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The X‐It gang desistance programme began in 2004 in the wake of a spate of fatal, gang‐related shootings in Brixton, South London. The programme is owned and run by the X‐It peer youth workers, gang‐involved young people who wish to find alternatives to gang violence for other young people living in gang‐affected neighbourhoods. The programme won the Guardian Public Service Award in 2007, when peer youth workers from the programme gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on young black people and the criminal justice system.

Adolescent problem behaviours (substance use, delinquency, school dropout, pregnancy, and violence) are costly not only for individuals, but for entire communities. Policy makers and practitioners that are interested in preventing these problem behaviours are faced with many programming options. The purpose of this review is to discuss two criteria for selecting relevant parenting programmes, and provide five examples of such programmes.

The first criterion for programme selection is theory based. Well-supported theories, such as the social development model, have laid out key family-based risk and protective factors for problem behaviour. Programmes that target these risk and protective factors are more likely to be effective. Second, programmes should have demonstrated efficacy; these interventions have been called “evidence-based programmes” (EBP). This review highlights the importance of evidence from rigorous research designs, such as randomised clinical trials, in order to establish programme efficacy.

Nurse-Family Partnership, The Incredible Years, the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P), Strengthening Families 10-14, and Staying Connected with Your Teen are examined. The unique features of each programme are briefly presented. Evidence showing impact on family risk and protective factors, as well as long-term problem behaviours, is reviewed. Finally, a measure of cost effectiveness of each programme is provided.

The paper proposes that not all programmes are of equal value, and suggests two simple criteria for selecting a parenting programme with a high likelihood for positive outcomes. Furthermore, although this review is not exhaustive, the five examples of EBPs offer a good start for policy makers and practitioners seeking to implement effective programmes in their communities. Thus, this paper offers practical suggestions for those grappling with investments in child and adolescent programmes on the ground.

Private sector management theory has become ever more central to the criminal justice sector in England and Wales over the past 20 years. This article argues that as a model for criminal justice services it is inappropriate because it was developed to improve efficiency in industrial processes at the turn of the 20th century, and not to manage the complexities and contradictions inherent in the 21st century criminal justice system. It contends that, confronted with analogous complexities and contradictions, the private sector has embraced consumer culture; by engaging with consumer culture, criminal justice services will be able to achieve their goals more effectively and realise their core values.

This paper aims to develop a framework for benchmarking the maturity of public sector foresight programs and outlines strategies that program managers can use to overcome obstacles to foresight program development in government.

The public sector foresight benchmarking framework is informed by a bibliometric analysis and comprehensive review of the literature on public sector foresight, as well as three rounds of semi-structured interviews conducted over the course of a collaborative 18-month project with a relatively young department-level foresight program at the government of an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country. The paper frames public sector organizations as “complex adaptive systems” and draws from other government initiatives that require fundamental organizational change, namely, “gender mainstreaming”.

Nascent or less mature programs tend to be output-focused and disconnected from the policy cycle, while more mature programs balance outputs and participation as they intervene strategically in the policy cycle. Foresight program development requires that managers simultaneously pursue change at three levels: technical, structural and cultural. Therefore, successful strategies are multi-dimensional, incremental and iterative.

The paper addresses two important gaps in the literature on public sector foresight programs by comprehensively describing the key attributes of mature and immature public sector foresight programs, and providing flexible, practical strategies for program development. The paper also pushes the boundaries of thinking about foresight by integrating insights from complexity theory and complexity-informed organizational change theory.

To solve the multi‐period portfolio management problem under transactions costs.

We apply a recently designed super genetic hybrid algorithm (SuperGHA) – an integrated optimisation system for simultaneous parametric search and non‐linear optimisation – to a recursive portfolio management decision support system (SHAREX). The parametric search machine is implemented as a genetic superstructure, producing tentative parameter vectors that control the ultimate optimisation process.

SHAREX seems to outperform the buy and hold‐strategy on the Finnish stock market. The potential of a technical portfolio system is best exploitable under favorable market conditions.

