Business angels are widely acknowledged as being a key source of risk finance for growth-oriented enterprises. Their importance has become even more significant since the onset of the financial crisis. Research on business angels goes back some 30 years, focusing primarily on two themes: (i) their characteristics and (ii) the investment process. It has become clear that business angels are not a homogeneous population. Various studies have sought to develop typologies of business angels based on their personal characteristics, competence, motivations, investment approach and types of investment made. However, this stream of research remains limited and has not progressed beyond establishing typologies. Moreover, the possibility that typologies are dynamic, with angels shifting between categories over time remains largely unexplored. Neither has it been considered how different types of business angels approach the process of making investment decisions or managing the post-investment relationship. The aim of this research is to further develop this line of research on angel typologies to explore differences between types of angel investors in terms of their approach to investment, looking in particular, at their decision-making criteria. This dissertation starts by questioning the methodologies used in research on business angel decision making. In particular, how comparable are results that arise from different methodologies. Using a sample of 51 business angels (21 gatekeepers and 30 individual investors), the findings indicate that the results are methodologically dependent. The next stage used data collected through an online survey with 472 investment decisions made by 238 angel investors. These data were used in the subsequent analysis. Firstly, a two-step cluster analysis procedure was conducted to cluster the investment decisions by the criteria weights. Three clusters were identified. The investment experience and the level of influence of others are both helpful in explaining the differences across groups. Secondly, the cluster membership was used to evaluate if angel investors change their investment criteria. A logistic model was developed. The results indicate that the likelihood of a business angel’s change the investment criteria depend on three key areas: investment specific area (ISA), angel specific area (ASA) and group specific area (GSA).

Principles of Realist Evaluation (Pawson & Tilley, 1997) were used alongside a framework based on Realist Social Theory (Archer, 1995; De Souza, 2013) in order to explore and explain the nature of the local parenting context in which the Holding Hands Parenting Programme (HHPP) was both embedded and functioned. The research identified particular mechanisms that were pre-existing in the local context in its structural, cultural, agential and relational aspects which were activated by the introduction of a parenting programme. It was carried out in a large shire county where the researcher worked as a Trainee Educational Psychologist. Stakeholders in the HHPP from various system levels, ranging from those with service and commissioning responsibilities to recipients of parenting support, participated in the study, providing a rich insight into the multi-layered local context. Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was used as a grounding framework for the analysis of data which followed a realist analytical process culminating in retroduction (Crinson, 2001) and six overarching themes were developed: (i) forward thinking; (ii) one size fits; (iii) collaboration; (iv) involvement; (v) barriers and (vi) perceptions and expectations. Network patterns (or configurations) were created which mapped out the relationship between aspects of the context, pre-existing mechanisms and the outcomes potentially generated as a result of a parenting programme. Existing literature was explored and findings formed a key part of the theorisation and retroductive phases of data analysis. Two overarching theories were constructed in order to summarise the concluding thoughts in this study on the relationship between the HHPP and its context. These were presented and can form the basis of future realist evaluation research. This research contributes to the further development of the HHPP as it seeks to use innovative and creative ways to support a wider range of parents within a complex and changing local context. Implications for future research and links to the practice of educational psychologists are discussed and the potential value principles of realist evaluation may have for an educational psychology service is outlined.

This thesis comprises three essays. The first two make use of individual-level data on British workers from the British Household Panel Survey to study different aspects of nonstandard employment. The first essay, co-authored with Mark Bryan, presents estimates of the implicit monetary value that workers attach to non-standard work. We employ and compare two alternative methods to measure workers’ willingness to pay for four non-standard working arrangements: flexitime, part-time, night work, and rotating shifts. The first method is based on job-to-job transitions within a job search framework, while the second is based on estimating the determinants of subjective well-being. We find that the results of the two methods differ, and relate them to conceptual differences between utility and subjective wellbeing proposed recently in the happiness literature. The second essay builds on economic theories of consumption and saving choices to investigate whether workers expect temporary work to be a stepping stone towards better jobs, or a source of uncertainty and insecurity. The evidence provided shows that temporary work entails both expected improvements in future earnings, and uncertainty. Households’ consumption and saving choices are used to assess which of these two effects is prevailing, providing an alternative empirical approach to measure the consequences of temporary work for workers’ welfare. The results suggest that a stepping stone effect towards better jobs is present and, more importantly, is perceived by individuals and internalized in their behaviour. Finally, the last essay has a specific focus on econometric methods. A Monte Carlo experiment is used to investigate the extent to with the Poisson RE estimator is likely to produce results similar to ones obtained using the Poisson FE estimator when the random effects assumption is violated. The first order conditions of the two estimators differ by a term that tends to zero when the number of time periods (T), or the variance of the time-constant unobserved heterogeneity (V), tend to infinity. Different data generating processes are employed to understand if this result is likely to apply in common panel data where both characteristics are finite. As expected, the bias of RE estimates decreases with T and V. However, the same does not hold for the estimated coefficient on the time invariant dummy variable embedded in the conditional mean, which remains substantially biased. This raises a note of caution for practitioners.

