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In recent years mentoring has been promoted as an essential, yet complex, new teacher induction dynamic. Mentors generally develop their knowledge of this role in isolation and in situ, and despite extensive research in the field few studies investigate how mentors learn. Therefore it is important to continue to examine the complex aspects of learning to mentor. The purpose of this paper is to focus on understanding the knowledge, attitudes and skills required by mentors to simultaneously focus on their own learning, new teachers’ learning and student learning.

In this New Zealand study the authors examined a pilot programme aimed at shifting mentoring practices to an educative model. Through a two-year professional development intervention, 22 participant mentors inquired into, analysed and documented their practice. Data were gathered through learning conversations, action research documentation and reflections. They were analysed using qualitative methodology.

Evident was a shift in mentoring practice from a focus on the transmission of knowledge-for-practice to inquiry into knowledge-of-practice. Change was observed after sustained and serious engagement with evidence about mentoring practices. However the shifts did not come easy, nor were they assured.

This study is not without limitations. Transferability is potentially problematic. The pilot study was well resourced, therefore expecting the implementation and outcomes to transfer to other contexts without similar resourcing maybe unrealistic.

The findings contributed to the development of a mentoring curriculum and national guidelines for mentoring new teachers.

While the findings emerged from a situated context, the theoretical and practice issues reported are matters for international attention, particularly the matter of transitioning from a well-practiced, efficient teacher mentor to an adaptive educative mentor.

In 1989, the Walt Disney Company financed its major European theme park and real estate development using a variety of financing tools and techniques that, when bundled together, amounted to a project financing. The case recounts the details of this financing and invites students to evaluate the financing from various standpoints, including those of the Walt Disney Company, the government of France, European equity investors, and European banks. The resulting opinion about the attractiveness of the project ultimately hinges on beliefs about European market demand for an American-style theme park. The case may be used to exercise students' skills in valuation analysis, to illustrate techniques for financing major real-property projects, and to explore the creation and transfer of wealth in such projects.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate significant problems in the US' development pattern of regional automobile‐dependent sprawl and local growth management and to make suggestions about adopting a regional growth management model that might better provide for more sustainable development of the built environment.

This paper reviews trends in the USA and elsewhere to determine the negative effects of the current system of sprawl and the potential benefits of developing higher‐density urban centers. The paper also looks to models in some US cities and Europe to further analyze potential legal and political issues related to this type of regional sustainable development.

Unsustainable, automobile‐dependent regional sprawl is a result of local zoning, growth management, and parking programs and has negative effects both now and for the future. The result has been more time, money, and resources wasted in automobile transit instead of new planning models that would lead to a more sustainable and less automobile‐dependent future.

A metropolitan sustainable development governing framework for growth management in the twenty‐first century is essential for a sustainable future. This includes higher‐density urban centers, transit‐oriented development centers, and a change in public attitude away from “not in my back yard” thinking.

This paper provides the potential benefits of creating a metropolitan governing framework to identify and regulate “growth areas” in a region. It further demonstrates how linking these areas to regional transit planning will help achieve the development of higher‐density, mixed use, and intensive urban core job/housing areas where people could live, work, shop, and play without the use of the automobile.

International research concerning the comparative performance and practices of construction contractors from three European countries (UK, France and Germany) has been previously reported. The research has recently been extended to include Australian construction companies, thereby providing the potential for further exploring international contractor performance, the results of which are herein presented. The research methodology involves a questionnaire survey of contractors whereby a hypothetical high rise in situ concrete building is presented to respondents. Participants of the survey are asked to provide various performance data and preferred construction practices for this building. Results suggest that French contractors acquire the fastest construction speeds closely followed by those from Australia. Construction practices are similar in the UK and Australia, which contrast with French and German practice whose preferences were also found to be different. Findings suggest Australian contractors achieve higher levels of performance than those from the UK whilst implementing similar practices. Further research is needed to investigate the cause of the performance disparity found to exist in these two countries.

Large construction companies operate in geographically diverse locations, often in very competitive conditions and in a dynamic environment. A strategy for continuing growth in earnings is necessary. Acquisitions are a way of achieving external growth. The aim of this paper is to investigate the acquisitions strategies of UK contractors towards the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe. Five UK contractors, which had the highest turnover in overseas business, were chosen as the subject group. The paper finds that, although these contractors acknowledge that there is a potential market, they are adopting a very cautious view by not setting up permanent offices and by hoping to win work through contacts with Western clients.

In a world of progressively more difficult business conditions, the capacity to innovate remains one of the most important attributes of all organizations. It's not, however, particularly easy to do. The quest for innovation is supported through a focus on learning, and particularly when learning is applied to increasing the productivity of knowledge tasks. To support this process, there are elements of infrastructure that are particularly important to develop, which include adoption of effective innovation methodology, as well as robust collaboration, attention to eliminating obstacles and enhancing the enablers of innovation, and providing effective work environments.

While a commonly-held mental image suggests that big corporations live very long lives, the reverse is actually true quite often, and the lifespan of companies is decreasing as the rate of change increases. The situation of accelerating change places ever greater challenges before each and every company, and while innovation is obviously a response to this dilemma, it turns out that not all types of innovation are equally valuable. Business model innovation, the subject of this paper, has proven to a tremendous source of competitive advantage. This paper examines many dimensions of business model innovation, focusing particularly on the relationship between a company and its customers, and the methods that companies use to grasp the bigger picture, or whole system perspective, that enables them to understand how their enterprise relates to the larger industry and broader economy in which it operates.