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To review a small specialist repository's strategic and opportunistic approach to utilising collaborative regional and national digital initiatives to increase access. The Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD) Archives activity is evaluated to determine whether a project‐based approach recognises and meets the needs of historians, or in manufacturing a digital semblance, does it in fact mislead historians.

The context in UK higher education and the archives domain of an emphasis on the digitisation of resources evident in national policies is outlined. Recent studies into the requirements and expectations of academics and historians as users of archives and digital resources are considered. BIAD Archives' creation of a repository web site and participation in national collection level description schemes are examined. The experience of two collaborative digitisation projects, a national subject‐based virtual collection and a regional collaborative information literacy initiative, are described and reflected upon.

An opportunistic project‐based approach does not easily accumulate as a cohesive strategy for increasing access. Collaboration is problematic. It is beneficial in raising profiles and can act as a legitimising agent. It entails compromise, applying an external filter to collections and potentially creating a digital semblance. The proliferation of projects raises concerns of sustainability, invisibility within the deep web and that merely signposting may not satisfy user needs. To address this problem archives as a domain require a more sophisticated understanding of all our different users.

Critical reflections on collaborative practice beneficial to archivists and resource managers embarking on digitisation initiatives and to those developing collaborative projects.

The paper discusses information services which are being developed within the National Museums of Scotland (NMS), to support the Museum of Scotland Project. NMS has started to build a new museum in the centre of Edinburgh, to display its rich collections of Scottish material. It is due to open in 1998. The information needs of project teams are examined. A strategy for responding to the rapidly changing needs of project teams is described. The approach concentrates on developing a variety of information resources, which together meet the needs of users, and making some of them accessible throughout the organization as services on a data communications network. Internal services include collections databases, a collections management system for the Museum of Scotland Project, and the library catalogue online. External services include the development of a Scottish national database of museum objects, and access to the Joint Academic Network. The data communications network is described, and the management of the system is discussed.

In this paper, we present a proposed information environment (PROPIE) for enhanced interaction and value‐adding of electronic documents (e‐documents). The design of PROPIE was based on a thorough user needs and requirements assessment in interacting with information through well‐documented findings, and a focus group with twelve participants to elicit features that were deemed desirable in future interactions. The design was also based on an earlier work which reviewed the advancements in various user interface (UI) technologies, visualisation and interactive techniques, and a consideration of novel information structuring and organisation techniques that pose important implications for the design of more advanced UIs. Providing a suite of novel features and interactive tools that can be flexibly combined, PROPIE allows users to apply multiple novel ways to query intuitively and navigate information in an e‐document. The querying and browsing processes in PROPIE are supported by various interactive and visualisation techniques. Users work within a visually sovereign, integrated environment for information gathering and organising, based on navigable, fractional information objects that are also affiliated with rich metadata and additional layers of value‐adding information. A set of interface mock‐ups was developed to demonstrate the potential of the environment in supporting the design of a new generation of electronic journals (e‐journals). We report here empirical results from a study conducted to obtain representative users‘ feedback with regard to using PROPIE for interacting with e‐journals. Twenty‐two participants from a variety of academic backgrounds participated in the evaluation. Overall, PROPIE was found to have the potential both for enhancing the user’s interaction with information captured within e‐journals and for adding value to e‐documents in various ways.

Providing enhanced access and added value to electronic documents (e‐documents) will require interfaces that effectively mediate between the information seeking needs of the users and the information that the e‐document has to offer. A proposed information environment (PIE) to support effective and creative use of e‐documents to fulfil users’ various information tasks and needs is presented. Providing a suite of novel features and interactive tools that can be flexibly combined, the PIE allows users to apply multiple novel ways to intuitively query and navigate information in an e‐document. The querying and browsing processes in the PIE are supported by various interactive and visualisation techniques. Users work within a visually sovereign, integrated environment for information gathering and organising, based on navigable, fractional information objects that are also affiliated with rich metadata and additional layers of value‐adding information. This paper describes the conceptual design of the PIE and uses a representative scenario to show how the PIE is likely to be used for interacting with electronic journals (e‐journals) and the ability of the proposed environment to provide enhanced user interaction and value‐adding.

The purpose of this chapter is to critically examine the extensive calls for enhanced evidence within the sport-for-development field. The chapter questions whether these are appropriate and realistic.