Servitization strategy has become more popular recently within academic literature. Achieving sustainable competitive advantage, based upon services provision, is claimed to be a viable proposition for modern businesses. A strategic view emerging from the literature is that offering services enables closer and longer-term customer relationships. This relationship directs organizations‘ marketing offerings toward customers‘ needs, and promotes a prompt response to dynamic changes in the business environment. There has, however, been little evidence captured on the application of aspects of servitization within real estate development. Prompted by the expected outcome of a servitization strategy, this research is conducted to investigate servitization in the context of the Jordanian real estate development to identify the prospects and challenges of servitization for the real estate development industry, and to examine the role of servitization as a source of competitive advantage through the lens of the Resource-Based View Theory. A qualitative case study research is adopted, and the principles of the Delphi study have been applied. The research examines eight real estate development companies managing multiple building projects in Jordan. Data was collected from the case studies in incremental multiple stages. The primary data was collected using a series of open-ended questions based on three rounds of Delphi: 42 interviews were carried out in the first round, followed by 23 interviews in the second round and 11 interviews in the third round. The findings indicate that service provision has become an essential element of the real estate development project. The output of the real estate development industry becomes systems of both project components and added services. These systems are the result of servitization strategies in the real estate development industry that shifts its focus from only designing and selling a physical output to delivering systems of services integrated to the project, which together are capable of adding more customer value. The research identifies several types of services, which are used to develop the four categories of servitization in the real estate development industry. These categories are referred to as project-oriented, product-oriented, customer-oriented and service-oriented. The research develops the value chain of servitization strategy and it was found that offering services in real estate development is an incremental process (e.g. based upon circular, iterative and on-going development). Offering basic services such as project-orientated services and product-orientated services adds more value for customers and makes the project more valuable. Providing these basic services has become one of the project performance dimensions to fulfil the market ―order qualifier‖ criteria. However, offering basic services will not ensure competitive success. More advanced services such as customer-orientated-services need to be provided to enhance the project‘s competitive advantage. Offering advanced services tailors the project toward customer needs and enhances customer satisfaction. These advanced services are considered the base of order-winner criteria to win the contract. Still, real estate development projects need to consider the longterm life of a project‘s outcomes. This long-term nature of projects requires service provision that supports project functionality and assures product stability. Offering after-sale services builds customer trust, inspires customer confidence and assures customers of reliable long-term support. It is these system solutions that shape the order-winning criteria. Realizing the important role of services, this research develops a model to put servitization strategy into action in the context of the real estate development industry. The research supports the application of the Resource-based View Theory. Offering services develops distinct capabilities necessary to achieve competitive advantage. This competitive advantage is achieved by adopting three main aspects; i. offering a comprehensive approach of project-service systems; ii. linking the strategic decisions of service provision to project operations management, and iii. collecting data and information that provide the organization with unique market insights. This research extends existing literature on servitization and its implication for building projects and providing insights to support future decision-makers in providing services in real estate development. Also, the research provides a comprehensive review of servitization strategy in the building sector and a platform base on which more indepth research into more focused topics of the servitization phenomenon could be carried out. Furthermore, the research has potential to contribute to other project-based businesses and develops cross-industry knowledge.

