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Twelve‐step facilitation (TSF) is becoming an important approach to the therapy of addiction. It proved an equally effective method as one of the three psychosocial approaches used in Project MATCH during the 90s1‐with the added advantage of helping drinkers to replace prodrinking networks with more supportive peers2. Here Addiction Series editor Martin Weegmann and Tim Leighton share their experiences of using the twelve‐step methods and describe the skills and techniques that can be used by any therapist on almost any client.

The takeover of Asda by US retail giant Wal‐Mart has created a great deal of speculation by business analysts and the media. Wal‐Mart is recognized as the world’s largest retailer and its move into the UK is creating interest in its future plans for Europe. Some consider that the move will cause a complete realignment of grocery chains across Europe and that the move will be revolutionary. Others consider that the move will simply augment and accelerate current retailing trends but will not completely change the face of supermarket retailing. This issue brings together a variety of viewpoints. First, Paul Whysall reviews and analyses the press coverage. He provides insights into the possible outcomes of the deal. The second piece is an industry insight prepared by Retail Intelligence, which is followed by an overview of the Institute of Grocery Distribution’s research document Wal‐Mart in the UK. Finally, we present a number of abstracts that offer further thoughts on the subject.

Reviews and analyses press coverage of the takeover of the UK chain Asda by the US company Wal‐Mart in the summer of 1999, using extensive international sources. The depictions of both companies and the significance and anticipated outcomes of the deal are discussed. Three metaphors emerge in the coverage of the deal: of romance and interpersonal relationships; and of logic, strategy and cunning; of conflict and confrontation. It is contended that, on the basis of this coverage, it becomes possible to construct several quite different depictions of the deal, suggesting that a number of realities coexist in our interpretations of retail business.

Given the many potential negative factors that influence food choice behaviour in older people, it is important to understand the problem areas of food shopping. Uses critical incident technique (CIT) to elicit consumers’ stories of dissatisfying/satisfying shopping experiences and, where dissatisfied, identifies their expectations. Volunteers from a cross‐section of locations in Scotland were interviewed, eliciting 248 incidents. Results identified eight key elements contributing to the food shopping experience with all, except social aspects, having positive and negative incidents. Argues that the factors influencing the food shopping experience are much wider than previous research indicates and that, given the breadth of dissatisfaction across the elements, older consumers are lacking “power” within the marketplace. Expectations indicate that some consumers feel they do not have the ability to exercise any alternative to overcome their dissatisfaction.

The World Wide Web's search engines are the main tools for indexing and retrieval of Internet resources today. Comparison and evaluation of their performance is of great importance for system developers and information professionals, as well as end‐users, for the improvement and development of better tools. The paper describes categories and special features of Web‐based databases and compares them with traditional databases. It then presents a review of the literature on the testing and evaluation of Web‐based search engines. Different methodologies and measures used in previous studies are described and their findings are summarised. The paper presents some evaluative comments on previous studies and suggests areas for future investigation, particularly evaluation of Web‐based search engines from the end‐user's perspective.

The number and proportion of older people in the UK are increasing and it has been found that this population segment is a nutritional risk group. Food choice research and health promotion reports have sought to identify the influences on diet and the food retailing sector has been found to particularly impact upon older people. Low income, poor mobility and an inability to access food shops disadvantage many. This paper considers the food shopping experiences of older consumers by identifying, through critical incident technique, positive and negative aspects of the food shopping activity. A total of 120 interviews were conducted and 248 incidents collected from people aged 60/65+ in various locations in Scotland. Content analysis produced eight primary categories and 22 sub‐categories of key elements in the shopping experience. The main factors that contribute to the quality of the shopping experience were merchandise related, retail practices and staff issues. The internal store environment, accessibility, external shopping environment and personal factors were also identified and featured both positive and negative incidents, with social aspects only having positive incidents.

The purpose of this paper is to examine “black box” links between HRM innovations and organizational performance by investigating the perspective of a workforce often excluded from the HR realm. Professional Independent Contractors (IPros) play a vital role in achieving workforce flexibility and innovation. While the use of such arrangements has been examined often using a compliance-oriented lens, the authors explore the value of adding a commitment aspect.

In total, 375 IPros working in Australian organizations completed an online questionnaire distributed by a national business support services provider.

Results show organizational support significantly predicted work engagement and affective commitment. Self-efficacy, age and gender were also significant predictors.

The cross-sectional nature of this study and reliance on self-reported data limit the reliability of the findings. In addition, the findings may be specific to the Australian labor market.

The study present the views of a difficult to reach population and the findings suggest by adopting an innovative hybrid commitment-compliance HR configuration, practitioners may positively increase desirable contractor outcomes.

Concerns that organizational imperatives for efficiency, quality and high performance will be compromised by considering the human side of non-employee work arrangements are not supported. Indeed, as previously outlined, much of the concern with the employee/non-employee dichotomy is legally based and an artefact of a system of labor law that in many settings has failed to move with the times.

Few investigations of the impact of high commitment HRM practices have incorporated the perspective of professional, non-employees. While IPros are recipients of compliance focused contractor management practices, carefully integrated commitment-based HRM aspects have the potential to deliver positive outcomes for both individuals and organizations.