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Action‐centred learning (ACL) is a solution for enhancing the intellectual capital in a business. This article shows that ACL can be more effectively targeted by using metrics of excellence. The author’s company has developed cutting‐edge metrics to identify gaps of knowledge and skills and identify training needs – an academically very sound process based upon the author’s years of involvement in postgraduate academic work. The article focuses on how ACL has been used for the development of procurement staff, also shows how it can be applied in any functional area of a business and for executive development programmes. Provides examples to show its effectiveness for multi‐functional team development. Describes the diagnostic framework, client partnering, the costs, how the metrics are applied, and tailoring of the ACL to clients’ and participants’ specific needs. Feels ACL should be actively considered for inclusion in a training strategy because it offers a tailored, structured approach to self‐development.

Little effort seems to have been made to understand the buyer's role in pricing. The weight of comment and discussion implies a passive or, at least, reactive role for the buyer in pricing decisions. Yet there is considerable evidence to suggest that the countervailing power of purchases can be a major influence on pricing. A better understanding of the buyer's influence on pricing decisions should be beneficial from several viewpoints. The marketing specialist seeks to understand the processes through which price offers are considered in order to be able to influence those decisions. The purchasing manager should seek similar understanding for his own purposes.

This paper explores commercial negotiation skills in the context of the buying/selling dynamics using the writer's experience as a Lead Negotiator. Planning, conducting and analysing the outcomes of commercial negotiations are key elements of successful business. Developing the skills of commercial negotiation is a demanding, valuable and often personally challenging task. The outcomes of commercial negotiation are often difficult to assess; such as the impact on the short‐ and long‐term buyer/seller relationship and the negotiator's personal and organizational development, hence the need to identify, understand and develop commercial negotiation skills. Commercial negotiation is explored from three perspectives; process, the respective parties' objectives and bargaining. The need for planning, the foundation of any process, in a commercial negotiation is detailed. A typology of techniques of persuasion is introduced and briefly explained.

When David Farmer began his career in purchasing education, “academic” was a word he fought shy of. Now he is recognised as the foremost purchasing “academic” in the UK today. In this article he talks about the transformation that has taken place in attitudes to purchasing education and looks to the future.

The award winning entries in the Institute of Training & Development's newly‐introduced Training Media Award Scheme were shown at the National Education, Training & Development Exhibition and Conference at Birmingham last month. The Awards are made in recognition of the quality of training conveyed in the media, and the supporting information provided for the user. They are in two categories; in order to differentiate between in‐company and professionally produced films, videos and tape‐slide programmes.

After completion of the case study, students will be able to understand BRalu Profile’s product range, customer base and historical developments; analyze how BRalu Profile’s procurement strategy evolved and its impact on business profitability; calculate and compare procurement costs and evaluate their role in decision-making for different suppliers; examine how market conditions (includes domestic and international dynamics) and pricing strategies influence procurement choices; assess the pros and cons of different procurement options and make informed recommendations based on supply chain principles; and identify potential procurement risks (e.g. currency exchange rates and supplier reliability) and propose strategies to mitigate them.

This case study explored the challenges faced by BRalu Profile, a prominent aluminum profile products company based in Ahmedabad, India. It focused on the critical task of supplier evaluation, selection and the complexities of maintaining relationships with existing suppliers. This case study delved into the intricate dynamics of procurement decisions within the supply chain and their direct impact on the firm’s overall performance. It also emphasized the supply chain’s susceptibility to disruptions and their consequences on company operations and supplier selection criteria. The protagonist, Dhaval Choladiya, had to navigate the complexities of cost-benefit analysis to identify the most suitable supplier, maximizing the firm’s net benefit while considering nonpricing parameters. This case study revealed the critical importance of maintaining strong supplier relationships in a competitive market and offered insights into the complexities of sourcing.

This case study is suitable for an undergraduate or graduate-level course on strategic sourcing or supply chain management or a risk management module in operations, strategy or finance course (e.g. how to deal with input cost fluctuations).

