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Despite its Australian birthplace, the ugg boot industry is now fully dominated by one American company, and the Australian ugg boot industry has been frozen out of global trade. This study aims to consider the impact on the competitive advantage of culturally distinctive but not new, intellectual property (IP) through the historic lens of the Australia–USA battle over the UGG boot trademark.

This study uses trademark applications, court documents, annual reports and brand reports to trace the history of the change and growth of the ugg boot industry from a small cottage industry in Australia to a billion-dollar monopoly controlled by an American company.

Court documents and trademark applications from 1979 to 2019 indicate that Australian firms underestimated the cultural differences between the USA and Australia and thus failed to adequately protect the generic word “ugg” in foreign markets where it was considered to be distinctive, rather than generic.

The paper highlights the importance of the first-mover advantage that can be conferred upon a firm by IP that is not new. Trademarks must be distinctive, rather than new, but properly used, they can offer substantial global competitive advantages to firms.

The in-depth analysis of the development of the UGG brand highlights the importance of intangible barriers in global business. The impact on the competitive advantage these intangible barriers gave US firms over Australian firms in the worldwide sheepskin boot market is discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the incremental impact of firefighter’s personal protective equipment (PPE) on lower body range of motion (ROM) while walking to suggest areas of design improvement for enhanced mobility and safety.

Eight male and four female firefighters participated in the study. Lower body ROM was assessed while they walked in four different configurations of PPE, including turnout ensemble, a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and boots. The impact of each added PPE item, and gender differences were statistically analyzed.

Wearing firefighter turnout ensemble and SCBA reduced ROM in the lower body in the sagittal and transverse planes. A significant reduction in ROM for anterior-posterior movement at the ankle and the ball of the foot was found while wearing rubber boots with turnout ensemble and SCBA. This puts firefighters at higher risk of experiencing foot injuries and physical strains. A significant increase in medial-lateral movement of the foot while wearing rubber boots may increase risk of ankle sprains. A greater reduction in ROM at the ankle and the ball of the foot for female firefighters may imply greater risk for women compared to men, while wearing boots.

Reducing the inflexibility and bulkiness of boots is critical to improve firefighter’s lower body mobility and safety.

This study implemented 3-D motion capture technology to analyze how wearing firefighting gear impacted lower body motion. It provides quantitative evidence to recommend ergonomic boot re-design.

The purpose of this paper is to study the use of writing boot camp cycles with differentiated facilitation in promoting a research culture within an academic setting by investigating its effectiveness and challenges amongst early career researchers.

This research takes a case study approach within a teaching-focussed private institution moving towards teaching and research. A mixed-method approach captured insights of academics' feelings and perceptions at different stages of the boot camps. Participants set their writing objectives prior to the programme. The initial writing boot camp was followed by a post-programme survey. Two months later, a focus group was conducted and the outcomes were used to refine the subsequent boot camp session.

The findings confirmed that writing boot camps are beneficial in enabling staff members to progress in their writing and in building a research culture. The study further highlighted some of the associated challenges.

This study used only the largest private institution in the country as a case.

This paper highlights some of the key considerations and challenges for practitioners who wish to run effective writing boot camps, e.g. environment, facilitation, debriefing, frequency and duration.

This study introduces the concept of “Writing Boot Camp Cycles” coupled with “Differentiated Facilitation” to enhance the output of writing boot camps while at the same time promoting a research culture.

Describes car boot sales as an alternative retail format focusing on consumers’ shopping motives and related shopping behaviour in this type of retail setting. Concludes that car boot sales appeal more to middle and lower social class groups. Further concludes the growth of the car boot sale is largely due to the functional needs and non‐functional wants of these sub‐groups.

This paper sets out the major facets of the Build‐Own‐Operate‐Transfer (BOOT) approach of procuring and managing energy‐related assets. The relative merits between BOOT and other strategies are contrasted. The participants and the life cycle of BOOT are explained. The pros and cons of BOOT are outlined. Case studies on energy infrastructure BOOT schemes are then used to illustrate different terms, scope and benefits of such projects.

Whereas the Minister of Labour (hereafter in this Order referred to as “the Minister”) has received from the Boot and Shoe Repairing Wages Council (Great Britain) the wages regulation proposals set out in the Schedule hereto;

Recent trends in the provision of infrastructure development indicate that the private sector is playing an increasingly important role in the procurement process. This trend has partly arisen out of a necessity for the development of infrastructure to be undertaken at a rate that maintains and allows growth. This has become a major challenge for many countries where it is evident that these provisions cannot be met by government alone. The emergence of Build‐Own‐Operate‐Transfer (BOOT) schemes as a response to this challenge provides a means for developing the infrastructure of a country without directly impacting upon the government's budgetary constraints. The concepts of BOOT are without doubt extremely complex arrangements, which bring to the construction sector risks not experienced previously. This paper examines perceptions of BOOT schemes in order to develop a framework of critical success factors. The developed framework is then tested against a case study of Stadium Australia, and the outcomes of the comparison are discussed.

In this paper, a study on the design and development of functional shoe linings that are thermally comfortable is presented. The comfort of foot wear, in this case, trekking boots, that is perceived by the user greatly depends on the ability of the boot to maintain the foot surface in an equilibrium state in terms of thermo-physiological comfort (Schols et al., 2004). This is related to the capacity of removing the moisture that results from transpiration away from the foot surface. With these premises in mind, a study on the development of new lining constructions using different raw materials has been conducted.

As far as methodology is concerned, this study involves two different stages. The first stage includes an objective evaluation of the thermal comfort of the boots. This stage involves several tasks, including the conception and development of the fabrics to be used in the inner layer of the boots and the development of a thermo-physiological model of the human foot, in order to simulate the temperature and moisture behavior in the developed fabrics. The second stage consists of a subjective evaluation of thermal comfort using prototypes of the developed boots. A subjective evaluation assessment was done through a questionnaire, in which the study subjects are able to indicate where they experience thermal discomfort in the foot, as well as a laboratory physical task used to simulate the “real” use of the boots.

Describes how UK and Ireland retailer Boots streamlined its recruitment process by moving from a paper and email based system to one based online.

Outlines the weaknesses of the old system and the advantages of the new, by comparing how the two were used in recent large‐scale recruitment campaigns.

Reveals that recruitment is now consistent across the Boots stores and applying for a job with the company is much easier, helping to enhance the employer brand. The HR team has been able to speed up its recruitment campaigns and can easily handle large numbers of applications. More applications are coming in from abroad.

Shows that Boots completed its campaign to place pharmacy students for summer 2006 three months earlier than usual.

Claims that the new system has given Boots a much wider presence in the market and better visibility of recruitment across the company. This has improved people‐relationship management.

The proposed merger between two massive retailing groups, Boots and the House of Fraser, has been referred to the Monopolies Commission. The Commission's decision will be important not only for the City but for retailers in general. They will want to know whether approval would mean other attempts to form new groupings; and of course they will also be somewhat apprehensive as to whether or not a new retail group with sales of £600m is likely to emerge. But the case also throws light on the way in which the Government is now conducting its competition policy.