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Technology is defined by Krajewski and Ritzman (2000, p. 17) as ‘the know-how, physical things, and procedures used to produce products and services’. Over the past two decades, the development of high-technology-based firms has been actively encouraged by governments and development agencies (Westhead & Storey, 1994) as a source of competitive advantage. In many cases, small high-technology-based firms have effectively exploited market opportunities. This has been helped by the emergence of generic technologies, most notably information technology that is knowledge intensive rather than capital and labour intensive (Rothwell, 1994, p. 12). Such technologies have been effectively used to open up new market niches for small- and medium-sized firms (SMEs). Accordingly, high-technology firms have become well established as sources of both competitiveness and employment creation (Oakey, 1991).

Although considerable attention in the extant literature has been devoted to knowledge acquisition and transfer within firms, there is a dearth of research on the effectiveness of outside sources of knowledge for technology‐based small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore, the majority of empirical studies in this area focus on large firms while research on smaller firms is underdeveloped. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of the sources of knowledge on the performance of technology manufacturing firms and the implications for higher education institutions (HEIs) providing advice to this sector.

Following interviews with managing directors of manufacturing firms, a number of sources of technical advice were identified. A survey of small and medium‐sized UK electronic and engineering firms was then carried out to investigate the relationship between sources of knowledge and performance and also to establish whether there is a relationship between performance and the extent of the advice network.

Significant correlations were found between company age, knowledge source remoteness and company performance. The more remote the source the less effective it is. The stronger the firm's network the more profitable it is likely to be.

This has particular implications for universities involved in knowledge transfer, as these institutions are often relatively remote compared with other sources of advice within SME networks.

The research adds to our understanding of the role of HEIs and other members of knowledge networks in relation to the achievement of competitive advantage by SMEs.

This paper aims to assess the link between strategic‐planning, aspects of the external environment and overall corporate performance in manufacturing SMEs.

A self‐reported postal survey was used to collect data from an initial sample of 1,000 randomly selected small and medium sized UK electronics and engineering firms. Prior to its deployment a number a staged approach was used to validate the questionnaire with a number of adjustments made following the pilot stage. A T‐test was used to examine the difference between early and late informants' response to key questions. Based on this test and telephone contact with non‐respondents, the authors conclude that non‐response is not a significant issue and should not affect their conclusions. Data reliability was confirmed using Cronbach's α – a commonly used statistical tool to consider data reliability when perceptual measures are used.

The findings indicate that the degree of awareness of external environment threats is associated with the degree of overall emphasis on the strategic‐planning process. Strategic‐planning in manufacturing SMEs is positively linked to overall corporate performance. The findings suggest the need to align the degree of emphasis on strategic‐planning and environmental awareness.

External operating environment threats are often ignored or at best marginalized by SMEs. The findings of this study emphasize the need to focus on strategic‐planning and to ensure alignment with the external operating environment.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that applied spatial modelling can inform the planning, delivery and evaluation of retail services, offering improvements over traditional retail impact assessment (RIA), especially within localities which experience seasonal fluctuations in demand.

The paper first describes a new theoretically informed tourist-based spatial interaction model (SIM) which has been custom-built and calibrated to capture the dynamics of the grocery sector in Cornwall, UK. It tests the power of the model to predict store performance for stores not used in the original calibration process, using client data for a new store development. The model is operationalised for the evaluation of various retail development schemes, demonstrating its contribution across a full suite of location decision making application areas.

The paper demonstrates that this highly disaggregate modelling framework can provide considerable insight into the local economic and social impacts of new store developments, rarely addressed in the retail location modelling literature.

Whilst SIMs have been widely used in retail location research by the private sector, the paper shows that such a model can have considerable value for public sector retail planning, a sector which seemed to have abandoned such models from the 1980s onwards, replacing them with often very limited and crude RIA.

The ability to review the forecasting capabilities of a model (termed post-investment review) are very rare in academic research. This paper offers new evidence that SIMs can support the RIA process.

