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This study seeks to evaluate a Hospital Passport tool designed to provide information and improve communication between people with learning disabilities and hospital staff.

This paper is a qualitative study, which explores people's experiences of good and bad communication in hospital and their experiences of how a Hospital Passport impacts on that process of communication.

The paper finds that a Hospital Passport can act as a useful multi‐agency resource to improve communication and continuity of care for people with learning disabilities.

The study leads to insights and suggestions for health and social care professionals and organisations as to how communication can be improved to benefit vulnerable groups in hospital.

Corporate governance research based on agency theory has been criticized for being “under-contextualized,” and for evaluating various governance practices independently. To address both criticisms, we take a configurational approach and show how firm-level governance practices interact with informational asymmetries associated with a firm’s industry. By examining foreign Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) that have chosen to list on London stock exchanges, we demonstrate that an assessment of the firm-level corporate governance configurations is incomplete without taking into account the firm’s industry affiliation. Our use of fs/QCA underscores the possibilities configurational approaches have in advancing theories of corporate governance.

This paper explores how organisations can become more sophisticated at supporting transfer of learning, by identifying the perceived barriers and facilitators to transfer of learning, by examining a range of individual characteristics and workplace features associated with these barriers and facilitators and then relating these to the type of programme that managers undertake. The longitudinal survey methodology and programme typology used in the research are described. Findings highlight 26 perceived barriers and 17 facilitators to the transfer of learning, significant associations are shown with particular features such as mentoring and personal values. The paper goes on to identify the characteristics associated with a lack of transfer and suggests a tentative model of perceived influences on transfer of learning. Based on this research, it is concluded that it is important to take programme learning design into account when considering support for transfer of learning from management development programmes back to the workplace.

Within the past few years, responsible educators, librarians, parents, counselors, social workers, therapists, and religious groups of all sexual persuasions and lifestyles have recognized the need for readily available reading material for lesbian and gay youth. Unfortunately, this material is often buried, because it is embedded in larger works. To meet this need, I have compiled and annotated 100 of the best works for young homosexuals, bisexuals, and heterosexuals. I have also included a few of the best works currently available on heterosexuality as a much needed source of knowledge for all young adults whether they are gay or straight, whether they remain childless or eventually become parents.

This paper seeks to provide a commentary on the previous paper in this issue “Does he have sugar in his tea? Communication between people with learning disabilities, their carers and hospital staff”.

This commentary outlines some “reasonable adjustments” for people with learning disabilities in primary and secondary care.

The paper finds that there is a potential for Hospital Passport‐type documents to provide a better link between individuals and primary and secondary healthcare services.

The paper suggests that one way of helping to improve outcomes for people with learning disabilities would be to work more creatively across traditional boundaries.

Management development is now recognized as crucial to gaining and sustaining competitive advantage, and yet the results can be mixed. The experience of taking time out to go on a training course and returning to work filled with enthusiasm for new ideas, only for that enthusiasm to evaporate is a common one.

In 1946 the Fyfe Report on Technical Education first recognised the need for libraries in Further Education colleges in Scotland, and suggested certain specifications for this type of library. Two later reports, on Technical Education in 1956 and on Libraries in Technical Colleges in 1957, progressed from the Fyfe Report and laid down recommendations and guidelines concerning the provision of library services in technical colleges. Since that time, there have been other reports and publications concerning the standards to be followed by these libraries. By the end of the 1960s it was accepted that Further Education colleges should provide a library and should appoint a qualified librarian to administer that library.

The purpose of this paper is to broaden the external validity of the “brand alliance” theory, as it is set up by Simonin and Ruth, by analysing transnational brand alliances. It aims to discuss the significance of country of origin in this context.

Based on a broad literature review of the brand alliance and country of origin literature the authors conducted an empirical study that examined consumer attitudes towards cross‐national brand alliances.

The findings demonstrate the role that the relationship between country of origin fit and brand fit plays in predicting consumer attitude towards cross‐border brand alliances; and that when brand familiarity decreases, the positive influence of country of origin fit on attitudes towards the brand alliance increases, and is greater than that of brand fit.

The degree of importance that consumers place on each product in the brand alliance was not taken into account. Future research could also analyse product categories that have strong country of origin associations (e.g. German beer or French pastries) or that belong to the low involvement category.

An interesting result for managers when they set up a cross‐national brand alliance, as the study demonstrates the importance of brand familiarity and of country of origin fit.

The findings replicate those of Simonin and Ruth, which is a useful result because their findings might be attributed also to cross‐boarder alliances. The study represents a noteworthy extension of previous research by introducing a new variable, the “country of origin fit.”