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The purpose of this paper is to quantify the impact of women's enterprise on Scotland's economy and to provide policy recommendations to the Scottish Government on increasing women's business ownership.

The paper has been developed in collaboration with the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS Group) and has utilised existing business data and research sources which have not recently been analysed to provide gender‐based information on businesses within Scotland. Where possible, calculations of gross value added (GVA) contribution by gender have been made. In addition, a review of relevant entrepreneurship data was carried out and comparative studies from other parts of the UK and North America were used to benchmark findings.

The impact of women's business ownership on Scotland's economic performance is not consistently measured by the Scottish Government. An increased commitment to women's enterprise policy development from the UK Government has not been emulated in Scotland despite devolved responsibility for economic development.

Practical outcomes from this research include: policy recommendations for the Scottish Government; practical recommendations for business support providers; actions for the RBS Group “Women in Business” team; recommendations for improved data disaggregation.

This is the first report to evaluate the impact of women's enterprise on the Scottish economy since 2005. Its findings and recommendations are of value to the Scottish Government and Scotland's economic development and business support agencies.

Explanation of sickness, injury and absence at work frequently turns on “stress” and the individual's ability to “cope” with stress. A critique of the underlying ideology and science of stress and coping discourse (SCD) is presented. An alternative sociological model is put forward in which sickness is reconceptualised as an element in social relations. An intensive study of a medium‐sized pottery firm over two and a half years is presented to support this theory. Three experiments involving women working on the line in the North Staffordshire pottery industry are reported. The findings support the argument that control of time is strongly related to absence and lateness.

Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and shows that these are in many, differing, areas across management research from: retail finance; precarious jobs and decisions; methodological lessons from feminism; call centre experience and disability discrimination. These and all points east and west are covered and laid out in a simple, abstract style, including, where applicable, references, endnotes and bibliography in an easy‐to‐follow manner. Summarizes each paper and also gives conclusions where needed, in a comfortable modern format.

This study investigates how debrief conversations unfold during virtual coaching sessions that provide embedded opportunities to practice teaching within a mixed reality simulation (MRS). We examine how teacher and coach topical episodes function (agreeing, explaining, clarifying, probing, recapping, reflecting and suggesting) to activate reflection as part of virtual coaching.

Grounded in Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and the belief that learning is collaborative and impacts how pre- and in-service teachers construct knowledge, this exploratory case study draws on insights from 15 graduate students (5 pre-service teachers (PSTs) and 10 in-service teachers (ISTs)) who participated in virtual coaching with embedded practice opportunities. Data sources were video recordings and transcripts of 15 virtual coaching sessions, and one-on-one postcoaching interviews. Coding categories were determined through the constant comparative analysis method.

Findings indicate that an MRS provides an immediate context for reflection, which guided the debrief conversations. Additionally, functions occurred with varying frequency among PSTs and ISTs, and across both groups, probing questions often led directly to reflecting and recapping the shared simulation context.

This study had a small sample (n = 15) and the use of an MRS, while widely used, is not necessarily a scalable practice.

In times of remote teaching, like during corona virus 2019 (COVID-19), opportunities to simulate clinical experiences become vital. With a limited research base, learning how teachers engage with and learn from simulated experiences is a key to creating rich learning opportunities for teachers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically the impact of improvement in service‐delivery quality on customer satisfaction and repeat patronage, in the context of health services.

A longitudinal study of patients at a health care centre in Hong Kong assessed the effect of quality improvements made in response to the findings of its first phase, with respect to patient satisfaction and intention to revisit. Data were collected by questionnaire‐based interviews with more than 1,000 patients visiting the centre.

Exploratory factor analysis, varimax rotation and t‐tests show that basing a service quality improvement programme on feedback from the patient survey did improve satisfaction and intention to revisit. Conclusions include the importance of management commitment to quality for effective outcomes.

The results are based on the responses of clients of a single health centre, during surveys conducted outside the premises in real time, and can be generalized to other settings only with due caution.

Empirical evidence is provided of the positive impact of quality improvement on patient satisfaction and revisit intention in a real situation.

Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.

This chapter assesses the impact of socially responsible investing (SRI) in terms of its role in governance. Governance refers to the rules, incentives, institutions and philosophies for coordinating, controlling and supervising behaviour. The SRI sector purports to be a mechanism of market governance, such as through its codes of conduct and targeting of individual companies by engagement or divestment.

This subject-matter of the chapter is evaluated primarily through a conceptual and theoretical argument rather than empirical research.

Social investors’ capacity to ‘govern’ the market is constrained by gaps and deficiencies in the legal frameworks for the financial economy. Fiduciary law controlling institutional investors is the most important element of this governance framework. The SRI movement is starting to broaden its agenda and strategies to include advocacy for regulatory reform. But the SRI industry has devoted attention to its own voluntary codes of conduct, such as the UNPRI, which do not yet provide a sufficiently comprehensive or robust substitute for official regulation.

Paradoxically, whereas SRI once stood for taking action through the financial economy when governments had failed to act, the sector is also somewhat dependent on the state to provide an empowering governance framework. But state regulation itself may be strengthened by partnership with the SRI industry, such as by utilising its codes of conduct to supplement official legal standards.

The chapter deepens insights into the relationship between the SRI sector as a largely voluntary movement and its legal governance through the state or the market.

This article outlines the revolution taking place in academic publishing with the rise of electronic methods of information dissemination, and examines the development of brands in journal publishing. The author considers the value added by publishers of academic journals, addressing the question of why do academics need publishers. He outlines the metamorphosis required in the age of electronic publishing, pointing to even greater significance being placed on brand identity.

Although we're not usually a news‐oriented Journal, our July deadlines allowed us to bring you the latest from Chicago: