Department of Politics, People & Place
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Item Open Access 2018 Colloquium on Creative and Cultural Industries(2018-05-29) Granger, R.C.2018 Colloquium on Creative and Cultural Industries - research and practice eventItem Open Access A Cost-Effective Approach for Inventory- Transportation to Address Carbon Tax Policy(IEOM, 2024) Eslamipoor, RezaThe growing concern regarding global warming has resulted in the implementation of regulations aimed at progressively diminishing the volume of greenhouse gases released by industrial sectors and their associated supply chains. This research study concentrates on quantifying the carbon emissions within a two-tiered supply chain, in which a single supplier distributes a single product to different retailers, while also coordinating the many elements of the chain including transportation and inventory. A mixed integer programming (MIP) approach has been developed to attain this goal. This model considers decisions such as the time and quantity of replenishment for each retailer, the types of transportation vehicles employed, and the number of products transported by each vehicle. The goal of this optimization model is not only a reduction in transportation expenses and inventory management costs but also carbon emissions across the supply chain which can be reduced by regarding tax as a leverage.Item Metadata only Item Open Access Are we doing them a dis-service? Preparing students to study overseas: a case study of Chinese students and British Culture.(2018-08-24) Jones, AlistairThere are a number of issues around this approach. Firstly there is the issue of content. What content should be taught to these students? There are a range of topics that could be covered, but these may be constrained by time pressures. Secondly, there is the way in which the students are taught. In the UK, there are a range of innovative methods to teach students, including flipped classrooms and co-creative learning. The problem is the vast majority of Chinese students have only experience of a lecturer standing at the front of the class, with no interaction between lecturer and students beyond a monologue. Noting that a number of these students will come to the UK to study, there is an issue over the way in which they are taught. The innovations in the UK (and elsewhere) leave many overseas students like a fish out of water. There is a clear concern over inclusivity. This is before the third issue is even encountered: language skills. In the case study, there is the situation of a European lecturer conducting classes in English, on the subject of British Culture. There is a language in which there is varied proficiency in class on a subject about which the vast majority of students know absolutely nothing. To be able to study in the UK, there are minimum standards of English proficiency. There may be a question as to whether these standards are sufficient for students to be able to study effectively in the UK. To make things more complicated, the whole teaching structure in the case study is devised in the standard Chinese format. It is very intensive. There are three one-hour lectures every morning (Monday to Friday). Each student will have two one-hour seminars during the week. On top of this there is also assessment. There are very obvious time pressures. This paper will explore the different pressures placed on both staff and students in such a scenario. Underpinning the whole paper is the question of: what could be done better? To what extent, if at all, are we doing these students a dis-service? Or, alternatively, what needs to be done better to enable these students to study more effectively?Item Open Access Are we learning from the old? A case study of Welsh local government restructuring(2018-06-21) Jones, AlistairLocal Government in Wales has undergone restructuring in the 1970s, the 1990s, and is currently undergoing the process again. In each round of restructuring, the same arguments appear: economies of scale, rationalisation, reducing costs, reducing the number of councillors. The result has been fewer councils across Wales and fewer councillors. The question has to be raised as to the extent of the lesson-learning which has been undertaken from each previous restructuring. If the same arguments are being presented, it suggests the previous restructurings failed to achieve their aims (with the exception of a crude reduction in both councils and councillors). Yet the justification for further restructuring hangs upon similar arguments. With each restructuring, there has been a merging of urban and rural local authorities. Little consideration appears to have taken place with regard to the specific needs and requirements of the different geographical areas. Each restructuring has seen a ‘one size fits all’ approach. No thought appears to be given to the role of the local councillor or how a local council interacts with its’ local community. Again, there are very different relationships for urban and rural councils. Mergers of councils appear more like marriages of convenience rather than any other rationale. Bigger is perceived to be better. When that is seen to fail, even bigger councils are proposed. The result of this is the loss of identity of councils and those living under the umbrella of a council, as well as a reduction in democratic participation. It is clear that lesson-learning has not happened with the restructuring of local government in Wales. It is not just a neo-liberal ideological imperative which is leading the attack on local government, these attacks pre-date the advent of neo-liberalism. Instead, there appears to be a clear push towards greater centralisation. Whenever such an attack is seen to fail to deliver more rational local government, the exponents double-down their bets and push for even larger local authorities and fewer councillors. There appears to be no desire to learn from past experiences. Such a perspective applies regardless as to which ‘superior’ tier of government is attempting to manipulate local government structures.Item Metadata only Bootstrapping as a dynamic capability : conceptualising innovation in technology-based small firms.(2009-11) Jayawarna, D.; Jones, Oswald; Macpherson, AllanItem Metadata only The C40 at 10: Changing perceptions of leadership within International Relations.