Andrew Godley and Scott Fletcher
A newly compiled dataset allows us to trace the history of foreign direct investment in UK retailing since 1850. Our results suggest that the upsurge of cross‐border activity in…
Abstract
A newly compiled dataset allows us to trace the history of foreign direct investment in UK retailing since 1850. Our results suggest that the upsurge of cross‐border activity in the 1980s and early 1990s was exceptional in absolute terms. However, when compared to the most likely determinant of entry rates, consumer purchasing power, the recent upturn is best seen as a return, after several decades of relatively low entry rates, to the high level of FDI prevailing in the early twentieth century. Moreover, we conclude that cross‐border retailing will continue to increase, and to do so at a rate close to twice that of the growth in consumer purchasing power.
Details
Keywords
Stuart Redding, Richard Hobbs, Catia Nicodemo, Luigi Siciliani and Raphael Wittenberg
Purpose: In this chapter, we examine the National Health Service (NHS) and Adult Social Care (ASC) in England, focussing on policies that have been introduced since 2000 and…
Abstract
Purpose: In this chapter, we examine the National Health Service (NHS) and Adult Social Care (ASC) in England, focussing on policies that have been introduced since 2000 and considering the challenges that providers face in their quest to provide a high standard and affordable health service in the near future.
Methodology/Approach: We discuss recent policy developments and published analysis covering innovations within major aspects of health care (primary, secondary and tertiary) and ASC, before considering future challenges faced by providers in England, highlighted by a 2017 UK Parliament Select Committee.
Findings: The NHS and ASC system have experienced tightening budgets and serious financial pressure, with historically low real-terms growth in health funding from central government and local authorities. Policymakers have tried to overcome these challenges with several policy innovations, but many still remain. With large-scale investment and reform, there is potential for the health and social care system to evolve into a modern service capable of dealing with the needs of an ageing population. However, if these challenges are not met, then it is set to continue struggling with a lack of appropriate facilities, an overstretched staff and a system not entirely appropriate for its patients.
Details
Keywords
Naznin Tabassum, Sujana Shafique, Anastasia Konstantopoulou and Ahmad Arslan
This paper aims to provide a framework with the antecedents of women managers’ resilience in SMEs.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a framework with the antecedents of women managers’ resilience in SMEs.
Design/methodology/approach
This developmental study uses a comprehensive literature review and a set of propositions to identify the antecedent of women managers’ resilience and develops a conceptual framework for resilience.
Findings
The results indicate that in addition to personal resilience traits, interactive engagement with the work environment, career adaptability and positive human resource management (HRM) interventions are the main antecedents of women managers’ resilience.
Research limitations/implications
This paper contributes to theory by providing a new perspective on the study of resilience as a process at the organisational level and as a trait at personal level. It contributes to the women employee-centric resilience discussion in HRM literature and explores the relationship between resilience and women managers’ career progression. This is a developmental study, and despite the strengths of the undertaken approach, there are a number of limitations due to the lack of empirical evidence. Therefore, future research activities should focus on validating the framework and determining any potential boundaries of this resilience framework.
Practical implications
The study reveals a number of practical implications leading to a recommended resilience toolkit for HR managers of organisations to develop and promote resilience in their women managers and aspiring managers.
Social implications
The social implications of this study include the social relationships within the work-setting, better employee engagement and interaction with the work environment and flexible career progression pathways.
Originality/value
The paper is based on rich conceptual and theoretical discussion that identifies the key antecedents of women managers’ resilience. The study also conceptually establishes the moderating relationship between women managers’ resilience and work stress and burnout.
Details
Keywords
Giulia Balboni and Roberto Cubelli
Very often the diagnostic process provides only a descriptive label of the disorder. A useful diagnosis must reach the precise description and the functional interpretation of the…
Abstract
Very often the diagnostic process provides only a descriptive label of the disorder. A useful diagnosis must reach the precise description and the functional interpretation of the deficits shown by a given individual. To this aim, four separate but intertwined steps are required: (1) clinical interview to collect personal and clinical anamnesis and to figure out the sociocultural context; (2) screening tests to describe the general cognitive picture and to detect the impaired functions; (3) standardized batteries to categorize the specific cognitive disorders according to the accredited taxonomies; (4) ad hoc investigation to identify the impaired cognitive components in the individual patient according to a sound theoretical model of the functional architecture of the cognitive processes. Only doing in this way, personalized educational and rehabilitative interventions may be planned and specific goals can be achieved.
