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The aims of this paper are to measure the impacts of subsidy, work experience and training programmes on New Zealand male registered unemployed, and to examine the sensitivity of these estimates to the amount of time that participants are followed after an intervention.

The impact of an intervention on those who participate in an active labour market programme is the key question addressed in this paper. A New Zealand panel data set is used, which includes both intervention and individual characteristics of the unemployed. Both a potential outcomes and single nearest‐neighbour difference‐in‐differences matching approach are used to estimate the impact of participation.

The key findings are that work experience programmes are the most effective in the short‐term. Training programmes are the least effective. Programmes are more effective for the long‐term unemployed than for short‐term unemployed. The results are sensitive to the point of time examined in the post‐intervention period, with short‐term benefits disappearing completely three years after the intervention.

This paper examines the relative effect of active labour market programmes in New Zealand using a consistent evaluation framework. The sensitivity of the results to different time periods, and matching estimator specifications are examined.

Central Government in the UK has opened the door to futures work at a local level through the modernisation programme for local government. It has created conditions for local governance which are strategic and futures‐orientated. This raises challenges and opportunities for developing expert and participative futures research to inform local thinking, decision making and action. It also opens the institutions, structures and processes at a local level to the inherently uncomfortable and destabilising thoughts of what the future may hold within an interconnected and turbulent world. This work appears to be a quiet revolution in the making, creating major opportunities for foresight, futures research and anticipatory management at a local level and for developing processes that focus civic attention on a regular basis on long‐term challenges and implications for personal, corporate and political action.

To introduce the papers which make up a special issue of IJM on labour market intervention.

Briefly describes each of the five papers which comprise this issue of IJM.

Notes that the study contexts of the papers are New Zealand, the UK, Sweden, West Germany, and 14 member countries of the EU.

The papers provide an international overview of contemporary, empirical findings on the effectiveness of various types of labour market intervention.

Dan Hammond’s written comments on a paper I presented at the ASSA/HES meetings in January on Chicago economics and institutionalism (Hammond, 2003; Rutherford, 2003a) questioned the usefulness of the concept of “institutional economics” as a category with which to discuss the history of American economics from about 1918 on. My paper and Hammond’s comments form the background to this roundtable discussion. Although my original piece is not reproduced here, I will begin with some direct comments on what I take to be Hammond’s main points of contention.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how HIWS may shape organisational capabilities, in particular organisational ambidexterity (OA) – the ability to be both adaptable to the wider world, and internally aligned so that existing resources are used well. Given the demands on public agencies to manage conflicting objectives, and to do more with less in increasingly complex environments, this paper improves our understanding of how HIWS can contribute to public sector performance. The paper sheds light inside the black box of the HIWS/organisational performance link.

This multi-level quantitative study is based on a survey of 2,123 supervisory staff, and 9,496 non-supervisory employees in 56 government organisations.

The study identifies two paths to organisational performance. The first is a direct HIWS performance link. The second is a double mediation model from HIWS to organisational systems, to OA and then performance.

A focus on developing HIWS provides an alternative means to public sector performance, than restructuring or other performative activities.

This is one of the few studies that explore how HIWS can develop collective as well as individual capabilities. Studies in the public sector are particularly rare.

This study examines antecedents and impacts of HR competence and effective HR practices in organizations. People are an essential asset in organizations, but their potential is reduced without robust HR practices and competent HR professionals. Few studies have investigated causes of low HR professional competence and poor HRM practices.

This explanatory mixed-method study used survey data (N = 322), interviews and online statements. Data was collected in Vietnam, a country well suited to this study as it has considerable variation in institutional arrangements. It has legacies of Chinese, French and Soviet influence and more recently has adopted international reform models, such as new public management.

Agency accountability, autonomy and servant leadership promote HR competence, and consequently effective HR practices, and employee and employer outcomes (public service motivation, organizational commitment and organizational performance). Interviews triangulate findings from the survey data and explain barriers (rules, incentives, nepotism, corruption) to these quantitatively examined processes occurring. Strategic solutions for improving HR practices and professional competence are identified.

Practical implications of this research include a greater understanding of the importance of individual accountability and autonomy for executives, with the promotion of servant leaders through better screening and leadership development. Selection criteria should hinge on achievement, merit and the desire to serve the public interest. Competent HRM units should be developed and supported. Such units should focus on managing performance through ensuring line managers do basics such as setting clear goals, giving feedback, training and developing staff. Developing succinct appraisal criteria that reward good performers and sanction poor performers needs to be prioritized.

This study provides useful guidance on how to reform public administration systems so that reforms are more effective.

This study identifies both institutional and leadership antecedents to both HR competence and HR practices and their subsequent impacts. Its institutional and developing country orientation complements past studies that have been psychologically oriented and in the global north.

Given the emergent nature of i‐branding as an academic field of study and a lack of applied research output, the aim of this paper is to explain how businesses manage i‐branding to create brand equity.

Within a case‐study approach, seven cases were developed from an initial sample of 20 food businesses. Additionally, utilising secondary data, the analysis of findings introduces relevant case examples from other industrial sectors.

Specific internet tools and their application are discussed within opportunities to create brand equity for products classified by experience, credence and search characteristics. An understanding of target customers will be critical in underpinning the selection and deployment of relevant i‐branding tools. Tools facilitating interactivity – machine and personal – are particularly significant.

Future research positioned within classification of goods constructs could provide further contributions that recognise potential moderating effects of product/service characteristics on the development of brand equity online. Future studies could also employ the i‐branding conceptual framework to test its validity and develop it further as a means of explaining how i‐branding can be managed to create brand equity.

While previous research has focused on specific aspects of i‐branding, this paper utilises a conceptual framework to explain how diverse i‐branding tools combine to create brand equity. The literature review integrates fragmented literature around a conceptual framework to produce a more coherent understanding of extant thinking. The location of this study within a classification of goods context proved critical to explaining how i‐branding can be managed.

The purpose of this paper is to report from an empirical study of white‐collar crime in business organizations and to create insights into perceptions of potential offenders.

A survey was conducted among chief financial officers in the largest business organizations in Norway.

The study identified financial misconduct by chief executives in the company as the crime associated with the most serious consequences for the company. A person in purchasing and procurement functions is assumed to be most vulnerable to and most likely involved in white‐collar crime.

The survey focused on perceptions and threats rather than actual crime cases that might be included in future research.

Most vulnerable persons, including purchasing executives and chief executive officers, should never be left alone signing invoices and other expenditures on behalf of the firm.

A four‐eye principle should be introduced in all business organizations in financial matters.

Chief financial officers' perceptions of vulnerability in top management create new insights into white‐collar crime.

This paper aims to argue that to address the consequences of climate change and variability a greater focus on pre‐emergency planning that engages a wider stakeholder group must be adopted.

The paper discusses UK emergency management and approaches to climate change and climate variability risk.

The internal focus of UK emergency management inhibits the contribution that it can make to societal resilience and public preparedness. Effective risk reduction requires that all actors, including the public, are engaged in the social learning process. From a UK emergency management perspective this requires a culture shift to an outward proactive focus.

This paper offers insights into emergency preparedness in the UK.

Examines the food system and considers the impact of the following societal changes on it: increasing longevity and growing populations; increasing urbanization; globalization of the food market; changes in attitudes and values; decline of the traditional “housekeeping” role. Describes the role of the different actors. Discusses the problems of achieving food policy goals with particular reference to institutions, policy instruments and information.