Ilaria Spiteri Axiak, Peter A. Packer and Stephanie Ghio
The paper is part of a wider four year doctoral study examining talent management in small and micro businesses in small island states. It focuses specifically on soft skills…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper is part of a wider four year doctoral study examining talent management in small and micro businesses in small island states. It focuses specifically on soft skills training and how it is used as an employee retention tool, analyzing the attitudes of owner-managers, HR consultants and the effect on their businesses.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper’s methodology is a qualitative one, gathering data from fourteen semi-structured interviews, with constant comparative analysis to determine findings. MAXQDA software is utilized throughout the process.
Findings
Findings emerging from the data indicate that the soft skills trainability of employees is questioned by owner-managers and often overlooked as a talent management tool. This at a time when the competitive importance of outstanding customer relations makes such skills increasingly important, especially since the talent pool in small island states is relatively small.
Originality/value
Findings shed light on small and micro businesses in a small island state and may also reflect regional economies of larger countries that similarly rely on small and micro businesses.
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Ilaria Spiteri Axiak, Peter Alfred Packer and Stephanie Ghio
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the challenges relating to the integration of soft skill development with recruitment and retention strategies in small and micro…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the challenges relating to the integration of soft skill development with recruitment and retention strategies in small and micro businesses of a small island state. Recruitment and retention play an important role in the development of such skills, which make an impact on the effectiveness of employees in today’s workforce and the adaptability of organizations in a competitive market.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses qualitative methodology, collecting data from 14 semi-structured interviews, and uses constant comparative analysis to derive findings. The process is facilitated by MAXQDA software.
Findings
Findings indicate that organizations are faced with challenges in recruiting candidates with both technical and soft skills. Once the right candidate is recruited, efforts are made to retain staff by enhancing soft skills and their development despite challenges encountered in the process by owner-managers and human resource consultants.
Originality/value
The paper’s originality lies in the intensive investigation of challenges relating to recruitment and retention of employees and of the development strategies used as part of the employee lifecycle. Further, this paper studies the small and micro businesses of a small island state, which are generally overlooked in the literature.
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The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and…
Abstract
The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.
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Zuziwe Ntsalaze, Gideon Boako and Paul Alagidede
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of sovereign credit ratings on corporations in South Africa by assessing whether the sovereign rating assigned to South Africa…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of sovereign credit ratings on corporations in South Africa by assessing whether the sovereign rating assigned to South Africa by credit rating agencies acts as a ceiling/constraint for credit ratings assigned to corporations that operate within the country. The question of whether sovereign ratings are significant in determining corporate ratings was also explored.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the hypothesis regarding the rating of corporates relative to sovereigns, a longitudinal panel design was followed. The analysis employed fixed effects and generalized method of moments techniques.
Findings
The main findings are that sovereign ratings both act as a ceiling for corporate ratings and are important determinants of corporate ratings in South Africa. The findings however indicated that company specific variables (accounting variables) are not significant in explaining credit risk ratings assigned to corporates.
Research limitations/implications
This study only looked at the rating activity done by Standard and Poor’s (S&P). A possible further study could explore the hypothesis tested in this research using data from multiple rating agencies and contrast the results across different agencies. Future studies could also look at crisis periods and how the transfer risk discussed in this paper manifests during the transfer period.
Practical implications
The results have implications for the borrowing costs incurred by corporates in South Africa when participating in the international debt market. The implication is that if the sovereign is poorly rated, the corporates may be limited in their ability to secure investor funding at competitive rates from the international financial markets. Thus, should South Africa be downgraded to non-investment grade by S&P, the implications may be that South African corporates on average may suffer the same fate.
Originality/value
Extant literature predominantly utilizes foreign currency ratings. To the extent that this study uses local currency ratings, it adds a new dimension in the body of related studies.
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The case, briefly reported in the last issue of BFJ, an appeal to a Milk and Dairies Tribunal arising out of a local authority's refusal to grant a licence to a milk distributor…
Abstract
The case, briefly reported in the last issue of BFJ, an appeal to a Milk and Dairies Tribunal arising out of a local authority's refusal to grant a licence to a milk distributor because he failed to comply with a requirement that he should provide protective curtains to his milk floats, was a rare and in many ways, an interesting event. The Tribunal in this case was set up under reg. 16(2) (f), Milk (Special Designation) Regulations, 1963, constituted in accordance with Part I, clause 2 (2), Schedule 4 of the Regulations. Part II outlines procedure for such tribunals. The Tribunal is similar to that authorized by S.30, Food and Drugs Act, 1955, which deals with the registration of dairymen, dairy farms and farmers, and the Milk and Dairies (General) Regulations, 1959. Part II, Schedule 2 of the Act provided for reference to a tribunal of appeals against refusal or cancellation of registration by the Ministry, but of producers only. A local authority's power to refuse to register or cancellation contained in Part I, Schedule 2 provided for no such reference and related to instances where “public health is or is likely to be endangered by any act or default” of such a person, who was given the right of appeal against refusal to register, etc., to a magistrates' court. No such limitation exists in respect of the revoking, suspending, refusal to renew a licence under the Milk (Special Designation) Regulations, 1963; an appeal against same lies to the Minister, who must refer the matter to a tribunal, if the person so requests. This occurred in the case under discussion.