A number of robust engines for matrix algebra, mathematical programming and numerical calculus have been integrated with SuperGHA. The engines expand its scope as a general‐purpose algorithm for mathematical programming.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new approach for gauging the performance of the operating units of a retail banking organisation, responding to the special demands of an internal evaluation.

The paper defines a measure of internal performance (MIP) based on behavioural theory, particularly on disappointment models.

MIP is applied for the internal evaluation of a network of bank branches. Application to this real managerial setting reveals that bank managers' preferences support behavioural decision theory, including prospect theory.

The paper shows how MIP can be used as a management tool for improving organisational performance. The approach can be extended to other sectors.

The proposal differs from others existing in the literature in two main aspects. Firstly, it is consistent with the requirements of an internal evaluation because it uses the managers' real preferences instead of assuming them. Secondly, it takes into account that each unit has a different target to achieve according to its specific characteristics.

Making decisions on production and maintenance separately, as is often done in practice and research literature, may not result in overall optimization. This paper aims to propose a joint method that better integrates production planning and maintenance at the tactical level. The potential of improving the performance of the classic planning method is also explored.

An integrated production planning and maintenance model is proposed. The production capacity losses resulted from both preventive and corrective maintenance activities are considered. Meanwhile, the reliability deterioration of the machine is considered to be operation dependent. An iterative approach is presented to find a solution for the nonlinear model through iteratively solving a sequence of mixed integer linear programming instances, accompanied by modification of some parameters prior to each iteration. Computational experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method compared with three other methods, including two methods based on separate planning and one integrated model.

The superiority of the proposed method compared with all the other three methods is demonstrated. Thus, the values of both integrated planning and considering operation-dependent failures are testified. The advantage of the proposed method is highlighted in the cases of high capacity utilization, long maintenance durations and low maintenance costs. The performance of the two methods based on separate planning is sensitive to the system utilization, and when utilization is high, the one with an availability-sensitive objective function defined for the maintenance problem performs better.

Few studies have been carried out to integrate decisions on production lot and maintenance. Their considerations are either incomplete or not realistic enough. A more comprehensive and realistic integrated model is proposed in this paper, along with an iterative solution algorithm for it. A potential way to improve the performance of the classic planning method with its simplicity preserved is also presented.

Part 1 of this paper answered in the affirmative that the capital budgeting process for fixed assets can be improved (see Journal of Facilities Management, Volume One, Number One). In part 2 more than 20 improvement tactics are identified and explained. Tactics range from the simple (identifying assets that need to be written off) to the complex (tax segregation strategies). Some can be implemented by individuals (sensitivity analysis), while others (budgeting and planning software) impact all areas of an organisation. In addition to improvement tactics, a framework for improvement is outlined and potential benefits are identified.

Motivated by a lack of studies in graduate level supply chain education, this research aims to explore trends in supply chain‐related graduate programmes in Europe and to propose a framework for designing such programmes.

The authors determine “knowledge” and “skills” areas applicable to supply chain management (SCM) education and analyse supply chain‐related graduate programmes published by the European Logistics Association in 2004. They revisit the same programmes in 2011 to determine the recent situation and the trends. The authors use cluster analysis to reveal the similarities and differences among these programmes.

The authors find two distinct clusters: focused and diversified. Focused programmes offer modules in knowledge and skills areas apart from SCM at a negligible level and place more emphasis on SCM in 2011 when compared to 2004. Diversified programmes show a similar increase in the emphasis on SCM with more variety in the knowledge and skills areas.

The authors' findings are based on SCM programmes delivered in Europe and over two discrete time periods. Future research should seek to extend this analysis to other continents with larger samples and incorporate the industry perspective to determine the potential gap between what programmes offer and what industry requires.

SCM‐related graduate programmes continue to redefine themselves. Clustering predominantly serves the universities in re‐assessing and re‐engineering their programmes, helps prospective graduates in their selection process and assists managers in their recruitment practices.

This paper establishes a baseline for assessing SCM‐related graduate programmes with respect to the knowledge and skills they offer and introduces a framework that may serve as a starting point for the design and positioning of such programmes.