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Reflecting on Loader and White ’s (2018) suggestion that the labour of private security workers is difficult to ‘commodify’, this paper uses original empirical data to show that there are four elements to what private security workers ‘do’ for victims of domestic violence when contracted by domestic violence advocacy services: they provide (a) practical ‘target-hardening’ measures, (b) ‘expert’ advice on security, (c) forms of ‘security therapy’ as workers talk clients through their safety-based anxieties and (d) forms of ‘security theatre’ as workers provide the appearance of providing security despite the efficacy often being unclear or uncertain. Each of these elements have significant risks that can threaten the interests of victims and domestic violence services.

Donors prioritise evaluation of Value for Money (VfM) in development interventions; however, the theory and practice of doing so is still developing and applied inconsistently. Theory found in donor government guides and textbooks is often high-level and economic evaluation theory can be difficult to apply in practice. This is compounded when there are multiple stakeholder groups, patchy data quality and short time horizons for decision making. This article demonstrates how Cost-Utility Analysis (CUA) can be used as a programme evaluation tool to bring practice together with theory to meet donor needs, suit development environments and provide evaluation robustness in defensible VfM conclusions. The example described here is in the evaluation of a programme in Samoa, where almost AU$10 million was donated by the Governments of New Zealand and Australia for tourism industry assistance in recovery from the 2012 Tropical Cyclone Evan (TCE). The programme design had six delivery modalities and its subsequent evaluation included an analysis of the cost utility of each modality, feeding into a VfM conclusion. This practical application of CUA theory demonstrates an effective approach to evaluating VfM.

The achievement of Universal Health Coverage, including quality services, is high on the international agenda. Cambodia aims to expand social health protection and is committed to improving the healthcare service quality. We review the country context and propose five policy approaches to accelerate progress on healthcare quality improvement in Cambodia. These approaches aim to augment the profile and continued focus on quality while leveraging and optimizing existing systems to incentivize improvements and increase value for money.

Evaluation and economics each have distinct approaches to valuing. These approaches are traditionally separated by disciplinary boundaries. However, they can and should be combined. Value for money (VFM), in particular, is a shared domain of the two disciplines, because it is an evaluative question about the economic problem of resource use. A theoretical and practical model for combining valuing approaches has been developed through doctoral research. This article presents and reflects on an example – an international development programme where VFM has been assessed using mixed methods (qualitative, quantitative and economic). Under this approach, evaluative reasoning provides the means for integrating economic values with other criteria and evidence. Deliberation with stakeholders strengthens the valuing process, enhancing validity, credibility and use.

Natural fiber-based preforms possess various attractive characteristics in different applications due to their light weight, value for money and compatibility with the environment. The possible tailorable shapes and mechanical properties make these more attractive for composites applications. Earlier, researchers focused on characterizing preforms for composites, but this work emphasis on the outcome of the weave patterns on composites performance. Mechanical performance (especially shear beam strength) of the 3D layer-to-layer and through-the-thickness prefroms with different interlocking patterns was deliberated. Composites were fabricated using 3D woven jute preforms and green epoxy system. The diverse performance of composites was compared. The effect of weave pattern remained prominent in their composites.

This paper reviews value for money (VfM) analyses conducted in the United States to gain an understanding of methods used in addressing key issues in VfM analyses. The paper shows that VfM analysis approaches are inconsistent. In many cases it is difficult to decipher the source of differences between delivery options. Discount rates are sometimes used in a way that reduces credibility of the results. The paper presents some ideas for how these key issues can be approached so that VfM analysis results are more credible, consistent, and transparent.