Norman Gemmell and John Hasseldine
The global economic crisis has highlighted the continuing problem of tax evasion. For tax agencies to respond, an important antecedent necessitates knowing the extent of the…
Abstract
The global economic crisis has highlighted the continuing problem of tax evasion. For tax agencies to respond, an important antecedent necessitates knowing the extent of the problem. This study is the first to comprehensively review recent research on the tax gap. Our primary contributions are twofold. First, we argue that the tax gap, as conventionally defined, is conceptually flawed because it fails to capture behavioral responses by taxpayers adequately. Our second contribution is to review methods for measuring the tax gap and compare empirical estimates. We suggest that many of the most trenchant criticisms of conventional tax gap measurement (and the “hidden economy” measures that underlie them) leave only microdata-based measures of tax noncompliance as likely to deliver more reliable tax gap estimates. Even here, however, further work is required, on both conceptual and empirical aspects, before researchers are likely to deliver tax gap estimates suitable for policy analysis (e.g., implications for enforcement policy).
Michael Eric Bradbury and Oksana Kim
The study examines the changes in audit market concentration, auditor choice and audit quality in Russia following International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption…
Abstract
Purpose
The study examines the changes in audit market concentration, auditor choice and audit quality in Russia following International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption. Scholars have called for further examination of the effects of IFRS adoption on auditors, with an emphasis on the importance of analyzing emerging markets that are characterized by enforcement challenges and lack of proper infrastructure. It focuses on a unique feature of Russian companies – dual audits under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) and IFRS – and investigates changes in audit concentration and audit quality for the two audit markets.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors rely on the audited financial statements of Russian public companies and perform pre-/post-IFRS adoption estimation using a logit regression to ascertain whether public firms change auditors from local firms with limited IFRS expertise to those with global reputation, namely Big 4 audit firms. Further, they examine whether the change in audit market concentration post-2012 affects audit quality as proxied by companies' propensity to receive a modified audit opinion and discretionary accruals. Auditor attributes were hand-collected from audited financial statements and matched with financial variables from Datastream.
Findings
The IFRS audit market was dominated by the Big 4 audit firms prior to 2012, and there is strong evidence that audit market share (concentration) increases for IFRS reports but not for RAS reports. In addition, companies are more likely to choose a Big 4 audit firm for an RAS audit, conditional upon a Big 4 firm conducting the IFRS audit. The authors do not find evidence of decrease in the probability of audit firms issuing a modified audit opinion under either RAS or IFRS, indicating that, in the Russian setting, increased auditor concentration post-IFRS adoption does not lead to enhanced risk or decline in audit quality. Moreover, they find that discretionary accruals decline post-2012. Overall, the findings indicate that the concern of global regulators regarding audit market concentration is not justified.
Research limitations/implications
The Russian reporting environment is unique and generally characterized by significant agency problems, and the study’s estimation sample is not large, compared to prior studies conducted predominantly in Western jurisdictions. Nevertheless, the authors shed light on the audit concentration phenomenon within emerging markets, for which empirical evidence is scarce. Future research could explore the impact of other capital market events and exogenous shocks, not limited to IFRS adoption, on the characteristics of Russia's audit market.
Practical implications
The IFRS reporting regime is commonly associated with enhanced reporting quality and improved information transparency among public companies. Yet, impairment of audit quality as a result of IFRS-driven increase in audit market share of Big 4 can potentially negate these capital market effects. This study shows that the concerns of global regulators are not valid and that audit quality does not change with increased share of Big 4 post-IFRS adoption.
Originality/value
Dual audits, whereby companies must prepare two sets of financial statements per the IFRS mandate, are not unique to Russia, and the evidence of IFRS reporting on the structural changes in the audit market and implications for audit quality under a dual regime is scarce. Accordingly, the study's findings are important and timely and are expected to aid regulators of countries that have announced or are contemplating the adoption of IFRS for public reporting purposes.
Details
Keywords
Babatunde Fatai Ogunbayo, Clinton Ohis Aigbavboa, Wellington Didibhuku Thwala and Opeoluwa Israel Akinradewo
A maintenance budget is an element of maintenance management (MM) that deals with financial planning for maintenance operations and execution within a maintenance organisation…
Abstract
Purpose
A maintenance budget is an element of maintenance management (MM) that deals with financial planning for maintenance operations and execution within a maintenance organisation. Developed countries have standardised MM structures which guides maintenance activities. This, however, cannot be said of developing countries, as there are few or no MM standards adopted. Given this contextual setting, the study aims to validate the relevance of maintenance budget (MB) elements utilised in developed countries for developing countries – using Nigeria as a case study exemplar. Also, the study further examines the effectiveness of the validated maintenance budget elements.
