Local authorities have experienced significant cuts in income whilst grappling with increased demand, an aging population and welfare reform. This pressing imperative has driven local authorities to challenge their sense of self and in doing so consider the participative role that customers can and do play. This study sought to examine practitioner perspectives of customers, their role, impact and constraining and enabling factors within the design and delivery of local government contact centre services. There is limited empirical research on practitioner perspectives of the role of customers within a local government environment. There are multiple terms used to describe the concept of customer but an absence of established approaches to examine the role that customers play within socially constructed phenomenon within local government demonstrating a gap in current academic thought. Whilst the rationale for involving customers in local governance is debated, the application of theory in to practice is limited thereby further constraining the opportunity for local authorities to leverage potential benefits afforded through participative approaches to the design and delivery of contact centre services. An interpretivist stance was adopted with qualitative techniques employed within the research. Using a priori codes developed through the review of extant literature, thematic analysis of forty-four customer service strategies spanning single tier, upper tier and metropolitan local authorities was undertaken. Themes were further developed through analysis of transcripts from seventeen semistructured interviews with managers responsible for the design and delivery of local government contact centre services. This research highlighted the differing and often contradictory practitioner perceptions of the concept of customer and the role that customers play in the design and delivery of local government services. Whilst organisations espoused a desire to progress participative principles due to the potential benefits afforded through such approaches, the extent to which these were operationalised by practitioners was limited and this coupled with a perceived sense of passivity on the part of customers resulted in little or no positive impact on current service performance. As extant literature and research is limited on the role of customers within local government, this study expands current academic thought providing particular insight on the practitioner perspective. The research findings provide a robust foundation on which theorists and practitioners in particular can formulate participative strategies and associated policies thereby providing meaningful opportunities for customers to co-design and co-deliver local government services and through which potential benefits, financial and non-financial, can be realised.

Tese de mestrado. Inovação e Empreendedorismo Tecnológico. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia. Universidade do Porto. 2008

Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology)) --University of Limpopo, 2015 / The study investigated trends of rape in Mankweng area between the years 2009 and 2012. The number of cases reported per year, age of victims, area of occurrence, victim/perpetrator relationship, month of occurrence, day and time of occurrence and the victim’s rape occurrences were investigated. Archival research design was employed by studying victim’s records at Thuthuzela Care Centre, using a self-designed data organization sheet. Descriptive statistics was applied in analysing data. The following are the findings: there is an increase in the number of rape incidents, girls aged between 13- 19 years are at risk of being raped. The victims are likely to be raped by an unknown perpetrator. Rape is more likely to take place during the month of September. Most cases occur during weekends at night in the semi-urban part of Mankweng. There are more first-time victims and rape cases involved only one perpetrator.

Thesis (M.Sc. in training)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

<p><strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p><p>Parental support is needed because it promotes a positive development in children, because parents ask for it and because it has positive effects on the public economy. Those responsible in Sweden for Child health care have shown an increased interest in supporting parenthood.</p><p><em>Aim:</em> The overall purpose of this study was to investigate what kind of support parents today desire from child health care. An additional purpose was to investigate if they feel their needs and wishes are met.</p><p><em>Method:</em> The study has a descriptive and qualitative design. The selection was eight parents of children under eighteen months of age: four mothers and four fathers. None of the participants were couples. Data collection was performed with semi structured interviews. Collected data were analyzed according to qualitative content analyses.</p><p><em>Results: </em>Two themes appeared: desired support –<em> </em>the child in focus and organisation – no place for fathers. Seven categories emerged: expectations before the child was born – the health of the child in focus and someone to call, expectations today – the health of the child and support in parenthood, seeking support from others than the Child health care, accessibility is important, continuity creates safety, the purpose of parent education group satisfactory & home visits – from ambivalent to positive experience. The study shows that the informants wants that Child health care focuses on the growth and development of the child, supports parents in their new role as parents and is accessible if the parents have questions. The informants were to great extent content with the support from the child health centre.</p><p><em>Conclusion:</em> According to parents wishes Child health care should focus on the child and it’s health along with strengthening the parents in their new role. The accessibility must improve to make the child health care centre a place even for fathers.</p><p><strong>Key words</strong></p><p>Child health centre, parents, support, desire, expectations.</p>