Roads are a central element of transportation systems, enabling economic and social development, fostering territorial cohesion and facilitating the movement of people and cargo. Governments have devoted significant financial resources to developing and improving their road networks, and are still facing increasing pressure to ensure proper maintenance and payments to those concessionaires that developed roads under public–private partnership arrangements. As in other sectors, digitalization is paving a way towards significant changes in the way we build, operate and finance infrastructure. These changes will have a profound impact on the entire life cycle of an infrastructure, from the design and/or construction stage, to its operation and transfer. This article provides an overall overview of the main technological developments which are, or could impact road infrastructure in the short, medium and long term. For each technological development identified in our research, we analyse the potential impact on Capex, Opex and revenues as well as their level of maturity and expected lifetime for mass adoption, and also the main bottlenecks or barriers to implementation. Additionally, we explore potential savings on investment (capex) and operational costs (opex) and increase in revenues, using data from the Portuguese highway companies. Savings can represent almost 30% of capex and opex. Overall, savings and increases in revenues can represent an impact similar to 20–40% of current revenues. The findings show that digitalization and technological development in the road sector can significantly impact the economic performance of roads, thus enhancing the value of money for the society. The findings also show that there might be some excess capacity of road systems once autonomous vehicles achieve higher market penetration. However, there are still some relevant legal, regulatory, institutional and technological and economic barriers that are slowing down the digitalization process.

The use of public–private partnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure provision has not always been based on their promise to deliver value for money (VfM). PPPs have also been applied to keep investments off governments’ annual accounts. This article links that motivation to particular modes of practice. It depicts the case of the Belgian region of Flanders. In this jurisdiction, a long-term PPP policy strategy, central coordination mechanism, and application of VfM assessment tools have remained absent. PPP has been used in an ad hoc way, which has granted government departments leeway in closing partnership deals. The result has been a fragmentation of both knowledge and practices. It will be challenging to realize reforms that include a more critical stance toward PPP and foster learning processes: Actors have become used to their ways of dealing with PPP and seek to pursue their own fragmented trajectories.

Public–private partnerships have become an integral strategy to deliver infrastructure projects in Australia. Yet, public–private partnerships have been plagued with controversy due to recurrent time and cost overruns. The paucity of an approach to evaluate the performance of public–private partnerships throughout their life-cycle has hindered the ability of governments to manage their effective and efficient delivery. This paper examines the practice of evaluation for a hospital and prison that were delivered using public–private partnerships. The empirical evidence indicates that with public–private partnerships: (1) performance is typically measured during the construction and operation phases using time, cost and quality and a restricted number of key performance indicators; and (2) a process-based and stakeholder-oriented measurement approach would be better suited to evaluate performance. Building upon the extant literature and the findings emerging from ‘practice’ (i.e. actual activity, events or work), a Performance Prism for ameliorating the evaluation of public–private partnerships throughout their lifecycle is proposed. The research presented in this paper provides stakeholders of public–private partnerships, especially governments, with a robust framework for governing and future proofing their assets to ensure value for money.

Many countries are fast implementing forest conservation Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) as an innovative conservation approach. However, with the growing human needs, forest management challenges, especially limited funding for forest conservation are increasing the need for lessons on Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in many developing countries. This study addressed this challenge from the perspective of sustainable forest management using literature review and document content analysis. Results from Kenya substantiate that despite the complex development challenges, public natural forests provide many benefits that can be delivered to citizens through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). Toward actualizing these partnership possibilities, the government has developed policies and established institutions to coordinate and enhance their implementation. These results imply the presence fairly stable conditions required for building trust and confidence amongst private partners involved in the governance of public natural forests. However, there are some significant challenges that should be addressed if PPPs are to be applied in forest management as truly a transformative conservation approach

Whether contracting out to private actors results in value for money depends on how public authorities govern, organize and manage service contracting. However, only a few studies have attempted to investigate how local governing practices can help to ensure that the contracting out of public services enhances economic efficiency and service quality. To further advance our knowledge on this topic, we present the results of a systematic review of 21 international studies, published between 2000 and 2018, on the impact of governance on the outcomes of contracting out. We combine insights from the reviewed studies to develop a theoretical framework of use to both practitioners and researchers that posits how eight impact factors mediate the influence of local governance on the outcomes of contracting out.

Governments are increasingly entering partnerships with the private sector through the public–private partnership (PPP) model for the development of public projects. Value for money analysis is used to assess the viability of these ventures. This research aims to investigate the contribution of the PPP critical success factors to value for money viability analysis. Relevant data were collected through a questionnaire to establish the PPP critical success factors and value for money success criteria. Data were collected from 92 participants. The data obtained were analyzed using mean score, t-test, and regression analysis. The research found that government guarantees, macroeconomic conditions, shared authority between the public and private sectors, social support, and transparent procurement process contributed positively to value for money viability analysis. The results imply that practitioners should consider these key indicators for improving the value for money viability of PPP projects.