The chapter utilizes current literature to deconstruct the assumptions that increased evidence will legitimize the field of sport-for-development, improve practice and enhance future policy. The authors’ own experiences, working as external evaluators, are also drawn upon to critique the value of current “evidence.”

The chapter illustrates how current calls for evidence are somewhat misguided and are unlikely to fully realize the intended consequence of validating sport-for-development or improving future practice. Utilizing personal reflections, the impact that Global North/Global South power imbalances have on data is discussed, suggesting that this will rarely lead to data that provide a detailed understanding of work in practice.

The chapter builds on the work of other authors illustrating the importance of disconnecting research from evidence and monitoring and evaluation in the sport-for-development field.

The chapter utilizes previous literature but also provides a rarely available personal perspective on the issue of evidence that continues to permeate the rationale behind undertaking research within sport-for-development.

The growth of CAS‐IAS (current alerting service — individual article supply) services in the 1990s has not delivered the rapid benefits expected by information practitioners. This article focuses on the alerting aspects of CAS‐IAS services and documents the results of a series of surveys carried out at a UK cancer research institute over a four year period. By the first quarter of 1997, in over 50% of cases in a sample group of titles the shelf issue was more current, or as current, as the alerting services. The article also includes a mid‐1997 overview of the CAS‐IAS services available and lists factors to be considered by information practitioners in any evaluation of the document delivery aspect of CAS‐IAS services. The conclusion is that the monitoring of service developments and their performance will have to continue for the foreseeable future.

Organisations may be considered, at the same time, either part of the problem or part of the solution for the social‐environmental crisis that is occurring. To be part of the solution, they must head for a strategic management of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The objective of the present study is to identify and analyse the interfaces between theoretical models of strategic implementation of CSR and the variables and major players involved in this process.

This is a qualitative research using a case study strategy. The company chosen for this case study has been highlighted as one of the best national companies to work for, with significant social responsibility indices.

The case study found some results, such as the importance of aligning with human resource management for strategic implementation of CSR and the integrative characteristic between different workers, that are essential for this process.

Only a few international articles discuss CSR in Brazil. The results could be useful for classes focusing on “Doing business in Brazil”.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between operational risk management (ORM), size, and ownership of Indian banks. This is important in the context of financial crisis experienced by developed countries due to lax regulation.

ORM practices of Indian banks are proxied by excess capital (over the required minimum capital for operational risk). Size of a bank is measured as deposits plus advances. Our sample includes 61 Indian banks during the period from 2010 to 2013. The authors empirically examine the impact of bank size on excess capital using panel data regression model.

The results suggest that size of Indian banks is inversely related to excess capital held by them for managing operational risk. The inverse relationship implies that smaller banks hold higher excess capital over the required minimum as per Basel norms. There is no significant relationship between ownership (public, private and foreign) and excess capital held by banks for managing operational risk.

The study has implications for Indian banks given the high level of losses due to bad loans, and the implementation of Basel III norms by the central bank, i.e. Reserve Bank of India.

The study has implications for Indian financial system as a large percentage (about 33 per cent) of household savings are deployed in deposits with commercial banks and other financial institutions. The bank failure(s) can have disastrous consequences for the Indian economy as the capacity of the Indian financial system to withstand such shocks is highly doubtful.

There is very little evidence on ORM practices of Indian banks, and its relationship with size and ownership. The study assumes significance in the context of significant changes in the institutional and regulatory framework.

As companies strive to create better value for their customers in today’s competitive marketplace, managers are begining to realize the important role logistics plays. As they seek new ways to compete, one technique that has made headlines in the management community is benchmarking. Discusses the use of benchmarking in logistics in a few companies. Highlights the processes used, the obstacles faced and the gains made in these companies. Analyses the ways these obstacles were overcome. Based on these case studies, presents a generalized benchmarking process model and identifies and discusses the steps involved. Finally, provides practical suggestions for successful implementation of a benchmarking project.

As companies strive to create better value for their customers in today’s competitive marketplace, managers are beginning to realize the important role logistics plays. As they seek new ways to compete, one technique that has made headlines in the management community is benchmarking. Discusses the use of benchmarking in logistics in a few companies. Highlights the processes used, the obstacles faced and the gains made in these companies. Also analyses ways in which these obstacles were overcome. Based on these case studies, presents a generalized benchmarking process model, and identifies and discusses the steps involved. Finally, provides practical suggestions for successful implementation of a benchmarking project.