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Outlines the three principal types of valuation of plant and machinery – insurance, financial and open market. Discusses the techniques appropriate to each and possible future development in the field. Concludes that the demand for plant valuation services is increasing and suitably qualified students need to be persuaded to opt for what is probably the least known discipline within the profession.

The importance of networks in the internationalisation of entrepreneurial firms is widely accepted. However, while the literature tends to focus on the existing networks of firms, there is growing evidence that many rapid internationalisers have to build new networks. This cross‐national study investigates the networks of internationalising entrepreneurial firms in Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand.

A multi‐stage approach and mixed methods were employed. Online sources were used to gather information on 218 internationalising small firms, then an e‐mail instrument was administered to verify data and address information gaps, resulting in 143 usable responses (66 per cent) evenly distributed across locations. A representative sub‐sample of 53 firms was selected for further in‐depth investigation via face‐to‐face interviews with CEOs.

A high proportion of firms (25 per cent) actively used existing networks to develop their knowledge of international markets and improve their international competitiveness. However, an even larger number (34 per cent) had to build new networks because of the advanced nature of their offering. In‐depth interviews provided rich insights into the nature and scope of the firms' network development activities.

While the sample size is relatively small, the findings are consistent across locations. They suggest that further investigation of network building activities among internationalising entrepreneurial firms is required.

The results have implications on firm strategy, in terms of the strategic nature of network building and the need for systematic approaches. They also are pertinent to public policy in support of internationalisation. In particular, there is a need for support agencies to shift their focus from providing objective knowledge to supporting experiential learning and network development.

The linkage of extant network approaches to the emerging knowledge‐based view (KBV) of internationalisation enhances and advances both perspectives.

The purpose of this paper is to examine determinants of an intention to quit a job held by non‐managerial staff in the Malaysian fast food industry. It examines issues such as job stress and peer groups.

A quantitative analysis of 806 respondents working in international fast food chains was undertaken following an initial semi‐structured interview process with managers.

Of the total sample, 20 percent were found to think frequently about leaving their job, while a further 20 percent were described as being committed to their employment. High intent to leave scorers were found to be influenced by friends, but also feeling job stress and “being burnt out”.

The findings may relate solely to fast food outlets in Peninsular Malaya due to cultural issues related to the Islamic nature of Malaysian society.

Fast food managers need to consider employees as part of a team and not simply as individuals, and it was found that friendship ties emerged as a significant variable in determining intention to leave a job.

Malaysian fast food outlets near places of worship that make it easier for employees to fulfil religious obligations may find it easier to retain staff.

This is thought to be the first study of the Malaysian fast food industry and labour turnover.

Discusses the 6th ITCRR, its breadth of textile and clothing research activity, plus the encouragement given to workers in this field and its related areas. States that, within the newer research areas under the microscope of the community involved, technical textiles focuses on new, ‘smart’ garments and the initiatives in this field in both the UK and the international community at large. Covers this subject at length.

The aim of this article is to show how leaders build and maintain high levels of trust in organizations by applying regular, simple but highly impactful actions.

This article discusses the role of trust when it comes to building high-performance cultures, characterized by motivated and engaged employees. It outlines a four-element model of trust that the author has researched, developed and applied during her work with organizations including Discovery and Solar Century. The elements are investment in relationships, honesty, humility, and consistency. Each element is supported with the author's observations of managers, leaders and HR practitioners who have significantly impacted the performance of their organizations by embracing the model.

Although there is high awareness among leaders and managers for the need for trust and trusting behavior, there is often little practical support available to them to ensure trust is systematically invested in as a leadership behavior. The author argues that it is only by consciously applying specific behaviors across the four elements that trust becomes something real and tangible. The model is substantiated with case study examples taken from a cross-section of different sized organizations and sectors.

The article is based on the author's personal experience and knowledge of organizations that excel in the four elements of the trust model.

Cray Valley Ltd.'s synthetic resin plant at Machen, Gwent is the first major site to specify control equipment selected from Craig and Derricott's brand new EEx certified range.

How did gays in the military go from being characterized as dangerous perverts threatening to the state, to victims being persecuted by the state, to potential heroes fighting on behalf of the state? What implications does this shift have for understanding the means by which the liberal state uses law to include the previously excluded? Offering a critical account of the inclusion of gays in the military, I argue that while the lifting of the ban can be seen as an important step in a classic civil rights narrative in which the liberal state gradually accommodates the excluded, pop culture allows us also to see state and minority group interest convergence as well as divergence, revealing the costs of inclusion.

Every seaport with foreign‐going shiping trade has always had its “foreign” quarters; every large city hat had its Oriental traders and services, eg., Chinese laundries, Indian restaurants, Italian restaurants, greengrocers, ice cream and biscuit manufacturers; all of which has meant that foreign foods were not unknown to food inspectors and the general public in its discerning quest for exotic food dishes. It was then largely a matter of stores specially stocking these foods for their few users. Now it is no longer the coming and going of the foreign seaman, the isolated laundry, restaurant, but large tightly knit communities of what have come to be known as the “ethnic minorities”, from the large scale immigration of coloured peoples from the old Empire countries, who have brought their families, industry and above all their food and eating habits with them. Feeding the ethnic minorities has become a large and expanding area within the food industry. There are cities in which large areas have been virtually taken over by the immigrant.

The author argues that we must stop and take a look at what our insistence on human labour as the basis of our society is doing to us, and begin to search for possible alternatives. We need the vision and the courage to aim for the highest level of technology attainable for the widest possible use in both industry and services. We need financial arrangements that will encourage people to invent themselves out of work. Our goal, the article argues, must be the reduction of human labour to the greatest extent possible, to free people for more enjoyable, creative, human activities.