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There is little tradition of regional studies in the field of industrial relations. Most of the existing work with a regional flavour is on comparative labour markets. The reason for the absence of structural or institutional studies is because of the obvious methodological problem of disaggregating purely regional influences from broader national factors—economic, political, social or legislative.

This paper provides remarkable insight into the structural components of a firm's core competence and its development via research and development (R&D) activities for innovation and exporting activities.

The authors have used a positivist design and a deductive methodology. The authors have examined the extant literature developing a theoretical framework to empirically investigate the relationships between a firm's core competence, organisational learning (OL), tacitness, dynamic capability and R&D activities. To carry out this investigation, the authors have collected stratified sample data from 330 firms operating in North East England, a peripheral region of England.

The authors have found that there are indeed significant statistical relationships between these structural components, R&D activities and a firm's core competence, and this nexus is pertinent to innovation and exporting. Furthermore, it is found that North East England is significantly constrained by the lack of finance, technological capability, experts and brain drain. Based on these findings, the authors propose a cooperative R&D framework to narrow down these constraints to assist firms in developing core competencies for innovation and exporting in peripheral regions.

There is an urgent need to investigate the incidence of knowledge-driven activities, R&D, the extent of innovation and exporting activities of firms operating in North East England, a peripheral region of the United Kingdom (UK).

This study provides an original and systematic investigation of the firm's core competence and its formation via key structural components for innovation and exporting within an empirical framework.

This paper aims to investigate the “gender management gap” in the scientific labour market in the North East of England. The paper seeks to compare and contrast employment, ownership, management structure and capacity between men and women in the Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) sector.

The empirical investigation is based on a survey of 60 SET‐based small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), operating in the North East of England.

The results show that women are particularly under‐represented in managerial and senior positions of scientific nature in the private sector in the North East of England. The “glass ceiling” effect appears to be widespread.

There are very limited empirical data and research on the nature and level of participation of women in the scientific managerial labour market at firm level in the UK. There is a need for more rigorous research at firm and regional levels to examine the cumulative effects of underlying factors that prevent women from progression, beyond the “glass ceiling”, in the scientific labour market.

This paper builds upon a research project funded by the ESRC Science in Society Programme. The key findings have resulted in a subsequent award from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Grants to establish the “North East Role Model Platform for Innovative Women” in the light of the Science City Initiative.

The “gender management gap” in the scientific labour market in the North East of England has not, empirically, been investigated before and appears to be a highly neglected area of public policy and research.

Contemporary mobilities research has demonstrated a fundamental blurring between work, leisure and tourism practices for migrants as they seek to construct new lifestyles whilst maintaining connections with their homelands. The purpose of this paper is to present some of the results of a research project that analysed the work and leisure experiences of Polish migrants living in the North East of England using a mobilities theoretical approach. In this paper, the authors focus on the reasons influencing their migration and their leisure and tourism mobility practices.

The results are based upon a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods gathering a sample of 90 questionnaires and 11 focus groups.

Based upon a statistical analysis of the questionnaires using SPSS and textual analysis applied to the focus group transcriptions, different gendered work, leisure and tourism mobilities were identified relating to family attachments and social ties.

The authors argue that seemingly mundane leisure and tourism practices can often be a catalyst for greater mobility, and this mobility has significant gender dimensions.

This paper thus provides new insights into the interweaving of different gendered work and leisure mobility practices based upon empirical findings of Polish migrants to the North East of England.

The annual cost of alcohol‐related harm in the UK is estimated to be between £17.7 and £25.1 billion with healthcare costs alone reaching £2.7 billion and the costs of alcohol‐fuelled crime and disorder accounting for £7.3 billion each year. The aim of the study was to examine the prevalence of alcohol use disorders (AUD) in prison and probation settings in the North East of England, and to compare the ability of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Offender Assessment System (OASys) at identifying alcohol‐related need in probation clients. A quantitative prevalence study was carried out using anonymous questionnaires with participants from four prisons and three probation offices in the North East who voluntarily completed the AUDIT questionnaire during a 1‐month period in 2006. Response outcomes on AUDIT were compared with OASys scores which identify alcohol‐related need in probation. At the time of the study OASys scores were not available for offenders in prison. Seven hundred and fifteen questionnaires were completed. Sixty‐three per cent of men and 57% of women were identified as having an AUD with over a third of all individuals scoring within the possibly dependant range (20+ on AUDIT). Around 40% of probation cases who were classified as either hazardous, harmful or possibly dependant drinkers on AUDIT were not identified by OASys. The results indicate that the prevalence of AUD in offenders is much higher than in the general population. In addition, current methods of identifying offenders with alcohol‐related need in probation are flawed and as many such people go undetected. Alcohol assessment procedures need to be improved in criminal justice setting order to correctly identify people with AUD.

