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Presents the findings of a two‐year programme of questionnaire‐ and case study‐based research conducted during 1993‐1995. Argues that it is not enough for management to initiate problem solving, educate staff or attend quality steering committees in order to introduce quality initiatives successfully. Concludes that quality initiatives must be managed.

This paper aims to determine the extent to which graduate student funding portfolios vary across and within engineering, life sciences and physical sciences academic fields for degree recipients. “Graduate student funding portfolios” refers to the percentages of students funded by fellowships, research assistantships, teaching assistantships, personal means and other sources within an organizational unit.

Using data from the Survey of Earned Doctorates data set, the authors analyze doctoral students’ self-reported primary mechanisms of funding across and within academic fields varying along the Biglan taxonomy. The authors used cluster analyses and logistic regression to investigate within-field variation in funding portfolios.

The authors show significant differences in doctoral student funding portfolios across dimensions of the Biglan taxonomy characterizing academic fields. Within those fields, the authors demonstrate considerable variation in funding; institutions cluster into different “modes” of funding portfolios that do not necessarily map onto institutional type or control variables.

Despite tremendous investment in graduate students, there has been little research that can help characterize at the program-level how graduate students are funded, either by internal or external mechanisms. As programs continue to feel the pressures of more limited resources coupled with increasing graduate enrollment demands, investigating graduate student funding at a macro level is becoming increasingly important so programs may better understand constraints and predict shifts in resource availability.

Analyses the growing wave of quality initiatives which have emerged within financial services since the mid 1980s, as revealed by a recent postal questionnaire survey. Identifies that while quality initiatives are extremely costly, they generate benefits such as increased staff awareness. Focuses on the recent trend within financial services towards business process re‐engineering (BPR) and argues that what BPR will mean in practice is far from clear in view of the divergent perceptions among practitioners as to what it is.

Construction project delays are described as a universal problem, which has led to many empirical studies. However, most of these studies were based on the rankings by respondents, and they were rarely verified. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore professional perspectives on the causes of delay in the construction industry, where there has been little explicit consideration on this subject in recent decades.

A critical literature review and a qualitative approach was considered for a deeper and fresh understanding of the causes of delays, rather than recycling the existing themes and the risk of a statistically biased approach. A total of 41 interviews were undertaken which included the London Olympic 2012 project team.

In all, 32 themes were identified, which were categorised into 15 categories of causes of delay in the construction projects. Almost two-thirds of the main themes are not ranked top 15 causes of delay. These include knowledge and competence shortage, poor commercial decisions, unnecessary health and safety restrictions, poor risk management and poor space and logistics management.

Due to the qualitative nature of the study, the findings might not be considered as representative.

The findings provide consideration of the causes of delay in the construction industry as seen by practitioners, which should provide guidance to enhance performance.

The study contributes to the better understanding of the causes of delays by using qualitative research strategy which is limited in the construction management literature. This study is an empirical investigation into the causes of delay in the twenty-first century and it represents an important edition to the body of knowledge within the subject area.

The purpose of this study is to better understand the nature of graduate training experiences in research groups and to identify factors that may lead to increased student retention and success.

Surveys administered at four US universities resulted in quantitative responses from 130 Master’s and 702 doctoral engineering students participating in graduate research groups. Missing data were imputed, and responses were weighted by gender, discipline, degree program and nationality. Exploratory factor analysis identified four factors describing research group experiences. Regression models were built for two outcomes: satisfaction with research group experience and intention to complete degree. Control variables included gender, discipline, degree program, nationality, year in program and institution.

Fifty-five per cent of the variance in satisfaction was described by a model including agency, support, international diversity and group climate. Sixty-five per cent of variance in intent to complete was described by a model comprising international diversity, agency and support. Several control variables were significant.

Agency and support in particular were the most influential predictors of both satisfaction and intention, suggesting that future efforts should emphasize stable funding, clear expectations, access to mentors and agency-building experiences to help students take an active role in their own success.

An early morning at Bryant Salvage, a Vietnamese recycling business, finds a variety of San Francisco's scavengers converging to sell their findings. Vehicle after vehicle enters the yard to be weighed on the huge floor scale before dumping its load in the back; ancient pick‐up trucks with wooden walls, carefully loaded laundry carts, canary Cadillacs stuffed to overflow with computer paper, the shopping carts of homeless men, a 1950s ambulance carrying newspaper, and even the occasional gleaming new truck. The homeless men unload their towers of bottles and cardboard while young Latino van recyclers shout jokes across them. Middle aged Vietnamese women in jeans and padded jackets buzz around on forklifts or push around great tubs full of bottles and cans, stopping occasionally to help elderly people with their laundry carts. The van recyclers repeatedly honk their horns at the homeless guys to get out of the way. The homeless recyclers, silently methodical in their work, rarely respond.

The purpose of this paper is to present initial findings from a vulnerability assessment based on the perceptions of practitioners working in four tourism and hospitality sectors in Wuhan and Hubei Province, namely, cruise lines, hotels, travel agencies and touristic attractions.

The research note focuses on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak from January to March 2020. Using the destination sustainability framework and an “interpretation” mixed methods research design, the authors analyze phone interviews (n = 151) and subsequent online surveys (n = 370) to assess sector-specific perceptions of exposure, sensitivity and system adaptiveness.

Overall, findings paint a grim picture of each sector in the short-term. All respondents reported an immediate economic loss due to COVID-19, as well as recovery concerns and uncertainties. Immediate actions for addressing these issues centered on internal cost control and governmental subsidies, while anticipated next steps focused on product adjustment, a transformation of business structures and seeking governmental guidance and policies in restoring market confidence. Findings also allude to future strategies/directions.

This study is limited in its focus on practitioner views in the immediate COVID-19 outbreak. Implications highlight a crucial strategic dependence of each sector on effective government/managerial communication and support, with smaller, local businesses needing particular attention in crisis situations.

To the authors’ knowledge, this research note is the first comprehensive study presenting vital information pertaining to the impact of COVID-19 on tourism and hospitality businesses from a large group of business leaders in the site of the initial outbreak (i.e. Wuhan and Hubei Province). With the highly infectious COVID-19 representing an ongoing threat for populations worldwide, this paper hopes this research note provides valuable insights for practitioners in other vulnerable regions, as well as for researchers examining strategies for resilience against this and future disasters.

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/09604520010318263. When citing the article, please cite: Darren McCabe, David Knights, (2000), “The human face of re-engineering in financial services”, Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, Vol. 10 Iss: 2, pp. 74 - 78.

This paper discusses Frank H. Knight's thought under three major themes, namely subjectivism, interpretation and social economics. Knight's economics starts with a conscious mind construct which is able to infer under partial knowledge. Conscious human action is purposive, forward looking and extends towards other individuals. Rejecting neoclassical positivism, Knight points to the need for economics to reconceptualize itself as an interpretative study, a methodology in the Weberian tradition. Furthermore, his allure for phenomenological economics opens a methodological possibility for the Austrian School of Economics. This paper concludes that Knight's insight earns himself a place in the history of subjectivist economics.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.