Search

Background: Degree apprenticeships (DA) help employees gain new knowledge and skills by allowing them to study towards a university degree while working full time. For these programmes to be effective, the learning design should be adapted to the needs of these students, who are goal oriented (i.e. they want to gain only knowledge that can be applied within their workplace), have limited time for studying, and usually have not attended formal education for some time. As these programmes are relatively new, there is limited research on how these students can be supported to achieve the programmes' learning goals by using information and communication technologies. Objectives: This paper aims to understand whether a learning design that combines game‐based learning with online flipped classrooms can engage DA students in their learning and help them develop their reflective skills. Methods: Two focus groups were conducted with DA students that study at a UK Business School towards gaining the Chartered Manager status. The focus groups recordings have been analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results and Conclusions: The three main themes, "change can be helpful and challenging at the same time", "the ideal game", and "the effect of others", show that DA students find game‐based learning and online flipped classrooms useful, with the right support. Simulation games can be more fulfilling to DA students than quiz games, even if they take more of their out‐of‐class time. In addition, instructors are advised to work more closely with diverse teams to enable students share their work experiences and learn from each other. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic?: Online flipped classrooms offer flexibility in learning, but instructors need to find solutions to challenges, like students' limited e‐learning readiness and lack of motivation.Game‐based learning has been found to facilitate learning in general, but there is a need to identify the specific circumstances (i.e. settings, gaming elements) under which it is effective.Degree apprenticeship students need more support with their learning compared to traditional university students, as they face additional challenges in terms of family life‐work balance and connecting their learning to their working experience. What this paper adds?: Game‐based learning can be useful to degree apprenticeship students providing that focuses on the application of knowledge and provides feedback.Despite facing challenges related to maintaining work‐study‐life balance, degree apprenticeship students are willing to complete the flipped classroom's out‐of‐class activities, if they see a clear benefit from doing so.Online group activities can be challenging for degree apprenticeship students, if they are not able to form teams with other learners that work for the same organisation. The implications of study findings for practitioners: Avoid quiz‐like games and select the ones that use real‐life scenarios for degree apprenticeship students to help them link their learning to their practice.Formative feedback should be provided by both the instructor and the game to motivate degree apprenticeship students to spend the additional time to complete the out‐of‐class activities.Students should be reminded frequently of the purpose of any new learning elements (e.g. learning analytics) as they may not have the time to explore them on their own.When forming student teams based on students' workplace is not possible, spend more time in each breakout room to facilitate the online group discussion and help students bring their different working experiences together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive Design (ID) has not been widely seen as a mainstream tool for innovation, or as a strategy for business and the public sector. Methods, case studies and frameworks exist, but were not widely accessible outside of academic publication. The authors of this paper, from Norway and the UK, recognised a need for a definitive publication on ID to present the concept, benefits and tools. Their collective forty years of experience lead to the publishing of 'Innovating with People—The Business of Inclusive Design' in 2010. A second edition followed in 2019, 'Innovating with People—Inclusive Design and Architecture'. These brought together experts and practitioners to create a practical guide from primary and secondary research, drawing on personal experience and insights. The content and processes inside the publications are discussed, describing the outputs and assessing effectiveness. The paper outlines content, structure, and the intention behind the work of the authors, drawing on their complementary experience from Business and Design. The paper describes a multi‐author, multi‐contributor and multi‐disciplinary book about ID outlining eight ID activities for Design and nine for Architecture. The book has been distributed to more than 45 countries and is used by academia, consultancy, government and industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While town centre management (TCM) has proved to be a successful strategy to maintain, improve and regenerate town centres through local partnership, there has been relatively little attention drawn to the marketing of TGM schemes. This paper explores the issues surrounding the use of key performance indicators (KPIs) for the marketing of TGM schemes in the context of wider place marketing activities undertaken by towns and cities. Drawing on evidence from a questionnaire survey of town centre managers, it is posited that they might usefully employ carefully selected KPI data to maintain and attract private investment to TGM schemes from internal and external town centre stake holders. The paper