Première forme de traitement spécialisé pour mineurs délinquants depuis la moitié du 19ème, l’enfermement est, à l’heure actuelle, la réponse qui occupe le devant de la scène politico-médiatique face à la délinquance des jeunes en Belgique. Depuis la fin des années 70, les dénonciations du « manque de places » en régime fermé sont fréquemment relayées. L’augmentation de la capacité institutionnelle est la réponse apportée par les pouvoirs publics. Pourtant, rares sont les connaissances empiriques existantes qui portent sur le fonctionnement « concret » de ces institutions qui allient des missions sécuritaires et éducatives. Maigres sont aussi les productions qui cherchent à dépasser les paroles des intervenants et des jeunes pour saisir « in situ » les modes respectifs de socialisation et les rapports qui interviennent entre ces acteurs. C’est au regard de ces premiers constats que le projet de thèse de doctorat en criminologie, intitulée « L’enfermement des mineurs poursuivis par la justice. Ethnographie de trois institutions de la Communauté française », a vu le jour. Comprendre le fonctionnement des trois institutions d’enfermement en Communauté française en se basant sur une approche ethnographique paraissait pertinent. La thèse s’articule autour de trois parties. La première pose le cadre historique et contemporain de l’enfermement en Belgique et présente un bilan critique (recension, synthèse et examen) des connaissances produites sur ces institutions en Communauté française. La seconde explicite les choix méthodologiques empruntés ainsi que les questionnements réflexifs qui se sont imposés durant les immersions. La troisième constitue le véritable cœur de la thèse et présente sept thématiques ressorties suite à l’analyse inductive du matériel d’immersion, suivant le cheminement dans l’enfermement et la progression dans le quotidien institutionnel : la structuration des espaces qui révèle la conception dichotomique de la vie communautaire s’y déroulant avec d’un côté les jeunes, de l’autre les professionnels ; la présentation des acteurs et de leurs modes de socialisation respectifs ; les différents temps du placement : un temps court cadenassé et un temps long qui se doit d’être libéré et rentabilisé ; les rapports entre intervenants et jeunes où l’observation réciproque permet aux uns d’assumer leurs fonctions officielles (sécuriser, éduquer, évaluer), aux autres d’apprendre à être observés et ce faisant de développer des processus de résistance « en coulisse » ; les ressorts de l’humour : rire « entre soi » « des autres » qui permet tantôt la cohésion, tantôt l’exclusion ; des parcours de placement qui mobilisent les équipes et révèlent les limites du régime fermé, les moments particuliers où les enjeux de l’enfermement se dévoilent et des embryons de confiance se décèlent loin du quotidien collectif, loin du regard « des siens » et « des autres ». Dans cette perspective, les rapprochements entre les jeunes et les adultes, la confiance et le sens qui peuvent en découler pour les jeunes, s’observent particulièrement dans les interstices de l’enfermement, loin des normes rigides qui le gouvernent. Et il apparait que ce sont surtout les missions d’évaluation demandées par les autorités mandantes qui nuisent à la relation de confiance. Cette observation complexifie les réflexions scientifiques antérieures qui mettaient en évidence le caractère paradoxal des objectifs sécuritaires et éducatifs de ces institutions. Ce n’est pas uniquement le « duel » sécuriser / éduquer ou aider mais bien, le « triptyque » sécuriser / éduquer ou aider / évaluer et communiquer qui caractérise la « prise en charge » dans l’enfermement et qui mérite d’être davantage questionné et investigué.

