H. T. Burley

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to show that a business incubation/incubator program is an enterprise development strategy, aimed at accelerating the process of formation, development, survivability and growth of new enterprises by providing those new enterprises (clients) with a wide range of business assistance including physical facilities, business counselling and networking. This paper presents results of a research conducted to investigate the level of satisfaction/dissatisfaction of the clients with the provision of those assistance services. Design/methodology/approach In this paper the level of clients' satisfaction/dissatisfaction with a service is calculated using a proposed framework in terms of the mean difference between the importance of the service and the effectiveness of incubator management in providing the respective service as perceived by the clients. Findings The results in this paper indicate that clients were generally more satisfied with facility related services than the counselling and business networking assistances services. However, there are significant differences between the perceived importance attached to a number of facility related services and the effectiveness of those services, suggesting a variation of the level of clients' satisfaction. Originality/value These findings have important implications for the management of business incubation programs, which are highlighted in this paper.

A prospective system of data collection, using computer storage, has been developed in the Spinal Injuries Unit, Austin Hospital. Three hundred and fifty-two consecutive admissions to the Unit between 1 July 1978 and 31 December 1982 are analysed, and this epidemiological data compared with other reports. Over 92% of the admissions were the result of spinal cord trauma and the balance due to a variety of non-traumatic causes. A high incidence of young males injured in road accidents, predominantly from motor cars, and lesser numbers from sporting, occupational and domestic accidents is noted. A high proportion of country accidents and a disproportionately high number of people who live in country areas indicates the need for greater concentration of preventative measures to rural areas. The study has confirmed the usefulness of such a sophisticated data collection system to collect, at relatively low cost, useful epidemiological data on a specific disability group. The system will help to plan treatment programmes, as well as preventative measures, for the future.

The data collection system described in a previous study has been used to analyze some of the results of treatment of 352 consecutive admissions to the Spinal Injuries Unit, Austin Hospital. The results indicate that the basically conservative approach to the management of the spinal injury, supplemented by surgery in selected cases, appears to be vindicated by the low rate of instability of the spine, and good neurological sequelae of the spinal cord injury. An intermittent catheter regimen for management of the neurogenic bladder has resulted in a low rate of permanent indwelling catheterization on discharge from hospital and a low rate of urinary infections. The survival rate of patients in a well integrated unit, with a multi-disciplinary team, is high. The relatively long periods of hospitalization are justified by the return to the community of a high proportion of independent, healthy, disabled people.