Search results

The first of a series of articles explaining the objectives, methods and progress of the Strathclyde University Food Project – a British food industry initiative which has as its objective the reduction of the British food trade gap through programmes of action research. Explains the background to the Project, its structure and the way in which it is managed. Discusses general issues of British food industry competitiveness which have been brought into focus through the activities of the Project in different sectors.

Describes the state of the UK tomato sector which is facing falling real price levels and low profitability in a situation of general overcapacity in the EC tomato industry and where imports into the UK market are a substantial percentage of total consumption. Evaluates the Working Party for Salads′ improved short‐term marketing intelligence system during its first year of operation.

Policy makers, practitioners and researchers have increasingly emphasised the need for both vertical and horizontal ‘integration’ and ‘integrated care’. This is not new; since the inception of the NHS wide‐ranging policies and programmes have sought to co‐ordinate services better. Current UK policy, however, tends to overlook this historical record and, in so doing, ignores potential learning from the past. We seek to help rectify this approach by reviewing historical (published and grey) literature over the past one hundred years, considering both the drivers for and the impediments to varied UK policy developments in integrating health and allied services. We aim to shed light on how the policy of integrated care has developed in the UK and draw out lessons for modern‐day policy makers.

The issue of “out of hours” provision of primary care services by family doctors has excited particularly marked debate in the UK. This article considers the implications for this debate of results from a project designed to elicit the views of users of out of hours primary care provision. Focus groups were used to gauge definitions of “out of hours” services, factors governing the use of some services rather than others and influences on the evaluation of different options. The centrality accorded by patients to the social dimensions of a more “traditional” relationship with family doctors was central to the selection and evaluation of alternative provision. Any significant initiative in the reconfiguration of local health care services might thus be regarded as much a social enterprise as a technical challenge based on the most equitable and efficient application of resources.

Centuries of protection have impeded innovation in the textile industry. As these protections elapse, the industry must contend with increasing competition from abroad. This raises the question: will more R&D expenditure enhance competitiveness? To assess this, we measure firm profitability using Tobin's q, the ratio of the stock market valuation of the firm compared to the book value of the firm's assets. Q values are compared to other financial ratios, and then used to assess the impact of research and development (R&D) spending. A Mann‐Whitney rank test indicates firms that conduct R&D are not more profitable, as measured by q, than those that do not conduct R&D.

Working at the University of Liverpool alongside Julia Hallam and Lisa Shaw, and in the Department of Music, are Sara Cohen and Jacqueline Waldock. Both Sara and Jacky have led projects that engage with and support local organizations and communities, and examine music from the perspective of those involved. In fact, it was their shared interest in how ‘ordinary’ people engage with and experience music in everyday life that prompted them to join forces in 2014, and start working together on community engagement projects. At the same time, they have brought to these projects their own individual research interests and expertise. In this chapter, we discuss their recent collaboration on a project that explores the use of music to improve the wellbeing of older people in the UK, including people living with a dementia-related cognitive impairment and in nursing homes and health-care settings, and those who live independently but are cared for at day-care centres run by voluntary and community-based organizations. We situate this project within a selection of UK music initiatives or ‘interventions’ aimed at helping those living with dementia and age-related memory loss, and outline how specific projects informed our own approach and work.

Describes the changes which have taken place in the UK strawberry market in recent years and presents an outline of the opportunities for British producers identified by the Soft Fruit Working Party. New opportunities have been largely met by imports which have grown substantially in volume in recent years. Examines the reasons for the limited exploitation by British producers of these opportunities and analyses changing attitudes to production and marketing by British strawberry growers.

Market trends have offered an incentive to retailers to differentiate product assortments by region, whilst new developments in purchasing technology have enabled retail buyers to fragment orders by region and even by store and to tranship between regions. Reports on an initiative to take advantage of recent developments and to facilitate the access of small, regionally‐based suppliers to retail food multiples through a series of Meet the Buyer events. Presents preliminary results of a survey of 123 small suppliers and 28 retail buyers who have participated in these events.

The purpose of this paper is to use theories of institutional logics and institutional entrepreneurship to examine how and why macro-, meso-, and micro-level influences inter-relate in the implementation of integrated transitional care out of hospital in the English National Health Service.

The authors conducted an ethnographic case study of a hospital and surrounding services within a large urban centre in England. Specific methods included qualitative interviews with patients/caregivers, health/social care providers, and organizational leaders; observations of hospital transition planning meetings, community “hub” meetings, and other instances of transition planning; reviews of patient records; and analysis of key policy documents. Analysis was iterative and informed by theory on institutional logics and institutional entrepreneurship.

Organizational leaders at the meso-level of health and social care promoted a partnership logic of integrated care in response to conflicting institutional ideas found within a key macro-level policy enacted in 2003 (The Community Care (Delayed Discharges) Act). Through institutional entrepreneurship at the micro-level, the partnership logic became manifest in the form of relationship work among health and social care providers; they sought to build strong interpersonal relationships to enact more integrated transitional care.

This study has three key implications. First, efforts to promote integrated care should strategically include institutional entrepreneurs at the organizational and clinical levels. Second, integrated care initiatives should emphasize relationship-building among health and social care providers. Finally, theoretical development on institutional logics should further examine the role of interpersonal relationships in facilitating the “spread” of logics between macro-, meso-, and micro-level influences on inter-organizational change.