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

Rural theology is explained here as a form of practical theology that seeks to interpret the rural context in the light of the central themes of Christian theology and vice versa. If Christian theology can be understood as concerning belief in God and the understanding of human relationships with God, the created order, and each other in the light of that belief, rural theology expresses that in the light of the lived experience in a rural context, which for these purposes is the daily bulletin from Ambridge. The author draws on his experience of teaching in the Cambridge Theological Federation to reflect on three recent examples: the recent changes at Brookfield in response to the perennial issue of the milk price lead us to ask who benefits from the production of higher quality food; the care for the land and Adam Macy’s reforms at Home Farm point us to issues about sustainability and responsibility; and the cohesion of a community with shared values and its treatment of Rob Titchener asks questions about the limits of inclusion. As with much practical theology, the outcome of the reflection is in ethical action and some further ethical questions, which, as the example of Jim Lloyd’s philosophical conversations with Alan Franks illustrate, are not the monopoly of the Church.

This chapter examines the definitions of bullying used by students and adults in elementary schools and the effects that these definitions had within the broader school culture.

I combine interviews with 53 students and 10 adults and over 430 hours of participant observation with fifth grade students at two rural elementary schools.

Definitions of bullying held by those in these schools typically differed from those used by researchers. Even when individuals held definitions that were in line with those used by researchers, however, a focus on identifying bullies rather than on behaviors that fit definitions of bullying contributed to a school culture in which negative interactions were normalized and student reports of these behaviors were discouraged.

This study is limited to two elementary schools in the rural Midwest and cannot be seen as representative of all schools. Support for my findings from other research combined with similar definitions and school cultures in both schools, however, suggest that these definitions and practices are part of a broader cultural context of bullying in the United States.

These findings suggest that schools might be better served by focusing less on labels like “bully” and more on particular behaviors that are to be taken seriously by students, teachers, staff members, and principals.

Although other researchers have studied definitions of bullying, none have combined these definitions with observational data on the broader school contexts in which those definitions are created and used.

Criminology has produced more than a century of informative research on the social correlates of criminal behavior. Recently, a growing body of theoretical and empirical work has begun to apply evolutionary principles, particularly from life history theory (LHT), to the study of crime. As this body of research continues to grow, it is important that work in this area synthesizes evolutionary principles with the decades of sociological research on the correlates of crime. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The current paper reviews the brief history of research applying life history concepts to criminology, providing an overview of the underlying framework, exploring examples of empirically testable and tested hypotheses that have been derived from the theory, discussing cautions and criticisms of life history research, and discussing how this area of research can be further integrated with existing theory.

A growing body of research has, with relative consistency, associated indicators of a faster life history strategy with aggression and violence in humans and across the animal kingdom. Research into these associations is still vulnerable to genetic confounding and more research with genetically sensitive designs is needed. The use of hypotheses informed by evolutionary insight and tested with genetically sensitive designs provides the best option for understanding how environmental factors can have an impact on violent and criminal behavior.

The current paper provides an updated review of the growing application of LHT to the study of human behavior and acknowledges criticisms and areas of concern that need to be considered when forming hypotheses for research.

This paper aims to examine the policing of youth anti‐social behaviour and crime.

The paper considers the Independent Commission report, Time for a Fresh Start and argues that its analysis would be enhanced by a fuller consideration of the role of the police as gatekeepers to the criminal justice system. As such this represents something of a missed opportunity.

The paper contends that, like many other reviews of youth justice, and proposals for reform, Time for a Fresh Start says relatively little about policing. As gatekeepers and agenda‐setters for much of the criminal justice system, the police occupy a key position. This paper suggests that reform programmes must focus on the role the police play in regulating the flow of young people into the justice system and, in particular, argues in favour of a constructive reappraisal of the value of “diversion”.

Without considering the role the police play in regulating the flow of young people into the justice system, any programme of reform is incomplete. We need to rehabilitate the idea of “diversion” and to rescue it from the one‐sided picture that became dominant from the mid‐1990s onward.