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Presents some interim results, by way of an attempt to evaluate the football industry’s Modern Apprenticeship scheme, which was introduced in 1998. Theoretical context is provided by the debate between advocates of human capital theory as opposed to those favouring screening theory. Relevant policy considerations are provided by the PFA, who are concerned about the high attrition rates witnessed in the industry. Data are presented from two years’ worth of research into the progress shown by some 22 trainees, spread across three clubs playing in various divisions of the Nationwide League. The trainees were interviewed in situ, in the autumn of 1998 and again in 1999. Despite an attempt to improve college provision (compared to the former YT scheme), the results suggest that these apprentices are unlikely to maximise the opportunities afforded them.

This paper aims to examine the two year Modern Apprenticeship undertaken by trainees in the English professional football industry.

In the first round of this three‐year project representatives of seven English clubs were interviewed in the summer of 2005; follow‐up interviews were conducted in the summer of 2006. To contextualise these results, a representative of a leading French club who was responsible for youth training was asked about provision in that country.

The paper finds that the apprenticeship system in France is more extensive and expensive but it produces players who are more likely to do well in major international competitions such as the World Cup. This in turn is due to the fact that more resources are allocated to training aspiring footballers; such spending includes extensive government subsidies. However, attrition rates are even higher in France than in England; at a micro level the system there is less successful.

This paper argues that the British government is in one sense spending too much money subsidising youth development in football; 75 per cent of all apprentices are never offered a professional contract. However, in another (macro) sense, it is not allocating sufficient resources to youth development in professional football given that England has never been in a World Cup final in 40 years.

Although a number of articles have been published concerning the physiology of training aspiring footballers, very little has been done by way of examining the resource allocations associated with the training given to young apprentices in the game, which is one of the UK's key sporting industries.

This paper will examine the two year modern apprenticeship undertaken by trainees in the English professional football industry.

Representatives of seven clubs were interviewed in the summer of 2005; all of them were responsible for youth development in their club. These interviews were the first of what will be three rounds of a longitudinal study, tracking the progress of some 126 apprentices.

The results of this empirical investigation fall under four headings; the rationale for youth development; the scale of the youth development operation; an analysis of the off‐the‐job training provided and the use of internal labour markets in football.

This paper argues that trainees will typically leave the industry having finished their apprenticeship, with heavily constrained options in the general labour market because the off‐the‐job training that is given to them is not, for the most part, appropriate

Although a number of articles have been published concerning the physiology of training young sportsmen and women, very little has been done by way of examining the resource allocations associated with the training given to young apprentices in one of the UK's key sporting industries.

This paper considers the difficulties involved in training a group of UK public library workers up to the level of computer literacy associated with the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL). The policy context for this study is provided by the need for ICT (information and communications technology) training that was recognised by the Library Information Commission (LIC) reports of 1997 and 1998. It was decided to investigate the efficiency of this £20 million training programme by means of a longitudinal study conducted over four years, starting in 1999, that followed a group of 20 librarians working in the north‐west of England. To further illuminate the results, a similar cohort of librarians was tracked in east Finland, over the same time period. The results suggest that the LIC's aim of getting all library staff up to the ECDL has not been realised. Furthermore, there has been a significant difference in terms of training between professional and front‐line staff. At the end of the paper, some suggestions are made that might enhance the efficacy of such training programmes, especially in terms of financial incentives.

This paper represents an initial investigation into the strategic implications of providing training to all employees of coffee shops in the UK, including baristas (coffee makers) on temporary or part‐time job contracts. In particular, the paper aims to investigate whether service quality can be significantly improved by devoting substantial resources to staff training.

Two focus groups were conducted to obtain a demand side picture of this market. One of these groups comprised customers under the age of 30 years and the other was made up of customers between 30‐50 years of age. Managers of two coffee shops were interviewed to get a supply side view.

The attitudes of the two focus groups were surprisingly similar. Generally, customers did not expect more than basic product knowledge from their baristas. On the supply side, it emerged that the coffee chains provided basic training to all of their employees. This training was firm specific and revolved around a workbook that employees completed in a matter of weeks.