(2015-04) Stafford, MaxItem Metadata only A Capital Innovation: Reflections on the experience of using the Leadership Capital Index(2020-04) Stafford, MaxItem Open Access The Concept of the Canon: Genealogy and its Contribution to Normative Arguments(European Consortium for Political Research, 2016-09-07) Stevens, SimonThis work is very much in progress, with emerging ideas that I hope to develop into a full paper. Nevertheless, it is not without a position: the aim is to show how genealogy can be absorbed into normative theory, by tracing a path to the idea of sequential genealogy. I begin with Nietzsche, specifically drawing on a quote which I feel accurately describes genealogy’s original premise: of being committed to the principle of the historical contingency of all truths, concepts, practices and beliefs. From this brief grounding, I emphasise Foucault’s main contribution to genealogy, as a project with the purpose of thinking “differently” (Foucault, 1990, p. 8) through the reflection that a denaturalizing method brings: therefore as anti-polemical. I support this through citing David Owen’s similar comments regarding genealogy. From this concept of the alternative, I look at Tyler Krupp and Mark Bevir’s assertion that although genealogy is an enemy of the given, universal ‘truth’, it need not be so towards a contingent one. In this then is room for genealogists, being those with the ‘different’ way of thinking, to communicate with normative theorists who provide the “regulative ideal” (Bevir, 1999, p. 126). Genealogy here finds a balance between “unmasking” (Hoy, 2008, p. 276) and simple reflection that does not lead to polemics: staying true to Foucault’s understanding of it. By utilising Krupp however, I maintain a place for genealogy in a world of acknowledged contingency. In this is a space of communication, effectively where ‘thinking differently’ and the acceptance of a contingent truth as “best account of the world currently on offer” (Bevir, 2008, p. 269) can combine: here genealogy can either contribute to normative theory by being a useful “toolbox” (Foucault, 1994, pp. 523-524) from which to pick and choose, or as “the better version to the “best account”. From the belief that genealogy can accept contingent claims and even become one, I then look at how this leads into David Hoy’s discussion of the “vindicatory genealogy” (Hoy, 2008, p. 276). I claim that in this vision of a genealogy which can vindicate a historically contingent idea, we can build a theory of genealogy which explicitly separates narration from reflection, where the former is simply a “technique of inquiry” (Bevir, 2008, p. 275) or method of denaturalisation, and the latter is the subsequent valuation of this; I call this sequential genealogy. To bolster this idea I come back to Nietzsche, pulling the concepts discussed thus far together to show how we can perceive of genealogy as two separate, sequential activities. As a result, I make two observations. First, that when we think of and use genealogy in this way, we begin our genealogical project from a methodological starting point. Secondly, that if this is so we are able to draw on normative criteria in a genealogy (to either critique or vindicate that which we have historicised in the reflection which follows said narration), without contradiction, for normative criteria we use can simply be understood as narratives that we have previously put a value on. I conclude with a tentative notion: of genealogy, when seen in this way, as a ‘show not tell way of doing normative theory’. Not forgetting the original premise of the abstract I submitted, I make a post-comment on the effect this may have on our political theory canon.Item Open Access Disrupting universities in the creative economy: Crowded ecologies; quintuple helixes and third spaces(2018-05-02) Granger, R.C.In the post-millennium, and increasingly in the post-recession period, digital has become a fashionable byword for economic growth and digital economy seen as an economic panacea, exemplified to some extent by London’s fascination with Tech City and Shoreditch with their paradigmatic roots in Florida’s (2001) Creative City. It is not that digital media as a collection of web-based services and activities has limited economic worth but that the fascination with digital over other creative and professional forms have eclipsed more meaningful debate about what impact digital activities have on an economy (see Potts and Cunningham, 2010), and what role they play in boosting local wealth, skills, social mobility, and equality. In this session, a city view is adopted on the creative economy. In particular, a review of creative cities as ‘crowded ecologies’ is presented, and changing stakeholder roles discussed in the context of changes in political economies. Against this backdrop, the modern role of universities in terms of skill development, new ideas and sites of innovation, are evaluated in a contemporary context. Reviewing some of the interesting stakeholders, projects, and business models, which have emerged in creative cities internationally, which replicate university roles (e.g. in Copenhagen and Berlin), it is argued that universities must now disrupt their own role in the creative economy and move beyond triple helix models to create quintuple helixes and third spaces (Soja, 1996), which create new relational and investment environments.Item Metadata only Exploring learner participation in curriculum development towards employing more read/write approaches on a distance learning professional programme.(Academic Conferences Ltd, 2009) Thompson, Pam; Richardson, JoannaItem Open Access Factors influenceing the share of ownership sought in cross- border acquisitions - UK perspectives(EuroMed Research Business Institute, 2015-09-10) Ahammad, Mohammad F.; Leone, Vitor; Tarba, Shlomo Y.; Arslan, AhmadThe aim of the paper is to investigate the factors influencing share of ownership sought in cross border acquisitions (CBAs). Drawing on multiple theoretical explanations, we develop and test hypotheses on factors influencing the share of equity sought by foreign firms in CBAs. Findings based on a sample of 1872 CBAs by UK firms show that the share of equity sought is influenced by a number of factors, including the difficulty in integrating local firm managers in culturally distant countries and size of the local firm. We contribute in existing literature by approaching the aspects of equity share in CBAs from a novel perspective of real options theory and transaction cost economics (TCE).Item Metadata only For a Greater Birmingham? The curious case of the West Midlands Combined Authority.