Assessing the Development of Sub-regional and Local Strategic Partnerships: A Comparison of Durham and Northumberland, North East, and Leicester, East Midlands

This paper examines the development of strategic partnerships at local and sub-regional levels in the light of recent duty placed on local government to promote regeneration and overall well-being. The paper identifies four propositions for regeneration, as well as seven criteria for effective partnership functioning. It then attempts to empirically test these propositions and criteria on six cases of strategic partnerships in the North East and East Midlands. It argues that although there are indications of successful partnership arrangements for effective regeneration there are some dysfunctional elements that need to be considered

Do Competency Frameworks Influence Business Performance? An Empirical Study of the Nigerian Banking Sector

The competency-based management system has grown to become one of the most influential HRM tools of the 21st century. However, there remains limited empirical data addressing the relationship between the adoption of a competency framework and organizational performance. The study reported upon in this paper is based within the Nigerian banking sector. A qualitative methodological approach was adopted, employing interviews with employees of the top ten high street banks in Nigeria. The result of the field data was subsequently analyzed using NVivo in order to achieve the aim of the research. The findings revealed that competency-based management frameworks are being used and that indeed they are a key management tool within the selected Nigerian banks. Importantly, the findings clearly suggest the adopted competency frameworks are having a positive impact on the banks’ performance

Local government and leisure:: A study of two local authorities and their responses to the growth of leisure

Local authorities have a long history of providing recreation and leisure services, but since the 1970s leisure departments have expanded with a corresponding growth in the number and importance of professional officers to run them. Growing affluence and improvements in the quality of life have led to a recognition of the social importance of leisure provision, and more recently its economic importance has been established with the introduction of schemes aimed at rejuvenating local areas. This thesis investigates the internal workings of two neighbouring local authorities in the North East of England. It is a comparative study of the District Councils of Wear Valley and Chester-le-Street, focusing primarily on the importance of leisure services in the public sector. It draws attention to the importance of leisure to justify local government as elected bodies concerned with the overall well-being of their local communities. After considering historical, philosophical and sociological perspectives on leisure, and examining the role of public bodies in the provision of leisure, the thesis proceeds with a detailed analysis of leisure services in Wear Valley and Chester-le-Street in a period of dramatic change. An evaluation of the differences in each District and their responses leads to a consideration of the 'Enabling' role now expected of all local authorities. Although local government is an important element in the British political system, it has been subjected to a plethora of legislation since 1979, aimed at reducing public spending and questioning and controlling the role and purpose of local authorities. The comparison of the two Districts involves an investigation of their internal conduct and business. It finds that leisure services are an increasingly important reasons for maintaining elected local authorities

A regional regime? : regeneration in the North East of England

This dissertation is set in the North East (NE) of England and demonstrates how an experimental form of elite governance, characterised by multi-level, intra and inter-agency negotiation and co-ordination developed within complex and ambiguous socio-political structures and traditional hierarchies to deal with unmet social and economic needs. This emergent form of entrepreneurial governance has resulted from a poorly institutionalised field of regeneration, and allowed elites to seek autonomy by adapting national policies to specifically regional projects. A top-down, managerialist form of governance, it is not entirely democratic or open to public participation, but strategically contingent on global and other constraints. Central to an understanding of regeneration is the way strategies are formulated and implemented. This regime, with a broader mix of enterprising public servants and politically minded business and other interests, has coalesced over a long period to respond entrepreneurially to the consequences of globalisation and uneven development, and the failure of national and regional policies. A legacy of decline has created a strategic, cohesive and identifiably exclusive regime of actors, who act in the region’s interests. This regime is unlike the static or re-constructive regimes prevalent in other regions, rather it blends the positive aspects of traditional regional decision making with a more innovative approach. Democratic forms of managing regional space have gradually been replaced by a more adaptable and flexible form more suited to modern day and future needs. Power and influence shift dynamically over time, space and initiative, activities are legitimised by absorbing state officials into activities, and being in close proximity to civic society. As part of the history of change, and embedded in the social system, elites interact formally and informally

Leadership insights from the top: Exploring leadership through the narratives of CEOs in India