In every market, competition is a vital ingredient for any working market economy. Large stores like IKEA, OnOff and El-Giganten are often positioned in locations near each other. Shopping areas like Gekås have proven to have large attraction power towards the customers. In down-town shopping areas it is common that large stores take advantage of each other’s capabilities to invoke customers’ interest. By doing so, businesses work together to create a large customer base. The purpose of this paper is to determine how owners and managers of medium sized retail stores should choose location for their shop. Both a qualitative and quantitative approach were used in this thesis; the qualitative approach was used for conducting interviews with 6 people involved in running the stores and municipality. This was done to collect information from actors that had the experience and knowledge about the subject of the thesis. The quantitative approach involved a survey done upon shopping habits of consumers in the same area. The reason for conducting both these researches was to diminish the biased answers that we would have got from conducting the research from one group only. By asking the store managers/owner and customers, as well as a representative of the municipality, we were able to provide a complete perspective on the situation. Our findings showed that there were some major differences between a down-town shopping area and a shopping mall. It also became clear that the preferences and capabilities of the stores were important for selecting locations. Consumer preference on where to go shop was showed to be almost the same for A6 and down-town with a slight advantage towards A6. Still, the requirements on opening a store in a shopping mall oppose down-town was different.

ABSTRACT Parental support is needed because it promotes a positive development in children, because parents ask for it and because it has positive effects on the public economy. Those responsible in Sweden for Child health care have shown an increased interest in supporting parenthood. Aim: The overall purpose of this study was to investigate what kind of support parents today desire from child health care. An additional purpose was to investigate if they feel their needs and wishes are met. Method: The study has a descriptive and qualitative design. The selection was eight parents of children under eighteen months of age: four mothers and four fathers. None of the participants were couples. Data collection was performed with semi structured interviews. Collected data were analyzed according to qualitative content analyses. Results: Two themes appeared: desired support – the child in focus and organisation – no place for fathers. Seven categories emerged: expectations before the child was born – the health of the child in focus and someone to call, expectations today – the health of the child and support in parenthood, seeking support from others than the Child health care, accessibility is important, continuity creates safety, the purpose of parent education group satisfactory &amp; home visits – from ambivalent to positive experience. The study shows that the informants wants that Child health care focuses on the growth and development of the child, supports parents in their new role as parents and is accessible if the parents have questions. The informants were to great extent content with the support from the child health centre. Conclusion: According to parents wishes Child health care should focus on the child and it’s health along with strengthening the parents in their new role. The accessibility must improve to make the child health care centre a place even for fathers. Key words Child health centre, parents, support, desire, expectations.

No description available.

Abstract The major economic competition is industry cluster, for example: Italy¡¦s shoemaking, North Carolina¡¦s house furnishings, Germany¡¦s chemical industry, UK¡¦s financial service industry. In Taiwan, Hsinshu Science Park and Taichung¡¦s machinery industry show strong competition. In sum, It provides access to more suppliers and customized support services, to experienced and skilled labor pools, and to the inevitable transfer of knowledge that occurs where people casually meet and talk business. Concentration, or clustering, gives businesses an advantage over more isolated competitors. Clustering enables companies to focus on what they know and do best; they need not do things they do not do well. Companies able to operate more or less as a system can use their resources more efficiently and collectively produce more than the sum of their individual outputs. Jacobs(1985) referred that the relevant geographical unit from a clustering point of view is not the nation but rather the city/region. core metropolitan areas in particular are the well-spring of economic dynamism and innovation, and exert a profound influence on the prosperity of the nations in which they are located. Wang Guo Gang (2003)also referred, there are many financial institutions and securities firms and in financial centre, it also borrowed or lent money across countries. In 21 century, global economic situation changed quickly, and Taiwan faced the challenge of Asia Pacific Zone¡¦s economic grew and integrated quickly. It is far influence to develop international commerce between Mainland China and Taiwan. The government draw up economic construction plan to make economical development breakthrough. It has the blueprint of Taipei finical centre, the fund could in-out freely, and build financial system of international standard. The study would analysis financial industry space distribution by location quotient. And it concluded eight important variable (infrastructure, human resources, knowledge resources. capital resource, market demand, group learning, related and supporting industries, government )by industry cluster theory and Asia financial centres(Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai). And it analysis Taipei financial industry by depth interview. Finally, it provide financial industry strategies to the government. Key Words :Industry Cluster Financial Centre Location Quotient