then introduces a typology for the use of KPI marketing in town centre management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful fixed exchange rate regimes impose policy disciplines that are likely to lead to conformity in the business cycles of the participating countries. This conjecture is borne out in the present paper by the evidence that the business cycle affiliation of ERM member countries has shifted from the United States to Germany since the formation of the ERM. This effect is bolstered by growing links in trade and finance between the European countries. The United Kingdom is conspicuous among these in that its business cycle affiliation did not change in the period of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes a linguistic reinterpretation of Welford's 1997 hijack hypothesis, arguing that the hijack of the discourse of the radical environment is simply a process of appropriation, i.e., the adoption of particular words in order to make use of them within the green corporations' own frames of experience. Results are presented from an empirical study using two large ‘databases’ of language. These are electronic collections of texts taken from British environmental organizations – the radical non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and UK corporations that wish to be environmentally friendly – green business. The results show that there are very marked differences in the physical contextualization of a selection of words which are used by both the radical NGOs and green business. The paper concludes by noting the need to take the analysis a stage further by comparing the usage of particular words by the two discourse communities. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central thesis of this paper is that Corporate Community Involvement (CCI) is not a neutral activity with positive and mutual benefits for all involved. Rather, it is a much more complex activity which may also have negative impacts. Using Donaldson and Preston's (1995) explanatory model of the stakeholding concept as a framework, this paper explores: (1) the practice of CCI in the UK (with some reference to US experience from which UK firms have drawn extensively), (2) the grounds on which it is justified, and (3) the material consequences of such activity for corporate governance. It concludes by arguing that there is a case for a review of the law on CCI to assess the need for fuller public disclosure so as to allow shareholders and other interested groups the opportunity to assess the impact and effectiveness of CCI more thoroughly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationships between firm size and employees' experience of work stress. We used a matched employer-employee dataset (Workplace Employment Relations Survey 2011) that comprises of 7182 employees from 1210 private organizations in the United Kingdom. Initially, we find that employees in small and medium-sized enterprises experience lower level of overall job stress than those in large enterprises, although the effect disappears when we control for individual and organizational characteristics in the model. We also find that quantitative work overload, job insecurity and poor promotion opportunities, good work relationships and poor communication are strongly associated with job stress in the small and medium-sized enterprises, whereas qualitative work overload, poor job autonomy and employee engagements are more related with larger enterprises. Hence, our estimates show that the association and magnitude of estimated effects differ significantly by enterprise size. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changing population demographics within the UK have become a source of increased interest to marketers as companies have realized the importance of targeting their products and advertising efforts towards minority and ethnic groups. In addition, as the UK’s ethnic minorities grow in both numbers and in terms of prosperity, so does the commercial significance of this market. A clearer understanding of both the nature of changing markets and the relative importance of different minority ethnic groups as consumers is imperative to facilitate both consumer understanding and business development; marketers need to understand better how to target these people, what they have in common with the mainstream and where the differences lie. This paper seeks to describe current understanding of ethnic consumers and their impact on the marketplace while highlighting an area where future research is potentially of considerable benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the state of the field of the sub-disciplines within UK management research, based upon the submissions of 94 UK higher education institutions to the Business and Management Studies Panel in the UK's 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). It offers observations on the UK model of the assessment of quality in, and funding of, research conducted in publicly funded higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marks & Spencer (M&S) was one of the world's great retailers, enjoying legendary and iconic status, being often held up as one of the best managed and admired businesses in the world. Its ‘fall from grace’ has been spectacular and dramatic and the company is currently fighting for its life. Based on extensive in-depth interviews with company managers and utilizing a case-study approach, this paper provides an exploratory study into failure at M&S and presents this in the context of the wider literature on organizational and managerial failure. It concludes that whilst external factors in the various trading environments affected the business, there were internal aspects of the crisis which exacerbated the