This paper highlights the corporate and non-corporate leadership practices in India, the effect of culture on such practices and how these drive management philosophies. Semi structured interviews were conducted with CEOs from India. The findings provide insights into organisational leadership in the context of India, more specifically the values, purpose and culture that guides leadership and management and the unique context in which leadership is practised. A key finding was that Indian leadership shares some aspects of global leadership traits, but cultural factors are significant influences on leadership style and philosophy. The long socio-economic and historical context of India cannot be ignored and has flavoured the leadership style of its business leaders. Many qualities of a good leader, as defined by Indian CEOs were derived from the Hindu mythology (Bhagvad Gita, Mahabharata, Ramayana, and the four Vedas). The findings are helpful to both practitioners and policy makers seeking to understand the leadership style of Indian CEOs. Our contribution rests on leadership insights which provide a more nuanced leadership style with elements of universalism as well as a particularism rooted in the rich socio-economic cultural history of India. Such a leadership has enabled pragmatism and a performance focus in the face of group and collective orientation

Comparing the development of Local Industrial Strategies across the Northern Powerhouse: Key emerging issues

Will the UK Industrial Strategy deliver anything substantial to the North of England? This article examines the faltering steps taken to develop Local Industrial Strategies by Local Enterprise Partnerships and Mayoral Combined Authorities and argues Place Leadership and Industrial Strategy will both need to be substantially re-galvanised after COVID 19. It is also still not clear if a significant step change can be made by the Johnson Conservative government of 2019, which will have a major impact on Northern economies. Agencies’ capacity to intervene in the Northern economy and deliver is a major issue, alongside stronger leadership. Analytically the paper uses theory on Multi-Sectoral Collaboration and Place Leadership to show how uniqueness of place, past and current interpersonal connections and networks can facilitate or frustrate economic development. Place leaders must create institutional arrangements, seek agreement over visions, objectives and strategies, otherwise the lack of shared information, resources, activities and capabilities lead to ‘contestation’ over space and action. We analyse the levels of cohesion or contestation in four different localities as each develops a Local Industrial Strategy

Curvaton reheating mechanism in inflation on warped Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati brane

An impressed feature of inflation on warped Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) brane is that the inflationary phase exits spontaneously for a scalar inflaton field with exponential potential, which presents a graceful exit mechanism for the inflation. But its reheating mechanism leaves open. We investigate the curvaton reheating in inflation on warped DGP brane model. The reheating may occur in effctively 5 dimensional or 4 dimensional stage. We study the permitted parameter space of the curvaton field in detail. We demonstrate how the inflation model of the warped DGP brane is improved by the curvaton mechanism.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, references adde

Curvaton Reheating in Non-oscillatory Inflationary Models

In non-oscillatory (NO) inflationary models, the reheating mechanism was usually based on gravitational particle production or the mechanism of instant preheating. In this paper we introduce the curvaton mechanism into NO models to reheat the universe and generate the curvature perturbation. Specifically we consider the Peebles-Vilenkin quintessential inflation model, where the reheating temperature can be extended from 1MeV to $10^{13}$GeV.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Quintessence, Supersymmetry and Inflation

Recent data point in the direction of a $\Lambda$ dominated universe. We briefly review ``Quintessence'' as a model for a dynamical cosmological term and analyse the role of Susy QCD as a possible particle physics candidate. The multiscalar content of the theory is fully taken into account and interaction with other cosmological fields is discussed. Finally, the possibility of constructing a unified scheme for quintessence and inflation is mentioned.Comment: 5 LaTex pages, no figures; Talk given at the International Workshop on "Particles in Astrophysics and Cosmology: from Theory to Observations" (Valencia99), 3-8 May 1999, Valencia, Spain. To appear on Nucl. Phys. B, Proc. Supp

How long before the end of inflation were observable perturbations produced?

We reconsider the issue of the number of e-foldings before the end of inflation at which observable perturbations were generated. We determine a plausible upper limit on that number for the standard cosmology which is around 60, with the expectation that the actual value will be up to 10 below this. We also note a special property of the $\lambda \phi^4$ model which reduces the uncertainties in that case and favours a higher value, giving a fairly definite prediction of 64 e-foldings for that model. We note an extreme (and highly implausible) situation where the number of e-foldings can be even higher, possibly up to 100, and discuss the shortcomings of quantifying inflation by e-foldings rather than by the change in $aH$. Finally, we discuss the impact of non-standard evolution between the end of inflation and the present, showing that again the expected number of e-foldings can be modified, and in some cases significantly increased.Comment: 7 pages RevTeX4 file with one figure incorporated. Minor updates to match version accepted by Physical Review