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To demonstrate how government policy on fires service reform was initially challenged by a stubbornly resistant fire service corporatism but finally dismantled following the 2003 fire service White Paper.

The paper is based on longitudinal case study data that includes 50 semi‐structured interviews with key fire service personnel at regional and national levels.

This paper examines the roots of corporatism at national and local levels and demonstrates how the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) had significant levels of influence on management decision‐making. This was strongly reflected in the key role of the FBU in the industrial relations process that enabled the union to protect “entrenched” working practices. However, at a local level longstanding corporatist partnerships began to break down as a financial crisis arose and management took a more proactive approach. Corporatist structures at a national level, though, remained and it was not until the Labour government's second term of office that these national structures were overhauled following a White Paper and legislation.

This paper demonstrates that whilst fire service management has consolidated its position under the Labour administration it has proved a disaster for the FBU.

This article presents the results of a survey of European Works Council (EWC) delegates in multinational companies in the North East of England. It uses empirical data from a postal questionnaire and interviews with all regional representatives to analyse the key issue of employee representation. The authors argue that EWC representation is inextricably linked with corporate organisation and that this creates significant problems in a region such as the North East where a “peripheral” economy is particularly sensitive to the rapid restructuring of multinational capital. The analysis is developed in a context of closure and divestment and explores the questions of how EWC delegates are selected; their ability to “report back” to those they might be said to represent and the problems of working across national boundaries.

‘WHAT A novel arrangement. Is any reason given?’

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the extant literature of family firms and corporate social responsibility (CSR), examining the case of West’n Fresh, a regional Western Australian family firm. Moreover, in adopting stakeholder theory (ST) the firm’s involvement in and resulting benefits from CSR are investigated.

In-depth telephone and face-to-face interviews with three members of the firm, including one of its two owners, were further complemented through onsite observations and secondary data from the firm’s website and media reports.

Entrepreneurial CSR emerges as a critical element in the family firm’s business philosophy, whereby through innovative practices the ownership is able to create a balance between the firm’s financial objectives and socially responsible initiatives. In particular, the development of food products creates business opportunities while at the same time addresses the needs of different consumer groups, in particular, aged care individuals. These findings have alignments with the four theses of ST; for instance, the recognition of various stakeholder groups by the firm’s ownership, and the initiatives to improve their quality of life clearly suggest associations with normative thesis.

Although the field of family entrepreneurship has grown significantly, many under-researched aspects of this discipline remain. For instance, family business research, including on CSR conducted in Western Australia, a state with a very strong economic significance, and with multiple links to the outside world is very limited.

Training clinical child psychologists necessitates explicit attention to the importance of developing cultural competencies for practice in diverse communities. This case study, comprising relevant social history, cultural models of child psychopathology and conceptual analysis of complex systems in bicultural Aotearoa New Zealand, offers salutary lessons for clinical practice internationally. In New Zealand, indigenous perspectives on children's mental health needs are holistic, encouraging trainee practitioners to recognise the systemic influences of extended family, school and community. Accommodating the expectations, values, and hegemony of both Māori and European populations requires service providers to acknowledge a broad interpretation of evidence‐based practice. In terms of true scientific progress, future best practice will require a rapprochement between the traditional knowledge of indigenous cultures and the empirically‐derived insights of psychology as an international discipline. The imperative to share power in decision‐making moves the debate beyond conventional multicultural sensitivities. Moral and political issues are inextricably entwined with clinical and professional activities.

The Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act was enacted on 3rd December, 1999, as part of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000. The Kingpin Act calls for the imposition of a series of US economic and financial sanctions — with a worldwide reach — on ‘foreign narcotics traffickers’, their related ‘organisations’, and those ‘foreign persons’ who support their activities, enforced by penalties ranging up to fines of $10m and imprisonment for ten years. In passing this legislation, Congress specifically looked to the example provided by an earlier set of economic sanctions that prohibited dealings with Colombian narco‐traffickers or entities which they controlled, established by the President under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and administered by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Controls (OFAC). The controls established by the Kingpin Act, and the associated Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations (FNKSR), accordingly, are neither a unique nor an isolated programme. Rather, they represent the latest step in the evolution of a series of distinct, but related, economic sanctions programmes administered by OFAC.

This chapter presents digital reverse mentoring as a novel kind of human and technological resource management intervention. It presents a case study of digital reverse mentoring at a large metal multinational. It highlights the various design elements of digital reverse mentoring that contribute towards achieving digital transformation and rebuilding of mindsets in the company. Through the case study the chapter also suggests that HRM needs to look beyond adoption of technological tools to actively participate in addressing the strategic concerns of digital transformation in a company.

To introduce the papers in the special issue.

Provides a brief review of the papers.

The papers cover a broad variety of human resource topics and the range of separate public services, including the impact of performance indicators on HRM practices in the NHS; the impact of Government policy on employment relations in the Fire Service; the use of 360° appraisal systems to improve performance management in the civil service; the impact of “best value” reviews upon HR in local government; the outcomes of new “partnership” relationships between management and unions in a local authority facing a “best value” review; and experimentation with job re‐design in the NHS.

Provides a summary of the perspectives considered within the issue.