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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 authors use punctuated equilibrium theory as a framework to help explain potential differences in the export sales management arrangements between firms that adopt an export market expansion strategy of either market concentration or market spreading. On the basis of a thorough review of the extant literature, the authors identify certain export sales managers' characteristics and behavior, export sales behavioral control, and satisfaction with export sales territory design as potential discriminators between these two groups of direct exporting firms. Consistent with the hypotheses, in general, the authors find that the tenets of punctuated equilibrium theory hold for the sample of small and medium-sized U.K. exporters. In addition, the results indicate that export market expansion strategy has important implications for a firm's export sales management arrangements. The authors discuss the findings and outline implications for business practitioners and further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the important aspects needed for building a healthy business. It discusses the comparison between sales and marketing, along with information on the additional activities that can amplify and supplement the needs required for building a healthy business. It mentions the importance of Google My Business Listing and the engaging audience that belongs to the business.

This article explores the governance of post-traumatic stress disorder among soldiers-turned-contractors in the private military labour market. Using original data relating to the UK case, it argues that this governance regime is best understood as a political economic process which transcends the public–private divide. On one side, post-traumatic stress disorder is managed as an economic issue—a calculation to be factored into the pursuit of profit maximization. On the other side, it is managed as a political or social issue—a component of the civil–military relationship in which state and society have a duty to care for all those who have served and sacrificed in defense of the nation. In other words, this process is shaped by—and gives shape to—the complex professional identity of the individuals under examination: they are private military contractors and, at the same time, armed forces veterans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The United Kingdom documented a decline of >30% in imported cases of malaria annually between 1996 and 2003; however, there are still approximately 1700 cases and 5–10 deaths each year. Prophylaxis health messages focus on families returning to their country of origin. Methods We reviewed 225 records of patients seen in Cambridge University Hospital Foundation Trust [CUHFT], a tertiary referral center in Cambridge, England. All records of patients seen in CUHFT between 2002–2016 were analyzed in the context of national figures from Public Health England. Results Between 2004–2016, there was no decrease in imported cases of malaria locally or nationally. Plasmodium falciparum remains responsible for most imported infections (66.7%); Plasmodium vivax contributed 15.1%, Plasmodium malariae 4%, and Plasmodium ovale 6.7%; 7.5% (17/225) of patients had an incomplete record. Most cases were reported in people coming from West Africa. Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast had the highest proportions of travelers being infected at 8 and 7 per 1000, respectively. Visiting family in the country of origin (27.8%) was the commonest reason for travel. However, this was exceeded by the combined numbers traveling for business and holidays (22.5% and 20.1%, respectively). Sixty percent of patients took no prophylaxis. Of those who did, none of the patients finished their chemoprophylaxis regimen. Conclusions Significant numbers of travelers to malarious countries still take no chemoprophylaxis. Health advice about prophylaxis before travel should be targeted not only at those visiting family in their country of origin but also to those traveling for holiday and work. [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.

A growing number of companies are offering digital products and services for use in funerals. Drawing on interdisciplinary research in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, we explore how funeral directors operate as intermediaries for these digital products and services. We critically examine the popular framing of the funeral industry as a "conservative" business and examine how funeral directors actively mediate between their clients and the companies offering innovative products and services. This study provides an account of current developments in the funeral economy as well as a broader narrative about how funeral industry professionals have engaged with technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study explored a multisensory (including olfactory) intervention for people with dementia. Six themed boxes (e.g. Childhood) containing items chosen from the Boots archive designed to encourage conversation were used in weekly group sessions. Session participants were people with dementia and care staff from a local care home, a trained facilitator and archivists from Boots UK. Semi-structured interviews explored participants' experiences of the sessions. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The three major themes Engagement (subthemes: Inclusiveness; Emotional involvement; Factors that supported engagement), What's in the box (subthemes: Contents stimulate memories; Mystery, variety and age of items; Value of olfactory stimuli), and A conversation starter (subtheme: Opportunity for self-expression) reveal the success of the intervention and the value of olfactory stimuli. Multisensory boxes including olfactory stimulation can be an engaging intervention with scope to refine it for people with dementia and their carers in the wider community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author summarizes the various developments of business strategy, business finance and labor management in Great Britain, U.S. and Japan, and explains from a long-term business history perspective the meaning of the business system in Japan after World War II as compared to those in Great Britain and the U.S. The international differences in basic business strategies which developed at the early stages of the countries' industrialization resulted in the emergence of industrial and business organizations unique to the respective nations which in turn gave rise to the different modes of business performance among the industrial nations.

