Search results

This paper is the sequel to the authors' earlier paper in this journal and aims to present the “future research” outlined in that paper.

The approaches being employed by Welsh local authorities in commissioning home care from the independent sector are surveyed to see how a mixed economy of care is being implemented. The observed differences are analysed to see what can be learnt for the benefit of public sector managers concerned with the development of commissioning practices. Semi‐structured interviews have been performed with home care managers and commissioning officers in 13 (60 per cent) of the local, unitary authorities in Wales. Managers at independent home care providers have been interviewed also. The study has been ongoing since September 2004. For comparison, Barnet in England has been included because, unlike any Welsh authority, it has implemented 100 per cent outsourcing of home care. Croydon has been included as it has a good practice brokerage that has helped it to expand its provision from the independent sector.

Great diversity is seen in the approaches adopted by the Welsh local authorities when commissioning home care from the independent sector. They differ in the proportion of home care that is commissioned from the independent sector, what is commissioned, the number of independent providers and the contractual arrangements. These features are used to develop a taxonomy of home care strategies that reveals high levels of diversity. It is seen that in Wales there has been less political drive and compulsion to outsource home care than in England, but the natural desire to reduce costs in the face of a growing need for home care is now driving outsourcing in Wales.

This paper provides guidance to public sector managers in local authorities seeking best practice in the commissioning of home care from the independent sector.

The existing literature contains little research into good practice in the commissioning of home care by local authorities from the independent sector. This paper is a timely contribution to addressing this shortfall.

The purpose of this paper is to examine out‐of‐stock (OOS) challenges in the independent grocery sector with a special emphasis on in‐store root causes. The analysis aims to assess the extent and root causes for OOS in the independently controlled retail sector and provide a comparison of these results with the centrally controlled chain sector in Denmark. The paper also seeks to examine the practices and challenges of store ordering and store replenishment processes in the independent sector and identify practical implications for store management and other members of the grocery channels.

The research design includes two studies. Study‐I surveys and compares the extent and root causes of OOS of 42 stores from eight chains in the two sectors. Study‐II identifies, based on qualitative interviews with 17 store managers/owners of independent stores, specific insights on store operations.

The quantitative study shows that the OOS rates in the independent sector are significantly higher than in the centrally organized sector. Furthermore, the independent grocery sector faces OOS challenges in more categories than the centrally controlled sector. The study also reveals a very large variation in the performance of independent stores. Contrary to the centrally controlled chain store sector, the major root cause for OOS in the independent sector is found in the store ordering process. The qualitative study shows that the main discriminating issues between stores with a low and a high OOS rate are: store management emphasis and commitment to OOS issues; the resulting priority and managerial guidance in store ordering and store replenishment tasks; the stability of staff and the proper planning for replenishment peaks; the store size and resulting space conditions; and the use of appropriate decision heuristics and use of inventory in store ordering.

The findings have practical implications for store management as it reveals practices to pursue and to avoid. Also, it is argued that the findings have implications for the other members of the grocery channels.

Empirically, this paper explores two issues not being dealt with in depth in previous research, i.e. the OOS challenge in the independent sector and the emphasis on store operations.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate key organisational processes in managing “safeguarding” in relation to the independent sector, the local authority delivery arm for care.

The methods employed were a telephone survey (one in five random sample of all residential and domiciliary providers in a local authority area) and follow up focus groups (n=2) of local authority staff and independent sector domiciliary and residential providers, in an action research framework. The survey was developed through expert members of a multi‐agency Project Reference Group.

Three survey domains (on “information”, “training” and “support and advice”) indicated high satisfaction, but “experience of investigations'” low rating raised questions for further exploration and were followed up in detail in the focus groups selected from providers with experience of safeguarding alerts. A number of issues were raised for local policy and for safeguarding more broadly.

The paper only assesses one local authority area. A more balanced systems approach is needed to manage safeguarding.

The involvement of the independent sector in safeguarding is under‐researched and the development of processes that encourage a research culture and a systems approach are exemplified.

Reviews the current uses of IT in the independent sector of the hotel industry by means of a survey in south Wales in 1994. Reveals that only 50 per cent of this sector uses IT and that use is essentially clerical. There are some inherent demographic factors creating a barrier, and a potential market for suppliers of hardware and software in the independent sector which is, so far, not met. Concludes that education, training and advice in the application of IT for independent hotels is urgently needed to compete in the “information age”.