Design/methodology/approach
The research adopts qualitative techniques and employs the Delphi survey to collect and analyse primary data from an operational perception through structured questionnaires to solicit views from panellists on the subject being assessed. A relative importance index (RII) was used in measuring consensus for the Delphi study outcomes, while a Cronbach Alpha test was carried out on all the MB elements to determine their level of reliability.
Findings
The key finding from the study reveals that of the 21 elements that influence the implementation of MB, 10 elements have a very high influence on the MM of buildings (VHI: 9.00–10.00), 5 elements had a high influence (HI: 7.00–8.99) and 6 other elements scored medium impact (MI: 5.00–6.99). The elements of MB that recorded very high influence on prompt MM effectiveness include MB implementation, corruption-free maintenance process, reduction in maintenance expenditure, maintenance financial plan, cost implication of maintained asset, cash flow indexing, prioritisation of maintenance financing, maintenance funding, incorporation of financial indicators and audit of operational maintenance cost.
Practical implications
On a practical note, these elements will guide the built environment professionals in organising maintenance activities to best use limited resources.
Originality/value
Cumulatively, the research presented shows that these elements are similar to those of other countries. Effective MM of buildings is assured when these elements are integral to developing a MB.
Details
Keywords
Owen Fraser and Sam Sumar
Presents the compositional and spoilage changes in fish ‐ useful for determining the freshness for eating. Chemical and microbiological methods are focused on. Breakdowns in…
Abstract
Presents the compositional and spoilage changes in fish ‐ useful for determining the freshness for eating. Chemical and microbiological methods are focused on. Breakdowns in chemical components lead to detectable changes ‐ odour, flavour and texture. Changes to the fats, protein, nucleotides, non‐protein nitrogen compounds and enzymes are examined. These means are more valid when dealing with preserved and frozen fish and can give accurate assessment as to fish quality.
In the periods, following the First and Second World Wars, colonial states across the British empire underwent waves of reforms that were geared toward improving human well-being…
Abstract
In the periods, following the First and Second World Wars, colonial states across the British empire underwent waves of reforms that were geared toward improving human well-being, from enhancing social conditions, such as health and education, to expanding opportunities for economic and political engagement. The literature on the colonial state typically traces these state-building efforts to the agency of European colonial officials. However, evidence from a historical analysis of Trinidad and Tobago reveals a different agent driving state reform: the colonized. A local labor movement during colonialism forced the colonial state to construct a number of state agencies to ameliorate the economic, political, and social conditions in the colony, thereby resulting in an increase in state capacity. This study, therefore, provides critical intervention into the colonial state literature by showing that the agency of the colonized, as opposed to just the colonizers, is key to state-building, and specifying the mechanisms by which the subaltern constrained colonial officials and forced them to enact policies that improved colonial state capacity.
Details
Keywords
Karen L. Moores, Neil H. Metcalfe and David W. Pring
The purpose of this paper is to determine if recommendations from the General Medical Council (GMC), Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and Ayling Inquiry…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine if recommendations from the General Medical Council (GMC), Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and Ayling Inquiry with regard to chaperoning are observed in the hospital setting by consultants performing intimate physical examinations, and to ascertain consultants' views on the availability, nature and role of chaperones.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative postal questionnaire was carried out based on the GMC and RCOG recommendations, and point 2.58 of the Ayling Inquiry. Participants were all consultants specialising in obstetrics and gynaecology, colorectal surgery, breast surgery, urology, genito‐urinary medicine, and paediatrics in York and West Yorkshire Hospitals. The questionnaire covered consultant practice and views on the role of chaperones for intimate physical examinations.
Findings
A response rate of 70 per cent was achieved. All gynaecologists, paediatricians, urologists, colorectal surgeons and genito‐urinary physicians request a chaperone when performing female intimate examinations. A total 90 per cent of genito‐urinary physicians request a chaperone compared to only 39 per cent of colorectal surgeons and 28 per cent of urologists for male intimate examinations. Of the consultants 97 per cent reported that a chaperone was “always” or “usually” available. A total 94 per cent considered health‐care professionals to be appropriate chaperones. Cited roles of a chaperone include doctor protection (93 per cent), patient protection (84 per cent), patient comfort (73 per cent), and medico‐legality (72 per cent). Only 20 per cent of consultants stated they document the presence of a chaperone.
Originality/value
The paper reveals that consultants use a chaperone for all female genital examinations, but inter‐speciality differences exist for male intimate examinations in spite of national recommendations. A minority of consultants document the presence of a chaperone for intimate examinations. Consultants consider health‐care professionals to be the most appropriate chaperones, and believe chaperones add to patient comfort and protect both doctor and patient.