What difference a writing centre makes:a small scale study

Purpose – Academic writing is often considered to be a weakness in contemporary students, while good reporting and writing skills are highly valued by graduate employers. A number of universities have introduced writing centres aimed at addressing this problem; however, the evaluation of such centres is usually qualitative. The paper seeks to consider the efficacy of a writing centre by looking at the impact of attendance on two “real world” quantitative outcomes – achievement and progression. Design/methodology/approach – Data mining was used to obtain records of 806 first-year students, of whom 45 had attended the writing centre and 761 had not. Findings – A highly significant association between writing centre attendance and achievement was found. Progression to year two was also significantly associated with writing centre attendance. Originality/value – Further, quantitative evaluation of writing centres is advocated using random allocation to a comparison condition to control for potential confounds such as motivation.

The post-adoption phase of the broadband in small businesses

In spite of the increasing significance of broadband, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are unaware of or unappreciative of its benefits. This is potentially a problem for governments, Internet Service Providers and other supply side institutions. The current study empirically verifies applicability of an extended IS continuance model controlling for organizational variables based on the Technology-Organization-Environment framework to examine factors influencing broadband post-adoption behavior of SMEs in Singapore. Strong support for the model has been manifested by the results, providing insight into influential factors. Results of the study suggest that perceived usefulness is a strong predictor of users’ continuance intention, followed by satisfaction with broadband usage as a significant but weaker predictor. SMEs in a more competitive business environment and whose key executive possesses greater IT knowledge are more likely to use broadband.

Creating innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises:evaluating the short-term effects of the creative credits pilot

This working paper looks at the short-term impact of the Creative Credits pilot scheme which operated in the Manchester City Region in the North West of England from September 2009 to September 2010, and was funded by NESTA, Manchester City Council, the North West Development Agency, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Creative Credits is a business-to-business (B2B) voucher mechanism designed to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to work innovatively with creative companies. Businesses receive credits worth £4,000, which they must match with at least £1,000, to spend with creative firms on a variety of creative services.

Burden or benefit? Regulation as a dynamic influence on small business performance

This article contributes to contemporary debates concerning the impact of regulation on small business performance. Reassessing previous studies, we build our insights on their useful, but partial, approaches. Prior studies treat regulation principally as a static and negative influence, thereby neglecting the full range of regulatory effects on business performance. This study adopts a more nuanced approach, one informed by critical realism, that conceptualises social reality as stratified, and social causality in terms of the actions of human agents situated within particular social-structural contexts. We theorise regulation as a dynamic force, enabling as well as constraining performance, generating contradictory performance effects. Such regulatory effects flow directly from adaptations to regulation, and indirectly via relationships with the wide range of close and distant stakeholders with whom small businesses interact. Future research should examine these contradictory regulatory influences on small business performance.

Strategic decision making in small businesses:implications for strategic flexibility and strategic adaptation

Strategic decision making (SDM) in a small business is an informal, highly personalised cognitive process which is emergent in nature. SDM determines the extent to which decision makers generate innovative decision-making options, and is therefore critical in order for small businesses to achieve strategic flexibility to enable strategic adaptation to turbulent environments. By examining SDM in small businesses, this research has the potential to address a major criticism of the extant literature in that it has been pre-occupied with measuring the formality of strategic planning and has neglected the informal, highly personalised and cognitive nature of strategic decision making in a small businesses.

A barrier and techno-economic analysis of small-scale bCHP (biomass combined heat and power) schemes in the UK

bCHP (Biomass combined heat and power) systems are highly efficient at smaller-scales when a significant proportion of the heat produced can be effectively utilised for hot water, space heating or industrial heating purposes. However, there are many barriers to project development and this has greatly inhibited deployment in the UK. Project viability is highly subjective to changes in policy, regulation, the finance market and the low cost fossil fuel incumbent. The paper reviews the barriers to small-scale bCHP project development in the UK along with a case study of a failed 1.5MWel bCHP scheme. The paper offers possible explanations for the project's failure and suggests adaptations to improve the project resilience. Analysis of the project's: capital structuring contract length and bankability; feedstock type and price uncertainty, and plant oversizing highlight the negative impact of the existing project barriers on project development. The research paper concludes with a discussion on the effects of these barriers on the case study project and this industry more generally. A greater understanding of the techno-economic effects of some barriers for small-scale bCHP schemes is demonstrated within this paper, along with some methods for improving the attractiveness and resilience of projects of this kind. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Logistics Innovation in Small 3PLs:what is the Role of ICT?

For companies competing in highly dynamic markets, the search for new sources of competitive advantages is mandatory. Innovation is considered a fundamental component of a successful business as it allows companies to sustain profit margins and sales growth and to reduce pressures coming from competitors. In the knowledge-driven economy, information and communication technology (ICT) plays an important role as it enables innovation in product/service, processes and organisations especially in service companies. This paper investigates the role of ICT in logistics innovation. The focus of the paper is on the effects that ICT usage is having on the management of small third-party logistics service providers (3PLs). On the basis of quantitative and qualitative evidence emerging from a recent survey carried out on the Italian logistic service market, the paper analyses how ICT is used to support logistics innovation and the factors inhibiting/facilitate the usage of ICT in such companies. Implications for logistics innovation management will be outlined from both research and managerial perspectives.

Differential impact of amino acid substitutions on critical residues of the human glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor involved in peptide activity and small-molecule allosterys

The glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) is a class B G protein-coupled receptor that has a critical role in the regulation of glucose homeostasis, principally through the regulation of insulin secretion. The receptor systemis highly complex, able to be activated by both endogenous [GLP-1(1-36)NH2, GLP-1(1-37), GLP-1(7-36)NH2, GLP-1(7-37), oxyntomodulin], and exogenous (exendin-4) peptides in addition to small-molecule allosteric agonists (compound 2 [6,7-dichloro-2-methylsulfonyl-3-tertbutylaminoquinoxaline], BETP [4-(3-benzyloxy)phenyl)-2-ethylsulfinyl-6-(trifluoromethyl)pyrimidine]). Furthermore, the GLP-1R is subject to single-nucleotide polymorphic variance, resulting in amino acid changes in the receptor protein. In this study, we investigated two polymorphic variants previously reported to impact peptidemediated receptor activity (M149) and small-molecule allostery (C333). These residues were mutated to a series of alternate amino acids, and their functionality was monitored across physiologically significant signaling pathways, including cAMP, extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 and 2 phosphorylation, and intracellular Ca2+ mobilization, in addition to peptide binding and cell-surface expression. We observed that residue 149 is highly sensitive to mutation, with almost all peptide responses significantly attenuated at mutated receptors. However, most reductions in activity were able to be restored by the small-molecule allosteric agonist compound 2. Conversely, mutation of residue 333 had little impact on peptide-mediated receptor activation, but this activity could not be modulated by compound 2 to the same extent as that observed at the wild-type receptor. These results provide insight into the importance of residues 149 and 333 in peptide function and highlight the complexities of allosteric modulation within this receptor system.