Robbie Millar, Daniel Plumley, Rob Wilson and Geoff Dickson
The purpose of this study is to critically examine the financial health and performance of the English and Australian cricket networks. This includes the county cricket clubs…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to critically examine the financial health and performance of the English and Australian cricket networks. This includes the county cricket clubs (CCC) and state and territory cricket associations (STCA) affiliated to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA) respectively, as well as the ECB and CA themselves. The authors apply resource dependency theory to understand if there are any financial dependencies within the networks of cricket in England and Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
The data for this research was obtained from the financial statements of the ECB, the 18 affiliated CCCs, CA and the six affiliated STCAs. This sample covers the last 5 years of financial information (2014–2019) for all the organisations at the time of writing. Ratio analysis was conducted on all organisations within the sample to assess financial health and performance.
Findings
Both CCCs and STCAs show signs of poor financial health. There is a clear dependence on the financial support they receive from the ECB and CA respectively and this dependence appears more prominent in Australia. The ECB and CA have better financial health which ultimately allows them to financially support the CCCs and STCAs.
Originality/value
The ECB and CA are facing difficult financial decisions to remain financially secure themselves due to the impact of COVID-19 but also to support their affiliated clubs. The affiliated clubs do not generate sufficient revenues and must diversity their revenue streams if they are to become financially self-sustaining. This financial structure and distribution mechanism will be vital in safeguarding the future of some of England’s and Australia’s most important cricket organisations.
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The purpose of the study is to explore how the duty of candour got onto the agenda of the British National Health Service.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to explore how the duty of candour got onto the agenda of the British National Health Service.
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual approach is based on multiple streams approach, with the methodology being interpretive content analysis, which uses a deductive approach that focuses on both manifest and latent content.
Findings
The duty of candour got onto the NHS agenda as a result of the Mid Staffordshire inquiry report and the long-term “interest group” campaign associated with Robbie's Law. It is argued that the “focusing event” of the Mid Staffordshire Inquiry Report opened the “policy window”. It also highlights the importance of “policy entrepreneur” Sir Robert Francis whose “claim to a hearing”, “political connections” and “persistence” was vital.
Research limitations/implications
Analysis was confined to published documents.
Originality/value
It highlights some of the factors that suggested why the duty of candour got onto the NHS agenda when it did.
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This paper compares how the two interacting themes of “Whistleblowing” or “Speaking Up” and the duty of candour (DoC), which are both concerned with safety and quality improvement…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper compares how the two interacting themes of “Whistleblowing” or “Speaking Up” and the duty of candour (DoC), which are both concerned with safety and quality improvement in health care, got onto the agenda of the British National Health Service (NHS).
Design/methodology/approach
It uses the approach of multiple streams and the methodology of interpretive content analysis in a deductive approach that focusses on both manifest and latent content. It examines official documents that discuss the DoC or whistleblowing or cognate terms in connection with the British NHS from 1999 to 2019.
Findings
The main conceptual finding, which mirrors many previous studies, is that it seems difficult to operationalise many of the sub-components of the multiple streams approach. The main empirical finding points to the “focusing event” of the Francis Report into the Mid Staffordshire Trust of 2013 and the importance of its Chair, Sir Robert Francis, as a policy entrepreneur.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to focus on both issues of whistleblowing and the DoC and the first to compare them through the lens of the multiple streams approach. It has two main conceptual advantages over most previous studies in the field: it compares whistleblowing and the duty of candour rather than the dominant approach of a single case study and explores the different outcomes of failed as well as successful couplings of the streams.