A fundamental benefit sought from Public Private Partnerships is risk transfer – or more explicit allocation of risks between the public and private partners. However, not all operating risks can be transferred or eliminated. The public partner retains residual risk and remains ultimately accountable for the delivery of public services. Sub-standard management of major change events can lead to poor value-for-money outcomes. In-depth insights are provided in this article into how the actual management of Public Private Partnerships may be carried out and dealt with by governments at critical junctures during the concession period. Key risks, issues and critical success factors are identified that can have profound effects on the achievement of intended outcomes. These considerations build upon existing knowledge, policy and guidance for Public Private Partnerships, both nationally and internationally, making this essay tangible and grounded for both academics and practitioners.

This study analyses what British American Tobacco (BAT) and its 4 publicly listed Asian subsidiary companies have told their shareholders about the commercial value of tobacco packaging. The discourse on packaging in BAT annual reports was analyzed, revealing themes of modernization, rejuvenation, internationalism, heritage, innovation, value for money, and competitive edge. Packaging was credited with providing existing brands with a competitive edge and enabling the successful “launch” of new ones. Since advertising, sponsorship, and free samples were prohibited in many countries, packaging has become more important for advertising. New brands and brand variants have proliferated. BAT companies have allocated considerable resources to regularly altering packaging for marketing purposes. Clearly, restrictions on packaging will substantially detract from the promotion of the company’s brands. The findings provide further evidence from industry sources of the vital function of packaging and further justify plain packaging as an essential part of any comprehensive tobacco control policy.

Measuring public service effectiveness has become a central issue for public authorities worldwide, often driven by governmental pressures to ensure value for money. In this context, social media data represent a potential powerful tool in the hands of public authorities to support the evaluation of public service performance. By relying on an action research project in the higher education field, this study explores how social media data can contribute to measure service effectiveness by focusing specifically on Twitter in the higher education field. The final aim of the paper is to develop a set of measures, derived from Twitter data, to quantify the effectiveness of higher education services. This investigation supports a broader discussion about the extent to which social media data can contribute to performance measurement in the public sector.

Public–private partnerships (PPPs), it is argued, generate greater value for money than traditional procurement methods. Governments overwhelmed by budget deficits and public debts see them as a way to overcome the challenges of providing critical public infrastructure. However, many PPP projects are not on cost and on time, igniting criticisms and debate as to their merits. The Ghanaian Government has developed a PPP policy framework with the view of engaging the private sector to build needed infrastructure. Incorporating insights from path dependency, we are interested in finding out if, compared to traditional procurement, the policy represents a new path for national development.

Canadians need to talk about their healthcare, about who pays for what, when. Lack of money is not the issue; how that money is spent is the issue—what public healthcare is covering and not covering. The same dollar amount can be spent quite differently and more effectively. The 1950s first-dollar, single-payor decision shifted the burden from the individual to government, but a lot has changed since the 1950s. Today Medicare is not universal, comprehensive, reasonably accessible, or portable. With residual constitutional power residing in Ottawa, there is no reason for the fragmentation and inequalities facing Canadians. Sound fiscal policy enables funding at appropriate levels when needed; however, current fiscal policy is not sound. Canada can learn from countries that outperform it in terms of quality, waits, access, outcomes, and value for money. This article provides some fresh thinking about the financing of a system that currently is failing Canadians.

The importance of demonstrating value for money in terms of academic research beyond the walls of institutions grows stronger as demonstrated by the inclusion of impact assessment in the 2014 REF (Research Excellence Framework) exercise for UK higher education institutions (HEIs). To understand if such focus is influencing the library and information science (LIS) discipline, this paper reports a critical examination of impact case studies submitted to REF 2014 under the Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management Unit of Assessment. Content analysis was conducted on 25 case studies submitted by 14 institutions, establishing the methodologies, impacts, beneficiaries, published outputs and corroborative evidence reported. The implications of impact assessment on future LIS researcher behaviour, in terms of research conceptualisation and design, were explored through nine qualitative telephone interviews. While individual researchers did not anticipate their behaviour to change due to the introduction of impact assessments, there are anticipated changes across the discipline including a greater focus on engaging with stakeholders and research beneficiaries at early stages of research design and an emphasis on mixed methodologies to maximise the power and consequences of research results.

