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This article reports on a national project being developed by the Royal National Institute of the Blind. It is aimed at improving health and social care for older people with sight problems, by focusing on some of the standards of the National Service Framework for older people and applying them to older people with sight problems. The project will identify, develop and disseminate good practice by establishing two pilot sites and conducting desk research.

The purpose of this paper is to respond to the increasing pressure on financial markets to more systematically value the intangible assets in listed firms.

Using qualitative research techniques on the trading floor of Merrill Lynch Investment Bank in Sydney and Hong Kong, four tools for human capital analysis have been developed by the authors.

These tools provide mechanisms for securities analysts to more systematically analyse the intangible aspects of publicly listed firms on global stock exchanges.

Given the complex regulatory requirements on securities analysts in many developed economies, these tools are predicated on analysts using publicly available information.

Specifically, the tools use a systems approach and can assist securities analysts to be more systematic in their analysis of management quality of publicly listed companies, as it is manifested in a firm's management systems.

Purpose – Institutional investors need to move beyond first- and second-generation interpretations of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) (based on negative filters), and also beyond third and fourth generations (based on positive and integrated filters), which are more sophisticated but still limited, and toward a fifth generation of SRI and CSR. A fifth-generation model systematically incorporates critical intangibles, such as human capital analysis, into the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment process.

Methodology – This chapter incorporates a literature review and draws on a range of qualitative research and case studies on the current and potential role of regulators to regulate nontraditional measures of value.

Findings – The power of institutional investors is currently based on incomplete information from listed companies on how they create value, yet it rests on superior knowledge and insight into the workings of the companies in which they invest, and is only as strong as the quality of the information it uses to make investment decisions on behalf of clients.

Research implications – More research on the role of human capital analysis, and its regulatory consequences, is required.

Practical implications – Regulators need to act within the context of these fifth-generation models in order to create the environment for more transparent investment recommendations.

Originality of chapter – This chapter contributes a qualitative and conceptual perspective to the debate on the role of regulation beyond the global financial crisis.

How can organisations and their key stakeholders, including the financial markets, benefit from the increased understanding of the role of intangibles in value creation in listed firms? One response is to challenge the finance industry to create innovative investment products based on analysis of intangibles, including human capital (HC), which can act as a lead indicator of future financial performance. This may require qualitative research specialist expertise in finance houses. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.

The paper uses qualitative data from the trading floor of Merrill Lynch in Sydney and Hong Kong, drawing on participatory action research, by the first author. It also draws on field research interview data with biotechnology executives, using a case study approach, by the second author.

The findings suggest that finance industry may need to move beyond the use of indices and ethical investment screens to more clearly understand the role of intangibles, such as HC, in value creation.

This paper described the evolution of a set of HC analysis models, and applies them to the biotechnology industry. The results indicate that more qualitative information on listed companies can be analysed and interpreted to make the investment process more transparent to all stakeholders, including securities analysts. This may influence other researchers to extend these approaches to improve the quality of intangibles analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the significance of student‐led initiatives in PhD development.

A case study is presented utilizing Kolb's model of learning from experience to identify with student‐led research training within the PhD process.

The experiential role of the student in the development of their personal doctoral training and the resultant social interactions thereof, remain as important as the more structured supervisor‐student relationship and other forms of doctoral training within the PhD research process.

This paper contributes new insights into the process of how PhD students can become more empowered by the process of “doing” a PhD, rather than being confined to their own specific discipline, whilst offering future recommendations for students embarking upon PhD research.

Purpose – This chapter introduces this book’s topics, purpose, and key themes. It summarizes the purpose of the book which is to explore through both descriptive and conceptual means the use of power by institutional investors in bringing about changes to corporate behavior, so that corporations engage in improved environmental, social, and governance actions.

Methodology/approach – This chapter reviews literature and chapters and offers conceptual development.

Findings – The forces driving the actions of institutional investors are different from many other shareholders being determined by a unique set of costs, benefits, and objectives. As such three general categories of institutional elements constrain and guide this behavior: regulative elements which include constitutions, laws, and property rights; normative elements which include informal norms, values, and codes of conduct; and cultural-cognitive elements which include shared beliefs, identities, and mental models. It highlights the role of regulation and “soft” law, the impact of values and customs, and the way sense-making and cognition impacts on decisions and actions.

Practical/social implications – The chapter highlights the interplay between hard and soft law in progressing the agenda. It seems that hard law is a hygiene factor forming the base on which initial gains can be made in the application of institutional shareholder power. Moreover, the use of soft law such as the Global Reporting Initiative and the newly founded Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, institutional investors can gain improved disclosure of sustainability performance to incorporate into their investment decisions. Moreover, it highlights the gaps in the use of the power that exists. The movement is still emerging with the focus on corporate governance and environmental considerations primarily. There are still improvements to be made for institutional investors in the social aspects of the responsibility agenda as well in pushing companies to be more transparent, improve reporting, and engage in more long-term decision-making.

Originality/value – The chapter contributes to the debate on governance convergence between liberal market economies (LMEs) and coordinated market economies (CMEs). It is important to look beyond national characteristics alone and demonstrate that organizations, even though they are impacted by institutions, are not necessarily passive acceptors of their fate. Hence this chapter highlights that in expanding from a dyadic approach comparing LMEs and CMEs, the strategic choice of decision-makers, the power of the actors, and the processes used by institutional investors in changing corporate behavior are important considerations.

Exploring the need for “neutral” public space located between the private act of voting and formal deliberative democracy, the purpose of this paper is to examine two interfaces between everyday life and democratic politics and considers ways this territory can be a site for generative artistic practises.

Many artists and architects work in the space between the individual and formal collective political processes. Speculating outward from two artworks by the author and drawing on the thought of Hannah Arendt, Rosalyn Deutsche, Chantal Mouffe, Bruno Latour and others, this paper maps theory to the territory and proposes a new framework for reconsidering the work of such practitioners.

Three potentially fruitful avenues for exploration as artistic practice related to democratic interfaces are identified and discussed through examples.

This exploration is part of a broader practice-led research project into models of public collaborative thinking within the context of artistic practice. Many argue that the public realm has been co-opted by neo-liberal political and economic forces, resulting in a sense of hopelessness that limits the ability to imagine anything else. This research reflects on artistic tactics that counter this sense of hopelessness. These practices often suggest alternative social structures, foster ephemeral (local) public spheres or propose spatial configurations that support these. This paper offers a useful framework for reflecting on the work of politically engaged artists and architects as well as structuring new projects.