Suzanne Richbell, Mike Simpson, Geoff M.H. Sykes and Simon Meegan
This paper takes an international perspective and reports the results of a trial of the Canadian (Ottawa) shift system within a UK police force. Primary data were collected via…
Abstract
This paper takes an international perspective and reports the results of a trial of the Canadian (Ottawa) shift system within a UK police force. Primary data were collected via group interviews followed by a questionnaire survey. Secondary data were available from internal reports and performance measures. Officer welfare and morale were investigated and found to be greatly improved. Performance indicators, including arrest rates, also improved although it was not possible to establish a direct causal link with the introduction of Ottawa. A number of operational problems associated with the Ottawa system in the UK are identified and reviewed.
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Objective: Recently, there has been an increase in the use of cryptocurrency, decentralised finance (DeFi) applications and DeFi services in several countries. These innovations…
Abstract
Objective: Recently, there has been an increase in the use of cryptocurrency, decentralised finance (DeFi) applications and DeFi services in several countries. These innovations facilitate the delivery of financial services using smart contracts. DeFi encompasses all financial services that are built on public blockchains, based on open protocols and removes intermediaries from the financial intermediation process. There is significant cryptocurrency activity in Africa while DeFi developments are relatively new and unpopular in the African continent. This chapter introduces DeFi in Africa. It presents some statistics and data on DeFi in Africa. Thereafter, the potential benefits, challenges and regulatory issues associated with DeFi in Africa are presented.
Method: This study used literature reviews and external data sources to show the benefits and advantages of DeFi .
Findings: The findings show that there is low interest in DeFi in Africa. Some benefits of DeFi to African countries include increased liquidity for many small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs), new opportunities to raise additional capital to fund capital-intensive activities, usher in an era of smart contracts that are negotiated bilaterally without needing an intermediary, encourage peer-to-peer trade between economic agents in several African countries, enhance the efficiency of the Pan-African Payment Settlement System and encourage more trade between individuals and corporations under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, among others.
Originality: This is the first chapter to examine DeFi in Africa.
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One of the most important developments in portfolio risk management in the 1990s was the increased use of Value at Risk (VaR). VaR has enjoyed a spectacular rise, from being…
Abstract
One of the most important developments in portfolio risk management in the 1990s was the increased use of Value at Risk (VaR). VaR has enjoyed a spectacular rise, from being largely unknown at the beginning of the 1990s, to prominence among financial institutions and, more recently, also in the corporate world. VaR is particularly useful because it measures aggregate portfolio risk by accounting for correlations between the individual risk factors in a portfolio.
Graham Sewell and Nelson Phillips
Joan undertook the ground-breaking project originally reported in the 1958 pamphlet, Management and Technology, not at one of Britain's great universities, but at the…
Abstract
Joan undertook the ground-breaking project originally reported in the 1958 pamphlet, Management and Technology, not at one of Britain's great universities, but at the unfashionable address of the South East Essex Technical College (then in the county of Essex but now part of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham). The Human Relations Research Unit had been set up at the college, which is now part of the University of East London, in 1953 with support from a number of agencies including funding ultimately derived from the Marshall Plan. Its express purpose was to enhance the performance of industry and commerce through the application of social science. Those readers familiar with the area will know that, at the time, it was economically and culturally dominated by the Ford assembly plant in nearby Dagenham, but it was also home to a diverse range of small- and medium-sized industrial workshops that were typical of the pre-war Greater London economy (Woodward, 1965; Massey & Meegan, 1982). It was into this diverse industrial milieu that Joan and her research team ventured (Fig. 1), completing their main study in 1958.
Agnès Deboulet and Simone Abram
This chapter compares programmes for urban housing regeneration in France and England, showing how ideological similarities reflected in policy ideas and programmes played out…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter compares programmes for urban housing regeneration in France and England, showing how ideological similarities reflected in policy ideas and programmes played out differently in significantly different contexts.
Methodology/approach
The chapter draws on results of several major research programmes, including in-depth extensive fieldwork in a number of cities and regions in France and England. Field research included participant observation in participatory planning events, interviews, home visits, guided walks in the districts, etc. These enabled a multi-site and multi-perspective understanding of urban housing renewal at different sites.
Findings
In both contexts, early promises for participation in housing renewal gave way to an imperative for demolition, justified on purely technical grounds that were not shared with participants. The linking of social mix and demolition for local ‘improvement’ also then appeared to be a contradiction between different policies that few residents could endorse, other than selected beneficiaries. Participation, social mix and demolition thus formed an unholy trinity in urban renewal policies.