situation and the problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research reviewed in this paper establishes that the VAT system generates heavy administrative burdens for small firms in Europe despite various measures taken to alleviate them. A possible solution would be to abolish VAT charges between registered traders which would, in effect, convert the tax into a sales tax. The conclusion is that such a change would necessitate modification of the 6th Directive on VAT. The other alternative might be to compensate small firms for their work as unpaid tax collectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies partner selection criteria in a sample of UK international joint ventures with Western European, US and Japanese partners. Rankings of selection criteria are derived for the sample using a typology that distinguishes between task- related and partner-related selection criteria. The most important task-related criteria are found to be access to knowledge of local market, access to distribution channels, access to links with major buyers and access to knowledge of local culture. The most important partner-related selection criteria are trust between the top management teams, relatedness of partner's business and reputation. A parsimonious set of selection criteria for the sample is provided by means of factor analysis. Hypotheses are tested on the relationship between the relative importance of selection criteria and a number of characteristics of the sample - partner nationality, industry of the joint venture, joint-venture purpose, geographical location of the venture, initial approach for joint-venture formation and relative partner size. The greatest variation in the relative importance of selection criteria occurs with the geographic location of the joint venture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates the economic dimensions of war. It considers empirical literature through structure review to explore the different effects of war on businesses. The scope of the study covers all geographical areas and studies dealing with any respective event in the 20th and 21st centuries. However, the study caters for quality, relevance, and recentness in publications. Hence, publications in 4*, 4, and 3 stars journals that are placed in Association of Business Schools of UK Guidelines in 2015 are reviewed. The study with its extant literature presents an important realization that against the stereo‐typed opinion about war being devastating to businesses indicates that war affects in various dimensions, that is, positive, negative, or even no effects depending on the nature and place of business. Whereas businesses, in general, may be negatively affected in wartime, businesses critical to war may get an unprecedented boost. The study also indicates a dire need of developing a framework for investigating this important relationship on sound footings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-performance work systems ( HPWS) are important conceptual instruments in the human resource management literature. Yet our current understanding of the complementarities within HPWS remains limited for two reasons: First, the dominant theoretical perspectives on HPWS provide a landscape of theoretical possibilities rather than an understanding of different possibilities through which HPWS generate positive effects on performance; and second, the literature on HPWS merely proposes several seemingly equally important HR practices. This article explores the internal nature of HPWS by integrating a configurational perspective of core, peripheral, and nonessential HR practices with a typology of complementarities. Analyzing 530 UK-based firms using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis ( fsQCA), I identify four frequently implemented HPWS consistently associated with high labor productivity. The complementarities within all HPWS combine pairs of core HR practices with sets of peripheral HR practices. Moreover, the complementarities within three of the four HPWS rely on firms' avoidance of implementing certain HR practices. The results suggest that the synergies of HPWS arise from efficient complementarities and virtuous overlaps, and reveal the significance of achieving high performance by not implementing HR practices. This article thus advances a new perspective on HPWSs, highlighting the challenges involved in successfully designing HPWS. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overweight and obesity is a global concern as a significant risk factor for non‐communicable diseases. Increased energy intake due to greater consumption of energy‐dense food or non‐alcoholic beverages high in fat, saturated fat, sugar or salt ('HFSS food') is the main explanation for population weight gain. The principal drivers underlying this consumption are the commercial determinants of health in the food chain, particularly the marketing of HFSS food. In the UK, some rules do regulate certain forms of HFSS food marketing (such as television and online advertising to children) and the government is considering strengthening these. However, although sports sponsorship by 'HFSS food businesses' (defined as a business preparing, cooking, storing, handling, distributing, supplying or selling food and whose products are primarily HFSS) is increasingly recognised as linked to HFSS food consumption, it has received little attention. This is all the more concerning in light of the recent proliferation of 'HFSS food businesses' and HFSS products partnering with sports organisations. Against this background, we hosted a workshop to focus on the relationship between health, nutrition and the sponsorship of sport and related marketing by 'HFSS food businesses' and to consider the implications for