This article draws on data collected from a series of semi-structured interviews with headteachers and other stakeholders on the use of the Pupil Premium in Ofsted-rated outstanding schools. It has a focus on the significance of fundamental principles in determining how effective use is made of additional resources. In particular, the importance of a clear identification and maintenance of a consistent set of values, by school leaders, is identified as a major contributory factor in ensuring successful utilization of the Pupil Premium for the ultimate benefit of all pupils in the school and for the broader community.

This article extends the concept of customer perceived value (CPV) to the tourist outshopping context and explores the differences in antecedents and outcomes of CPV between cross-border and international outshoppers. A large-scale field survey in Hong Kong with cross-border outshoppers from mainland China and international shoppers from four Western countries (Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States) shows that perceived product quality, risk, and value for money have a stronger effect on CPV for cross-border outshoppers, and employee service quality and lifestyle congruence for international outshoppers. CPV also has a stronger positive effect on satisfaction, word of mouth, and repeat purchase intentions for cross-border outshoppers, whereas satisfaction has a stronger positive impact on word of mouth and repeat purchase intentions for international outshoppers. We discuss the conceptual contribution and managerial implications of our findings for international retailers, researchers, and tourism organizations.

Over the last two decades, public private partnership (PPP) has become a preferred mode of delivery of infrastructure and related services in India. As a mode of delivery, PPP is expected to bring efficiency and effectiveness in development of infrastructure, private funds to meet the financing needs, and induce demand side corrections in most of the cases. This article identifies the prevailing challenges for PPP as a mode of delivery of infrastructure in India and suggests measures which need to be taken to ensure PPP as a mode of delivery remains a boon for the infrastructure sector in India.

The increasing choice of public private partnerships (PPPs) in infrastructure projects is due to its inherent promise to create value for money (VfM) by providing timely and improved quality of services cost effectively. This article makes an attempt to assess the performance of four national highways (NH) PPP projects in the State of Karnataka. Framework for the evaluation of the projects under review includes time overrun analysis, risk responsibility matrix, and estimation of both quantitative and qualitative VfM, that is, the financial savings to the government and road users. The study finds that the Projects 1, 3, and 4 under review created positive VfM to government (financial savings) to the tune of Rs. 1,040 crore. VfM has also been observed to be positive to the road users by way of average reduction in travel time, saving of fuel, consistency in reaching the destination, and so on. The article also provides suggestions to tone up the PPP policy of India.

Since the inception of the private finance initiative (PFI) in the mid-1990s, PFI has undergone a significant change from service-oriented to investment-oriented projects including public private partnership (PPP) projects. In spite of this change, the value for money (VfM) methodology designed for evaluating the justifiability of PFI projects has not changed much for the last two decades. A question has arisen on whether the current VfM methodology is still valid for the assessment of PPP projects that depend much less on the government subsidy compared to service-oriented projects. This research is intended to revamp the current VfM methodology by adopting a shadow bid pricing (SBP) approach so as to make it applicable to PPP projects in a more straightforward manner. The validity of this SBP approach was tested by applying it to a real-world case in India (National Highway Development Program III) with positive finding of its validity.

This research gave voice to teaching assistants, exploring their experiences and perceptions. A small-scale case study approach was adopted, which aimed to interpret and explain human actions and thought through descriptions, capturing first person accounts. Qualitative data was collected from two focus group interviews. Participants were employed by Primary, Secondary and Special Schools. The research found that the main entry route into the role of teaching assistant was that of parent-helper. Previous skills and experience were not drawn upon or utilised by the schools. Differences in job titles were not reflected by the roles performed by the participants. For teaching assistants to be considered to provide ‘value for money’ a different approach to their deployment is required. The message voiced by teaching assistants was that there needs to be a clear career and related pay structure, with relevant job descriptions, which takes experience and qualifications into account.

