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With 25 per cent of Britain's top companies not using non‐executive directors — and a further 65 per cent having only one or two — it's hardly surprising that this job title is virtually unknown in smaller, unquoted companies. Resistance may stem partly from the suspicion that the non‐exec role is a guise for the Old Pals' Act, but there is a more legitimate function, as Barrie Pearson explains.

Discusses strategic workshops, their aims, the management development opportunities and criteria for success. Provides case studies on three companies and comments on outcomes of workshops. Outlines possible difficulties and concludes that strategic workshops should ensure that people pay sufficient attention to pursuing major business development projects, as well as concentrating on day‐to‐day issues.

The practical steps necessary for successful negotiation of a management buy‐out are outlined, discussing preliminary assessment of its inability as a business proposition; the proper way to negotiate the process; and how to bring it to completion.

There is a surfeit of willing buyers for companies in Europe, and a scarcity of attractive businesses for sale at realistic prices. Practical advice is provided to carry out a successful cross‐border acquisition search, illustrated with examples from real life. Companies should define their acquisition requirements and carry out a comprehensive search to find suitable companies. Then direct contact should be made with them to explore the possibility of acquisition. An additional avenue is to contact the professional advisers who advise vendors, including merchants banks, specialist advisers and accountancy firms. When searching overseas, there is no effective substitute for someone working in the country concerned and speaking the local language. So it may make some sense to appoint professional advisers to carry out the search, but top management must choose and appoint them with care.

Long range planning must include planning for personnel development and organizational structural changes. Basically, this involves 3 steps. The first is to objectively appraise the current state of personnel and the organization. This should include consideration of such factors as the qualifications of personnel, depth of management, compensation levels, personnel policies and practices, and management development programs. The second step is to set long term objectives for achievement within a set time period. It should be determined whether the organization will be centralized or decentralized, the qualified personnel needed, and a source or sources for obtaining qualified employees. The final step is to develop plans which will help the organization reach its future goals.

June 13, 1974 Master and Servant — Redundancy — Dismissal for redundancy — Redundancy payment — Computation of period of continuous employment — Transfer of business on undertaking — Contracts of Employment Act, 1963 (c. 49), Sch. 1 para. 10 (2) — Redundancy Payments Act, 1965 (c. 62), ss. 1, 3(1), (2), 13 (2), 24, Sch. 1, para. 1.

The period since the Second World War has been one in which almost all Western countries have accepted the maintenance of a high level of employment as one of the first principles of economic policy. However, this has generally meant, inter alia, shortages of skilled manpower. Of course, Britain is not the only country to have suffered from such shortages nor the only one to be concerned at the apparent inability of the existing voluntary training arrangements to solve the problem. Severe criticisms of the traditional pattern of industry‐based apprenticeship training as the main method of preparing young people for skilled work have been made in Britain on the grounds that such on‐the‐job training was comparatively inefficient, that there was little form of quality control to ensure a reasonable standard of training, and that it fostered restrictive practices by increasing the barriers between one skilled trade and another. Criticisms were also voiced that too many employers were merely content to ‘poach’ skilled labour rather than carry out the necessary training themselves and that formal apprenticeship agreements were mainly limited to males in certain craft trades which tended to deprive females and males entering other occupations of systematic training.

In order to succeed in an action under the Equal Pay Act 1970, should the woman and the man be employed by the same employer on like work at the same time or would the woman still be covered by the Act if she were employed on like work in succession to the man? This is the question which had to be solved in Macarthys Ltd v. Smith. Unfortunately it was not. Their Lordships interpreted the relevant section in different ways and since Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome was also subject to different interpretations, the case has been referred to the European Court of Justice.

This register of current research in social economics has been compiled by the International Institute of Social Economics. The register does not claim to be comprehensive but is merely an aid for research workers and institutions interested in social economics. The register will be updated and made more comprehensive in the future but this is largely dependent on the inflow of information from researchers in social economics. In order to facilitate this process a standardised form is to be found on the last page of this register. Completed forms, with attached sheets as necessary, should be returned to the compiler: Dr Barrie O. Pettman, Director, International Institute of Social Economics, Enholmes Hall, Patrington, Hull, N. Humberside, England, HU12 OPR. Any other comments on the register will also be welcome.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.