
Publication date: 4 August 2014

Mike Danson and Kathryn Burnett

This chapter contributes to addressing the gap in the literature on entrepreneurs and enterprise in island and remote rural environments.

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter contributes to addressing the gap in the literature on entrepreneurs and enterprise in island and remote rural environments.

Approach

The research, policy and practice literature on island enterprises and entrepreneurs is reviewed, taking Scotland as a focus within wider international contexts. Islands – as spaces and cultural places – are recognised in terms of ‘otherness’ and difference, not least in respect of tourism and culture. The importance of distance, isolation and peripherality is discussed as social constructions – myths and narratives – as well as in their mainstream measured equivalences. Agencies and policies are introduced at different levels and given significance reflecting their particular relevance in remote and isolated communities. The significance of the dominant paradigm founded on agglomeration, clusters, connectivity, proximity and competitiveness in the peripheralisation of those establishing and running businesses on islands is explored critically. This is contrasted with experiences from comparative northern European locations of smart specialisation, innovation and resilience, and the underpinning key roles of social capital, relationships and cultural values and norms are identified. Sectoral case studies and enterprise are offered to examine these issues in context.

Findings

As this is an exploratory study, results are neither comprehensive nor definitive. However, they are indicative of how forces and obstacles apply in island and remote rural environments.

Research, practical and social implications

The study confirms the need to recognise social relations locally, and for policies and strategies to be proofed for locational differences.

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Exploring Rural Enterprise: New Perspectives On Research, Policy & Practice
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-109-1

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Book part
Publication date: 4 August 2014

John Sanders, Laura Galloway and Jo Bensemann

This chapter reports a study that investigates the link between rural small firms’ social networks and their market diversification strategies in the context of the Internet.

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter reports a study that investigates the link between rural small firms’ social networks and their market diversification strategies in the context of the Internet.

Methodology/approach

Telephone interviews were conducted with a random sample of 142 Scottish small rural and urban firm owners in May 2012. The purpose of the telephone interviews was to understand how Internet usage impacted on the social networks and market diversification experiences of small rural firms. Analysis of the categorical data was performed using a variety of established methods.

Findings

Internet usage for many small Scottish rural firms was facilitating both their market reach and social networks. In addition, small rural firms’ most important social network contacts are highly correlated to their origin of sales, and this can be either locally or extra-locally based.

Practical implications

A positive relationship between Internet usage, social networks and market reach expansion offers support for further developing and improving the Internet infrastructure of rural communities.

Originality/value

Internet usage emerges as a critical tool for augmenting the social networks of Scottish rural small firms, which in turn helps to extend their market reach activities.

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Exploring Rural Enterprise: New Perspectives On Research, Policy & Practice
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-109-1

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Book part
Publication date: 29 January 2018

Gábor Nagy, Carol M. Megehee and Arch G. Woodside

The study here responds to the view that the crucial problem in strategic management (research) is firm heterogeneity – why firms adopt different strategies and structures, why…

Abstract

The study here responds to the view that the crucial problem in strategic management (research) is firm heterogeneity – why firms adopt different strategies and structures, why heterogeneity persists, and why competitors perform differently. The present study applies complexity theory tenets and a “neo-configurational perspective” of Misangyi et al. (2016) in proposing complex antecedent conditions affecting complex outcome conditions. Rather than examining variable directional relationships using null hypotheses statistical tests, the study examines case-based conditions using somewhat precise outcome tests (SPOT). The complex outcome conditions include firms with high financial performances in declining markets and firms with low financial performances in growing markets – the study focuses on seemingly paradoxical outcomes. The study here examines firm strategies and outcomes for separate samples of cross-sectional data of manufacturing firms with headquarters in one of two nations: Finland (n = 820) and Hungary (n = 300). The study includes examining the predictive validities of the models. The study contributes conceptual advances of complex firm orientation configurations and complex firm performance capabilities configurations as mediating conditions between firmographics, firm resources, and the two final complex outcome conditions (high performance in declining markets and low performance in growing markets). The study contributes by showing how fuzzy-logic computing with words (Zadeh, 1966) advances strategic management research toward achieving requisite variety to overcome the theory-analytic mismatch pervasive currently in the discipline (Fiss, 2007, 2011) – thus, this study is a useful step toward solving the crucial problem of how to explain firm heterogeneity.

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Improving the Marriage of Modeling and Theory for Accurate Forecasts of Outcomes
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-122-7

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Book part
Publication date: 4 August 2014

David Moyes, Mike Danson and Geoff Whittam

It is important that agency advice and support for SMEs in rural areas is congruent with how business-owners perceive their needs and challenges. To explore how well matched these…

Abstract

Purpose

It is important that agency advice and support for SMEs in rural areas is congruent with how business-owners perceive their needs and challenges. To explore how well matched these two sides are, this chapter investigates the difficulties faced by small businesses operating in rural southwest Scotland.

Methodology/approach

In-depth interviews with business influencers (those whose activities affect businesses either through application of policy initiatives, development of policy or the giving of business advice) and owner-managers of rural businesses compare and contrast the perceptions of the challenges of rurality for small businesses.

Findings

Mismatches are revealed between the concerns of rural business-owners and what business influencers understand them to be. Business influencers consider that structural weaknesses and a ‘lifestyle’ business culture in the region inhibit growth, but business owners are strategic in their business aspirations and approaches to growth. However, they are also highly critical of the promotion of the region and concerned about the misunderstanding of potential visitors that the region is remote and difficult to access.

