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To examine how an external performance review process introduced as part of the public sector modernisation agenda in England and Wales has impacted on HR service provision and processes in local government and the extent to which it has acted as a catalyst for the development of more integrative and innovative HR practices to support organisational performance.

A case study analysis of the Best Value Review (BVR) process of HR services at two county and two unitary authorities generated data from multiple sources including interviews, focus groups, consultative meetings as well as internal documentation. This approach was adopted to offer perspectives from different stakeholders in the employment relationship.

There was found to be a frequent lack of synergy between organisational goals, departmental plans and the performance objectives of individuals combined with an absence of shared understandings about human resourcing priorities or commitment to the processes needed to strategically integrate HR policies.

Whilst providing insights into the Best Value (BV) approach to public sector modernisation, a wider generalisation of the findings cannot be drawn from four case studies.

Line management and the HR function need to share better understandings concerning the HR practices needed to support the modernisation agenda and their respective HR responsibilities.

This paper reveals that the BV performance regime was not encouraging, and even limiting, a corporate approach to the HR policies and practices required to develop longer term organisational capability.

Report on the professional online database industry. CSP International have produced a report called, The Professional Online Database Industry which traces the industry's evolution and trends. “As society has become increasingly information‐oriented, businesses have been forced to rely on online databases for fast electronic retrieval of information,” notes Michael Tyler, President of CSP International. “The growth of the online database industry has been one of the most dramatic economic success stories of recent years, especially in light of the 1980–82 recession.

The purpose of this paper is to understand if accounting is an un‐Australian activity, contrasting the notion of the bush and bushman present in popular Australian poetry and cultural myth with the notion expressed by Maltby of the link between the soul of the middle class and the practice of bookkeeping. The paper aims to explore the notion of a tension between what might be seen as indigenous values and the values of Western capitalism.

The paper presents an analysis of Australian poetry to identify in this culturally significant media how the city and the technologies of accounting are negatively contrasted with the bush and the bushman. Since many Australians migrated from European countries, we might expect bookkeeping to claim a foundational place in the Australian soul.

This literature shows bush dwellers as being exploited by those from the city, and city professionals such as the accountant and the lawyer as having lost their sense of self and soul. The sense of “other” reflected by the concept of the bush in Australian literature represents a tension between a structured and ordered European sense of self expressed by Maltby and an archetypical sense of self implied by the character of the bushman and connected to the Australian landscape, with its inherent but little acknowledged debt to the Aboriginal. In this landscape the absence of both accounting and the associated rhetoric of economic rationality allow other forms of rationality to emerge.

This is the first time that poetry has been examined in relation to accounting. It shows a deep insight into the place of archetype of the accountant in Australian cultural identity. In addition it argues that responses to accounting can reflect underlying rhetorics of rationality.

Hydraulic excavator cycle time and associated unit costs of excavation for given input estimating data, for machines operating in the UK construction industry, are predicted. Using multiple regression analysis, three variables are identified as accurate predictors of cycle time: machine weight, digging depth and machine swing angle. With a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.88, a mean percentage error (MPE) of −5.49, and a mean absolute error (MAPE) of 3.67, the cycle time model is robust; this is further validated using chi‐square analysis and Pearson's correlation coefficient (on predicted and actual values of machine cycle time). An illustrative example of the model's application to determine machine productivity is given. The paper concludes with a spreadsheet model for calculating excavation costs (m3 and cost per h) which is able to deal with any combination of the three independent cycle time predictor variables and other estimator's input data.

This article aims to provide a perspective on sustainability reporting and performance management in the university sector making a case for increased accountability, improved (management of) performance and greater innovation in approach.

The author provides a personal perspective drawing on experience in sustainability standard setting and as a sustainability researcher, advisor and practitioner in the university sector and others.

The paper finds that university practice in sustainability reporting and performance management significantly lags other sectors and falls far short of optimising the potential of the sector to influence transformational change through knowledge transfer.

The paper suggests some areas for further research.

This article makes a case for increased sustainability performance management and reporting in universities arguing that it would lead to increased accountability and improved performance. It calls for social, environmental and economic sustainability to integrated into university processes. The paper has implications for university policy makers and regulators.

Little attention has been paid to the university sector in the sustainability reporting and social responsibility literature or indeed in recognised standards for sustainability reporting and management.

Aims to summarise the programme of UV Europe, a conference on unmanned vehicles that took place in Paris in June 2005.

Selects key conference presentations and summarises their contents, indicating the main themes.

Finds very strong international activity in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Most progress has been made in the military sector so far. Concern about air space safety is holding back the industry.

Presents the topics relating to UAVs that concern the market today, and summarises the main areas of research and development.

Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.

The purpose of this systematic review is to highlight some of the business model changes restaurants, bars and beverage producers undertook to modify their operations in order to not only stay in business but also to better serve their employees and communities during the COVID-19 crisis.

An analysis was conducted on 200 industry articles and categorized into three major themes: expansion of take-out/delivery, innovative practices, and community outreach/corporate support, each are further subdivided into additional themes. The systematic review is further supported by personal interviews with industry professionals.

This research finds that there were many different approaches used in adjusting business models in response to the dining restrictions put in place due to COVID-19. From these approaches, themes were developed which resulted in uncovering some suggestions such as developing contingency plans, being flexible and creative, eliminating menu items, investing in a communication platform and getting involved with local government. In addition, some practices operators should be mindful of such as selling gift cards and starting a crowdfund.

This research provides a systematic analysis of business model changes that occurred due to COVID-19 dining restrictions. Researchers can use this information as a guide for further analysis on a specific theme introduced herein.

This research offers several practical implications which will assist the industry should another similar event occur in the future. The systematic analysis describes and documents some suggestions as well as practices to be mindful of in preparing contingency plans for the future.

This research documents an unprecedented time for the hospitality industry by examining how restaurant, bar and beverage producers around the country responded to COVID-19 restrictions. Distilling the multitude of information into succinct themes that highlight the business model changes that occurred will aid future research as well as operators.

Changes at the top for STN International. After 15 years as the Scientific Directorof FIZ Karlsruhe, Dr Werner Rittberger will step down at the end of this month. Taking up the post will be Professor Georg Schultheiss, a nuclear engineer by training.