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A review of the approach adopted by the Management Charter Initiative (MCI) towards the use of management competences, drawing on contemporary research and journal articles, is made. In addition, use is made of insights and experience gained through involvement in the MCI Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) pilot project conducted at Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education. Three major assumptions associated with the MCI competence approach are evaluated and a specific facet of the Cheltenham and Gloucester College APL experience, that of high delegate wastage, is examined. An expectancy model of motivation is used along with an action feedback model to illustrate and explain some of the potential reasons for a high drop‐out rate. The model affords an opportunity to provide a rationale to underpin needed action on the part of the major actors within the APL management competence approach. In conclusion, a number of summary propositions predicated by the review are given.

Presents a survey‐designed study to ascertain the extent to which organizations employing occupational testing conformed to good practice in testing as defined by professional and advisory literature/codes of practice. Utilizes an ethical framework built around mutual contractual obligations with “limiting principles” as moral rules governing employers testing behaviour. Offers data in support of the contention that some employers are not adhering to the good advice whereby tests takers rights are assured. Concludes with a number of summary indications for future directions of research and practice.

The purpose of this paper is to present empirical evidence of risk balancing behavior by European farmers. More specifically, the authors investigate strategic adjustments in the level of financial risk (FR) in response to changes in the level of business risk (BR).

The authors conducted a correlation relationship analysis and run several linear fixed effects regression models using the European Union (EU)-15 FADN panel data set for the period 1995-2008.

Overall, the paper finds EU evidence of risk balancing. The correlation relationship analysis suggests that just over half of the farm observations are risk balancers whereas the other (smaller) half are not. The coefficient in our fixed effects regression suggests that a 1 percent increase in BR reduces FR by 0.043 percent and has a standard error so low that the existence of non-risk balancers is doubtful. The results reject evidence of strong-form risk balancing – inverse trade-offs between FR and BR keeping total risk (TR) constant – but cannot reject weak-form risk balancing – inverse trade-offs between FR and BR with some observed changes in TR. Furthermore, the extent of risk balancing behavior is found to differ between different European countries and across farm typologies.

This study provides European policy makers a first insight into risk balancing behavior of EU farmers. When risk balancing occurs, BR-reducing agricultural policies induce strategic upwards leverage adjustments that unintentionally reestablish or even increase total farm-level risk.

Making use of the large and unique FADN database, to the best of the authors knowledge, this study is the first that provides European (EU-15) evidence on risk balancing behavior, is conducted at an unprecedented large scale, and presents the first risk balancing evidence across countries and farming systems.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the endogeneity of asset values and how it relates to farm financial stress in US agriculture. The authors conceptualize an implied measure of farm financial stress as a function of debt position. The authors posit that there are variations in the asset values that are beyond the farmer’s control and therefore have implications on farm debt.

The framework recognizes the endogeneity of return on assets (ROA). It uses a non-parametric technique to approximate the variance of expected ROA (VEROA). The authors model the rate of return on agricultural assets and interest rate with a formulation that focuses on macroeconomic policy. Further, the authors use a dynamic balanced panel data set from 1960 to 2011 for 15 US agricultural states from the Agricultural Resource Management Survey, and information from traditional state-level financial statements.

Estimation of linear dynamic debt panel data models accounting for the endogeneity of ROA and VEROA is a challenging task. Estimated variances are unstable. Hence, the authors focus on variance specification that uses the residuals squared from the ARIMA specification and non-parametric estimators. Arellano-Bover/Blundell-Bond generalized method of moments estimation procedures, although may be biased, show that VEROA has a negative and significant effect on the total amount of debt in the agricultural sector.

The instruments used in this analysis are lagged regressors which may be weakly correlated with the relevant first-order condition, hence not properly identifying the parameters of interest. Future research could include the identification of better instruments, potentially use of sequential moment conditions.

Unlike previous study, the authors use non-parametric approximation of VEROA. The authors model the rate of return on agricultural assets and interest rate with a formulation that focuses on macroeconomic policy. Second, the authors make use of a large dynamic balanced panel data set from 1960 to 2011 for 15 agricultural states in the USA. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the few that provides evidence on risk-balancing behavior at the agricultural sector level, of the USA.

