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The purpose of this paper is to describe the experiences of Manchester Primary Care Trust (PCT) of driving improvement in quality and patient safety as commissioners in the English National Health Service (NHS). After the PCT's establishment in late 2006, considerable work was undertaken to develop and promote the role of Commissioner as the custodian of standards of services for its resident population. This required engagement with internal PCT stakeholders and a range of external stakeholders locally, regionally and nationally. The authors' experience should be of interest in the UK, and beyond given that many health systems have, or are moving towards, a commissioner: provider model.

This is a case study using self‐reported observational approach.

The authors' experience showed that commissioners can and should provide the leadership in driving quality improvements and patient safety, within their health systems. However, the challenges must not be underestimated, and the authors share some of the methods they used and lessons they learned.

There is a considerable interest in promoting quality through better commissioning of health care services. However, there is limited research into the impact and effectiveness of using commissioning as a lever. Given that in the NHS, and elsewhere in the world, commissioning is seen as the organising principle for health systems, such research and evaluation should be a priority.

This case study has valuable lessons for the new NHS and the findings are relevant to other health systems. There is a danger that the new NHS will repeat some of the mistakes of the past, and hopefully this case study can help avoid, or limit, the risks.

To the authors' knowledge there is no comparable piece of work, and the data/findings have not been published or reported comprehensively before. The paper should be of value to not just the NHS but to health systems generally, since commissioning seems to be the prevailing model for organising them.

Reviews antenatal and early childhood screening programmes to assess the impact of guidance from the National Screening Committee (NSC). Develops methods to investigate local practice (questionnaires and telephone interviews) and summarises best practice guidance from authoritative sources. Reviews 23 antenatal and 15 early childhood programmes, of which 22 and eight respectively are in place locally. Different types of authoritative sources varied in the aspect of screening on which they commented. Guidance from authoritative sources differed and local practice variations reflected this. In three programmes these variations needed to be addressed. Elsewhere, the NSC’s “watch and wait” stance was confirmed. Limitations to local quality assurance were also identified. Programmes are for the most part following authoritative guidance, but variations in authoritative guidance are a significant issue. Robust audit is required to ensure that the local programmes are achieving optimal health gain.

Historically, as a result of complex intersections of marginalisation, women and girls in India are known to have had less access to economic and social capital than men and boys. Progress on poverty alleviation and the advancement of women’s and girls’ development continues to be slow and has even been described as ‘regressive’ (UN Women, 2015). This chapter provides a microanalysis of experiences and perceptions of gender and poverty in Mumbai, India. It puts forward new insights into everyday forms of agency, resistance and subversion while confronting western centric ideas around development and colonialist notions of victimhood.

Based upon research conducted in 2012–2013, the qualitative study adopting a multi-methods approach draws on participatory action research, participant observation and ethnography. This chapter draws on a small number of interviews from the original sample of 40 participants.

This chapter is based on findings from a small research sample.

The study finds evidence that confirms experiences of gendered poverty permeate across class divides, suggesting that access to economic capital does not necessarily result in equitable gender relations. The findings also uncover the diverse ways in which women and adolescent girls strategise and negotiate to acquire agency, through acts of resistance and/or subversion.

There are two key aspects of this research that can be considered original: the use of a multi-methods approach and by bringing together of a combination of different voices. The theoretical and sociological contribution of this research lies in showcasing the value of expanding the definition of poverty and gender beyond a purely economic analysis.

While the number of global alliance terminations in the business world has grown steadily during the past few decades, the scholarly literature on strategic alliance (SA) termination remains limited. This research paper aims to perform a bibliometric analysis of the literature on alliance termination and propose a model for future research agenda that links the termination phase to the pre-alliance termination phase and post alliance termination phase.

A search query on global alliance termination identified a total of 69 research papers from the Scopus database, and a bibliometric analysis was performed using the bibliometrix R-package and VOSviewer. The analysis further used the TCCM framework to review the set of papers.

This research analysis reveals that, compared to the pre-formation, formation, and process stages of alliances, limited research has been undertaken on global alliance termination. The bibliometric analysis and TCCM framework provide a complete view of the extant literature on global alliance termination from different dimensions and act as the which as the foundation for a developing the research agenda that links pre-alliance termination phase and post-alliance termination phase to that of alliance termination phase.