obesity prevention strategies in the UK and beyond. This innovative workshop capitalised on, and contributed to, ongoing efforts to conceptually unite existing research by bringing together an interdisciplinary team of experts providing unique and complementary perspectives on how to address sports sponsorship as one of the channels through which 'HFSS food businesses' contribute to poor nutrition and diet‐related diseases. This report summarises the structure, participants and discussions from the workshop; the existing evidence base; and the future research and policy opportunities we plan to pursue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate and commercial values are inducing some healthcare organizations to prescribe a customer service model that reframes the provision of nursing care. In this paper it is argued that such a model is incommensurable with nursing conceived as a moral practice and ultimately places nurses at risk. Based upon understanding from ongoing research on compassion fatigue, it is proposed that compassion fatigue as currently experienced by nurses may not arise predominantly from too great a demand for compassion, but rather from barriers to enacting compassionate care. These barriers are often systemic. The paradigm shift in which healthcare environments are viewed as marketplaces rather than moral communities has the potential to radically affect the evolution of nursing as a discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A need exists to profile 'successful' members of ethnic minority communities to act as learning vehicles for prospective entrepreneurs from the respective communities. • Arguably, existing literature concerning ethnic minority businesses has become somewhat dated given the integration of communities in the UK over time. • Some entrepreneurs from ethnic minority communities have combined best practices from their own culture with that of the UK to form an 'Anglo-Asian way' of undertaking business in contributing to their success. • Successful entrepreneurs seem to be able to manage serendipitous events in exploiting opportunities and do not rely exclusively on strategic management practices that feature in business school teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an ongoing debate within radical geography concerned with the trade union response to the hegemony of business interests apparent under neoliberal capitalism. In this paper, I contribute to this debate by exploring recent attempts to renew trade union organisation in the UK following decades of decline. I argue that, despite recent successes in stemming falling membership numbers and signing new recognition agreements, closer inspection reveals flaws in the renewal process that reflect the underlying nature of scale politics within the union movement itself. In particular, centralised strategies at the national level are failing to re-energise local-level union organisation leading to a rather hollow and pyrrhic renewal process. Drawing upon both macro-level analysis and evidence from a particular industry case study, I suggest that unions rethink their organisational geographies and scalar relations if they wish to re-connect with the grassroots and at a broader level remain a progressive force in the changing economic landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past turnover research has posited personality traits as important antecedents to quit intentions. Nevertheless, previous literature has not investigated the relationship between employees' entrepreneurial tendencies—a constellation of domain specific traits—and turnover. Drawing on dispositional trait theory and attraction‐selection‐attrition theory, we propose engagement and intentions to start a business as mediators of the relationship between entrepreneurial tendencies and quit intentions. We test our predictions in a sample of full‐time employees from the United Kingdom (N = 224). In line with our hypotheses, an inconsistent mediation is found, where both positive and negative links between entrepreneurial tendencies and turnover intentions were mediated by engagement and intentions to start a business respectively. Thus, entrepreneurial employees were more likely to be engaged, but at the same time also more likely to be considering starting their own business, leading to a conflicting relationship to turnover intentions. The current study informs the human resource management literature concerning the motivational mechanisms explaining turnover intentions among entrepreneurial employees. It also provides practical insights with regards to the effective management of this workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For 1948, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research published a list of the 100 largest quoted companies in the United Kingdom. A comparable list has been prepared for 1968, with the assistance of the Statistics Division of the Department of Trade and industry, and the object of this paper is to compare the two population of companies. The companies covered in this study are the largest zoo companies whose ordinary or preference shares were quoted on United Kingdom stock exchanges at the relevant time. Companies whose trading activities were primarily outside the United Kingdom are excluded, as are consolidated subsidiary companies of companies which are already included in the list. Companies engaged primarily in banking, finance, insurance, investment, property and shipping are also excluded. The above definitions are inevitably arbitrary. Their main objective is to define a fairly homogeneous population of quoted companies, engaged primarily in manufacturing and distribution within the United Kingdom, and to select the too largest from this population.