Design is an important construct in the retail environment literature. Yet, the measures used for design have not followed appropriate scale development procedures. The purpose of this study is to provide a conceptual definition and then develop a scale for retail environment design (RED).

Interviews with both consumers and marketing researchers are used to generate a potential list of items. Using four different studies, these items are refined, and the RED scale is offered.

This study develops and validates the four-dimensional RED scale to measure the design of retail environments. The dimensions are functional, aesthetic, lighting and signage.

The newly developed RED scale will allow retailing researchers to measure lighting and signage qualities as part of retail design, measure design of retail environments more accurately and allow different studies to be compared.

The newly developed RED scale will allow retailers to better understand customers’ perceptions of the four dimensions of design. Retailers spend significant time and money designing and redesigning retail environments. The RED scale will enable managers to ensure these significant investments create competitive advantages and an appropriate return on investment.

A scale to measure retail environment design is developed. The scale includes two dimensions (lighting and signage) that are not typically investigated.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel measure of access to credit suited to estimate the relative change in credit reserves.

A debt possibility frontier is estimated using data envelopment analysis and the Malmquist index is calculated. The Malmquist index is redubbed the Debt Development index and decomposed into “change in debt capacity” and “change in debt capacity utilization”. Bootstrapping is applied for statistical inference. The method is applied to an unbalanced panel of 92,000 Danish farm accounts from 1996 to 2009.

The paper finds that credit capacity roughly doubled for Danish farmers over the period, and that utilization of credit capacity generally was proportional to capacity change, utilization being higher for dairy and pig farms, than for crop farms.

Changes in credit reserves may have important implications for risk management practice, investment and technology adoption and related policy issues. The method is limited by the possibility of strategic behavior of lenders during credit cycle busts. In credit cycle booms, the method gives a good basis for the estimates of change in credit reserves.

In a period of increasing credit reserves, risk management institutions are unlikely to develop. Like agricultural policy, access to credit may crowd out market-based risk management.

The study represents a novel application and interpretation of a well-known method.

The purpose of this paper is to present theoretical synopsis of risk balancing hypothesis (RBH) and estimate empirical models examining debt, savings and debt-to-equity use decisions of small US farms.

The authors use primary survey data from Tennessee and generalized linear models (GLMs).

The study’s findings suggest that the perceived higher business risk (BR) significantly increases the extent of debt use, savings use and debt-to-equity of small farmers. Moreover, results indicate that factors such as age and education of the operator, family involvement, incomes, land acreage, adoption of alternative on-farm enterprises and farmers' continuation plan significantly influence the financing decisions of small farm operations.

The authors investigated an essential empirical question examining the risk balancing behavior of small US farm operations. While risk balancing has been a theme of several studies, none of the previous studies have specifically looked at the behavior in the context of small US farms. The theoretical synopsis and empirical findings contribute to the literature of risk balancing, debt use and savings use decisions and the policy discussions on farm financial and support strategies.

October 13, 1970 Redundancy — Redundancy payment — Entitlement — Apprentices — Deeds of apprenticeship making apprenticeships assignable — Apprentices serving three masters during five‐year period — Whether “continuously employed” — Meaning — Redundancy Payments Act, 1965 (c.62), ss.1(1), 8 (1) (2) — Contracts of Employment Act, 1963 (c.49), Sch. 1, para. 10(1).

Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way of using the law in specific circumstances, and shows the variations therein. Sums up that arbitration is much the better way to gok as it avoids delays and expenses, plus the vexation/frustration of normal litigation. Concludes that the US and Greek constitutions and common law tradition in England appear to allow involved parties to choose their own judge, who can thus be an arbitrator. Discusses e‐commerce and speculates on this for the future.

This study identifies key strategies employed by Illinois grain farms to prevent the erosion of their equity positions due to significant downturns in commodity prices during the implementation of the 1996 farm bill. The econometric results emphasize the collective importance of revenue enhancement, cost reduction, and capital management strategies. Nonfarm‐related strategies aimed at minimizing equity withdrawals through regulated family living expenditures, as well as supplementing low farm incomes with receipts from nonfarm employment and investments, significantly affect cost value equity growth rates. Moreover, significant financial and asset management strategies include those that minimize the costs of borrowing and maintain high asset productivity levels through elimination of excess farm capacity.