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Most colleges of further education nowadays offer a one‐year full‐time course in automobile engineering to young people who leave secondary school at the age of 16. Recruitment of potential students for this course is achieved in a variety of ways, which include the follow‐up of advice given by school careers teachers to their pupils or, alternatively, possibly the result of a careers convention, many of which are held in secondary schools where college lecturers are present to explain details of further education courses and their relevance to jobs in industry. Link courses are also arranged in FE colleges on a day‐release basis for pupils who are in their final year at secondary school, and these courses give them the opportunity to taste a variety of trade technologies, including automobile engineering. Recruitment is also affected by advertising courses in local newspapers, which invariably result in a flood of letters to the college principal asking for further details and an application form.

This industry is regarded by many people as one of the newer industries in engineering and it has rapidly developed over the past twenty years, largely due to the increasing use of road vehicles for the transportation of people and goods. The industry often regards itself as third generation — this image, no doubt, having emerged as a result of the many family businesses established today which were started by a grandfather or uncle some thirty to forty years ago. Praise‐worthy are these early pioneers who had the initiative, enthusiasm and enterprise to develop their motor repair interests, often as a side‐line to their principal line of business which could have been textile or marine engineering, while others were general carriers, shopkeepers and blacksmiths. Incidentally, the doubling‐up of a motor trade business with another type of business still exists, and in some areas flourishes, particularly in country districts where the petrol pump and mixed business or cafe are run side‐by‐side by a sole trader. But this sort of trading is nowadays largely confined to the rural areas. In our town and city centres, a more common sight is the motor repair garage or filling station impressively built and illuminated (at times other than in a power crisis) and gaily decorated with a plethora of neon signs, flags and flashing lights — all used to attract customers (both casual and regular) on to the forecourt for service, repair or perhaps a complete vehicle overhaul.

This paper examines the nexus between supply chain social capital (relational social capital and structural social capital), supply chain responsiveness (operations system responsiveness and supplier network responsiveness) and firm performance. Additionally, the study examines the mediating role of supply chain responsiveness on the relationship between supply chain social capital and firm performance.

The authors test their hypotheses on a sample of 120 firms operating in Ghana. The measurement model and hypothesized paths were assessed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.

The findings revealed that structural social capital had a significant direct effect on firm performance, but relational social capital did not. It was also revealed that both relational and structural social capital have significant effects on operations system responsiveness and supplier network responsiveness. Additionally, operations system responsiveness fully mediated the effect of relational social capital on firm performance and partially mediated the effect of structural social capital on firm performance. Supplier network responsiveness, on the other hand, partially mediated the effect of both relational and structural social capital on firm performance.

This study contributes to the limited literature on supply chain social capital by unearthing the mechanisms through which supply chain social capital enhances firm performance. Specifically, the study demonstrates the intervening role of operations system responsiveness and supplier network responsiveness in the supply chain social capital–firm performance link.

This paper aims to contribute to an understanding of the process of the construction of the professional businessman in Britain in the early twentieth century.

Two books authored by the prominent British industrialist Sir Samuel Turner III are analysed as a form of contemporaneous discourse. This allows for examination of the texts as a particular genre of social media within their social, economic and political contexts.

Sir Samuel Turner III derived the elite status from his family’s standing as a prominent Lancashire, church-going, industrial dynasty. The role of business and the businessman as a professional are recast as the means to restore Britain to its former pre-World War I glory – a position that continues to resonate in a variety of contexts today.

The paper contributes to our understanding of the construction of the social world through discourse. While Turner’s ideology of the relationship between labour, capital, business and society may appear quaint to our twenty-first-century experiences, it is nevertheless an important reminder that the elite voice influences political and social action.

Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

In the manufacture of office systems and transmission products Plessey is increasing its use of automatic insertion and soldering techniques. This report indicates that this trend is only part of the company's long term strategy for integrated manufacture.

The study aims to embrace the lingering call for more empirical studies that can theorize the role of digital platforms in digital entrepreneurship. Hence, this study seeks to reveal the liminal space entrepreneurial experience of third-party application developers, by investigating how the platform boundary resources promote third-party entrepreneurial actions, as they transition through the disoriented, uncertain and ambiguous processes of digital entrepreneurship development.

To conduct this investigation, an expert interview qualitative method was used. This approach is a well-established technique in the field of social sciences, which allowed a detailed exploration of the theory of liminality. Liminality refers to the transitional phase that individuals or groups experience when moving from one social or cultural context to another. The expert interview method is appropriate for this study because it involves engaging with knowledgeable individuals who have extensive experience and expertise in the subject area being investigated. Through in-depth and unstructured interviews, the experts were able to provide valuable insights and perspectives about the phenomenon investigated.

The research findings demonstrate that digital platform boundary resources play a significant role in the behaviour of third-party developers’ who engage in the development of digital entrepreneurship in today’s market. The study highlights three ways that show how these resources (software development kit (SDK), API, integrated development environment (IDE), libraries, frameworks) enable third-party developers to create new applications that are used to pursue entrepreneurship in a digital platform, leading to increased user engagement and revenue generation.

The research addresses the critical roles of digital platform boundary resources in digital entrepreneurship development processes. Also, using liminality theory, the research explicated the core experiences of third-party developers as they navigated the challenges and ambiguities experienced in the pursuit of entrepreneurship. Thus, contributing to the existing body of knowledge in literature and practice.