Food retailers in the UK have a responsibility to look after the health of their customers. In recognition of this, they have established a number of internal and external commitments to provide access to a wider range of healthier and more sustainable foods to support the health of their customers. However, they are also presented with specific voluntary targets from Public Health England and other organisations. Meeting these targets can present technical challenges and may be costly. Alongside more traditional approaches (such as reformulation), changing customer behaviour is being explored as an additional tool to help food retailers meet their commitments by altering customers choices towards more healthy foods. Choice architecture and 'nudging' are approaches that can be adopted by retailers to encourage behaviour change in customers. In this article, we explore the theoretical uses of nudge theory in a food retail environment and discuss its potential as a tool for retailers to mitigate some of the challenges presented by other approaches, but also to identify potential pitfalls in the use of nudges. There is some evidence to suggest that nudging can be a useful method to encourage behaviour change amongst consumers and that these approaches can be relatively cost‐effective and quick to implement, although they may be context‐specific. These approaches are best utilised in parallel with more established methods, such as reformulation and information campaigns, due to their relatively small effect sizes. Additionally, any nudges that are implemented should be carefully considered for both their potential efficacy and the ethical implications of their enforcement and should have adequate monitoring in place to track their effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role played by line managers in the link between HRM practices and individual performance outcomes. Drawing on social exchange theory, the authors test a mediated model linking perceived line manager behavior and perceived human resource management practices with employee engagement and individual performance. The study focuses on two self-report measures of individual performance; task performance and innovative work behavior. Two studies with a total of 1,796 participants were conducted in service-sector organizations in the United Kingdom and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The data reveal that perceived line manager behavior and perceived HRM practices are linked with employee engagement. In turn, employee engagement is strongly linked to individual performance and fully mediates the link between both perceived HRM practices and perceived line manager behavior and self-report task performance (study 1), as well as self-report innovative work behavior (study 2). The findings show the significance of the line manager in the HRM-performance link, and the mediating role played by employee engagement. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Line managers play an important role as implementers of performance appraisal, enacting procedures designed by the HR function. However, the actual employee experience of these procedures (which may differ from how they were intended or enacted) in terms of perceptions of justice in the process is likely to have consequences for levels of organizational commitment. Furthermore, based on signaling theory, the broader organizational climate, measured here in terms of the level of trust employees have in the senior management, sets the context in which this experience takes shape. Presenting multilevel analysis of 4,422 employees across 22 business units, we show that organizational units with high trust in senior management have both higher levels of commitment, and show a stronger link between employee perceptions of fair treatment by their line manager during performance appraisal, and organizational commitment. This provides initial evidence that the impact of line manager actions is important for employee-level outcomes but is also constrained by the organizational climate. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy PointsNudges steer people toward certain options but also allow them to go their own way. "Dark nudges" aim to change consumer behavior against their best interests. "Sludge" uses cognitive biases to make behavior change more difficult.We have identified dark nudges and sludge in alcohol industry corporate social responsibility (CSR) materials. These undermine the information on alcohol harms that they disseminate, and may normalize or encourage alcohol consumption.Policymakers and practitioners should be aware of how dark nudges and sludge are used by the alcohol industry to promote misinformation about alcohol harms to the public. Context: "Nudges" and other behavioral economic approaches exploit common cognitive biases (systematic errors in thought processes) in order to influence behavior and decision‐making. Nudges that encourage the consumption of harmful products (for example, by exploiting gamblers' cognitive biases) have been termed "dark nudges." The term "sludge" has also been used to describe strategies that utilize cognitive biases to make behavior change harder. This study aimed to identify whether dark nudges and sludge are used by alcohol industry (AI)–funded corporate social responsibility (CSR) organizations, and, if so, to determine how they align with existing nudge conceptual frameworks. This information would aid their identification and mitigation by policymakers, researchers, and civil society. Methods: We systematically searched websites and materials of AI CSR organizations (e.g., IARD, Drinkaware, Drinkwise, Éduc'alcool); examples were coded by independent raters and categorized for further analysis. Findings: Dark nudges appear to be used in AI communications about "responsible drinking." The approaches include social norming (telling consumers that "most people" are drinking) and priming drinkers by offering verbal and pictorial cues to drink, while simultaneously appearing to warn about alcohol harms. Sludge, such as the use of particular fonts, colors, and design layouts, appears to use cognitive biases to make health‐related information about the harms of alcohol difficult to access, and enhances exposure to misinformation. Nudge‐type mechanisms also underlie AI mixed messages, in particular alternative causation arguments, which propose nonalcohol causes of alcohol harms. Conclusions: Alcohol industry CSR bodies use dark nudges and sludge, which utilize consumers' cognitive biases to promote mixed messages about alcohol harms and to undermine scientific evidence. Policymakers, practitioners, and the public need to be aware of how such techniques are used to nudge consumers toward industry misinformation. The revised typology presented in this article may help with the identification and further analysis of dark nudges and sludge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies of human resource management (HRM) have been conducted within the context of the single employing organization, which is strange given the recent growth in multi-employer networks. In this study, the authors examine whether alignment, integration, and consistency-concepts central to or implicit in most analyses of HRM-has meaning and relevance in the