This paper details work undertaken to identify and assess the skills needs of small, especially food‐related, independent retailers in the United Kingdom. The paper, part of a European Social Fund (ESF) assisted project: “Towards a healthy high street (II)”, considers the specific skills areas deemed to be lacking at present in the sector. From this, higher‐level learning materials will be developed which relate to the skills areas identified. The prime source of evidence for skills needs identification draws upon research undertaken as part of two previous ESF projects. The key aim of this paper is to combine and articulate the findings from this earlier ESF research with material published by practitioners, academics and government pertaining to the provision of training in this vital sector of the economy. Three key areas upon which to focus training in the sector are explored: “Building and sustaining competitive advantage”, “E‐commerce” and “Retail operations”.

Independent travelers are those vacationers who have booked only a minimum of their transportation and accommodation arrangements prior to departure on the vacation. Independent travel is an important and growing sector of worldwide tourism. Choice of vacation itinerary for the independent vacation represents a complex series of decisions regarding purchase of multiple leisure and tourism services. This chapter builds and tests a model of independent traveler decision-making for choice of vacation itinerary. The research undertaken employs a two-phase, inductive–deductive case study design. In the deductive phase, the researcher interviewed 20 travel parties vacationing in New Zealand for the first time. The researcher interviewed respondents at both the beginning and the end of their New Zealand vacations. The study compares pre-vacation research and plans, and actual vacation behaviors, on a case-by-case basis. The study examines case study narratives and quantitative measures of crucial variables. The study tests two competing models of independent traveler decision-making, using a pattern-matching procedure. This embedded research design results in high multi-source, multi-method validity for the supported model. The model of the Independent Vacation as Evolving Itinerary suggests that much of the vacation itinerary experienced in independent travel is indeed unplanned, and that a desire to experience the unplanned is a key hedonic motive for independent travel. Rather than following a fixed itinerary, the itinerary of an independent vacation evolves as the vacation proceeds. The independent traveler takes advantage of serendipitous opportunities to experience a number of locations, attractions and activities that they had neither actively researched nor planned.

This paper seeks to address the question, “How can private home care providers compete and drive their businesses forward to deliver best value to the community?” Public sector managers in local authorities need this question answered so that they can provide their part of the solution, facilitating best value.

A review was performed of relevant literature on the commissioning (outsourcing) of home care and of best value. This indicates that the future of home care services, taking into consideration commissioning and how best value will be achieved, has not been researched widely. Therefore, an exploratory approach to research was adopted here using in‐depth analysis of a small number of particularly informative local authorities and private providers selected by purposive/judgemental (extreme and critical case) sampling. Personal contact was deemed necessary in order to perform an intensive investigation to pursue in‐depth information.

To improve value one can cut costs and/or increase quality. It is argued here that there is little immediate opportunity for private home care providers to cut costs and with fixed pricing substantial improvements in quality cannot be funded by increased prices or cost cutting elsewhere. To address this impasse, two solutions have been identified; increased economies of scale through consolidation in the marketplace and radical improvements in efficiency through the exploitation of information and communication technology (ICT). Both of these strategies have major ramifications for the “enabling local authority” taking actions to see best value delivered to its community.

This paper presents the findings of exploratory research. A more detailed study covering many more local authorities, private care providers and an international prospective will be conducted over the next two years.

This paper provides timely guidance to public sector managers in local authorities and private home care providers seeking best value in home care through commissioning.

Little has been found in the literature on strategies by which private home care providers can deliver best value, yet such strategies are needed urgently to achieve best value. This paper is a timely contribution to addressing this need.

The July 2, 2000, electoral victory of Vicente Fox of the opposition National Action Party (PAN) as president of Mexico marked an historic turning point in that country’s political development. The ouster from power of Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after seventy-one years promised to rupture the long-time alliance between organized labor, the state, and the PRI. A transition to a democratic political regime would create new opportunities for the struggling independent labor movement in Mexico. More importantly, a political transition would make possible for the first time a shift away from an authoritarian-corporatist system of industrial relations toward a democratic model of labor governance.

Lowering of investment barriers between European nations has led to increasing integration of their capital markets. Consequently, global investors may be well‐advised to evaluate European stocks, not on the basis of the country of listing, but on the basis of the transnational industrial sector to which the stocks belong. This study utilizes performance measures, grounded in modern portfolio theory, to assess the risk‐adjusted return that has accrued to major transnational industrial sectors in Europe, such as consumer products, technology, utilities and financial services. The empirical documentation generated here can be used by international investors as input in decision making for sectorial allocation of funds in the European component of their global stock portfolios.