Management Institutes are changing over the last decade because of competition, changes in technology, teaching pedagogy, and placement expectations from students and value for money for their parents. The next decade will bring even greater change impacting on all facets of the management institutes including major changes in infrastructure facilities, role of director, faculty members, and students of the management institutes. Changes may take place because of placement of students, faculty member’s attitude toward students and institute etc. It is up to the management of the institute to see how effectively and smoothly these changes could be done to face competition. In this research paper an attempt has been made to know the need and types of changes required, effect of changes on faculty members and management institutes, and understanding and solving the difficulties in implementing changes in the management institutes. For this research paper 60 faculty members were covered from management institutes in Pune. It is a descriptive research and convenience sampling was used. Primary data were collected from questionnaires. Secondary data were collected from journals, magazines, and web sites. Data analysis and hypothesis testing were done. The study revealed that faculty members like the changes made by the institute, changes are due to less admissions and adopting new technology/methodology. Difficulties/problems for implementing the changes are: Barriers in communication, interpersonal relationship, no role clarity, not understanding the necessity for change, and not accepting responsibility for change.

Studies of political consumerism and of political consumers tend to ask general questions about motivations and tendencies among specific segments of society and investigate the likelihood of the political attitudes of specific social identities to affect consumer choices. In contrast, we examine how political consumerism is influenced by both individual characteristics and the communities in which these individuals live. In addition, we explore whether specific issues of political consumerism – environmental concerns, social justice, and religion – exist independently of general political consumerism. Finally, we attempt to determine the relationship between these different focuses of political consumerism. Based on a survey conducted in August 2010 in Israel of a random sample of 603 adult Jewish Israelis, we delineate the general trends of political consumerism. We then present a regression model to further explore the different paths of political consumerism. This article concludes with a model developed using structural equation modeling in which the different factors and paths are brought together in order to understand the relationship between the three paths of political consumerism.

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, to explore whether Avon and Somerset Police can get better value for money from the Special Constabulary by increasing officer retention and second, and perhaps more importantly, to stimulate debate and highlight the apparent dearth of research and evidence pertaining to the Special Constabulary at a time of rapid expansion. Based on personal experience as a Special Constable and empirical research conducted in 2012 within Avon and Somerset Police, this paper considers whether forces nationally can increase value for money from their Special Constabulary volunteers by reducing annual attrition. The findings indicate that some relatively simple interventions and changes could increase retention and, through this, value for money. In a period of economic stringency forces cannot afford to assume that the voluntary nature of the Special Constabulary automatically presents value for money.

The NBOMe compounds are a novel series of hallucinogenic drugs that are potent agonists of the 5-HT2A receptor, have a short history of human consumption and are available to buy online, in most countries. In this study, we sought to investigate the patterns of use, characteristics of users and self-reported effects. A cross-sectional anonymous online survey exploring the patterns of drug use was conducted in 2012 ( n = 22,289), including questions about the use of 25B-NBOMe, 25C-NBOMe, and 25I-NBOMe and comparison drugs. We found that 2.6% of respondents ( n = 582) reported having ever tried one of the three NBOMe drugs and that at 2.0%, 25I-NBOMe was the most popular ( n = 442). Almost all (93.5%) respondents whose last new drug tried was a NBOMe drug, tried it in 2012, and 81.2% of this group administered the drug orally or sublingually/buccally. Subjective effects were similar to comparison serotonergic hallucinogens, though higher ‘negative effects while high’ and greater ‘value for money’ were reported. The most common (41.7%) drug source was via a website. The NBOMe drugs have emerged recently, are frequently bought using the internet and have similar effects to other hallucinogenic drugs; however, they may pose larger risks, due to the limited knowledge about them, their relatively low price and availability via the internet.

