The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the life of Tony Lowe, Emeritus Professor of Accounting and Financial Management at the University of Sheffield, who died on 5 March…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the life of Tony Lowe, Emeritus Professor of Accounting and Financial Management at the University of Sheffield, who died on 5 March 2014. It celebrates Tony Lowe’s considerable direct contributions to accounting knowledge and, possibly more significantly, his indirect contribution through his enabling of a range of those associated with him at Sheffield to become scholars of distinction in their own right.
Design/methodology/approach
Publication review, personal reflections and argument.
Findings
Apart from providing insight into Tony Lowe's direct contribution to accounting knowledge through an analysis of a range of significant sole authored and joint authored publications, the paper gives rather more attention to his more indirect enabling contribution. In this regard it traces the development of initially the Management Control Association and subsequently the “Sheffield School” to Tony Lowe, clarifying the values that underlie these groups. It also clarifies how some of the key elements that have allowed the now global Interdisciplinary and Critical Perspectives on Accounting (ICPA) Project to exist and flourish are traceable to Tony Lowe and the “Sheffield School” he created.
Research limitations/implications
This paper provides an important historical analysis of the direct and indirect influence of a unique scholar on the beginnings and development of particularly the now global ICPA Project. This history is personal and maybe selective and possibly limited because of this but hopefully will encourage others to investigate the claims further.
Originality/value
The history of the ICPA Project has only partially been told before. This is another part of this history that has not been analysed before on which further work can build.
Details
Keywords
Dave Crick, Shiv Chaudhry and James M. Crick
The purpose of this study is to investigate the need for an evolving business model that accounts for social, as well as business-related risks/rewards considerations, that is…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the need for an evolving business model that accounts for social, as well as business-related risks/rewards considerations, that is, for owner-managers with lifestyle as opposed to growth-oriented objectives.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodological approach undertaken involved in-depth interviews with the firm’s owner-managers, supplemental interviews with members of staff, observation, plus examining documents from secondary sources. Data gathering involved a period of three years to account for an evolving business model over time.
Findings
The findings from an instrumental case study demonstrate the need to adapt a firm’s business model in the light of changing circumstances. Additionally, in the context of owner-managers with lifestyle as opposed to growth-oriented objectives, to account for social in addition to business-related considerations in planning activities.
Originality/value
The originality of the study is to incorporate a longitudinal case study in to the entrepreneurial marketing literature. Specifically, this offers implications for business support organisations that advise prospective owner-managers; that is, in respect of the need for effective planning in formulating an evolving and enduring business model. Implications also highlight in a business sense, that turnaround of a poorly performing firm may be possible, for example, to overcome initial inadequate marketing planning. However, for owner-managers with lifestyle as opposed to growth-oriented objectives, a combination of both business and social factors need consideration to maintain a work/life balance. A venture that relies on personal and business relationships may not be viable if the partners cannot work together, no matter if the venture is performing well.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to explore recent approaches to reducing reoffending and to describe a new intervention, The Belief in Change Programme, which proposes an holistic approach to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore recent approaches to reducing reoffending and to describe a new intervention, The Belief in Change Programme, which proposes an holistic approach to working with offenders.
Design/methodology/approach
Some background on the recent UK government policies and research on reducing offending is given. The Belief in Change Programme is explored in this context.
Findings
The Belief in Change Programme highlights the importance of changing the offender's view of life, cognitive skills, access to resources and the perspective of communities to which they return. It encourages offenders to take responsibility to create a vision for the future and be leaders in their own journey of change; but, it also calls on communities to inspire, support and participate in this process.
Originality/value
Leadership is an important dimension of The Belief in Change Programme as some of the methods mirror those used in organisational development. Offenders can also be important leaders of each other by inspiring through role modeling, directing, coaching and mentoring those in earlier stages of the change journey. To ensure the reintegration and successful change of offenders, the wider community would benefit from inspirational leadership to create a revised vision for the rehabilitation and the vital part in which we all play.