Before this great innovation assaults the long‐suffering British public in mind and matter, in the retailer's cash register and the spender's pocket, a brief comparison between…
Abstract
Before this great innovation assaults the long‐suffering British public in mind and matter, in the retailer's cash register and the spender's pocket, a brief comparison between the present coinage and the promised decimal one might not be amiss. The £sd system has its faults and understandably is difficult for the foreigner, but no more so than the language and the weather. Like many things British it is so haphazard: why should there be 240 pennies to the pound? Why 12 pennies to the shilling? One thing, however, about this awkward currency is that it is amazingly well‐adapted to price variations at the lower level, and most commodities are in this range. Whether prices have adapted themselves to the flexibility of the coinage or the other way round is immaterial but the centuries have well and truly married the two. As a lowly coin such as the farthing has ceased to have commercial use with the falling value of money, it has disappeared and its place has been taken by the next larger, the halfpenny and then by the penny, and this must surely be the one great advantage of the £sd system.
The factors which influence costs of production of food and the prices to the consumer have changed dramatically during this century, but especially since the establishment of…
Abstract
The factors which influence costs of production of food and the prices to the consumer have changed dramatically during this century, but especially since the establishment of trading systems all over the world. Gone are the days when the simple expedients of supply and demand alone governed the situation. The erosion of these principles began at the turn of the century, mainly as a result of the introduction by the rapidly developing industrial power of the USA to protect her own industries against the cheaper products of European countries. They introduced the system of tariffs on imported manufactured goods; it grew and eventually was made to apply to wide sectors of industry. European countries retaliated but the free trade policy of Britain's Liberal government was making the country a dumping ground for all other country's cheap products and surpluses.
Abstract
Purpose
Delivery of safe products while meeting customer demand is a critical marketing requirement for logistics. To meet this requirement, this paper aims to develop a decision‐making model for distribution strategies in cold chain network with the real‐time flow and quality information of perishable foods.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper first presents a real‐time monitoring solution for cold chain distribution by integrating radio frequency identification (RFiD), sensor, and wireless communication technologies. With the enhanced visibility of product flow and quality information, a multi‐stage planning model is developed to determine optimal distribution plans so that the overall cost of the entire cold chain network is minimized.
Findings
The proposed distribution‐planning model can capture the dynamics of logistics due to frequent update of product quality information during distribution. Therefore, the distribution decision will be adjusted at sequential stages to optimally preserve the product value and meet demand. The proposed solution and model can ensure an effective cold chain logistics and thus meet the marketing requirement.
Research limitations/implications
The current planning model cannot quantitatively capture all benefits, such as the social impact, due to the implementation of RFiD and other technologies.
Originality/value
The proposed solution to achieve complete visibility of the cold chain is innovative and addresses the urgent requirements for cold chain logistics from marketing perspective. For the first time, the economic benefits of real‐time information on product quality can be quantitatively evaluated by the multi‐stage planning model and this has been verified by a numerical case study.
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The new authorities created by this Act, probably the most important local government measure of the century, will be voted into existence during 1973 and commence functioning on…
Abstract
The new authorities created by this Act, probably the most important local government measure of the century, will be voted into existence during 1973 and commence functioning on 1st April 1974. Their responsibilities and the problems facing them are in many ways quite different and of greater complexity than those with which existing councils have had to cope. In its passage through the Lords, a number of amendments were made to the Act, but in the main, it is a scheme of reorganization originally produced after years of discussion and long sessions in the Commons. Local government reorganization in Scotland takes place one year later and for Northern Ireland, we must continue to wait and pray for a return of sanity.
This study takes the position that the concept of fraud is socially constructed. Moreover, it asks why and how different understandings of fraud have emerged. Insights from the…
Abstract
This study takes the position that the concept of fraud is socially constructed. Moreover, it asks why and how different understandings of fraud have emerged. Insights from the work of Lakoff and Johnson (1999, 2003; Lakoff, 2002, 2004, 2009) are used to analyze language revealing dominant worldviews and metaphors regarding fraud. The research method is a case study (Yin, 2014), and the analytical approach used parallels the one described in O’Dwyer (2004). The research setting is a report issued by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which provides a context to study different understandings of fraud due to the report’s divided nature. The analysis reveals three alternative worldviews, representing different assumptions about reality, that are at the root of the different understandings of fraud. These worldviews also lead to the usage of different conceptual metaphors which allow the commissioners to interpret facts in a manner that supports each worldview’s assumptions. The paper also concludes by providing a nuanced and critical examination of the results of the commission concerning its understanding of fraud.