multi-employer context. They focus specifically on networks in which collaboration is intended to deliver high levels of product quality or customer service, precisely where one might expect employers would be attracted to 'strong' HRM systems. Data was collected via interviews and document analysis in four networks, spanning both the public and private sectors in the United Kingdom. Despite a set of potentially favorable conditions within these networks to promote alignment, integration, and consistency, implementation was impeded by other equally powerful forces, including differences in employer goals within networks, especially between public and private sector organizations; intraorganizational tensions within internal labor markets for organizations involved in networks; using divergent HR policies between organizations within multi-employer networks; and contradictions between the pursuit of 'among employee' or 'temporal' consistency for workers. Rather than prescribing a one-size-fits-all solution for these problems, it is argued that detailed analysis of each network is necessary. ©2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on improving productivity and produce more food domestically in Great Britain. It mentions that initiative from the government, geared to develop and deliver an innovative food strategy, provides an once in a lifetime opportunity to look at food, nutrition and the environment. It also informs on upskilling of medical and healthcare professions in evidence-based nutrition and its application in health promotion.

Rescue seeks to preserve the going concern in a financially distressed but potentially viable business. It aims, on one hand, to maximise the value in distressed businesses and, on the other, to give potentially viable but distressed businesses the opportunity of a second chance. In England and Wales, the main rescue process is structured to strive for the former but pays relatively little attention to the latter. The mechanisms that have been introduced to maximise the prospects of the achieving a going concern sale have been associated with the subsequent failure of the rescued business. It appears, therefore, that there is a discord between value maximisation and the survivability of rescued businesses. In 2015, the Graham Review sought to alleviate this discord by proposing the voluntary independent viability report and viability statement. While this article agrees with the reforms to the extent that they encourage due consideration for the future survival of rescued businesses, it argues that the requirements ought to be mandatory and that the buyer should be required to demonstrate that the amount of leverage carried forward and the time span for repayment are calculated with due consideration for the earning capacity of the rescued business and its own operational needs. Copyright © 2017 INSOL International and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article gives the first large-scale assessment of business partnerships in England and Wales using business records within the population census for 1881. It seeks to understand the variety of ways that 'partnership' was used: explicit partnership, 'de facto' partnership, 'joint' activity, and asset ownership together. The article confirms that partnerships were chiefly between two people. Complexity and transaction costs largely precluded larger size and squeezed the partnership into a 'middle ground' between the sole proprietor and the corporation. The main size contrast was between farms with small employee numbers, and larger non-farm business partnerships. Generally differences in the gender of business owners have greater salience than sectors. Few female business partnerships employed more than four people (mean 3.4), while male partnerships ranged up to several thousand employees (mean 33.6), and 18.6 for mixed gender. While many women were involved in businesses, their opportunities remained restricted, and most were in partnership with male partners. Family structures were important, with three-quarters of all identifiable partnerships having some form of family relationship, with a strong preponderance of single women in female-only partnerships, married men in male-only partnerships, and widows in mixed gender businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using frequency domain techniques, a cycle of 6-year duration at the aggregate level and coherent sectoral cycles of average 5-year duration are found in UK merger activity between 1969 and 2005. It is shown that business and capital market cycles jointly are causal for the merger cycle but the capital market cycle alone is not, suggesting that merger cycles may reflect disequilibria and/or market mis-valuation. Although the possibility of disequilibrium or strong behavioural influences will complicate social evaluation, no reason is found to advise against the current UK policy stance upon mergers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK's regulators and accounting profession are at one in their assessment of why the UK avoided its Enron: the UK's approach to accounting regulation is principles-based in contrast to the rules-based approach taken in the United States. According to this position, the UK has its principles-based regulatory technique to thank for keeping the integrity of its markets intact during the infectious greed of the 1990s. This article is an inquiry into the effect and validity of this claim. It investigates the effect that this claim has had upon structuring the UK's post-Enron regulatory process and provides a close analysis of UK and US accounting regulation to determine whether the UK's regulation is in fact distinctively principles-based. It concludes that the structuring effect of the claim was considerable, diverting the reform process away from some of the US's most important Enron lessons. This is of particular concern as the article also concludes that the claim is without foundation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Manchester Faculty of Commerce was founded in 1903 by Sydney Chapman, who quickly developed it into the foremost British faculty of its kind. It also played an important role in the development of the teach-ing of economics, with many of its young appointees moving to head new economics departments at provincial universities. Student numbers con-tinued to increase during the interwar years, but the most significant development during this period was the formation of a 'Research Section' in the early 1930s, on the initiative of John Jewkes. This was the first such research organization in a British university, and many of those who passed through it went on to senior positions in wartime economic administration. In 1944 the Faculty was reorganized into 'Economics and Social Science', reflecting the broad base for the teaching of economics, social administration and government which the original foundation had established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the various aspects of small business and entrepreneurship. Characterization of the owner/entrepreneur offered in the seminal Bolton Report in Great Britain; Resilience of the small firm sector against formidable economic and political pressures; Key to understanding the management profile and capability of the firm.