This paper gives a review of the finite element techniques (FE) applied in the area of material processing. The latest trends in metal forming, non‐metal forming and powder metallurgy are briefly discussed. The range of applications of finite elements on the subjects is extremely wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore the aim of the paper is to give FE users only an encyclopaedic view of the different possibilities that exist today in the various fields mentioned above. An appendix included at the end of the paper presents a bibliography on finite element applications in material processing for the last five years, and more than 1100 references are listed.

Presents a special issue, enlisting the help of the author’s students and colleagues, focusing on age, sex, colour and disability discrimination in America. Breaks the evidence down into manageable chunks, covering: age discrimination in the workplace; discrimination against African‐Americans; sex discrimination in the workplace; same sex sexual harassment; how to investigate and prove disability discrimination; sexual harassment in the military; when the main US job‐discrimination law applies to small companies; how to investigate and prove racial discrimination; developments concerning race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; developments concerning discrimination against workers with HIV or AIDS; developments concerning discrimination based on refusal of family care leave; developments concerning discrimination against gay or lesbian employees; developments concerning discrimination based on colour; how to investigate and prove discrimination concerning based on colour; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; using statistics in employment discrimination cases; race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning gender discrimination in the workplace; discrimination in Japanese organizations in America; discrimination in the entertainment industry; discrimination in the utility industry; understanding and effectively managing national origin discrimination; how to investigate and prove hiring discrimination based on colour; and, finally, how to investigate sexual harassment in the workplace.

By adopting a cognitive perspective, we examine ways in which knowledge creation processes within organizations effectively enhance organizational knowledge via the cognitive processes of organizational members. We identify two distinct yet complementary learning processes—informational and interactive—and argue that these processes contribute to the creation of organizational knowledge in different ways. We use cognitive mapping to examine changes in knowledge and use a research design involving pre‐test and post‐test of cognitive maps. Results suggest that organizational knowledge generally improves as organizations engage in the knowledge creation processes and that the effectiveness of such processes in creating knowledge depends on the context. The conceptual arguments and methods developed in this paper should encourage researchers to conduct additional empirical research and help managers change the mix of the informational and interactive learning processes for effective learning as their firm's competitive environment becomes more volatile.

The purpose of this literature review is to describe how eating disorders among adolescents affect family relationships and the family’s daily living conditions and to describe the family’s experienced need for professional support.

An integrative literature review based on the method of Whittemore and Knafl. In all, 15 articles with both qualitative and quantitative approaches were reviewed.

The results are presented in two main themes: a disharmonic family and the need for input from healthcare professionals. The results are discussed using Callista Roy’s adaptation model and the adaptive modes: group identity mode, role function and interdependence.

This review paper will be of interest to clinical nurses and other professionals who encounter families to clarify how the relationships and roles change within the family. To the authors knowledge, no integrative review has paid attention to how the relational aspects of the family members, their social roles and role constructions within the family affect daily living.

The Research Autism Cygnet Mentoring project was a two-year pilot study, completed in 2016, which aimed to develop, trial and evaluate a mentoring scheme designed with input from autistic people, their families and supporters. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The mentoring scheme involved 12 matched pairs (mentor/mentee) meeting once per week for one hour, over a six-month period. All mentors attended a training day, led by the principles of personal construct theory and an emancipatory research ethos. The project and training involved significant involvement of autistic people in both its design and delivery.

Participants on the autism spectrum found their mentoring experience very helpful in enabling them to progress towards self-identified goals, and mentees felt empowered by the person-centred ethos and the methods employed on the project. However, a number of aspects of the mentoring project have been identified that require further investigation, including: caution over offering mentoring without formal structures, boundary setting, supervision, flexibility and the matching of mentees with mentors.

The project has highlighted the potential benefits of time-limited goal-orientated mentoring and the negligible evidence base underpinning current mentoring practice with adults on the autism spectrum. In order for the project to realise its emancipatory aim, there is a need for a large-scale quantitative study and a health-economics analysis to provide the necessary evidence base for mentoring to be recommended as a cost-effective intervention with clear benefits for individual wellbeing.