Claims,Concerns and Interests In British Credit Union Development

The British credit union movement has grown rapidly over the past decade, albeit from a low base relative to other nations. That growth has been led by a natlonal credlt union pollcy network. Thls article provides a detailed appraisal of the structure of that network, the motivations of its members and the relations between them.

This study highlights the existence of contradictions in the ‘policy space’ occupied by this network that have obscured the public interest In credit union development to date. These contradictions need to be resolved if the performance of the system as a whole is to be improved and public policy goals are to be met Increasing visibtlity ensuing from repeated endorsement of credit unions by the Labour government is bringing added pressures to bear on that network. New actors may be expected to enter the credit union polltlcal market as a result The irnpacts of entry, both positive and negative, are evaluated in terms of the coheslon and effectiveness of ihe credit union policy network.     

Liberty and the Post‐utilitarian Society

Utilitarian foundations for limited government are shaky insofar as they assume rational and consistent individuals. Recently economists’ assumption of rational actors has come under sustained attack. Behavioural economics has suggested that people are plagued by irrational biases and inconsistencies. These developments have led to a post‐utilitarianism which is held to justify paternalistic interventions by the state via ‘sin taxes’, direct bans or new obligations. Individual responsibility is seriously undermined, as is faith in markets. Supporters of individual freedom need to move away from utilitarian reasoning, reassert core values of autonomy and responsibility, and define strict limits on the scope of government intervention.     

Solving optimal timing problems in environmental economics

Two papers of Pindyck, 2000, Pindyck, 2002 that modeled the control of stock pollutants as optimal stopping problems contained closed form solutions that are incorrect. This paper discusses a subtle error in the derivation and demonstrates how solutions to these and related problems can be obtained numerically. The numerical solutions are contrasted with the ones contained in Pindyck's original papers.     

Are bygones not bygones? Modeling price-level targeting with an escape clause and lessons from the gold standard

Like the gold standard, price-level targeting (PT) involves not letting past deviations of inflation be bygones; both regimes return the price level (or price of gold) to its target. The experience of suspension of the gold standard in World War I and resumption in the 1920s (for some countries at a different parity) is reviewed. It suggests that, in practice, PT might operate with an escape clause that would allow rebasing of the price target in the face of large shocks. Using a calibrated general equilibrium model, we show that such an escape clause can produce multiple equilibria. For some parameterizations, there is a low credibility equilibrium (with high expectation of a reset) associated with high output volatility and frequent resets. These problems reduce, or reverse, the expectational advantage PT has over inflation targeting.     

Are we operating effectively? A lean analysis of operating theatre changeovers

Hospital operating theatres are a critical but costly resource in healthcare processes. Their efficiency and utilisation impact upon hospital finances, clinical effectiveness and patient outcomes. Operations management techniques have now been applied widely to optimise flow. An important challenge is to balance the needs of process flexibility, efficiency and work standardisation with clinical requirements. This paper applies operations management methods to analyse elective orthopaedic surgery at five international hospitals to describe the issues that affect operating theatre productivity. It utilises an innovative method of video analysis to observe patient changeovers over 29 days of surgery and data is analysed to understand the causes of variability and waste. The findings suggest that processes which are standardised via operations management methodologies can improve productivity in a process that exhibits wide variation in practice. There are apparent trade-offs associated with efficiency and clinical concerns such infection control, that lead to different standard process archetypes being utilised. Recommendations for standardising patient changeovers are provided.     

Internationalization of private firms: environmental turbulence and organizational strategies and resources

Profiles of exporting and superior-performing private small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are presented. Multivariate regression evidence suggests that SMEs focusing upon an offensive and market differentiation strategy of product/service protection is associated with the propensity and the intensity of exporting. Exporting SMEs are also associated with younger and manufacturing firms as well as firms with product or service quality and/or technology resources. The perceptions by SMEs of external environmental turbulence were not significantly associated with the exporting-dependent variables. Most notably, variables associated with exporting SMEs are not the same as those associated with superior firm performance. Moreover, exporting firms did not report superior levels of performance. Implications for policy-makers, practitioners and researchers are discussed.     

Spiritual Functions of Leisure and Spiritual Well-Being: Coping with Time Pressure

The purpose of this study was to develop a model of leisure style and spiritual well-being relationships, and the processes (spiritual functions of leisure) by which leisure can influence spiritual well-being. Also, the role of leisure in ameliorating the effects of time pressure on spiritual well-being was examined. Structural equation modeling using AMOS was employed to test direct and indirect effects models of the relationships among components of leisure style (leisure activity participation, leisure motivation, and leisure time), spiritual functions of leisure (sacrilization, repression avoidance, sense of place) and spiritual well-being (both behavioral and subjective). The model developed suggests that some components of people's leisure styles lead to certain behaviors and experiences (spiritual functions of leisure) that maintain or enhance spiritual well-being. These spiritual functions of leisure may also serve as coping strategies to ameliorate the negative influence of time pressure on spiritual well-being.     

Why Many Chinese Look Unhappy？

<正>I agree that many Chinese look unhappy,but I decided that they were just relaxed, when the muscles to change the expression are not used at all.For many cult...     

Shutting up shop: understanding the international exit process in retailing

Internationalisation is a much-studied phenomenon. Exit from international markets has been less analysed. Where it has been studied, most work has been on motives and causes, with relatively little on processes. This article explores the process of international exit in a retail context. It examines the run-up to, announcement of and fall-out from the decision by Marks and Spencer (one of Britain's leading retailers) to close its French stores. The article concludes that understanding the process of market exit is at least as important both for theoretical and practical reasons as understanding the decision to exit or divest. Further research needs to be undertaken on market exit and the processes involved, in order to contribute further to the theory and practice of internationalisation.