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Smith & Wesson negotiated a settlement that signified changes in its gun marketing and manufacturing practices. An opportunity to lead the industry in public safety resulted in a public relations blunder. “Topical transformation”, a concept that applies structuration theory to explain the importance of signification, is used to illustrate that S&W failed to show its actions as significant for its stakeholders, resulting in isolation from its peers, consumers and supporters.

The governing principle of quality management is commitment to the customer and adaptation to meet customer needs. This can only be done if it is clear who the customers are and to understand and work with their needs. Suggests ways of ensuring that development in urban areas utilizes the resources available, including the people of those areas. Examines the tensions involved. Highlights the key management issues in pursuing “partnership” as a means of regenerating cities. Looks at the role of the private sector. Concludes that all sectors need each other.

Reviews the Barnsley Partnership, a joint venture involving Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and a subsidiary of Costain, and their ten‐year agreement to develop land local to Barnsley, attract investment and create approximately 10,000 jobs. Emphasizes the need for education and training to ensure that these jobs are filled by local people. Equally this will demand that the current nationally centralized training focus be adapted to local requirements in an attempt to widen skills and prevent a recurrence of the total dependence on a single living, previously enforced by the mining industry. Focuses on Costain′s approach to community involvement, mainly in education, the environment and urban regeneration. Sees the main objectives of the Partnership as winning the confidence and commitment of the community and changing the outside perception of Barnsley and its surroundings, identifying training as the chief requirement for this regeneration. Places emphasis on apprenticeship training vis‐à‐vis the recent shortcomings of Employment Training (ET) and the proven quality of the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB)′s model schemes. Examines the Barnsley Partnership′s commitment to involvement in the local community, epitomized by the Grimethorpe Activity Zone. Deals with Barnsley′s bid for funding to attack current problems. Points up the widening of the premiss of urban regeneration from mere property development to a time partnership of private, local government and community groups. Only through genuinely involving local people will time regeneration be achieved. Concludes that, after two years, a review is needed in order to move into a new phase of development and produce a coherent strategy.

We should never underestimate the role that industry can play in education and the communities in which it operates. I am a firm believer in the importance of the contributions the Costain Group can make, in a variety of ways, across the educational spectrum and also believe that the involvement of employees is crucial. It is not enough, however, for companies simply to say these words. Such beliefs must be followed up with actions — the hard evidence of any written or spoken commitment. It is encouraging to see the extent of our activities across the country, involving a diverse spread of Group business. But it's important to note that these activities are very strongly centred on the work we do and geographical areas in which we operate.

This paper aims to examine the effects of the 2014 European regulatory reform on auditors’ activity, the audit outcome and the audit market, with a focus on the Spanish market.

The research is based on in-depth, semistructured interviews with partners of the main audit firms operating in the Spanish market. This qualitative approach provides a precise identification of the cause-effect relationships of the new measures introduced by the European audit regulation.

The findings indicate that, based on auditors’ opinions, the costs of the main regulatory changes outweigh the benefits. The European Union (EU) Audit Regulation imposes more demanding provisions, such as an extended auditor’s report, mandatory audit firm rotation, more banned nonaudit services and stricter quality controls, resulting in substantial side effects on audit activity and the audit market. This could undermine the objective of enhancing the quality of audit services.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the effect of the 2014 EU regulatory reform on audit activity, audit market and audit outcome based on auditors’ perceptions. The findings may be of interest to academics, professionals and regulators alike, as they offer valuable insights for assessing the effectiveness of the new audit provisions. Additionally, the qualitative methodology used facilitates a causal analysis of the key elements introduced by the regulations, potentially paving the way for future research avenues.

Share repurchases are increasingly employed in South Africa. Disclosure on share repurchases in annual reports is poor, and a high percentage of share repurchases are not announced in real time on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). A comprehensive database of share repurchases by JSE-listed companies has been created up to 2009, but post-recession repurchase behaviour is not known. This study aims to examine South African share repurchase behaviour (activity, repurchase entity, repurchase type and transparency) in the post-recession period and compare this to the 2000–2009 period.