Despite the widespread use of travel websites, our understanding of how best to capture users’ value experiences when using such websites is limited. This article introduces a multidimensional measurement of a user’s value experience on a travel website (e-Value). We then assess the extent to which website users contribute to their own value experience. Based on 175 UK survey respondents, e-Value is formed mainly by cognitive effort, utilitarian value/control, and to a lesser extent by perceptions of emotional value and value for money. Social value experiences do not contribute to e-Value. A user’s own activities on a website (i.e., participation) affect most value dimensions but at different magnitudes. Our findings suggest that website “participation” should be seen as phenomenologically determined by the user as perceived participation affects e-Value dimensions more strongly than actual participation.

The academic fields of public administration and public management are diverging. Public management focuses primarily on the orthodox values of efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and value for money. It views accountability from the perspective of obtaining results (outcomes) defined in terms of core mission objectives and the operations that are ancillary to their achievement, such as deploying financial, human, and other resources cost-effectively. Public administration is also interested in all of the above. However, it retains the field’s broad interest in regime values and other public values. This analysis seeks to provide a clearer conception of mission-extrinsic public values and their centrality to public administration in the United States and the People’s Republic of China.

This article discusses the challenges that local enterprise partnerships are likely to experience in evaluation given the severe constraints on the funds available to evaluators and local enterprise partnerships. It highlights the rationale and benefits of conducting evaluation and examines how local enterprise partnerships might benefit from previous evaluation efforts. It also considers some of the technical and practical challenges of conducting evaluation in the current constrained financial climate, including the challenge of ensuring a common format in programme evaluation; attributing the impact on outcomes arising from government intervention; the difficulty of assessing the durability of benefits and putting a monetary value on the benefits arising from government intervention. The article concludes with some key messages on evaluation for local enterprise partnerships and those evaluating local economic development activities in times of austerity.

In June 2012, Alberta Health Services introduced Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs) as engines of innovation. The SCNs are collaborative clinical teams, with a provincial strategic mandate and with goals of achieving best outcomes, seeking greatest value for money and engaging clinicians in all aspects of the work. The SCNs are led by clinicians, driven by clinical needs, based on measurement and best evidence, and supported by research expertise, infrastructure, quality improvement, and analytic resources. Eleven SCNs are operational, with five others planned. Early measurable value is demonstrable in each. Examples include improving care and outcomes following stroke, reducing use of anti-psychotics in Long-Term Care (LTC), and improving surgical safety through effective implementation of the Safe Surgery Checklist.

This article reports the development of tools for use by local commissioning teams, based in English Local Authorities (Local Government Councils), to evaluate the value for money of their behavior change investments. The national program was guided by a panel of senior advisers and included consultations with experts in the field, as the basis for the design of the methodology. Evaluation tools were then developed applying evidence provided by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the World Health Organization, Health England (a national group set up to advise on public health policy), and other sources. As data were often incomplete, provision was made to update the tools as further evidence emerges. The tools, which are now available online at http://www.thensmc.com/resources/vfm , cover: smoking cessation, alcohol harm reduction, obesity reduction, comprising, weight loss, diet and increased activity, breast feeding continuation, and participation in bowel cancer screening. The use of these tools by local teams has proved valuable in demonstrating the relative value for money of local interventions and the importance of further developments of this kind.

Coaching is still a fairly young profession. Definitions of what constitutes business coaching are not universally agreed and there is little validated academic research about the benefits coaching provides. However, there is growing evidence that the use of business coaching is increasing and that coaching is now seen as a highly cost-effective way to enhance professional and personal development. This article looks at what business coaching is, why its use is increasing and how introducing coaching provides hard and soft benefits both for individuals and for organizations. Like other professionals, those in the information industry need to develop skills in areas such as leadership, communication and customer focus. In addition they have some unique challenges: demand for their services is changing; there are more hurdles for career progression; information professionals need to ‘do more with less’, whilst still adding value to the business. More than ever, library, information and knowledge workers have to fight their corner, find new ways to apply information skills and ‘reinvent’ themselves. Coaching can help them to do this. The article concludes with some ‘frequently asked questions’ about how coaching works within organizations. It concludes that, in the current economic climate, there appear to be a range of benefits that information professionals seeking to develop and motivate themselves and others would find it hard to ignore.