Social implications
Housing renewal requires much greater commitment to the experience of residents, to avoid exacerbating social problems rather than relieving them.
Originality/value
The chapter reflects on a wealth of in-depth research over more than a decade to consider the broader implications and outcomes of housing renewal programmes in two countries. It highlights the different balances of power in the two cases and the trajectories of respective urban social politics, including the overlaps between policy objectives and similarities in the government of housing renewal. It also highlights the determination and commitment among residents to the value of housing that is judged from the outside to be ‘poor’.
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Tarek Eldomiaty, Rasha Hammam, Yasmeen Said and Alaa Safwat
This chapter offers an empirical examination of the impact of World Governance indicators (WGIs) on stock market development. The understanding is based on the premise of…
Abstract
This chapter offers an empirical examination of the impact of World Governance indicators (WGIs) on stock market development. The understanding is based on the premise of institutional economics that strong institutional governance, in terms of laws and regulations, results in positive developments in financial institutions.
The data which covers the years 1996–2016, include all world countries where a stock market operates. The authors use standard statistical tools that include Johansen co-integration test, linearity, normality tests, and regression analysis, together with discriminant analysis as a robustness check.
The empirical findings show that (a) a negative association exists between Voice and Accountability and stock market development, (b) a positive association exists between each of Political Stability, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law and Control of Corruption, and stock market development for most World’s regions stock markets, (c) both Voice and Accountability and Political Stability indicators are the major influential indicators for the stock market development across world stock markets.
This chapter offers quantitative evidence about the benefits of strong institutional governance to stock market development. In addition, the chapter offers significant guidelines to policymakers regarding the institutional factors that can be enhanced to promote stock market development.
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Ryan Woolrych and Judith Sixsmith
The concepts of well‐being and participation are prevalent in current regeneration policy, being seen as crucial to alleviating disadvantage and marginalisation in deprived…
Abstract
Purpose
The concepts of well‐being and participation are prevalent in current regeneration policy, being seen as crucial to alleviating disadvantage and marginalisation in deprived communities. However little is understood about how such ambiguous concepts are articulated within urban regeneration practice. This paper seeks to present a reflective case study of research in a New Deal for Communities (NDC) area designed to understand different conceptualisations of well‐being and participation in community places and regeneration practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The perspectives of regeneration professionals, local residents and academics were revealed through the development of a multi‐method and participatory research approach using interviews, observations, video diaries and workshops. An action oriented event aimed at developing overlapping communities of practice was held to engage in active dialogue and develop shared understandings between the resident, professional and academic communities.
Findings
Conceptualisations of well‐being and participation articulated through regeneration policy and practice between the different stakeholder groups are contradictory. The absence of a shared vision for regeneration and differing expectations of participation can have detrimental effects on both the well‐being of local residents and the sustainability of the long‐term participation of local residents in the regeneration process. This challenges the recent government approach to creating a Big Society which is underpinned by devolved decision making and the desire for local leadership through realising the potential of communities.
Originality/value
The research has helped to create new relationships between residents and professionals organised around joint working and changed practice.
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Clara Martínez Fuentes, Francisco Balbastre Benavent, M.A. Escribá Moreno, T.F. González Cruz and M. Pardo del Val
Many organisations use the ISO 9000 series as a reference framework to establish their quality assurance system. In doing so, most of them overlook the process of interpreting and…
Abstract
Many organisations use the ISO 9000 series as a reference framework to establish their quality assurance system. In doing so, most of them overlook the process of interpreting and adapting these standards to their own characteristics and capabilities. As a result, there is a misunderstanding with respect to the objectives of the standards. The correct implementation of the ISO 9000 series requires a preliminary analysis that facilitates the adaptation of them to the particular circumstances of a company. Therefore, this paper pays attention to the relationship existing between ISO 9000 implementation and the use of strategic diagnosis tools. The employment of such tools could be studied as an important facilitator for the ISO 9000 implementation process. However, this is not the aim of this research. Instead, the aim is threefold. First, the article analyses the use of strategic diagnosis tools by ISO 9000‐certified companies before and after the implementation process. Second, it examines how aspects relative to the management of processes, the organisational structure, and the relationship with suppliers and customers, are going to determine the quality approach resulting from the ISO 9000 implementation. Finally, the paper aims to analyse the influence of the development of strategic diagnosis activities, prior to the implementation, on the quality approach adopted by firms.