Differences in agglomeration externalities and industrial regimes between locations generate performance differentials for their localized economic activities. For more than two decades, scholars have debated which externality is dominant for growth and under which regime. The present study aims to resolve this debate by analysing the influence of agglomeration economies on the growth of five-digit manufacturing sectors and firms in Indonesia between 2000 and 2009 discriminating cities and regencies. Specialization, competition, population density, human capital, and a set of varieties are employed. This is conducted shedding the light on policy implications of economic variety sectoral decomposition functional to revitalize Indonesian manufacturing growth after the Asian Financial Crisis, which substantially hits the Indonesian economy and manufacturing. Empirical evidence reveals that Indonesian policymakers should develop initiatives to support the competitiveness of key labour-intensive industries and manufacturing transformation towards knowledge-based productions. This can be achieved through promoting key specialised clusters characterized by large sectoral interconnectivity favouring inter and intra-industry knowledge spillovers, which allow underpinning the competitiveness of clusters and overcoming the two typical drawbacks of highly specialized locations (lock-in and lack of resilience). The formation of human capital, and the development of technologically advanced industries come to light as crucial drivers to construct a more conductive innovative environment and reduce manufacturing exposure to external industry-specific shocks. Population density and industrial diversity antithetically influence manufacturing growth in cities and regencies due to their economic heterogeneities.

Social Capital is considered an important asset for development, both at local and higher levels, and has been explored across the social sciences for decades. Attempts to define and measure it in increasingly precise ways continue in order to place it at the centre of policymaking. Indeed, it is considered a precious capital in times where resources are becoming scarce. This thesis investigates the dimensions of social capital and estimates them at small area level for England and Wales in 2011. The first step is the identification of three factors measuring membership, citizenship and politics and neighbourliness dimensions using survey data and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The second step is to test the hypothesis that other individual characteristics and geographical characteristics may influence levels of these factors. Complex Multilevel models with individual covariates and area-level covariates from the Census and administrative sources confirm the hypothesis: the factors depend on age, gender, ethnicity, religion, marital status, socio-economic class, employment, state of health and education at individual level and ethnic diversity and economic profile at area level. Lastly, Multilevel Model results have been used as a starting point for the final synthetic estimates at small area for all the Middle Super Output Areas of the average levels of the three factors. While Membership and Citizenship and Politics social capital show higher differentials, Neighbourliness seems to be more spread and, on average, higher than the other two factors across the two countries.

This thesis fills a manifest gap in the history of end-of-life care in England through an exploration of the circumstances, position and importance of the Friedenheim, Home of Peace for the Dying (1885-1981), thought to be the first proto-hospice in this country. As yet virtually unexplored in published works, the nature of this hospital and the ethos of care provided there are demonstrated through evidence drawn from a multiplicity of sources, including archival records and personal testimony. By definitively establishing the chronological evolution of the institution, its locations and facilities, discrepancies in current lists and commentaries are clarified. Analysis of the nature, scope and influence of this hospital, which offered specialised care only for the terminally ill, illustrates and informs the emergence of specialised care for the dying in England. The thesis tests the accepted primacy of the institution by an examination and comparison of coeval establishments for the sick and dying. The founder, Frances Davidson, sought to provide a place for the poor to die and the space thus provided for clinical, spiritual and social care is explored. The complexities of managing this philanthropic institution and sustaining its financial viability are exposed through consideration of its administration and evolution. Analysis of patient profiles, morbidity data and referral statistics furnishes insight into the evolving nature and place of the hospital within London’s medical and philanthropic worlds. Details of the clinical, social and spiritual attention given to the patients reveal the breadth of care provided for them. Finally, the thesis discloses links with Cicely Saunders and challenges the received assumption that the Friedenheim, by now called St. Columba’s Hospital, played no part in the establishment of the so-called ‘modern’ hospice movement. The extensive and detailed results of this research confirm and justify for the first time the Friedenheim’s accepted place as the London pioneer of dedicated institutional care for dying people and place it at the inception of specialised care in England for those at the end of life.

