Northumbria University

About: Northumbria University is a education organization based out in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Context (language use) & Population. The organization has 5624 authors who have published 17423 publications receiving 381949 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Northumbria at Newcastle.

Strategic planning in SMEs – some empirical findings

Abstract: Strategic frameworks and tools of analysis have been the subject of much academic debate over the last 20 years. This paper reviews the main approaches to strategic management and, by presenting the results of a survey of 159 small and medium sized enterprises selected from both the service and manufacturing sectors, demonstrates a divide between the theoretical concepts and the practical realities of strategic planning. While there are strong indications of business planning among the organisations surveyed, there is less evidence of strategic thinking except among larger businesses. Even in this latter group there are only a few instances where the recognised tools of strategic management appear to play a role in planning, the exception being internal financial analysis, which is widely undertaken.

Contact Zones: Participation, Materiality, and the Messiness of Interaction

Abstract: Recent debates around urban encounter, integration cosmopolitanism, and renewed engagement with contact theory have raised questions about the spaces of interaction that may enable meaningful encounters between different social groups. Reflecting on a participatory art project with young people of African and British heritage in northeast England, we argue that discussion and practice around participatory action research, including the deployment of contact zones as theory and method, can cast some light on what fosters transformative spaces. Through analysis of two different approaches to community art used in the project, we show how elements of each enabled and disabled meaningful interaction between young people. We draw attention to the materiality of art (the tools) within participatory practices (the doing of it) in contributing to a space where interactions might take place, emphasising a complex interplay across/between actors, materials, and space that frames encounters as emergent, transitory, fragile, and yet hopeful. We examine the potential of a focus on the material in thinking beyond moments of encounter to how transformative social relations may be `scaled up' before considering the implications for research and policy.

Cu2ZnSnSe4 thin film solar cells produced by selenisation of magnetron sputtered precursors

Abstract: Polycrystalline thin films of Cu2ZnSnSe4 (CZTSe) were produced by selenisation of Cu(Zn,Sn) magnetron sputtered metallic precursors for solar cell applications. The p-type CZTSe absorber films were found to crystallize in the stannite structure (a = 5·684 A and c = 11·353 A) with an electronic bandgap of 0·9 eV. Solar cells with the indium tin oxide structure (ITO)/ZnO/CdS/CZTSe/Mo were fabricated with device efficiencies up to 3·2% measured under standard AM1·5 illumination. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.