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The purpose of this paper is to suggest how decision-makers may work towards a broader perspective on value than that expressed in financial economics-based accounting terms to enhance value in healthcare.

The authors review published academic research and reports on practice across a range of disciplines.

The authors find that while value is a multidimensional concept, which is open to perceptions that differ across stakeholders in healthcare, financial economics-based accounting is essentially mono-disciplinary and dominates decisions. Enhancing value in health is a wicked problem, and a trans-disciplinary approach has the potential to enable decision-makers to enhance value.

The suggest that a trans-disciplinary approach, which dissolves disciplinary boundaries, is capable of enabling decision-makers to work towards understanding and enhancing value by fostering awareness of stakeholders' perceptions of value. A critical caveat is that a trans-disciplinary approach does not guarantee ready-made or immediate solutions; it does, however, offer the means to struggle towards a destination which may be continually shifting.

This study highlights the importance of a broader understanding of the concept of value than that implied by financial economics-based accounting and recognises the perceptions of stakeholders. It explores the inter-relationship among “the view from nowhere”, wicked problems and trans-disciplinarity and recommends a trans-disciplinary approach with a view to enhancing value in that broader sense. In this way, it contributes to the accounting literature, which has previously paid little attention to some of these aspects.

This paper presents the results of a survey of South African manufacturers that examined their planning and implementation activities relating to advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) investments. Data were collected by means of a postal questionnaire survey to which 84 companies responded to questions regarding their largest AMT investment in the last three years. The analysis is structured on a process model of adoption of AMT comprising three stages: motivation and idea generation for AMT; AMT proposal evaluation; and AMT implementation. The paper presents results relating to formulation of strategies; nature and size of AMT investments; sources of AMT investment ideas and forces motivating AMT investments; AMT proposal development; training in AMT and production management; AMT proposal evaluation; planning and implementation time periods and benefits and risks/difficulties. These dimensions are evaluated across dimensions of company size, types of AMT, and type of production system.

Argues that as opportunities arise for companies to exploit new markets, a critical issue is how firms should be organized to cope with innovation and competition in a fast moving business environment. Suggests changes to organizational procedures with the potential to deal with complex investment decisions better. Based on theory, surveys and practice, these include changes to the traditional role of financial analysis, extending the capital investment process to one which combines strategic and financial management considerations. Puts forward a set of criteria which should be met once advanced manufacturing technology practices have been recognized.

The purpose of this paper is to draw together available data as a means of comparing the state of corporate governance in five countries; Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman. This comparison provides a basis for analyzing the efficacy of corporate governance and government regulation in the region.

The authors construct a measure of corporate governance using the OECD's 2005 survey data, which includes these and many other countries in the sample. The authors analyze the resulting measures in the light of ongoing institutional developments in each country.

Based on the corporate governance measurement scale, Oman is the clear leader among the five countries, followed by Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Bahrain and Qatar rank fourth and fifth, respectively.

This paper adds value by transforming the data in the OECD survey, thus adding to the limited information available on corporate governance and related issues in the Arabian Gulf.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the performance and current position of the Meditari Accountancy Research Journal by building a profile of the articles published over the 21 years since its inception.

A descriptive meta-analysis of 293 articles published in 30 issues was conducted and comparable South African and international studies to structure the research were drawn upon. Contributors, research fields, research methods, citations and jurisdictions were examined and emerging trends assessed.

Meditari Accountancy Research Journal has a strong relationship with the South African accounting community. All dimensions of this article indicate that Meditari Accountancy Research has evolved over the 21 years since its inception and has made progress towards an international research journal.

Given that this study relates to one accounting research journal only, there is no specific benchmark against to which to assess its progress. However, the literature offers a basis for comparison.

The challenge is to maintain the traditional South African links while meeting the needs of a changing international accounting research environment.

The current study provides a comprehensive basis for an evaluation of the journal and its future potential by reviewing the full history of Meditari Accountancy Research Journal, which presents insights into the articles published within it, including the range and predominance of contributing authors, research methods, research fields, nature of research, citation rates and jurisdictions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which management control is enacted in a product development setting, to provide new insights into the different roles that control can play in this context.

A nine‐month, in‐depth field study was carried out at a subsidiary of an Australasian multinational firm which operates in the consumer foods industry. A participant observation approach was used to collect field notes and documents from the organisation, which were analysed through the lens of ethnomethodology.

The results indicate that the role of management control during product development is mainly focused on reducing uncertainty at each stage and promoting goal congruence at the decision gates. The authors argue that this helps explain why management control has a positive effect in a product development setting.

The implication of this finding is that the role of management control changes during product development due to the involvement of different organisational members (communities of practice) and the activities that they carry out. This helps build a more holistic understanding of control in product development. As this is a field study of a specific company, the findings are not generalizable to other companies or settings. Future research needs to investigate other possible roles which management control may play in this context.

The paper extends the research in this area by showing how and why management control can take on multiple roles in practice.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the decision process that the authors follow in applying mixed methods research to evaluate the benefits and costs of conducting sponsored clinical trials in a publicly funded New Zealand hospital.

A simultaneous parallel mixed method design was adopted. This design builds on a health outcomes study that involves a retrospective cohort study of changes in participants' health status and mortality rates. Although a team of medical researchers conducted that study (i.e. the current authors were not involved), it is one of the three strands of the current research as it forms the platform for the other two strands, namely the multiple stakeholder perception strand and the economic outcomes strand. In the multiple stakeholder perceptions strand, qualitative methods were used to explore the benefits and costs perceived by stakeholders. In the economic outcomes strand, quantitative methods were used to estimate the benefits and costs of clinical trials.

The economic outcomes strand and the multiple stakeholder perceptions strand are complementary. Each strand delivers dimensions to the analysis that are not apparent from the other.

The value of the paper lies in improved understanding of the process of mixed method research through communicating choices and decisions made in response to the challenges faced.

THE Birmingham Induction on February 13th was in every way satisfactory to those who participated. A writer in our “Letters on Our Affairs” has given in brief the substance of the event. It fulfilled the anticipations we made in our last number: the attendance was really representative; and there was an agreeable meeting of many of Mr. Cashmore's older and younger contemporaries, as well as a large concourse of his neighbours, to share in the dignified ceremony in which Dr. Esdaile initiated the President into his office. We ventured last month to refer to the quality of the retiring President's occasional speeches. That at Birmingham was a masterpiece of apparently unstudied ceremonial speech‐making. No doubt it will be available elsewhere. Those who spoke—from the Lord Mayor, who chaired the meeting, to Mr. Duncan Gray, who returned thanks for the Lord Mayor's hospitality— rose to an occasion on which all was pleasant and unjarred by any slip or inharmonious note. It was a happy augury for the year to come.

Branching Out is a 12‐week ecotherapy programme for clients who use mental health services within the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area. Over the course of a year 110 clients attended the programme, of whom 77 (70%) completed the course. In order to ascertain the outcomes of the programme and the elements that appeared to facilitate change, semi‐structured interviews with clients (n=28) and two focus groups with clinicians (n=5 and n=3) from the referring services were conducted.The data gathered therein was analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). From the results, five themes emerged as client outcomes. These were: improvements to mental well‐being, improvements to physical health, provision of daily structure and routine, transferable knowledge and skill acquisition, and increased social networking and social skills development. Three themes pertaining to the service logistics (team building and social inclusion, contrast of environments and work and recognition) emerged as potential explanations for the client outcomes. There was a perception among clients and clinicians that Branching Out represented a ‘stepping stone to further community engagement’. The results reflect a recovery‐oriented approach to health care. The limitations of the evaluation and implications for the future are discussed.