As the British government embarks upon the process of exiting the European Union (EU), it will have to navigate the preferences of powerful business interest groups. However, the British politics and political economy literatures have tended to neglect the question of business agency in general and its relation to EU integration in particular. This article analyses British business strategy in relation to EU employment policy between 2010 and 2016. Through a document analysis of business responses to the Balance of Competences Review on EU Employment Policy and Confederation of British Industry (CBI) policy documents, the article argues that British business has attempted to 'defend and extend' a liberalising agenda within the EU in the recent past. Brexit fundamentally undermines this strategic orientation. The article accordingly outlines some of the key strategic dilemmas which the 'Leave' vote generates for British capital within the emerging politics of Brexit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent of recent misconduct in retail financial services questions assumptions that mis-selling is perpetrated by rogue traders dealing in sub-prime markets. Yet we know little about the organizational dimensions of mis-selling and specifically how new employees are introduced to and subsequently enact mis-selling behaviour when not explicitly encouraged to do so. This article seeks to understand the mechanics of mis-selling through an ethnographic account of the opening of a new retail financial services call centre, and analysis of the ritual nature of the sales interaction. The study documents the training, induction and initial work of direct sales agents to better understand the complexity, social relations and organization of mis-selling, together with the way in which regulation and management regimes shape sales practice and consequent employee behaviour. The critical analysis of sales rituals allows us to explain how mis-selling becomes embedded in organizational practice and contributes to our understanding of the everydayness of mis-selling in contrast to approaches that focus either on individual decision-making or on cultural explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

London's workhouses bought vast quantities of provisions to feed and clothe their pauper populations. This article explores the business of supplying these institutions. Several large suppliers dominated the markets for goods required in bulk. These businesses also sold to other institutions such as hospitals, barracks and prisons. But poor law unions were also keen to buy from smaller local suppliers such as high-street retailers. This can be seen in the provisioning arrangements of a central London union, St Saviour Southwark, and a peripheral parish, St John Hampstead. Guardians wanted to keep rates low by buying from large dealers, but also liked to keep the poor rates circulating within the local economy if possible. There was not a significant geographical variation in pricing across London, but some suppliers charged different amounts to different unions. Possible reasons for these disparities include transport costs, sizes of orders, the quality of goods and anti-competitive behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years, a new wave of hyperlocal community news websites has developed in the United Kingdom (UK), with many taking advantage of new opportunities provided by free open-source publishing platforms. Given the trend in the UK newspaper industry towards closure and retrenchment of their local and regional press titles, it is perhaps understandable that policy-makers have shifted their gaze to these sites. This article examines the viability of hyperlocal news services with a particular focus on those that are independently owned and managed. Such operations often have a longevity that sits in contrast to a number of failed attempts by major media organisations to operate in the hyperlocal space. Yet many of the business models that underpin these sites seem precarious, often benefiting from a degree of self-exploitation. Drawing on 35 interviews with hyperlocal news publishers from across the UK, this article argues that publishers draw upon a civic discourse in order to make sense of their practice. This framing may limit the potential to develop economic sustainability and risks alienating policy-makers keen to work with an idealised “fictive” hyperlocal entrepreneur. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article reflects upon careering, securing identities and ethical subjectivities in academia in the context of audit, accountability and control surrounding new managerialism in UK Business Schools. Drawing upon empirical research, we illustrate how rather than resisting an ever-proliferating array of governmental technologies of power, academics chase the illusive sense of a secure self through ‘careering’; a frantic and frenetic individualistic strategy designed to moderate the pressures of excessive managerial competitive demands. Emerging from our data was an increased portrayal of academics as subjected to technologies of power and self, simultaneously being objects of an organizational gaze through normalizing judgements, hierarchical observations and examinations. Still, this was not a monolithic response, as there were those who expressed considerable disquiet as well as a minority who reported ways to seek out a more embodied engagement with their work. In analysing the careerism and preoccupation with securing identities that these technologies of visibility and self-discipline produce, we draw on certain philosophical deliberations and especially the later Foucault on ethics and active engagement to explore how academics might refuse the ways they have been constituted as subjects through new managerial regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is directly applicable to the UK. Topics discussed include international transfers of personal data under GDPR; data protection is based upon a standard adequacy decision and defends the positions of trade; and the UK will automatically withdraw from the European Economic Area (EEA).

