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Major changes in the education of managers have taken place during the last decade in the UK, and one has only to look at the emergence and growth of Business Schools to become aware of it. New ideas and techniques have been suggested and adopted and, like many other areas of human activity, fashion has played its part. Hence we had the periods of Value Analysis, MBO, Managerial Grid, etc, and no doubt there will be others to follow. Some ideas have gradually gained ground and this article looks at one concept that has struggled through and is still developing, namely the concept of ‘numeracy’. It is generally accepted that a good manager today should be ‘numerate’ as well as ‘literate’. But there is still a great deal of confusion about numeracy itself and what it represents. Very little has been written about the subject, and has been mainly concerned with course syllabus. (A recent review article by Thomas illustrates the point). This paper tries to look at what is meant by numeracy and develops some basic concepts that are helpful to management. They represent some ideas that the author has found useful in presenting the subject, during a number of years, to audiences of varying experience and mathematical abilities. Of necessity they are not complete at present, but will add to the debate.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the predictive validity of two measures of fidelity to the individual placement and support (IPS) approach to supported employment.

A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted of IPS programs. In total, 30 studies provided information characterizing 69 cohorts and 8,392 participants. Predictive validity was assessed by a precision and negative prediction analysis and by multivariate analysis of deviance.

Fidelity scores on the IPS-15 scale of 60 or less accurately predicted poor outcomes, defined as 43 percent or less of participants commencing employment, in 100 percent of cohorts. Among cohorts with IPS-15 fidelity scores of 61-75, 63 percent attained good employment outcomes defined as 44 percent or more commencing employment. A similar pattern emerged from the precision analysis of the smaller sample of IPS-25 cohorts. Multivariate analysis of deviance for studies using the IPS-15 scale examined six cohort characteristics. Following adjustment for fidelity score, only fidelity score (χ²=15.31, df=1, p<0.001) and author group (χ²=35.01, df=17, p=0.01) representing an aspect of cohort heterogeneity, remained associated with commencing employment.

This study provides evidence of moderate, yet important, predictive validity of the IPS-15 scale across diverse international and research contexts. The smaller sample of IPS-25 studies limited the analysis that could be conducted.

Program implementation leaders are encouraged to first focus on attaining good fidelity, then supplement fidelity monitoring with tracking the percentage of new clients who obtain a competitive job employment over a pre-defined period of time.

The evidence indicates that good fidelity may be necessary but not sufficient for good competitive employment outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to review the changes in the international education sector that have taken place over the decade since the authors' book, The Global Market for Higher Education was published in 2001.

The paper is an expert opinion that draws on global trends in the international education sector.

Since the publication of the authors' book, the global market for higher education has changed significantly. A decade ago competition was between a few mainly English language instruction countries in the developed world. The principal destination country was the United States followed by Britain, but with Australia, Canada and New Zealand actively competing. In 2012, competition has expanded, with former sending nations (e.g. Singapore, China, India) becoming destinations. Competition among established nations has also intensified.

This paper provides a strategic overview of the state of international education and a unique perspective on the trends that have shaped and will continue to shape this industry into the future.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that enhance export decision-makers’ generation of export information, using a non-linear approach and a multi-country context, and so provide export decision-makers with empirically based guidelines on how to maximize their information acquisition efforts.

A broad perspective on export information generation is adopted, including marketing research, export assistance, and market intelligence. The model of antecedents to information generation is tested in three studies (USA, Austria, New Zealand, respectively) using structural equation modeling techniques. Multigroup and hierarchical analysis is performed to assess cross-national invariance of relevant measures, and quadratic effects.

The findings show that the predictors of export information generation vary across the three countries studied, and that many of the relationships are non-linear.

This study contributes to the export marketing literature by developing the understanding of how exporters can develop greater knowledge of information sources on which to build export decisions, and the conditions necessary for enhanced export information acquisition activity. The findings highlight that future research should consider non-linear relationships and the examination of the outcomes of export information generation in a cross-national setting.

The study findings advocate that practitioners (exporters and advisers) tailor their export information generation efforts to the different country needs.

This research responds to a call for more theoretically based studies on antecedents to export information generation, concurrent with the use of more robust statistical methods.

TECHNICAL Education, after looming before the British public for half a century, is now with us a recognised factor in our national life. The passing of the Technical Instruction Acts of and 1891, and the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act of gave an impetus to the movement, and has produced results of a most gratifying character. Technical schools, or institutions bearing other names in which technical instruction is given, are now considerably more numerous than Public Libraries. According to a return of the National Society for promotion of Technical Education in England (excluding London), 319 technical schools, under municipal and public bodies, have been erected at a cost of £3,186,102—an average of £10,000 per school in round numbers—and of this sum, one quarter of a million has been involved since 1901. In order to obtain an adequate idea of the extent to which technical instruction is given, it is necessary to take into account the higher grade schools and other institutions which are used for this purpose. But if technical schools be numerically stronger than Public Libraries, the former institution is incomplete without the latter. In such isolation, its relative position to the student, is like a conservatory without a garden to the botanist. A Public Library, with carefully selected books of reference, bearing on the subjects taught in the technical school as well as on all the industries carried on in the neighbourhood, is an indispensable condition to the success of the technical school, and I hope County Councils will, in the near future, use their influence to promote the establishment of Public Libraries in every locality where a technical school is considered essential.

The purpose of this paper is to review current conceptualisations of social enterprise and present a new theoretical model for social enterprise in the UK.

This conceptual paper draws on the rise of social enterprise in the UK context. Social enterprise in the UK emerged around the 1980s, in both political consciousness and as an academic discipline. The paper explores organisational antecedents to develop a conceptual model that prioritises different legal forms of social enterprise in the UK regulatory framework.

In critiquing policy, practitioner and academic publications, as well as the theoretical models that operationalise social enterprise, there are two observations from the literature this paper examines: first, Theories to date have tended to conceptualise social enterprise as a single hybrid form, neglecting a consideration of the various legal identities, ownership and governance types; second, Theoretical models have tended to overlook the cultural, regional and political-economic histories within their conceptualisations.

The value and originality of this paper lies in offering a new paradigm in the conceptualisation of social enterprise in the UK. This is a new contribution to knowledge that strengthens an understanding of the field. This paper creates the space to broaden and appreciate ideologically and operationally different hybrid business types of social enterprises that include charitable, solidarity and entrepreneurial type social enterprises.