Details
Keywords
Wilfred K. Anim‐Odame, Tony Key and Simon Stevenson
The purpose of this paper is to provide technically robust indicators of housing market performance from the records held by the Ghana Land Valuation Board, through the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide technically robust indicators of housing market performance from the records held by the Ghana Land Valuation Board, through the construction of the first ever residential price and rent indices for the aggregate and disaggregate markets.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach involved time series produced from hedonic models using 3,250 transaction‐based data, running from 1992 to 2007, and documents on movements in capital and rental values in Accra and Tema, the dominant commercial conurbations in the country.
Findings
The paper makes a major contribution to knowledge and understanding of housing market dynamics in Ghana. The results suggest that the derived price and rent indices look, at first sight, reasonably plausible with cyclical trends showing weak and strong patches.
Originality/value
The paper focuses on the development of formal housing markets through a detailed case study of Ghana, and provides findings and models of a wider application in other emerging economies.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of how voters view the political brand by analysing the mental maps that voters create when asked to think about a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of how voters view the political brand by analysing the mental maps that voters create when asked to think about a political party. The analysis is both in terms of the nature of the maps and also in terms of the equity associated with a map.
Design/methodology/approach
A consumer‐oriented approach is developed for mapping the political brand. The brand maps are analysed to discern brand characteristics. Furthermore, methods are developed to assess the power of political brands and concomitantly, political brand equity.
Findings
The method provides interesting insights into the nature and equity of brand associations for the two main political protagonists, i.e. Conservative and Labour. Key branded characteristics are highlighted for each party, both in terms of general structure, and also those associations that form a central role in voters' maps. For the partisan sample chosen, both parties are shown to have strong brand equity, with the Conservatives slightly stronger than Labour.
Practical implications
The method is straightforward to apply and provides important information to political marketers about the nature and power of the associations held in memory by voters. Taking a wider stance, the approach can be applied to any branding situation.
Originality/value
This paper provides a means by which a brand mapping process, new to politics, can be combined with methods facilitating the analysis of brand maps to produce a means by which brand equity can be measured.
Details
Keywords
Wilfred K. Anim‐Odame, Tony Key and Simon Stevenson
There is a general consensus that residential submarkets exist, but the basis upon which these are specified remains the subject of debate. The purpose of this paper is to model…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a general consensus that residential submarkets exist, but the basis upon which these are specified remains the subject of debate. The purpose of this paper is to model data on different residential locations in Ghana to show how the submarkets have performed over the past 16 years.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employs hedonic modelling based on 3,250 sale transactions and 1,130 rental transactions from 1992 to 2007.
Findings
The results demonstrate that five residential real estate characteristics – location, detached, landscaping quality, gross internal areas and plot size – predominate in the explanation of both rental and transactions prices across all submarkets. They also highlight points of variation between the submarkets. An understanding of the impact of these features on residential price and rent is important for capital and rental valuation.
Originality/value
This paper analyses historic performance of the residential market, both at the aggregate and disaggregate level to place the housing market in an investment context.
Details
Keywords
Securitisation, unitisation and PINCS are all, in essence, very simple. They share a common objective of creating a market instrument which gives investors a return which is…
Abstract
Securitisation, unitisation and PINCS are all, in essence, very simple. They share a common objective of creating a market instrument which gives investors a return which is comparable to holding a direct interest in the freehold of a property at a fraction of the price. The only recent public transaction of this type to have proceeded is Billingsgate City Securities plc, which was a corporate securitisation. This paper analyses, by way of case study, a corporate securitisation involving the public issue of debt securities and preferred ordinary shares. The discussion is intended to stimulate thought about the problems that arise (and will tend to arise in any securitisation, unitisation or PINCS scheme), to suggest solutions and to demonstrate the flexibility of corporate securitisations. It should become apparent that the complexity of any particular structure is largely a function of the sophistication of the specific objectives of the property owner. It is the author's belief that the fact that the problem solving techniques used in a corporate securitisation are familiar (even though in a different context), makes corporate securitisations robust as well as flexible.