Assessing the effectiveness of business support services in England: evidence from a theory based evaluation

In England, publicly supported advisory services for small firms are organised primarily through the Business Link (BL) network. Based on the programme theory underlying this business support services we develop four propositions and test these empirically using data from a new survey of over 3,000 English small firms. Our empirical results provide a broad validation of the programme theory underlying BL assistance for small firms in England during 2003, and more limited support for its effectiveness. More specifically, we find strong support for the value of BL operators maintaining a high profile as a way of boosting take-up. We also find some support for the approach to market segmentation adopted by BL allowing more intensive assistance to be targeted on younger firms and those with limited liability status. In terms of the outcomes of BL support, and allowing for issues of sample selection, we find no significant effects on growth from ‘other’ assistance but do find positive and significant employment growth effects from intensive assistance. This provides partial support for the programme theory assertion that BL support will lead to improvements in business growth performance and stronger support for the proposition that there would be differential outcomes from intensive and other assistance. The positive employment growth outcomes identified here from intensive assistance, even allowing for sample selection, suggest something of an improvement in the effectiveness of the BL network since the late 1990s

Company Law as an Instrument of Inclusion: Re-regulating Stakeholder Relations in the Context of Takeovers

This paper considers a number of potential justifications for regulatory intervention aimed at overcoming 'contractual failure' in stakeholder relations. Two distinct functions of stakeholding are identified, in terms of 'contract' and 'innovation' respectively. These conceptions are linked to two distinct approaches to the regulation of stakeholder relations, one based on 'rights' and the other on 'cooperation'. The implications of an innovation based approach for reform of the law relating to hostile takeovers in the UK are considered. The paper concludes by suggesting that the effectiveness of regulation will depend on the capacity of legal rules and procedures to promote cooperation within stakeholder relations, in particular by generating markets for information.

Training senior employees for ICT skills enhancement through “refocus”: The EUROPEAN project

Declining fertility rates and the ageing of the European population represents a major challenge to many governments within the European Union (EU) and its neighbouring realms, in the present and for the forthcoming decades. The increasing ageing workforce within several United Kingdom (UK) and the EU private and public organisations is an evident manisfestation. The workforce comprised of senior employees are often seen by employers as less mobile and flexible with low performance and thus, less able to deal with the rapid changes occurring in their organisations; as rapid developments require flexible and responsive workforce. The mobility of the senior employees is therefore a topical theme in the workforce market. The necessary knowledge and skills required for the senior employees can be taught through various Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) related training systems within an organisation. However, it appears that the development of training systems required for senior employees need careful investigation into the requirements of the problem situation. The reason is that the design of senior employees training systems should be more carefully planned, as literature indicates that it is significantly time consuming and is harder to train senior employees on ICT applications. This paper presents a European project – REFOCUS (oldeR Employees training on inFOrmation and CommUnication technologieS), an initaitive undertaken by the EU for enhancing the ICT skills of the ageing workforce. This project also aims at designing a new electronic learning (e-Learning) method that focuses on the needs of senior employees of 40 years of age and over – who can become a strategic resource for the European economy

Advisory Succession in Real Estate Investment Trusts

Adaptation is crucial to realise high data rate transmission in multicarrier communication systems over dispersive channels. Apart from rate/power adaptation enabled by orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), OFDM/offset QAM (OFDM/OQAM) systems provide possibility to adjust pulse shapes depending on the channel characteristics. In this paper we discuss and evaluate pulse shape adaptivity in OFDM/OQAM systems with focus on the extended Gaussian functions (EGF) which have been shown to be good candidates for pulse shape adaptation. By investigating the time frequency dispersion robustness and carrier frequency offset sensitivity, both analysis and simulation results show that pulse shape adaptation with respect to the channel state information can improve the system performance.QC 20111108</p

Globalization, comparative political economy and the economic policies of the Blair Government

This paper critically examines attempts to revitalize the comparative political economy model in contrast to analyses based on a globalization perspective. The organized market economy approach of Peter Hall is seen as a more inviting version of the CPE model. The political dilemmas facing national governments in an era of globalization are examined through a discussion of the economic policies of the Blair Government in Britain

Special Libraries, February 1916

Volume 7, Issue 2https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1916/1001/thumbnail.jp

When moving information online diminishes change : advisory services to SMEs

Small firms perform poorly. How to support SMEs effectively has occupied policymakers for decades. Previous work suggests weak competition as a cause of ‘the problem’. Therefore, the means of delivering support matters little. Accordingly, the government moved support online rather than be delivered in face-to-face exchanges between advisers and clients. However, we suggest adopting internal management practices to build capabilities does require face-to-face contact, so practices diffuse in a pattern like an ‘epidemic’. In support a multinomial logit model of 1334 cases of advice found SMEs that took advice to enhance internal management practices were more likely to be referred by other firms. Hence, we argue that moving online diminished change within these SMEs

The meaning of Social Innovation: A review of the literature

Social innovation has emerged as a key concept in the contemporary world, especially in the field of business and technology. This practice focuses on creating creative and sustainable solutions to social and environmental problems, and has proven to be a powerful tool for generating positive change in society. The literature on social innovation is vast and varied, including studies that explore its origins, definitions, models, success stories, and challenges. In this context, a review of the literature related to Social Innovation represents the contribution of this article to understand the different perspectives and trends in the social innovation ecosystem in Mexico.ITESO, A.C