Investigates the impact of exchange rate regimes on the bilateral exports thought multivariate cointegration and error correction models. Occurrence of the adoption of exchange rate regimes; Relationship between exchange rate variability and volume of trade in the determination of export demand; Impact of the exchange rate regimes on the bilateral exports between Great britain and the U.S. during the twentieth century.

This report examines the relevance gap in management research. Its focus is the nature of knowledge created by research at the interface between business and academia in the context of major changes likely to affect the nature of demand for such knowledge. Management research has been accused of a lack of relevance to managerial practice and of too narrow a discipline base. The report examines the conditions giving rise to this criticism, in the UK and elsewhere, and identifies an important strategic need to increase the stakeholding of users in various aspects of the research and knowledge creation and dissemination process. The report concludes with recommendations concerning new forms of research partnership and research training that will address the relevance gap. However, bridging this gap does not only require changes in the academic mind-set. Managers and firms too need to rethink their involvement in the research process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author makes a point-by-point comments on a critique by Julia A. Smith of his study on businessmen and land ownership in the late nineteenth century Britain. He first commented on Smith's reluctance to see the "Dictionary of business biography" as a collection of business biographies that can stand as a credible source for investigation patterns of wealth and land holding when combined with other data. He also pointed out that he and Smith used different samples which led to Smith's detection of a larger proportion of businessmen landowners.

The article comments on entrepreneurship in Great Britain during the late Victorian period. In using the total factor productivity index to analyse late-Victorian entrepreneurship, two propositions are confronted. The first is that the late-Victorian economy was characterized by perfectly competitive product and factor markets and by an efficient allocation of resources. The second is that the measured residual derives from the effects of the activities of entrepreneurs. The purpose of what has gone before has been to show that at the theoretical level, whether approached from theories of entrepreneurship or from the body of neoclassical theory, these two propositions are contradictory. The competitive equilibrium assumption necessary to justify using factor shares as the relevant partial elasticities creates a world in which entrepreneurs of whatever variety have no function and indeed cannot exist. It follows that whatever is measured by the residual, and it has already been pointed to its rag-bag nature, entrepreneurship is excluded by the assumptions which are made in order to generate it.

The article presents a list of publications on the economic and social history of Great Britain and Ireland. Some of the publications are--"Examination Roll of Arbroath," edited by F. Davidson, "Farmworkers: A Social and Economic History: 1770-1980," by A. Armstrong, "The Diffusion of Vetches in Medieval England," by B.M.S. Campbell, "Horses in Shakespeare's England," by A. Dent, "Countryside Planning in Practice the Scottish Experience," edited by P.H. Selman, "The Growth of the London Carrying Trade: 1681-1838," by D. Gerhold, "The British Iron Industry: 1700-1850," by J.R. Harris, "Business, Banking and Politics: The Case of British Steel, 1918-1939," by S. Tolliday" and others.

