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Presented is a path analysis of causal connections between several open‐plan attributes and discrete effective facilities space management aspects of commercial offices in Sydney. The aim is to use quantitative estimates to demonstrate in structural equations the effect coefficients of the complex connections between selected open‐plan and effective facilities space management variables. Over one hundred open‐plan offices in the Sydney CBD were examined. Some open‐plan attributes were found to have direct impacts on several effective facilities space management variables, while others exhibited indirect effects through management control aspects. In most cases, management control reduced the effect coefficients. This paper concludes that, with dedicated management control, the impact of open‐plan on facilities space management may be less extensive. The implication of this result is for re‐engineering of work environments to consider aspects of management that invariably moderates and/or intervenes in the relationship of space, people and work process.

Presents findings from research on open‐plan measures in the determination of facilities space management. The aim of the research is to determine the impact of open‐plan measures on the effectiveness of facilities space management of CBD commercial office buildings ‐ the end‐view being to establish criteria for effective management and re‐engineering of open‐plan workspaces. A review of the literature reveals that this issue has not been definitively investigated. Hence, open‐plan measures remain virtually under‐exploited for the purpose of greater effectiveness of facilities space management. A sample of 102 open‐plan offices was studied, and data analysed using descriptive (such as mean, standard deviation, range) and inferential statistics (such as Spearman’s rho and partial correlations, multiple regression and path analysis). Direct and indirect associations were found between open‐plan and the effectiveness of facilities space management measures. However, some of the relationships were partly and wholly explained by management control measures. Though only multiple regression results are presented here, for reasons of brevity, this study concludes that, in many ways, certain open‐plan measures independently determine the effectiveness of facilities space management. This conclusion serves as a basis for developing criteria for effective management and re‐engineering of open‐plan workspaces.

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the current affordable apartment dwelling quality attributes, and the preferences of eastern Michigan's urban young and poor, with a view to making recommendations for improvement based on findings.

Data were collected through the questionnaire instrument administered to a representative sample of 32 apartment dwellers. Some ordinal ranking scales were developed and treated in a quantitative manner by assigning ordered Likert scores to them, while others were measured using ratio scales. Spearman rho's correlation and Kruskal–Wallis H test were conducted on the data.

Among the key conclusions, it was observed that the choice to dwell in an apartment may be simply deliberate and a real preference, and not necessarily connected with income, gender or age. The overwhelmingly majority of apartment occupants rejected to pay more for environmentally sustainable apartments.

It is acknowledged that the design of the study, the sample size and statistical methodologies will necessarily limit the accuracy of the results and conclusions based on them. However, they are appropriate and adequate for this level of study. Besides increasing the sample size, further analysis and interpretation of the results are required in future explorations of this research in order to achieve focused and definitive conclusions.

The findings have practical implications for future choices while designing and building apartments that satisfy the health, safety and welfare (HSW) needs of the occupants. Overall, this understanding if implemented may help reduce the rate of turnover among apartment dwellers engendered by dissatisfaction occupants have towards their apartments. At the basic level, this research can initiate a re‐think that would encourage stakeholders to embrace the concept of more suitable, HSW quality‐focused apartments, on realizing and recognizing apartment aspects that most appeal to the urban young and poor who make up a significant proportion of the US population and workforce. This research has the potential to make a significant national impact on the US HSW debate, as it addresses a key stipulation of the Federal housing policy objectives – the Cranston‐Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (1990/1998).

This research uncovers salient aspects of apartment that influence the rate of turnover among dwellers engendered by their dissatisfaction with certain apartment features. It reveals apartment aspects that appeal to its urban young and poor occupants.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the entrepreneurial‐directed approach to entrepreneurship education by discussing different teaching techniques aimed at infusing entrepreneurial skills and behaviour among students in the university setting.

The authors experimented with the entrepreneurial‐directed approach in their university‐level teaching, and used a combination of qualitative research methods and observation techniques to evaluate its feasibility and applicability. Information sources analysed include written material, e.g. learning diaries provided by the students, teachers' observations, and group discussions during the programme.

The study provides information on recent studies on entrepreneurship emphasising the core role of opportunity – discovering, evaluating and exploiting it – and reviews teaching techniques currently used in entrepreneurship education. The entrepreneurial‐directed approach seems to be well suited to the teaching situation as it encourages students to broaden their perspectives, and also to develop the entrepreneurial skills and behaviour required for their studies.

The paper provides a useful source of information for teachers interested in developing a more entrepreneurial approach, as well as for academics interested in the substance and nature of entrepreneurship education. The approach represents an experiential learning challenge to teachers and students in that it decreases the predictability and control of the teaching situation, on the other hand, increases the interest in learning and teaching.

The value of the approach is in integrating knowledge, experience and action within one entrepreneurship programme.