Objective: To investigate the display of food at non-food store checkouts; and to classify foods by type and nutrient content, presence of price promotions and whether food was at child height.Design: Cross-sectional survey of checkout displays at non-food stores. Foods were classified as 'less healthy' or healthier using the UK Food Standards Agency's Nutrient Profile Model. Written price promotions were recorded. Child height was defined as the sight line of an 11-year-old approximated from UK growth charts.Setting: A large indoor shopping mall, Gateshead, UK, February-March 2014.Subjects: Two hundred and five out of 219 non-food stores in the shopping mall directory which were open for trading.Results: Thirty-two (15·6%) of 205 non-food stores displayed food at the checkout. All displayed less healthy foods, and fourteen (43·8%) had healthier foods. Overall, 5911 checkout foods were identified. Of these, 4763 (80·6%) were 'less healthy'. No fruits, vegetables, nuts or seeds were found. Of 4763 less healthy foods displayed, 195 (4·1%) were subject to price promotions, compared with twelve of 1148 (1·0%) healthier foods (χ 2(df=1)=25·4, P<0·0001). There was no difference in the proportion of less healthy (95·1%) and healthier (96·2%) foods displayed at child height.Conclusions: Almost one-sixth of non-food stores displayed checkout food, the majority of which was 'less healthy' and displayed at child height. Less healthy food was more likely to be subject to a written price promotion than healthier food. Further research into the drivers and consequences of checkout food in non-food stores is needed. Public health regulation may be warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: E-cigarettes (ECs) have gained significant attention in recent years. They have been introduced in jurisdictions with divergent existing laws that affect their legality. This provides the opportunity for natural experiments to assess effects of such laws in some cases independent of any formulated government policy. We compare patterns of EC awareness and use over a 3 year period in Australia where laws severely restrict EC availability, with awareness and use in the United Kingdom where ECs are readily available.Methods: Data analyzed come from Waves 8 and 9 (collected in 2010 and 2013, respectively) of the International Tobacco Control surveys in Australia and the United Kingdom (approximately 1,500 respondents per wave per country).Results: Across both waves, EC awareness, trial, and use among current and former smokers were significantly greater in the United Kingdom than in Australia, but all 3 of these measures increased significantly between 2010 and 2013 in both countries, and the rate of increase was equivalent between countries. Seventy-three percent of U.K. respondents reported that their current brands contained nicotine as did 43% in Australia even though sale, possession and/or use of nicotine-containing ECs without a permit are illegal in Australia. EC use was greater among smokers in both countries, at least in part due to less uptake by ex-smokers.Conclusions: EC awareness and use have risen rapidly between 2010 and 2013 among current and former smokers in both Australia and the United Kingdom despite different EC regulatory environments. Substantial numbers in both countries are using ECs that contain nicotine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate actors seek to influence alcohol policies through various means, including attempts to shape the evidential content of policy debates. In this case study, we examined how SABMiller engaged the thinktank Demos to produce reports on binge drinking, which were heavily promoted among policymakers at crucial stages in the development of the UK government's 2012 alcohol strategy. One key report coincided with other SABMiller-funded publications, advocating measures to enhance parenting as an alternative to minimum unit pricing. In this instance, the perceived independence of an influential think tank was used to promote industry interests in tactics similar to those of transnational tobacco corporations. This approach is in keeping with other alcohol industry efforts to marginalize the peer-reviewed literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This examination of a late-Georgian businesswoman, Barbara Ford of Ashbourne in Derbyshire, utilises an extensive but partial and fragmentary range of contemporary sources to demonstrate the significance of a familial network and its commercial undertakings in one woman's enterprise. The activities of Barbara's prosperous family, and its ability to exploit the changing economic circumstances of the age, were not lost on the newly-widowed Mrs Ford. It was not inevitable that she should enter the commercial world but her actions, viewed in the light of her extended familial network, are entirely consistent with their extensive business interests. The research places Barbara Ford in a local and provincial world where commercial success depended as much on interpersonal communication and reputation as it did upon business acumen. Rather than regarding Barbara Ford as an outlier, an atypical woman of middle-rank, forced into a commercial world by economic necessity, the evidence is strongly suggestive that her decision to continue her husband's business was guided by choice. Her reputation in the community was enhanced, not diminished, in consequence. Most of all, the research demonstrates female agency: the strength, skill, and determination of one woman to negotiate her way in an age that placed so many limitations on the lives of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest-based arguments do not provide satisfying explanations for the surprising reticence of major US employers to take a more active role in the debate surrounding the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Through focused comparison with the Bismarckian systems of France and Germany, on the one hand, and with the 1950s and 1960s in the United States, on the other, this article concludes that while institutional elements do account for some of the observed behavior of big business, a necessary complement to this is a fuller understanding of the historically determined legitimating ideology of US firms. From the era of the "corporate commonwealth," US business inherited the principles of private welfare provision and of resistance to any expansion of government control. Once complementary, these principles are now mutually exclusive: employer-provided health insurance increasingly is possible only at the cost of ever-increasing government subsidy and regulation. Paralyzed by the uncertainty that followed from this clash of legitimate ideas, major employers found themselves unable to take a coherent and unified stand for or against the law. As a consequence, they failed either to oppose it successfully or to secure modifications to it that would have been useful to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article modifies our understanding of the rise of neoliberalism in Britain by highlighting the links between neoliberal circles and organised business in Britain. It focuses on the role of two individuals who played an active role in both spheres as Economic Director of the Confederation of British Industry and its predecessor over the period 1955–73. Incorporation of this evidence shows that neoliberal intellectuals and think tanks were not always as isolated as commonly suggested. It also shows how business opinion was less united in its support for Keynesian and corporatist solutions than traditionally implied. This helps to explain why the neoliberal counterrevolution was able to occur so rapidly in Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]