This paper aims to explore the prevalence, motivations and support for student sex work within North East higher education institutions. With limited existing research in this area, this study fills a crucial gap in understanding student sex work in the UK and its specific manifestation in the North East region.

To achieve its objectives, this study adopted an exploratory, cross-sectional design conducted entirely online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A mixed-methodology approach was used, inspired by previous research, gathering quantitative data through a semi-structured questionnaire and qualitative data through open-ended survey questions.

The study revealed that 11.4% of students engaged in sex work, primarily in indirect and online-based forms. lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ)+ students were more likely to participate in sex work compared to heterosexual students. Financial difficulties and lifestyle preferences were identified as significant motivations for student sex work.

A limitation of the study was the lack of diversity in the sample, with predominantly young, white, heterosexual and cis-gender females, potentially neglecting other demographics' struggles. Future research should include larger and more diverse samples to ensure representative findings.

The research highlights the need for greater awareness and support for student sex workers within North East universities. Policies and services should consider the unique challenges faced by LGBTQ+ student sex workers to reduce stigma and potential dangers.

Understanding the prevalence of student sex work sheds light on the need to challenge societal assumptions and stigmas surrounding sex work, particularly concerning gender and sexuality.

This study breaks new ground by providing novel insights into an understudied research area – the prevalence of student sex work in North East England. The findings lay the foundation for future research and can inform policies and support systems to improve the safety and well-being of student sex workers. Furthermore, the study contributes to broader discussions on gender, sexuality and sex work in academic settings.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how, as part of a national initiative led by NHS England and key partners, it is transforming lives by helping people with a learning disability, autism or both to live more independent and better quality lives in their own home rather than spending many years in hospital unnecessarily.

The methodology applied was to capture the real experience of a person with a learning disability, autism or both who successfully moved from long-term hospital care to home. This was achieved through developing a narrative story by capturing their experiences in their own words and the words of the individual’s support team who made this life changing event possible.

This story shows how with the right planning and support, people with a learning disability can live in their own homes, gain their independence and be supported to take risks.

This is an original case study that has not been published previously and has been written for the sole purpose of this journal.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the application of social policy in the North East of England is often characterised by tension and conflict. The agencies and professionals charged with implementation of Westminster driven policies constantly seek to deploy their knowledge of local conditions in order to make them both practical and palatable.

This paper examines the region via established literature from history, geography, sociology and social policy. The paper gives illustrations via empirical work which has evaluated initiatives to improve the health of long term health-related benefit recipients and to sustain individuals in employment in the region.

Central to the paper’s argument is the notion of “biographies of place”. The core of this idea is that places have biographies in the same way as individuals and possess specific identities. These biographies have been shaped by the intersections between environment, history, culture and economic and social policy. The paper identifies the region’s economic development, subsequent decline and the alliance of labour politics and industrial employers around a common consensus that sought economic prosperity and social progress via a vision of “modernisation” as a key component of this biography.

The paper argues that an appreciation of these spatial biographies can result in innovative and more effective social policy interventions with the potential to address issues that affect entire localities.

This paper aims to examine developments in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic using the hotel sector in the North-East of England as the area of study. The country has attracted a lot of attention not only because of its importance as a tourism destination but also due to its rather controversial management of the pandemic at least in its early stages.

Fifteen semi-structured interviews based on ten open-ended questions were conducted with North East of England-based hotel managers of international brands on the level of their hotels’ preparedness to effectively deal with pandemic cases. The interviews took place in August and September 2020 with participants kept anonymous.

Meeting new operational and bureaucratic requirements added to the cost structure and proved a major challenge for managers who saw their hotel occupancy rates and revenue collapsing within a short period of time. Innovative and aggressive pricing strategies were introduced to lure especially younger travelers in the absence of business clientele. Staff were made redundant and/or asked to work overtime making effective human resource management very difficult.

This is one of the first research attempts to highlight the importance of the COVID-19 pandemic for the hotel sector in a major region of the UK. The paper also attempts some generalization by discussing managerial implications and suggesting a possible way forward for the hotel sector. Developing resilience by building on previously used successful business practices proves of essence.

This study provides an analysis of two regional samples on R&D activities in manufacturing small and medium‐size firms in the UK. The results show that there are statistically significant regional differences between the North East and the West Midlands (χr² of 11.8 s.s. at p < .01), where the North East SMEs seem to engage less in R&D activities. The results may be of some interest to the relevant R&D funding bodies.