The proposed research agenda is unique as it integrates multiple phases in the alliance lifecycle with global alliance termination phase and develops a distinct view for future research that emphasizes on the post-alliance termination phase.

The bibliometric analysis provides a precise snapshot of the state of the literature on global alliance termination. The research agenda developed provides a direction for further academic research that links alliance termination not only to pre-alliance termination phase but also to the post-alliance termination phase that is nascently explored in the literature.

This study is among the few to review and synthesize the literature on global alliance termination. It, therefore, functions as a catalyst to draw global scholars' attention. Further, it provides global researchers with direction by proposing a global research agenda.

The authors study the relation between a firm’s combinative capability and value creation in the context of technological scope expansion. On a sample of Compustat firms that applied for US patents between 1980 and 2001, the authors find that firm value, measured using Tobin’s q, decreases with increases in technological scope (measured as the number of unique patent classes). However, when firms expand by combining different classes into a single patent, the authors find that this negative effect is significantly diminished. These findings indicate that increasing technological scope likely creates value only when the firm is able to integrate the components into a single technology; simply maintaining different technological components within the firm boundary without integration appears to subject the firm to a discount.

To explain why international market diversification is a viable strategy, a substantial portion of the past literature hinges its conclusions on mainstay perspectives. Some authors utilize internalization theory and transaction cost analysis (e.g., Teece). Others draw from the resource-based explanation of the firm (e.g., Chang, 1995), institutional theory (e.g., Davis, Desai, & Francis, 2000), organizational learning (Ruigrok & Wagner, 2003); a combination approach (e.g., Madhok, 1997) or eclectic paradigm (Dunning, 1988). These perspectives are widely discussed in the literature. For that reason we present the earlier work only in a brief summary.

The aim of this study is to identify and analyze empirical evidence, which verifies the existence of the transactional capability construct in firms of financial systems in two different countries.

This study investigates how the dimensions, and sub dimensions, of the transactional capability construct are reflected in the design of contracts. When analyzing the information from personal consumption loan contracts of nine Spanish firms and ten Peruvian firms in the financial system of each country, generalizable evidence of the transactional capability can be identified.

The main result of this study is the identification of empirical evidence that proves the existence of transactional capability in financial markets with different characteristics.

This study was limited by a lack of similar research, which hampered the task of identifying and defining the dimensions that form the transactional capability construct.

The identification of transactional capability was based on the analysis of contracts of personal credit consumption in the Peruvian and Spanish financial systems.

This study aims to examine how property rights, financial liberalization and the control of corruption at the country level influence the inward and outward global engagement of domestic firms from developing countries. The author also examines whether firms with certain resource endowments such as human capital or technological capabilities are better positioned to globalize as the aforementioned institutional factors evolve.

Using a sample of 18,365 firms from 57 developing countries and multilevel modeling, the author shows that institutional factors are related to inward and outward global engagement.

The author finds that firms with human capital are more likely to move outward in the presence of lower levels of corruption. Domestic firms possessing technological capabilities are more likely to engage inward as financial liberalization eases the access to capital.

Many existing studies that have investigated the impact of institutional factors on internationalization by developing country firms have bundled different institutions together therefore sacrificing a focus on the effect of specific institutions on these firm decisions. While the author knows that institutions matter for developing country firm globalization, there is limited research on which institutions matter. There is also a debate on how institutions matter for developing country firms. The study sheds light on these aspects. The author also uses hierarchical linear modelling and uses both country- and firm-level variables.

This chapter explores how scholarly work in the fields of Finance and International Business (IB) can be mutually supportive. First, it is clear that technology has been a major driver of modern developments in both Finance and IB. Second, Finance can provide many insights into IB scholarship since it has much to say about firm operations and strategy. Third, IB scholarship with its focus on culture also provides significant opportunities for a better understanding of the global aspects of Finance. Finally, it is contended that transaction-costs economics provides an excellent theoretical and fundamental basis for bringing together IB concepts and Finance scholarship. However, while the potential for Finance and IB scholarship to contribute to each other is great, such advances must await the removal of cultural barriers between the two disciplines.