The small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) development has been the subject of a growing interest among academics and practitioners, as well as multilateral institutions. However, the interest in the growth of African business evolution has been under‐researched, even as developments and market dynamics are increasingly impacting this sub‐sector, especially in the UK. The urgent need arises for a study that enables practitioners and educators and also lends some insight into the possibilities and limitations in the UK environment, with a view to improving entrepreneurial education that is focused on these minorities. This paper aims to fill that gap.

This study focuses on the development of black African SMEs (BASMEs) in London by examining the various factors that impact their development. A qualitative methodological approach was used to gain a better understanding of the BASMEs.

This research proceeds by developing a conceptual matrix to classify the black Africans into four but significant emergent groups. It also discusses the trend of growth in the last decade. Finally, it draws conclusions on managerial implications, by identifying the various social, economic and environmental limitations that impact (BASMEs') growth.

A substantial part of this study was based on secondary data. There appear to be several areas in need of further research. Further in‐depth research is required to assess the characteristics of BASMEs.

The study enables practitioners, policy makers and educators to have an insight into the possibilities and limitations in the UK environment. It will help to improve entrepreneurial education and policies that are focused on these minorities. It goes on to make suggestions as to how those may be improved, as well as identifying new areas of possible research.

The study provides all interested parties, the African businesses and other ethnic businesses, with a more robust body of literature and information from which new and further research can be built and expanded.

This paper aims to consider the embodied energy of building materials in the context of greenhouse gas emission mitigation strategies. Previous practice and research are highlighted where they have the potential to influence design decisions. Latest embodied energy figures are indicated, and the implications of applying these figures to whole buildings are discussed. Several practical examples are given to aid building designers in the selection of building materials for reduced overall life cycle greenhouse gas emissions.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the influence of the creative industries on design education in New Zealand.

A range of contemporary literature is presented to help define the term “creative industries”, and to locate this new “culture of creativity” within a wider global trend of creative cultural theory.

Cultural policy initiatives from Britain, Canada and New Zealand are reviewed and used to demonstrate how creative industries theory has sought to combine social, cultural and economic development.

This paper is primarily concerned with recent changes to design education and the ways in which universities and polytechnics are attempting to meet the challenges of this new holistic approach to creativity and innovation.

In the final section the concept of interdisciplinary study of design is explored. This new model is developed through the example of a new interdisciplinary programme structure developed by the Wellington Institute of Technology in New Zealand.

In conclusion the concept of a “virtuous cycle” is used to describe the relationship between design education and the creative industries. This paper argues that, if this cycle continues, the creative industries will expand to become the model for a new economy based on social, cultural and economic entrepreneurship and change.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a quantitative multicriteria decision‐making approach to knowledge management in construction entrepreneurship education by means of an analytic knowledge network process (KANP).

The KANP approach in the study integrates a standard industrial classification with the analytic network process (ANP). For the construction entrepreneurship education, a decision‐making model named KANP.CEEM is built to apply the KANP method in the evaluation of teaching cases to facilitate the case method, which is widely adopted in entrepreneurship education at business schools.

The study finds that there are eight clusters and 178 nodes in the KANP.CEEM model, and experimental research on the evaluation of teaching cases discloses that the KANP method is effective in conducting knowledge management to the entrepreneurship education.

As an experimental research, this paper ignores the concordance between a selected standard classification and others, which perhaps limits the usefulness of KANP.CEEM model elsewhere.

As the KANP.CEEM model is built based on the standard classification codes and the embedded ANP, it is thus expected that the model has a wide potential in evaluating knowledge‐based teaching materials for any education purpose with a background from the construction industry, and can be used by both faculty and students.

This paper fulfils a knowledge management need and offers a practical tool for an academic starting out on the development of knowledge‐based teaching cases and other teaching materials or for a student going through the case studies and other learning materials.

The purpose of this research was to investigate using the seminal writings of Schumpeter and Kirzner as a guide – individuals who are potentially involved in entrepreneurship can be identified as being innovators or opportunity‐alert. Specifically, this exploratory project attempts to answer the following question: “Are some individuals better at being innovators, while others are better able to recognize entrepreneurial opportunities and, if so, does academic‐career training matter?”

The study relied on purposive sampling and received survey responses from postgraduate students in business and engineering. The 26‐item survey was made up of demographic indices and questions from the Schumpeter and Kirzner literature. A total of 242 business and 525 engineering students received the e‐mail from academic advisors. Usable responses were received from 36 business students (15 percent response rate) and 67 engineering students (13 percent response rate).

The research found evidence that individuals with engineering training were not as proficient at recognizing opportunities as their business‐trained contemporaries.

This is an exploratory research project which acknowledges the associated limitations. As well as contributing to a deeper understanding of two core entrepreneurship topics these findings have pedagogical and practitioner implications. From a pedagogy vantage point, instructors will be better equipped to frame courses in entrepreneurship if they better understand the propensity of their audience. The results indicate that this is particularly relevant to engineering schools. In practitioner terms, funding groups and various supporters of entrepreneurs (business angels, family financiers, and the like) will be better able to understand and work with individuals if they are aware that they are not, for example, alert to new opportunities.

This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of innovation and opportunity alertness.