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Moringa (Moringa oleifera) is a highly nutritious, fast-growing crop that has emerged in Western markets as a “superfood” and as a “smart crop” for income generation potential among small-scale farmers. As such, moringa has been widely promoted by agricultural development practitioners in low-income countries and by emerging businesses aimed at achieving nutritional and social impact. However, the intrinsic nutritional and agronomic strengths of moringa are not enough to warrant its widespread promotion without first evaluating its economic potential to farmers.

A Land Use System (LUS) analysis modeling tool was employed to test the economic performance of two sets of moringa production practices in Kenya. Data were collected during in-depth interviews and field visits with farmers in Meru that supply a local market, and in Shimba Hills that supply an organic export market.

Results suggest that current production practices over an 12-years assessment period generate a Net Present Value (NPV) of US$8,049 [ha-1] in Meru and a negative NPV of US$697 [ha-1] in Shimba Hills; with average daily returns to family labor of these two production systems of roughly 1.6 times and 0.13 times the prevailing local wage rate, respectively. These differences were attributed to a higher farmgate prices and greater yields in Meru. The analysis tool was then used to predict the effects of changes in farming practices, e.g. if farmers in Meru switched to intensive bed cultivation NPV is estimated to increase by ∼650%.

This study demonstrates the importance of examining the economic performance of agricultural production systems intended to increase the benefits to small-scale farmers.

Our study is the first to assess moringa's economic performance within two production systems in Kenya – a local farmers' cooperative in Meru, and a group of farmers contracted by an export company.

This article aims to place the emergence of coaching in its appropriate historical context and address the lack of historical attention given to this subject. In tracing the path the coach has taken in becoming a management concept, the article seeks to draw attention to its unique history as an object that has been transformed into a popular management concept.

This article reviews how coaching has been portrayed in various books, articles and research papers since appearing as a transportation object in the 15^th century.

The coach began as a technology used for transportation, evolved into an object that was associated with a type of status and then became a prominent character in sport, before ultimately becoming an influential management concept. Across historical periods discussions of coaching have tended to involve individuals who experience coaching. A consistent feature of these discussions is the issue of professionals and professionalism.

It is difficult to determine the date when our contemporary notions of the coach were first discussed, as these discussions originally involved slang, and a lag exists between talking about coaching and writing about it.

Concerns have been raised in the management discipline regarding the influence of research on practice and as advocates of coaching seek professional and scientific legitimacy, this historical review offers a perspective that can enhance discussions of these issues.

This paper places the popularity of this concept within a historical context that outlines how the idea of coaching evolved from a form of technology to a concept associated with a wide array of management topics.

Attempts to contextualize the current high level of interest in business process re‐engineering (BPR) in UK business and industry. Reviews a number of surveys of UK business involvement with BPR and suggests long‐term secular trends in the business environment of Western firms that seem likely to have encouraged its use. Presents a brief history of the development of BPR to date, examining some of the seminal works on BPR and highlighting the major debates currently found in the literature. Examines the novelty of BPR in relation to other, more established, management approaches, with particular emphasis on the similarities and differences between total quality management and BPR. From case studies reported by UK businesses in the literature and popular press, concludes that: a large number of applications are found in the financial services sector; there is a notable absence of BPR case studies in SMEs; and there is a lack of information available about the failure rates of BPR projects in UK businesses. Identifies several areas where further research is required. Concludes that BPR addresses the need for established enterprises to move to a new organizational paradigm, from one focused on functions to one focused on processes. This need to change has been brought about by the advancing capabilities of information technology, increased levels of competition, the increasing sophistication of consumers and the threats posed by new entrants who have already adopted radically different modes of operation. Since these forces for change appear to be long‐run tendencies in developed economies, BPR cannot be viewed as a passing fad.

Research on best practices suffers from some fundamental problems. The problem addressed in the article is that authors tend to postulate, rather than show, the practices they address to be best – whether these practices do indeed produce best performance is often not investigated.

This article assumes that the best performing companies must be the ones deploying the best practices. In order to find out what are those practices, the highest performing companies in the 2002 International Manufacturing Strategy Survey database were identified, and the role 14 practices play in these companies was investigated.

Process focus, pull production, equipment productivity and environmental compatibility appear to qualify as best practices. Quality management and ICT may have been best practice previously, but lost that status. E‐business, new product development (NPD), supplier strategy and outsourcing are relatively new, cannot yet be qualified as, but may develop into, best practice. Four other practices do not produce any significant performance effects.

There are four limitations to the research: Incompleteness of the set of practices tested: lack of insight into the effects of interaction between practices and the way in and extent to which they were implemented; good explanatory but poor predictive power; and lack of contextuality.

Taking the position that best practice must be what best performing companies do, the paper is useful for managers using benchmarking to review the design and performance of their manufacturing system, and for scholars engaged or interested in best practice studies.

This paper presents research into the use of the Viable Systems Model (VSM) in small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Research on the VSM has been focussed on large organisations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the usefulness of the VSM in diagnosing issues of viability in SMEs.

Case study research was undertaken in which semi structured diagnostic interviews took place with SMEs using the VSM as a diagnostic tool. The aim was to investigate whether the VSM would assist in diagnosing problems with viability and whether it could then prescribe and facilitate improvements in operations. Qualitative case study evidence is presented that shows the results of these interventions.

The paper reports some examples of operational problems that were exposed through the intervention process and shows some general conclusions to support the use of VSM for analysing operations and supporting small business viability. A number of “threats to viability” themes were apparent and these are discussed.

The semi‐structured interview protocol created for the research could be used to diagnose viability issues in other SMEs and thus is of practical relevance to other organisations.

The VSM originates from the theory of cybernetics which can be broadly defined as “the science of effective organisation”. Previous use of the model has focused upon the viability of large organisations; the applicability of the VSM in a small business operational context has received little attention. The paper demonstrates the benefits of the using the VSM to pinpoint problems that threaten SME viability.

The purpose of this research is to develop empirically grounded propositions for further research into UK manufacturing productivity.

Interviews were conducted with managers from strategic, tactical and operational levels from four manufacturing sectors to produce case studies. A modified strategic alignment theory framework was used to code, compare and contrast narratives on perceived productivity antecedents, definitions, compatibility with the definition from the UK Office for National Statistics, and vertical alignment issues within and across cases.

It was found that different key antecedents can facilitate and/or prevent strategic vertical alignment. Discussion reveals complex nuances in perceptions of manufacturing productivity and using the modified strategic alignment theory/productivity antecedent framework.

In revealing the alignment or otherwise of productivity definitions at different levels within the firm, the paper reveals nine propositions for future research including definitions, skills, metrics, performance measurement systems, people and system-centric perspectives, the value-added perspective of productivity and the role of innovation.