Private labels are becoming more sophisticated, spanning many price-quality tiers and categories. As such, private label branding is evolving and retailers have to pay greater attention to factors that affect private label perceptions. One of such factors is the value-for-money perception of the supermarket, which is important both in terms of its competitiveness and the private labels it carries. The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between value-for-money perceptions of a supermarket and perceptions that the private labels it offers are also value-for-money. We find a positive relationship between value-for-money perceptions of a supermarket and value-for-money perceptions of its private labels, which is stronger for private label non-users. Given that most private labels are not advertised, knowing that non-users of private labels form associations based on the store image is important for private label managers who want to grow the customer base of their private labels. For premium private labels we find that if a premium private label is the only private label in a category, it is perceived just like the traditional private label, suggesting a benefit in offering at least two tiers of private labels. Our findings provide implications for retailers in regards to their private label branding strategies. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Private finance initiative is the coalition's favoured method for funding capital projects. But, Mark Hellowell argues, PFI offers poor value for money and is in need of substantial reform. The private finance initiative (PFI) is the coalition government's favoured method for funding capital projects. But, Mark Hellowell writes, the cost of PFI has increased significantly since the credit crunch of 2008, and there is a need for substantial reform to improve the policy's value for money.

Recently asset owners have been investigating alternative delivery models for construction projects that offer improvements in value for money and project delivery time. One of these methods is the early contractor involvement (ECI) strategy. In this strategy a contractor is engaged before commencement of the construction work to give input during design. After the design, the construction work is negotiated with the contractor. Implementation of this new delivery strategy can raise issues with involved parties in the industry. To find these transitional issues, expectations and opinions were collected from practitioners from the three involved parties—owners, designers, and contractors—who had experience with ECI. The results show that all parties agreed in expecting improvements in quality and innovation and that the costs needed to adopt this system were not significant. Owners and contractors opined that the design phase could be expedited; however, the designers argued that any time savings were negated by increased collaboration and negotiation between the parties. There was also disagreement on risk allocation during construction. Contrary to the other parties, the contractors did not perceive the allocation of risk to them to be greater than with traditional procurement systems. Finally there was disagreement about whether the necessary collaborative culture was present in the construction industry for adopting “open book” costing, often practiced in ECI. It is recommended that for successful implementation of ECI, objectives in the areas of disagreement should be clarified between parties as they work through a transitional phase in adopting the ECI procurement method.

Rural consumers form a formidable block of over one-fifth of the total mobile phone user-base in India. In comparison to a tele-density of more than thirty per cent in urban areas, it is less than ten per cent in the rural areas, thereby indicating a huge scope for future growth. The study was conducted with an objective to identify the factors influencing the selection of mobile phone service provider among rural users. The study brought out clearly that the major factors influencing the choice of service provider were network coverage, price, value-for-money and billing integrity, recommendations from family and friends, customer service and company image. Network problem was observed to be the most important reason for switching over to other mobile phone service provider.

Literary sources regarding public—private partnerships (PPPs) often mention the importance of conducting a value for money (VfM) analysis to determine the value of pursuing a project through a PPP versus a traditional procurement; however, few sources detail how agencies actually use this analysis in practice. This article provides a state-of-the-practice review of VfM analysis using examples from Australia, Canada, Europe, Africa, and Asia, focusing particularly on the VfM model used by agencies such as Partnerships Victoria, The United Kingdom's Her Majesty Treasury Department, and Partnerships British Columbia. Despite its growing applications in PPP projects from all different sectors, VfM has faced significant criticisms from academics and practitioners. This article evaluates reviews of VfM, noting the weaknesses and strengths of the methodology. Using the information derived from the evaluation, this article provides a guided reference for public agencies looking to adopt this VfM methodology in their current PPP decision-making framework.

As part of its welfare reform strategy, the government has made increasing use of the private and third sector in the provision of employment-related services. Ministers claim that this results in better service for users and better value for money for the taxpayer. This article examines these claims for third and private sector superiority in service provision and, using the government's own evaluative reports, challenges this view. The article contends that there is little evidence to support the government's case for the wholesale embrace of contracting out employment services. Based on reviewing experience of previous projects, it argues that given the same flexibilities and financing routinely offered to contractors, in-house provision would match or surpass contractor performance.