There are many challenges facing the social care sector. These include how to ensure a qualified workforce exists that meets registration requirements as well as supporting the ongoing development of that workforce. At a time when social care services are under pressure to continuously improve and change, there is an increased pressure on care staff to meet greater demands from service users. Given the labour-intensive nature of social care provision, the training of staff is a significant factor in the provision of a high-quality service. The spectrum of learning and development for care staff is considerable and this presents challenges for managers and organisations. This thesis considers modern day social care provision with its diversity and challenges for those managing the delivery of a constantly changing care service where regulation is paramount and inspection regimes can significantly dictate the business need. Social care managers appear to deal with the demands of providing a service whilst meeting the development needs of staff. Balancing service needs with the need for staff to gain qualifications is an issue. Managers endeavour to overcome the challenges of releasing staff for training and development by considering diverse ways of delivering and accessing learning. The aim of this thesis therefore, is to assess whether social care managers could reasonably adopt a staff development role in addition to their care and other managerial responsibilities. The thesis also examines the perception of the managers and staff concerning the implementation of Government policies and aims to discover what impact this may have on the workplace. In seeking to understand what care staff and managers think about the expectations placed upon them what they say is clearly an important source of data. The use of interviews to gather primary data from a sample of care staff from the independent sector together with a review of secondary data in respect of learning and development research undertaken contributes to a clearer understanding of learning and development strategies adopted by managers. What emerges is that managers do require additional support to implement the learning and development spectrum required by the national minimum care standards and shifting trends in social care responsibilities, however, there is no single solution to the form of assistance required. As a result of this, a number of avenues for future action and recommendations for additional social care research are proposed.

In June 2001 the title ‘chiropractor’ came to be protected under British law and those who called themselves chiropractors attained a position of increased legitimacy within British society. Yet the details of chiropractic’s journey to statutory recognition have not been thoroughly explored in contemporary literature. The origins and development of chiropractic in Britain have received meagre attention from historical scholars. This thesis uses a neo-Weberian approach to explore the history of chiropractic in Britain through the lens of ‘professionalisation’. It investigates the emergence of chiropractic in Britain, and details how and why chiropractic developed in the way that it did, assessing the significance of processes and events in respect to chiropractic’s professionalisation, and examining intra- and inter-occupational tensions. The thesis is primarily a product of documentary research, but is also informed by interviews undertaken to provide oral testimonies. Although the origins of chiropractic are usually traced back to the 1890s, to Davenport, Iowa, and to the practice of Daniel David Palmer, it is argued in this thesis that it is misleading to claim that chiropractic was ‘discovered’ by Daniel Palmer, or that chiropractic in Britain was entirely an ‘import’ from the United States. Instead, chiropractic’s origins were complex and multifarious and form part of a broader history of manipulative practices. With regard to the development of chiropractic in Britain, chiropractic’s history is intertwined with that of osteopathy, and has involved medicalisation. This study demonstrates that through the course of its evolution chiropractic was subject to processes that can usefully be described in terms of professionalisation, sharing features in common with the professionalisation of other occupational groups described in historical and sociological literature. Even so, chiropractors did not attain the social presence or cultural authority of archetypal professionals such as medical doctors or lawyers. Although protection of title was achieved, many problems have remained, including divisions within the occupation.

Adolescent well-being is a national concern and government priority. It is increasingly recognised that schools have an important role to play in contributing to building resiliency. Indeed, the revised Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice in the UK, has recently introduced the term ‘social emotional and mental health’ (SEMH) as a category of need which formalises school involvement in this area. As such, the present study, which provides an extended understanding of the way in which staff with a key role in SEMH in secondary school organisations engage in thinking and talking about the issue, is both timely and pertinent. This study sought to develop a conceptual understanding grounded in data for this purpose and to inform external agency involvement. The research was exploratory and employed a flexible design through a grounded theory methodology with ethnographic components. Individual interviews were conducted with members of staff holding key roles linked to SEMH across four secondary school organisations and ethnographic data was gathered from varied sources to understand cultural meanings. Analysis was carried out in line with grounded theory approaches and in consideration of levels of organisational culture. The research process and findings from the present study led to the development of the conceptual "Model of Integrated Role Identity for Capacity Building". This model, encompassing this study's two emergent conceptual categories of ‘integrating personal-professional identity for SEMH’ and ‘navigating supported agency for organisational growth’, offers an understanding of the social processes involved in secondary school organisations in relation to SEMH. The proposed model based on this understanding may guide school leadership, organisational development and external agency support in the future. Indicated implications for practice include support for staff, organisational capacity building, and inclusion policy and guidance. Implications are considered with reference to Educational Psychology Service involvement in particular.