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Seeks to explore the boundaries of managerial competence and takes as its point of departure the distinction between competence and meta‐competence. The Management Charter Initiative (MCI) defines competence as the ability to perform effectively and suggests that competence is the outcome of using knowledge and skills appropriately. The concept of management is problematic and the process of management is difficult to separate from its context. Burgoyne has used the term meta‐competence to distinguish the higher‐order abilities which have to do with being able to learn, adapt, anticipate and create. The concept of competence as used in the MCI is illustrated in the equation: knowledge + skills = competence. Suggests that a distinction could usefully be drawn between managerial processes which are competence based and those which are based on meta‐competences. Presents a number of typologies of knowledge and relates these to the concept of meta‐competence. Examines knowledge in relation to judgment, intuition and acumen.

There have recently been considerable changes in the British Chamber of Commerce system, leading to the creation of a network of Approved Chambers and Chambers of Commerce, Training and Enterprise (CCTEs). However, the question of whether British Chambers of Commerce should move further towards the dominant Chamber model of mainland Europe, based on public law status, continues to be debated in academic and practitioner circles. This paper assesses the case for and against such a move, in order to contribute to the understanding of the likely impact of recent changes and possible future reforms to the British Chamber system. Various aspects of British, French and German Chambers are discussed, compared and contrasted in order to consider whether a move to public law status on the part of British Chambers would be in Britain’s best interests.

Defines two competitive ideas – competence and capability – and argues that neither deals adequately with the central issue of the present. Provides a model, to place these ideas in conceptual space – the vertical axis of which is bounded by the extremes of narrow and broad focus, and the horizontal axis by the past and the future. Suggests that competence is on an outer edge, being narrowly focused on the performance of pre‐defined tasks, and based on the past in that it can be demonstrated in the present only if it has already been developed. Capability is on the opposite outer edge, being broadly focused on the performance of non‐defined tasks, and cannot be demonstrated in the present, because it exists as potential/future possibility or capacity. To illuminate the centre, suggests a tentative solution called “capatence” – the necessary symbiosis between competence and capability that will allow for flexibility of focus and a grounding in the present.

Discusses the audit processes in health care from the existing perspectives and argues the need to extend the current uni‐dimensional approaches which include medical, clinical and managerial quality. Argues that one way of expanding these approaches is to develop an audit instrument based on the views of service users. The implementation of audit has been a process with regional variations, which have created centres of excellence and centres where there is very little happening. Considers elements that are involved in devising an audit tool which is based on customers′ perceptions of service quality, and reports on an empirical study which is still in progress and which aims to develop a tool which is effective, efficient and based on patients′ views.

Postmodern conditions and re‐evaluations of marketing theory are prompting a re‐consideration of marketing strategies and methodologies. This paper is concerned with research issues arising from these changes and uses the case of retailing financial services as an illustration. Groups of financial services customers, once assumed to be homogeneous, are proving to have individualised needs and are resisting conventional segmentation techniques. Behavioural consistency and orderliness are giving way to fragmentation and market instability in what is described as the postmodern era. Financial service retailers, structured, formalised and risk averse, may find that their preference for uniformity inhibits their ability to serve with diverse, evolving markets. A research agenda is proposed based on a juxtaposition of postmodern considerations and financial services retailing incorporating recent contributions to marketing thought.

Reports the findings of a qualitative piece of research that was undertaken with professionals in the health field. There are numerous professionals working in the health/social services fields. Those who were the respondents in the research included chiropodists, nurses, doctors, psychologists and art psychotherapists. The sample was taken mainly from Essex, with input from a wider environment which included Newcastle, Southend, Manchester and Burnley. The researchers gave a brief scenario prior to asking open‐ended, qualitative questions about professionals' perceptions of: the physical appearance of managers; the roles of managers in the NHS. The comments made by the respondents indicate a disturbing degree of hostility towards and misapprehension about managers in the reformed NHS.

This chapter uncovers the destabilizing and transformative dimensions of a legal process commonly described as assimilation. Lawyers working on behalf of a marginalized group often argue that the group merits inclusion in dominant institutions, and they do so by casting the group as like the majority. Scholars have criticized claims of this kind for affirming the status quo and muting significant differences of the excluded group. Yet, this chapter shows how these claims may also disrupt the status quo, transform dominant institutions, and convert distinctive features of the excluded group into more widely shared legal norms. This dynamic is observed in the context of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights, and specifically through attention to three phases of LGBT advocacy: (1) claims to parental recognition of unmarried same-sex parents, (2) claims to marriage, and (3) claims regarding the consequences of marriage for same-sex parents. The analysis shows how claims that appeared assimilationist – demanding inclusion in marriage and parenthood by arguing that same-sex couples are similarly situated to their different-sex counterparts – subtly challenged and reshaped legal norms governing parenthood, including marital parenthood. While this chapter focuses on LGBT claims, it uncovers a dynamic that may exist in other settings.

The basis of this paper is a critical review of an article published in this journal, by Zafiris and Bayldon (JAAR, 5, 2, 2000), on Economic Value Added and Market Value Added. This review provides a detailed critique of the literature relating to EVA® and the underlying philosophy of the use of EVA® as a performance metric. Following this, there is a comment on the analysis provided by Zafiris and Bayldon and a review of the empirical evidence presented in support of their analysis. The paper demonstrates that the amendments to the EVA® model proposed by Zafiris and Bayldon are not original and are unlikely to result in a significant improvement to the usefulness of the original model.

The paper explores the potential problems which UK business support organizations may encounter when introducing the Business Excellence Model (BEM). Many of these problems result from the negative attitudes engendered by experience of past programs of change. A business support organization which was about to introduce the BEM was the site used to collect empirical data by means of participant‐observation and interview methods on the issue of implementing quality standards procedures. Conclusions are drawn as to the difficulties which business support organization managers are likely to encounter when introducing the BEM.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight issues concerning the linking of research to teaching.

The paper engages with two assumptions which appear to be taken for granted: there should be an overt and strong link between one's own research and one's teaching; and one's active involvement in the research process should, at the very least, underpin, the quality of one's teaching, and at best, improve it.

There is a link between research and teaching (though the strength of the link is problematic). The link is not only a matter of intellectual or disciplinary import, but is complicated by political and vested interests. The two extremes of research and teaching can be bridged by scholarship or learning, or both together. It is unnecessary and counter‐productive to demand of academics that they should be simultaneously good researchers and good teachers, although this requirement is unlikely to be realised in practice. There is no obligation whatever for academics to overtly link their own personal research to their teaching in order to be considered good teachers.

The paper queries both these assumptions which appear to be influencing how policy concerning research and teaching is dealt with in higher education institutions, and investigates the implications of feeling obliged to teach students using personal research.