Comprehensive share repurchase data for all JSE-listed companies (excluding those in the basic materials and financial industries) were obtained by scrutinising annual reports and JSE announcements.

The repurchasing of shares reached a peak during the financial recession of 2008/2009, with share repurchases stabilising at a lower level post-recession. Repurchases executed by subsidiaries have decreased post-recession, probably owing to the introduction of dividends tax. However, 45% of the share repurchase value was not announced via the JSE (compared to 22% in 2000–2009).

Real-time JSE announcements of all share repurchases are required to improve transparency.

Owing to low announcement rates, a lack of transparency relating to share repurchases was observed in South Africa post-recession. Enhanced corporate governance requirements could improve transparency.

In this study, the authors explore students' and industry’s perceptions about the challenges and opportunities of participating in a large-scale, non-compulsory, individual, in-person and unpaid business placement programme at an Australian university. The placement programme aims to support students' workplace transition by emphasising the development of key employability skills through reflective learning and linking theory to practice.

Utilising a case study methodology and integrating survey questionnaires, the authors collected both quantitative and qualitative data with large sample sizes.

The results highlight curriculum areas for improvement, emphasising tailored feedback to manage placement expectations and addressing employability skill strengths and weaknesses.

Recommendations include co-partnering with students to develop short, tailored and hot tip videos along with online learning modules, including the presentation of evidence-based statistics to inform students about post-programme employment prospects.

The study contributes to benchmarking good practices in non-compulsory, individual, in-person and unpaid placement pedagogy within the business education context.

Mental health courts (MHCs) may enable better support for people with intellectual disabilities (ID) within the criminal justice system (CJS) but little evaluative empirical evidence is available regarding their operation. The purpose of this paper is to explore professional perceptions of the challenges of including people with ID in a targeted services court (TSC) designed for people with mental health issues and ID.

Information was gathered, via interviews and focus groups, from 46 professionals working with people with mental health issues and ID within the TSC. Data were analysed by using thematic network analysis.

Findings highlight the neglect and lack of inclusion of people with ID within the TSC processes, with challenges in identifying people with ID, stakeholder awareness, inconsistent adapting of practices for people with ID and information transfer underpinned by the involvement of numerous organisations with differing agendas.

Although valued, development of a TSC, including people with ID, was a challenging endeavour and may reflect societal and institutional neglect of people with ID, recommendations are provided.

This study adds to the few investigations that have considered the process of including people with ID in a TSC from the perspective of those working in the CJS.

This chapter briefly reviews findings from recent socialization research to provide an updated view of the socialization literature. To help advance the literature, this chapter then takes an instructional system approach, viewing socialization fundamentally as a process of learning about a new or changed role and the environment surrounding that role. As such, attention will first be given to further understanding exactly what needs to be learned during socialization. In doing so, an expanded socialization content typology is presented. In addition, two other components are added to this typology to reflect the fact that (a) each of those content dimensions needs to be learned relative to different organizational levels (e.g., job, work group, unit, organization) and (b) socialization occurs over several months and there are temporal considerations relating to the different socialization content dimensions. This chapter then examines how to best facilitate the learning of that expanded socialization content. The Gagné-Briggs theory of instruction is used in connecting socialization content with the means of learning that content. The socialization and orienting activities commonly used by organizations to help new employees in the adjustment process are also identified and then mapped onto the learning outcomes they could best help facilitate. Finally, the conceptual, measurement, and research needs suggested by these extensions to the socialization literature are identified.

While comprehensive study abroad preparation encompasses a wide array of elements, the purpose of this study is to highlight a short-term study abroad (STSA) teacher’s preparatory learning experience documented through self-reported video diary reflections.

The study uses a self-study methodology, using a series of self-recorded video diaries focused on preparation learning. The video diaries serve as visual and auditory self-reflective stimuli, providing insights into preparation practices that may benefit novice STSA teachers.

The findings highlight the importance of understanding both the “self” and ensuring early expectations through video reflections, which can enhance traditional methods in STSA professional development.

This study presents an alternative STSA professional development approach using self-recorded teacher video diaries to advance practice and share insights.