Beyond green niches? Growth strategies of environmentally-motivated social enterprises

The article examines the strategies by which environmentally-motivated social enterprises seek to scale up their positive impacts, drawing on a theoretical understanding of the role of entrepreneurial agency in transitions to a more sustainable economy and society. Case study evidence is used to explore different forms of enterprise growth, contributions to economic, environmental and social value, and the capabilities involved in their realisation. A typology of three distinct approaches or modes is introduced to help explain orientations and strategies that reflect both conventional conceptions of growth and alternative ways of growing social and environmental value. The role of values, capabilities and relational learning in shaping strategies and addressing the tensions and challenges encountered within each category is highlighted

The use of external sources of health and safety information and advice: the case of small firms

This paper draws on British survey and interview data concerning the use made by small firms of external health and safety information and advice, the sources of such information and advice that they utilise, or would consider using, and the difficulties they experience in accessing information and advice of this type. These data are then used by the authors to shed light on the channels of such information and advice that are most likely to support improvements in how health and safety is managed in small enterprises. The authors' analysis leads them to caution against adopting an overly optimistic view of the part that can be played in this respect by intermediary organisations and the publication of more and better advisory material, and to stress the importance of not understating the advisory and information-providing role of health and safety inspectors

Sub-post offices and high street revitalisation: lessons from the experience of grant assistance to sub-post offices in deprived urban areas of the UK

Post Offices (POs) are essential service providers within deprived urban areas. This paper explores some lessons from the impact of grant assistance to sub-post offices (SPOs) in deprived urban areas of England and Scotland which are relevant to contemporary policy initiatives to revive high streets. Utilising longitudinal data to explore whether government grant assistance has made a difference in enabling the survival and development of assisted SPOs, it also considers their role in maintaining and developing shops and services in deprived urban neighbourhoods. The inter-relationship of SPOs with their local economies and communities is explored, including external influences such as competition and complementarity and internal influences relating to the evolving role of SPOs in the early 21st century. A central theme is the apparent paradox between the UK Government’s desire to maintain SPOs as essential service providers and catalysts for other ‘high street’ services within deprived urban areas, whilst opening their core services up to increasing levels of competition. Key Words: Post Offices, Retail, High Street Services, Urban, Regeneration, Deprivatio

Implementing democratic governance and ownership: the interplay of structure and culture in public service social enterprises

We examine the implementation of governance arrangements to extend ownership and control to employees and community stakeholders in social enterprises. Evidence from a sample of newly created public service social enterprises in England shows how the realisation of democratic ideals involves a gradual and often challenging process. Different outcomes are explained in terms of an interplay between the legal forms and representational mechanisms adopted and the enabling role of organisational culture. The paper contributes an analytic framework that captures the range of possible outcomes in terms of stakeholder versus stewardship forms of representation, and the cultural-psychological dimension of ownership. Organisations may find themselves at different stages in the journey towards the realisation of democratic ownership and governance. Conclusions are drawn for the field of social enterprise and non-profit research

Data and programming code from the studies on the learning curve for radical prostatectomy

Our group analyzed a multi-institutional data set to address the question of how the outcomes of surgery for prostate cancer are affected by surgeon-specific factors. The cohort consists of 9076 patients treated by open radical prostatectomy at one of four US academic institutions 1987 - 2003. The primary analyses focused on 7765 patients without neoadjuvant therapy. The most well-known finding is that of a surgical "learning curve", with rates of prostate cancer cure strongly dependent on surgeon experience. In this "data note", we provide the raw data set, as well as well-annotated programming code for the main analyses. Data include markers of cancer severity (stage, grade and prostate-specific antigen level), cancer outcome, and surgeon variables such as training and experience

Ecological effects and environmental fate of solid rocket exhaust

Specific target processes were classified as to the chemical, chemical-physical, and biological reactions and toxic effects of solid rocket emissions within selected ecosystems at Kennedy Space Center. Exposure of Citris seedlings, English peas, and bush beans to SRM exhaust under laboratory conditions demonstrated reduced growth rates, but at very high concentrations. Field studies of natural plant populations in three diverse ecosystems failed to reveal any structural damage at the concentration levels tested. Background information on elemental composition of selected woody plants from two terrestrial ecosystems is reported. LD sub 50 for a native mouse (peromysous gossypinus) exposed to SRM exhaust was determined to be 50 ppm/g body weight. Results strongly indicate that other components of the SRM exhaust act synergically to enhance the toxic effects of HCl gas when inhaled. A brief summary is given regarding the work on SRM exhaust and its possible impact on hatchability of incubating bird eggs

Magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instability at a contact discontinuity with an oblique magnetic field

Aims. In the present work we investigate the nature of the magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instability at a density interface permeated by an oblique, homogeneous magnetic field in an incompressible limit. Methods. Using the system of linearised ideal incompressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations we derive the dispersion relation for perturbations of the contact discontinuity by imposing the necessary continuity conditions at the interface. The imaginary part of the frequency describes the growth rate of waves due to instability. The growth rate of waves is studied by solving numerically the dispersion relation. Results. The critical wavenumber at which waves become unstable, present for a parallel magnetic field, disappears, due to the inclination of the magnetic field and instead waves are shown to be unstable for all wavenumbers. Theoretical results are applied to diagnose the structure of the magnetic field in prominence threads. When applying our theoretical results to observed waves in prominence plumes, we obtain a wide range of field inclination angle; from 0.5◦ up to 30◦. These results highlight the diagnostic possibility of our study