This market is a highly volatile one and customer expectations may well change in the near future. Moreover, future research will compare the UK coffee market with other countries, to further contextualise the results.

Current spending by firms on front line staff typically amounts to approximately £200/person per year. This research suggests that coffee shops are behaving rationally in providing limited training to their staff. There is no evidence, on the demand side, that perceptions of service quality would be enhanced by spending significantly more on training baristas.

This paper adds insight to the discussion surrounding consumer perception of service quality in the context of a rapidly growing market.

There is a paucity of evidence to explain exactly why those who are highly‐qualified are paid above average wages. Although both human capital and signalling/screening theories seek to explain this trend, conclusive empirical evidence has proved elusive. This longitudinal study looks at post‐entry signalling made by a number of graduates embarking on a career within the internal labour market of a large (UK) petrochemical company. People who used their own time to study for membership of a professional body while simultaneously doing their full‐time job, obtained significantly more promotion than their contemporaries. The UK Government’s attempts to encourage workers to use the NVQ route to qualification were largely ignored as a signalling device. The results of the study were more consistent with screening theory than the human capital model, but more research needs to be done.

This paper investigates the impacts of globalization processes on the Swiss business elite community during the 1980–2010 period. Switzerland has been characterized in the 20th century by its extraordinary stability and by the strong cohesion of its elite community. To study recent changes, we focus on Switzerland’s 110 largest firms’ by adopting a diachronic perspective based on three elite cohorts (1980, 2000, and 2010). An analysis of interlocking directorates allows us to describe the decline of the Swiss corporate network. The second analysis focuses on top managers’ profiles in terms of education, nationality as well as participation in national community networks that used to reinforce the cultural cohesion of the Swiss elite community, especially the militia army. Our results highlight a slow but profound transformation of top management profiles, characterized by a decline of traditional national elements of legitimacy and the emergence of new “global” elements. The diachronic and combined analysis brings into light the strong cultural changes experienced by the national business elite community.

To date, a few studies have examined the use and circulation of votive materiality in religious pilgrimages. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has explored the ritual reuse of votive materiality within pilgrimages. This paper aims to explore the (re)uses and circulations of votive materiality in the ritual process.

In the analysis, the authors adopt the cross-views of an anthropologist and a marketing researcher. Votive practices are examined through the anthropologist’s past ethnographies. Audiovisual data play a central role in this analysis. Moreover, the authors choose a comparative perspective by focusing on two not famed pilgrimage arenas, each mobilising Muslim pilgrims and food offerings.

Revisiting the thoughts of Weber (1978) on the religious field and those of Kotler (2019) on transformational experiences, the authors propose a graphic schematisation to trace the circulations of votive materiality (sugar) involving four interdependent ideal-typical actors: the merchant, the priest, the mystical operator and the pilgrim-consumer who, in her/his quest for the divine, is the target for the first three. Either pilgrims or mystical operators can ritually reuse votive materiality. However, such reuses are not performed for ecological purposes, but for practical reasons, mainly due to an overabundance of votive materiality.

It is often believed that a votive object is only for single use, used only once, for a single request or thanksgiving, by a single person. But the authors show that once used, certain votive objects – as vehicles for grace – can be reused, revealing an unexpected ritual reuse.

Focuses on what can be referred to as the “fundamental philosophical issues of corporate governance”. Outlines the interdependence of various kinds of governance. Demonstrates that corporate governance is part of a bundle of governances and that, in this respect, it occupies a leading place to the degree that its principles are becoming consolidated. Then discusses in a more detailed manner what is meant by the term “dominant functionalism”. Then deals with the question of the equilibrium between sovereignty and legitimacy from the point of view of corporate governance. In effect, rules of governance (considered as the designation of a sovereign power) are searching for a legitimizing instance originating outside the framework of those rules. Finally, covers the proprietarialist origins of stakeholder theory, origins which correspond to a moderate liberal tradition.