Pharmaceutical policy in the UK involves a trade-off between the interest of the National HealthService in controlling expenditure on drugs and the interest of the pharmaceutical industry inproviding an incentive for research and development. Since 1957, the Pharmaceutical PriceRegulation Scheme...

Accounting is frequently described and recognized as the language of business because theexternal financial reporting function is extensively used as a principal means of communicatingresults of corporate economic activity to interested external parties. However, deficiencies withrespect to the...

The GP fundholding scheme was introduced as part of the Conservative government’s 1991NHS reforms and abolished by the Labour government in 1998. This paper presents theargument that very little was learnt about the effectiveness of the scheme before its abolition.This was because there was no...

The regulation of drug prices is an excellent example of the type of tensions that are emerging inthe UK's new system of multi-level governance. Both the benefits and regulatory burden of thePharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) are regionally concentrated. However, thoseregional...

The empirical data for this paper emerged from a one year ERDF funded study, "WelshEntrepreneuses on the Web". The project was set up to identify the needs of entrepreneuses inIndustrial South Wales and the extent to which they are being met by the current businesssupport sector. The project...

The paper considers technology diffusion and develops a model at the level of theSME. Technology diffusion in the form of new or improved technology, thetransmission of knowledge or technical expertise is investigated. This involves spilloversthrough formal and informal networks enabling...

Contrary to the assertion that the entrepreneur is instrumental in small business growth, theprocess of growth cannot be construed as automatic. Accordingly there is a need to examine therelationships between the personal characteristics, experience, knowledge, skills and motivationsof the...

The paper reports the views of key policy makers in Industrial South Wales (ISW) who wereinterviewed in the Spring 1999 concerning SMEs and technology transfer networks. A semistructuredinterview procedure was followed involving the use of an interview handbooksupported by interview lists...

Storey (1994) reviews a number of socio-economic variables that have been widely hypothesised toimpact upon small business formation. These are:- population (change, density, age structure)unemployment, wealth, education, industrial structure, and public policy. These factors are consideredwith...

It is recognised that Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) need to adapt and change toremain competitive in the rapidly changing business environment of the 21st Century. As withmany other industries this is evident in the Agri-food industry in Wales where Agrifood SMEscan attain a...