Research limitations

This chapter reports experiences in a particular rural location; such experiences are typical of many rural regions and, thus, the findings should be transferable.

Practical implications

The region’s economic strategy focuses on reducing the significant prosperity gap with the rest of the country. Key to this is the development of indigenous business sectors. However, the policy interventions derived from a misapprehension of the constraints and underpinning culture of indigenous businesses are unlikely to be successful and may be counter-productive.

Originality value

Contrasting the perspectives of those who do business with those who influence business reveals issues of understanding which need to be addressed.

Details

Exploring Rural Enterprise: New Perspectives On Research, Policy & Practice
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-109-1

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Article
Publication date: 1 June 1996

Martin Fojt

There are many different views and opinions held about the value of training. Some people, of course, reach the top without any formal training whatsoever and expect others to…

438

Abstract

There are many different views and opinions held about the value of training. Some people, of course, reach the top without any formal training whatsoever and expect others to do the same. This is all well and good if, presumably, you are able to train yourself. Most need the support of formally organized training courses or continuous learning, working on the assumption that there are always things to learn. It does not matter how old or experienced you are, there will always be a gap in your knowledge that requires attention. Beware the people who know it all as they will be the ones who have the blind spots and just cannot see trouble ahead. If these people are at the top of the organization and just happened to be in the right place at the right time, which could happen if an organization has been particluarly successful, then this could have disastrous consequences on the business. Business means change, and if you cannot cope or are not prepared to accept or adapt to this change, the end result is inevitable.

Details

Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 28 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0019-7858

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Book part
Publication date: 22 February 2017

Joshua Bornstein

In a multicase qualitative study, inclusive school leaders attempted to move their schools from the excessive use of suspension; they employed positive behavioral intervention and…

Abstract

In a multicase qualitative study, inclusive school leaders attempted to move their schools from the excessive use of suspension; they employed positive behavioral intervention and support (PBIS) as an alternative they thought would be therapeutic rather than punitive. However, the PBIS system traded a disciplinary system of control for a medicalized system of restoring order. Unwanted behavior came to be defined as evidence of possible behavioral disability. Hence, the PBIS system exchanged one deficit identity of “disorderly” student for another of “disordered” student, subsuming other considerations of race, class, and gender identity. Following the study’s findings, this chapter proposes more liberatory practices for PBIS that interrupt dominant culture discourses of normal behavior and power, and hold promise for establishing justice, rather than simply reinstating order.

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The School to Prison Pipeline: The Role of Culture and Discipline in School
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-128-6

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Article
Publication date: 5 September 2016

Olof Wahlberg, Peter Öhman and Christer Strandberg

The purpose of this paper is to explore mass affluent customer perceptions of the service quality delivered by personal advisors and banks, and the contributions of personal…

1068

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore mass affluent customer perceptions of the service quality delivered by personal advisors and banks, and the contributions of personal advisors and banks to customer satisfaction; and also to analyse the strength of the relationship between customer satisfaction with personal advisors and banks.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey composed of items designed to mirror service quality practices used in the mass affluent segment was administered to customers of a major Swedish bank. Statistical analyses of the responses were performed.

Findings

Four service quality dimensions are identified as salient to customer satisfaction: interpersonal behaviour, knowledge, service portfolio, and trust. The relative importance of these dimensions depends on whether customer satisfaction with the personal advisor or the bank is focused. Moreover, the analysis indicates a double “rubbing off” effect where customer satisfaction with the personal advisor influences customer satisfaction with the bank and vice versa.

Originality/value

The unexplored separation of service quality provided by the bank and the personal advisor is central to perceived service quality. The study focuses on customer satisfaction in the mass affluent segment, which is an unexplored context different from retail banking.

Details

International Journal of Bank Marketing, vol. 34 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-2323

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Article
Publication date: 12 October 2021

Laura Jackman, Laura Galloway, Isla Kapasi, Rebecca Stirzaker and Andreea Mihut

This paper aims to explore experiences of poverty in the enterprise amongst people with a disability or long-term health challenges. This paper departs somewhat from established…

525

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore experiences of poverty in the enterprise amongst people with a disability or long-term health challenges. This paper departs somewhat from established wisdom about economic or financial drivers of enterprise by exploring why a disabled individual would start and continue to operate in a business where that business is providing income-poverty. In so doing, it subscribes to the idea that the enterprise involves reflexive engagement of an agent in context where value(s) of the enterprise other than financial may be prioritised.

Design/methodology/approach

The research draws from a larger qualitative study of self-employment and poverty in which half the sample (21 individuals) identified as experiencing disability or poor health. Semi-structured interviews were conducted these participants and a thematic analysis with specific reference to Theory of Venturing, which proposes that the value of enterprise is reflexively and idiosyncratically understood and morphogenetic, was used to explore itinerant issues, experiences and challenges.

Findings

In line with the theory, findings include that disability and poor health are observed to be both prompters and shapers of an enterprise and that the value of enterprise is not always primarily associated with financial wealth for the participants in the sample. Flexibility and autonomy are attractive features of self-employment for some in the face of an inflexible and sometimes hostile labour market.

Originality/value

This paper demonstrates that engaging in enterprise is motivated by an agent's reflexive evaluation of value(s) and how that enables them to navigate their structural condition(s); this contribution enhances theoretical approaches to enterprise and business creation by illuminating some of its diversity. This paper also contributes some much needed data about a group who are under-represented in the enterprise literature despite being over-represented in practice. There are implications and recommendations for policy and practice in the exposure and analysis of the issues emerging.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 27 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

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