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This paper seeks to report the key findings of two studies which were undertaken by Rare Disease UK to: understand patients' and their families' experiences of living with a rare disease; identify issues preventing research and access to good quality information, care, treatment and support; identify examples of good practice; and develop recommendations to improve service provision for patients with rare diseases and encourage research.

Across the two reports discussed, a range of methods were used including: a survey of patients/family members; five multi‐stakeholder working groups; conference workshops; a consultation paper; interviews; and desk research.

There are a number of detailed findings across the two reports. At a broad level, the findings identify that despite the diverse range of rare diseases each with different symptoms and prognoses, patients often face similar issues. The report also identifies a number of possible solutions to facilitate research, speed up diagnosis, improve co‐ordination of care and ensure high‐quality information is available to patients and professionals.

The findings and recommendations in the two reports discussed are informing the development of a UK plan for rare diseases by all four of the UK's health departments. This plan will be the first strategic approach to improving service provision for all patients with rare diseases in the UK.

Very little research has been conducted into the experiences of patients with rare diseases or on how to improve service provision for all rare diseases in the UK. As a result, the two reports offer a substantial body of new evidence.

This paper seeks to uncover major differences in current opinion concerning the purpose, scope and priorities of facility management (FM), and to indicate which key areas and factors of FM practice should be considered for inclusion in any theoretical framework for positioning FM. A literature review examines the available knowledge, theories and publications concerning linking FM to organisation and its environments from a range of published literatures. The paper identifies gaps in the existing knowledge base, and clarifies the issues for consideration and development framework for positioning FM. This paper is a part of research being undertaken for PhD study at the Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London. It has produced a theoretical framework for positioning FM which will be further developed in the next stage of the study. The theoretical framework for positioning FM provides useful ground for developing decision method and tools for positioning FM practice. This paper offers a starting point in aligning FM practice to the particular organisation systematically.

Seeks to investigate the extent to which CEOs shape the process of making strategic decisions (SDs). Despite the significant research interest in this topic, knowledge is still incomplete.

Using evidence from a sample of 107 SDs, studied in Greece, the present paper explores the influence of CEO personality and demographic characteristics on the process of making SDs. A number of environmental and internal organisational variables are used as control variables measuring the broader context.

The results suggest that the broader context is on average more influential than the CEO. However, the CEO's demographic characteristics appear to influence several process characteristics (i.e. rationality, hierarchical decentralisation and politicisation). CEO personality characteristics do not appear to have any significant influence on the process.

This paper focuses on only a few personality and demographic characteristics. The use of a different set of CEO characteristics (e.g. functional specialisation, etc.) as well as the characteristics of the top management team is more than welcome. More empirical studies are needed to replicate and extend this study by examining variables not included here.

Conventional wisdom as well as recent empirical evidence holds that the management style of Greek companies tends to be rather centralised, and dominated by one powerful individual. The results contradict this belief. It seems that in order to survive and achieve long‐term viability, Greek companies were forced to introduce changes in their management style, including a more team‐based style of decision making. In such a context, personality characteristics of the CEO or any other single influential player may not decisively affect the SD process.

Few studies have examined empirically the influence of such a combination of factors on strategic decision processes.

To introduce and define the concept of community‐based facilities management (CbFM) and to identify and discuss processes and responsibilities in practice, in order to explore opportunities for the development of a socially inclusive approach to facilities management. The paper raises issues of governance, empowerment and socio‐economic development.

The paper addresses issues arising from action research in the North West of England and identifies case examples from current practice to illustrate application of the principles. The paper draws upon literature from the fields of facilities management, new economics and sustainability.

The paper presents the results of an initial exploration, draws tentative conclusions and offers a framework for evaluating the performance of organisations.

Introduces novel concepts, an evaluation framework and tools for the assessment of FM processes for sustainability.

This article aims to discuss some of the most common ways in which business decisions are affected by cognitive biases. It focuses on the individual level of decision making and discusses how biases are deeply entrenched in the way that many decisions are made. It also discusses how flaws in decision making can escalate when executives are under pressure, over‐confident or part of a group.

This article draws on a range of research in cognitive and organizational psychology to show the potential effect of cognitive biases on corporate decision making.

The article argues that it is necessary to develop a better understanding of the effect of cognitive biases on executive decision making. Whilst research suggests that many aspects of decision‐making processes operate outside one's conscious awareness, it is suggested that these flaws may be easier to monitor and control when one is aware of their potential impact on corporate decisions.

The paper demonstrates how a lack of awareness of the widespread operation of cognitive biases reduces the possibilities for good corporate governance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the state of sustainable facilities management (FM) practice in Nigeria particularly, as it relates to the sustainability policy and key drivers for sustainable FM practice among corporate organisations in Nigeria.

The paper relied on data derived from a survey of 58 respondents (facilities managers and other top managers who have FM portfolios) representing 58 corporate organisations registered with Nigeria’s corporate affairs commission and interview sections in a case-study setting with three interviewees representing three corporate establishments in Nigeria.

Findings identified health and safety, waste management and flexible working environment as the three main sustainability policy directions, in that order, while sustainability policy on biodiversity, urbanisation and forestation were the three least rated. Furthermore, the key drivers for sustainable FM practice are corporate image, job creation and waste reduction. Others are enhancing relation with stakeholders and reduction in energy consumption.

This paper provides empirical evidence on the state of sustainable FM practice in Nigeria as a way of contributing to the much needed body of knowledge on sustainability in general and sustainable FM practice in particular.

Scholarly communication in the U.S. has been closely examined in the past two decades by librarians because of the acceleration in costs of serial, scholarly communication. Specific disciplines of research have increased at unprecedented rates, namely the areas of scientific, technical, and medical (STM) publishing.