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The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of factors that impact global competitiveness for firms in the Fortune Global 500.

The paper uses regression analysis to investigate the relationship between relevant competitiveness factors and firm performance for Fortune Global 500 firms, using the time period 1995‐2009.

The composition of firms on the list has changed over the timeframe. The results indicate that headquarters location and globalization are key indicators of firm performance. Other factors such as chief executive officer tenure have a lesser impact on firm performance.

The timeframe of the study may have impacted the findings. The study included only large firms and thus the findings may not hold for smaller or medium‐sized firms. Additional follow‐up studies are planned.

Managers can identify factors associated with global competitiveness from the paper and pursue those factors in their business strategies.

This study replicates other studies that analyze the relationship between firm situational factors and firm performance. However, this study uses a unique sample, the Fortune Global 500, over a 15‐year period.

Peer support and other consumer-provided services have burgeoned within the USA during the past 30 years and are now a central component of mental health services nationally. However, their growth has been uneven and somewhat dependent on state initiatives, policies, and funding. Recent programs have matured along myriad paths, resulting in a variety of program typologies, service structures, and funding streams, but with common values, missions, and principles. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The landscape of peer specialist services in the USA, as well as innovations afoot, is reviewed. The empirical information that speaks to the efficacy of peer support and the need to better understand the mechanisms by which it is effective is described.

Although peer support has grown exponentially across the USA, its growth has been uneven. Evidence suggests that peer specialists experience role ambiguity within many existing programs and systems. Though the empirical evidence for peer services has grown, research has been most favorable for manualized, group interventions. There is still a need to better understand how individual peer support is beneficial and effective, and how individual peer support can best be utilized to promote the best outcomes for those served.

In order for the workforce of peer support specialists to continue to grow and for services to be responsive and innovative, we need to better understand the mechanisms by which peer support is beneficial and how it can be structured and delivered to promote the best outcomes for those served. The “core conditions” of helping relationships promulgated decades ago by Rogers along with research on self-disclosure may be useful frameworks for understanding and researching the effectiveness of peer support.

More research is needed to better understand the effectiveness of peer support services and how best to insure that they are well-integrated into the mental health programs and systems in which they serve.

There is a need to understand why peer support is effective and how best to sustain peer specialists in their roles within the mental health system.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the barriers and facilitators to health and social service access and utilization for immigrant parents raising a child with a physical disability, in order to understand their specific needs and experiences of care.

The research involves qualitative interviews with five immigrant parents of four children with a physical disability in two cities in Ontario, Canada.

The findings indicate that divergent perceptions of health care and disability, language, knowledge of service systems, and finances may create obstacles to family-centered and culturally sensitive care. Formal supports, including a third person to navigate the system and services provided in families’ homes, are facilitators that enhance the service care experiences of parents.

Service providers need to accommodate and work with immigrant parents who have a child with a disability to overcome the barriers to their care. To enhance service experiences formal support and home services should be provided when possible.

There is little research on immigrant families’ experiences with pediatric rehabilitation services and this study contributes to this area. This paper shows that immigrant families of children with disabilities have barriers to service access, utilization, and service care experiences that are similar to those of non-immigrant families. There are few studies on facilitators to service access and utilization and positive experiences; therefore, this study makes a contribution to this area.

Defines Deming’s concept of “profound knowledge”, and shows how it addresses both the behavioural and technical dimensions of leadership simultaneously. Suggests that the responsibilities of leaders are to solve problems and to help employees in any way possible by knowing how a system functions, how system components may cause variation, and what the system delivers. Suggests that this knowledge is crucial if the USA is to become a global quality leader.

Provides an explanation of Deming’s Theory of Profound Knowledge, which includes the four core values. Cites these as appreciation for a system, some knowledge of the theory of variation, a theory of knowledge and some knowledge of psychology. Defines leadership and the actions required to implement the Deming leadership method. Argues this implementation will clear most barriers which exist when starting any total quality management programme and will allow managers/supervisors to acquire enough knowledge to make the transformation from supervisory management to leadership excellence. States that only through applying the Deming principles first will any future improvement be successful.