This paper evaluates the satisfaction of cruise passengers visiting the Atlantic islands of the Azores Archipelago. It investigates the relationship between their satisfaction with the Azores and their behavioural intentions, not only with regard to repurchasing the cruise but also to the likelihood of their recommending it and the Azores to friends and relatives. A structural equation model is used to analyse the factors that make the Azores attractive as cruise ports of call. The data were obtained from a survey distributed between March and December 2004 among the passengers of cruises docking at Azores ports. The findings reveal that, besides value for money, the two main factors driving the behavioural intentions are linked, first, to the city, its attractions in general and the individual's level of satisfaction with the overall visit and, second, and of lesser importance, to the perceptions of hospitality, safety, services and cleanliness of the environment in the Azores.

Public Private Partnerships / Private Finance Initiative (PPP/PFI), play a significant role in the renewal of the UK's public services. For some commentators, the policy has been associated with poor value for money for the public sector while the private sector is virtually guaranteed steady profits over extended periods of time. This paper explores a policy aspect which so far has not attracted so much attention; that of the PPP/PFI market and more specifically the possibility of failure of private sector companies which have undertaken responsibility for the provision of public services. It concludes that the long term success of PFI projects is linked to the sustained involvement of the private sector companies. Failures of private companies can result in service deterioration, disruptions and increased costs to the public sector.

The latest buzzword in the world of public service broadcasting is ‘performance’. Following national and international pressures on public broadcasters’ system of public funding, PSB is being urged to ‘perform’, to provide value for money, to meet targets or suffer the consequences. To this end, a new governance system has been or is being implemented in several European countries containing all or some of the following elements: public-service contracts, performance criteria and performance analyses. This new policy approach touches upon issues such as the independence, the accountability and the distinctiveness of public service broadcasting and creates clear opportunities and threats for the future of PSB.

The need for change within the National Health Service (NHS) to improve performance and increase value for money has been discussed for many years by academics, practitioners and political parties. Change initiatives have come and gone and yet the problems still exist. This research explores possible changes in practice that may be required to improve the performance of operating theatres within a diagnostic and treatment centre in England - Trust X. The research investigates the difficulties of implementing such changes within Trust X, gives some insight into why these difficulties arise, and suggests possible future options as to how the aforementioned difficulties may be addressed.

However, in the context of a range of policy concernsincluding ensuring value for money, ambitions to makeservices patient-centred, preventing organizational fail-ures and increasing accountability to local commu-nities, it is timely to take stock of current approachesto measuring patient experience and ask whether theyare fit for such a wide variety of purposes.

In 1999 Australia embarked on an accrual budgetary methodology in conjunction with an ambitious outcomesoutputs framework. The changes were entirely driven by central budgetary agencies who wanted to see the total costs (or prices) of outputs reflected in budgetary documentation and evidence of value for money in declared results. The government also decided to implement the changes within 1 year, and by adopting a crash-through mentality the central actors persevered and successfully achieved their main objective. Many problems, dilemmas, and inconsistencies were encountered along the way, not the least of which raised questions about the very nature of the annual budget. This article examines the trajectory of these reforms and asks how successfully they were implemented and accepted. It also raises questions about many of the decisions made in the process of change and whether the quality of budgetary information has improved the cabinet decision-making process. The article argues that accrual budgeting was implemented in Australia with many compromises and adaptations, but that the exercise should be understood primarily as part of a broader process of public sector reform.

This article defines the public audit function and identifies pressures changing Value for Money (VFM) auditing in the public sector in the UK. These pressures have prompted a range of innovations in how organizations such as the National Audit Office carry out their evaluations. Related to these pressures is the rise of formal futures within the public sector. The implications of this thinking for VFM public auditing are examined. It is argued that, although conventional VFM auditing remains appropriate for much of the public sector, there are a growing number of public sector activities requiring a different approach. Such approaches include scenario planning. These not only present methodological problems for auditors but also raise important issues about the role of audit more generally. Finally, although these new tools may be helpful in many respects, it is suggested that they may increase the tension between anchoring parliamentary accountability in some statements of fact and contributing to impro...