(2016-04) Stafford, MaxItem Metadata only From tea-drinkers to “master builders”: Extending agency in local government(2020-04) Stafford, MaxItem Metadata only The gap in employability perceptions between managers and employees(2018-06) Tsirkas, K.; Chytiri, Alexandra-Paraskevi; Bouranta, A.Previous studies have shown that employability skills perceptions play a significant role in applicants’ behaviour towards job search and the recruitment and selection process. In addition, research has shown that employers tend to predetermine the employability skills in request, for a job position, based on job description and selection criteria. The present study aims to explore the gap between applicants’ and employers’ perceptions on employability skills and suggest ways to close this gap. Skills and competencies such as communication, flexibility, positive attitude, professionalism, team working, interpersonal relations, responsibility and work ethic, are explored as determinants of an applicant’s overall employability. Demographical factors affecting these perceptions, are also taken into consideration for the analysis.Item Open Access Genealogy as an Approach to Political Theory(Political Studies Association, 2016-03-23) Stevens, SimonThe aim of this paper is to present an increasing need for genealogy as an approach within Political Theory, as a response to the growing impact discourse surrounding PhD funding. I begin by establishing this paper’s point of departure, regarding the distinction between institutional expertise and “normative political expertise” (Lamb 2016, 9), and the concern over the latter, as argued by Robert Lamb. I examine an opposing trend to Lamb’s concept, but find it not in another theorist’s writings, but the funding structures that Political Theory comes under. In essence, I make an interlocutor from PhD funding requirements, which require us to show impact, implicitly asking us to exercise that “normative political expertise”. I then explore what ‘impact theory’ would look like within Political Theory and Political Thought (with occasional glances at Political Philosophy). I subsequently offer a strong and weak reading of this impact theory. Following on from this, I assert the need for Political Theory to increasingly engage in genealogical methods as a middle way, in response to this ‘impact discourse’ and its reliance on “normative political expertise”. In such a difficult position to be in, of accepting ‘impact’ and thus encouraging normative political expertise, or rejecting the notion and receiving no funding (thus becoming an exclusive pursuit enabled by personal wealth), I argue Political Theorizing needs genealogy more than ever, as a form of conceptual analysis which examines “conceptual analysis itself” (Waldron 1995, 166). I conclude by claiming genealogy does not seek to undermine the knowledge or theories that expertise has produced, merely to unsettle the role we give expertise. I claim genealogy can do this, without contradiction, for it is not just a methodology, but a philosophy in itself.Item Metadata only Giving Meaning to Crises: The Meaning-Making of Boris Johnson and Job Cohen(2018-12) Stafford, MaxItem Metadata only Giving Meaning to Crises: The Meaning-Making of Boris Johnson and Job Cohen(2018-09) Stafford, MaxItem Metadata only Hotel Recruitment and Selection Practices: The case of Greece(2018-03) Chytiri, Alexandra-Paraskevi; Filippaios, F.; Chytiri, L.Hotel industry, as a service industry, is greatly dependent upon its employees. Recruitment and Selection practices constitute an important starting stage for hotels towards generating an efficient and productive workforce. The present study, by focusing on 5* and 4* hotels, examines the current trends in the implementation and effectiveness of recruitment and selection practices in the Greek hotel industry, controlling for class category, size and ownership. An inferential quantitative research design was used, and an online survey was conducted, using a seven – point questionnaire. The study concludes that hotel industry, at least in Greece, is still using old – fashioned and cost effective recruitment and selection methods. Findings also outline that 5* and 4* hotels do not differentiate their mix of methods used in recruiting and selecting future employees. Internal recruitment methods are mostly considered to be effective in contrast to external recruitment methods. While interviews and reference checks are listed at the top of the effectiveness list of selection methods. The findings of this research enhance industry understanding of the use and effectiveness of recruitment and selection methods and indicate the need for hotels of superior class to re – examine their recruitment and selection methods and adopt more contemporary ones in their mix.Item Open Access How to Be Good at Telling Others to Be Good: A Case for Epilogue Storytelling(European Consortium for Political Research, 2019-09-04) Stevens, SimonThe first part of this article looks at the methods we use in ideal theory to achieve a principles-first approach – idealisations, thought experiments and reflective equilibrium - and the criticisms this brings from nonideal theorists. Specifically, the criticisms I focus on are the issues with translating ideals into reality, thus questioning the use of ideal theory, and the more extreme claim that ideal theory methods create principles built upon falsehoods. I then bring another perspective to bear upon the issues of ideal theorising: Patricia Hill Collins Black Feminist Epistemology and how it problematizes a position of the abstracted, ‘detached observer’ (Collins, 2000, p. 19). The conclusion to these criticisms is to propose an addition to the way we do ideal theory – epilogue storytelling. I explain what this is and how it can connect to existing schools of thought regarding normative guidance, focussing briefly on moral sentimentalism.