This article examines the effect of financial restraints in banks on the growth of firms in the cotton industry in Great Britain from 1790 to 1850. V.A.C. Gatrell's recent article "Labour, Power, and the Size of Firms in Lancashire Cotton in the Second Quarter of the Nineteenth Century," published in the journal "Economic History Review," draws attention to a neglected body of evidence which shows the predominance of small to middle firms and single-process firms in these sections of the industry in 1840. The statistics are evidently reliable. He argues that the technology of spinning and power-loom weaving offered no substantial incentives to growth beyond a modest size, and suggests that entrepreneurs of the period believed in the advantages of moderation in enterprise rather than economies of scale. The argument of the present article is that the solution to the problem of stunted growth lies in the relations between manufacturers and merchants and the financial environment in which they struggled for markets. A large and constantly changing body of entrepreneurs, trying to sell increasing quantities to more distant and dispersed markets, was serviced by a financial system whose members were characteristically inexperienced, insecure, and unprepared to meet the unprecedented developments in industry and overseas markets.

The article examines the nature of cost conditions within the pre-privatization telecommunication industry in Great Britain. It attempts to determine the extent to which the overall cost function is subadditive and examines whether joint production or economies of scale and scope characterize the industry. The possibility of restructuring British Telecommunications along the lines suggested by Beesley and Littlechild (1986) is examined. The article provides evidence that joint production is a feature of the British telecommunications industry. Evidence is also presented that the cost function is locally subadditive since the industry is characterized both by economies of scale and economies of scope.

This article utilizes an internationally comparative data set to examine the potentiality of comprehensive business associations to define and articulate the interests of business as a whole. We argue that the organizational structures of comprehensive associations - the degree to which they integrate diverse interest areas and they compete with one another- are critical to the degree of probable influence gained in a given country. Using data from seven countries - Austria, Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom - a concept of business cohesion is constructed based on these structural properties. Having differentiated among the countries in terms of the cohesion of business associations, we then relate these differences to variations in the participation of associations in the formulation and implementation of public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the controversy concerning the measurement of aggregate business concentration from coarsely grouped data in Great Britain. The problem relates to the cumulative distribution of enterprises. The article suggests that aggregate business concentration should be measured from the first moment distribution. It also argues that it is advisable to exclude the smallest enterprises from the analysis if measures derived from the original distribution are used. The study also indicates that than one measure of concentration should be calculated even when highly truncated size distributions are used.

The need to change the way any business operates quickly is essential for remaining competitive. Understanding what your key competencies and capabilities are is a key prerequisite before initiating a change programme. The restructuring of the UK gas industry presents an additional complication to transforming the business: the market changes, regulatory pressures and an inherited culture all serve to make the journey move complicated. Ensuring the destination is reached requires a full understanding of the environment, a radical change planning process which highlights key competencies and an implementation plan capable of measuring achievements in all aspects of the change. The business competency developed during the change process will ensure the company will remain the leading player in the emerging energy business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information about the Overseas Development Institute in Great Britain. It was founded towards the end of 1960 by a group of people who consider that the economic development of the countries of Asia, Africa and South America, and their relations with the industrially developed areas of the world, are of material importance. Its funds were received from the Ford Foundation, from British industry and commerce, and from the Nuffield Foundation. The institute is non-profit-making and its policies are decided by a council which is independent and non-governmental.

This article focuses on the role of professional journals on development of economic ideas in Great Britain. The first half of the century was the era of the reviews, and starting with the Byronic success of the Edinburgh in 1802 they were for many years the most important feature of English periodical literature. Four of these reviews, the Edinburgh Review, the Quarterly Review, the Westminster Review, and Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine--not strictly a review, as it published many items that were not reviews, but dealt with much the same field--stand out above the others from almost any point of view, and certainly from the point of view of the economist. Among the periodicals read by the educated man, they had, year in and year out, the largest circulation and the greatest influence. Ten other reviews started between 1827 and 1850. None of these had the influence of the four major ones, and six had ceased publication by 1850. Further study of the Edinburgh and of the other reviews has strengthened and broadened this feeling. After 1824 the Westminster rendered much the same service for the middle-class reformers and the intellectual radicals as did the Edinburgh for the gentry. The role of the Quarterly and of Blackwood's was less direct, but their continual criticism of the theories and of the policy proposals of political economists at least made the opponents of economic change familiar with the new forces at large in the field of thought and policy.