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Occupational therapists are concerned with how people perform across the various daily activities that are important to them. It is recognised within occupational therapy that the presence of illness or disability might affect this performance.In order to assess how a person complete a task and identify what is making it unsatisfying, the occupational therapist will observe the person engaged in familiar activities. The Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS) provides a standardised framework within which to make these observations. We have found the AMPS to be useful in assessing the performance of people with learning disabilities generally, as well as in assessing those with additional mental illness.We recognise that occupational therapy assessment plays a useful part in a wider multi‐professional, multi‐agency approach to identifying and managing the needs of people with learning disabilities.

Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) tourism has established as a tourism segment that is growing in popularity. It is less seasonality dependent, promotes the offer of services and contributes to the development of the sector. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the competitiveness factors for the improvement of MICE tourism in the city of Mazatlan.

It was developed with a mixed approach, using quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques, such as interviews with experts, surveys of stakeholders in the tourism sector and documentary analysis. Based on the theoretical review, the following four competitiveness factors were defined for MICE tourism: 1) resource factors, 2) destination management factors, 3) conditioning factors of the environment and 4) conditioning factors of the demand, applying and importance-performance analysis.

The results indicate that the factors of competitiveness in the case of the study that had greater importance and better performance are the conditioning factors of the demand and resource factors. However, the development and implementation of comprehensive destination management strategies are required to improve this segment, as well as giving due importance to taking into account the important conditioning factors of the environment.

This study makes a theoretical contribution to the literature on the competitiveness of tourist destinations in the MICE segment by identifying the factors for its development, as well as the practical implications for the specific case study. In addition to this, it was identified that there are few empirical studies that analyze the factors that contribute to improving the competitiveness of this segment.

Following a competitive bid, Sheffield Hallam University were successful in developing and delivering a Corporate Business and Management Degree, for Nestlé UK and Ireland. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of how the degree programme has evolved and been developed into an apprenticeship, the challenges faced and the partnership approach taken to overcome them. It will also explore the impact on the apprentices, Nestlé and Sheffield Hallam University.

Information presented in the paper is drawn from the organisations own work in developing a degree apprenticeship programme. It builds on information from the original project brief and the bid, as well as on-going evaluation of how the programme is progressing.

Responding to talent gaps in the general management population the development of a level 6 Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship provides progression for future managers of Nestlé, offering a fast-track route into a career in business and management. The evolution of this higher degree apprenticeship scheme and potential benefits are brought to life in this case study.

The paper is based on the authors own experience and employer consultation.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate organisational accountability to less economically powerful stakeholders in the absence of formal corporate social reporting (CSR) guidelines. In addition, this study emphasises the role of administrative and institutional reforms in empowering stakeholders in a developing country context, namely, Bangladesh.

Consistent with prior literature, this qualitative study collected data through semi-structured interviews with 23 representatives from NGOs, media, civil society, customers, regulators, trade union leaders and employees who are considered as less economically powerful stakeholders. This paper draws on the demand for administrative reforms along with an institutional support structure (Owen et al., 1997) to enhance CSR and corporate accountability.

The empirical evidence shows that there is a need for a stand-alone mandatory CSR to achieve stakeholder accountability. It also shows that there are demands from “stakeholders to right to know” about the company’s social and environmental performance along with stakeholder engagements. There is a perceived demand for administrative reform along with institutional supports that can contribute to the CSR development in Bangladesh. These administrative reforms would encourage transparent corporate social and environmental practices. Given the socio-economic and vulnerable environmental conditions of Bangladesh, stakeholders in this study suggested contextually relevant CSR guidelines towards greater accountability.

This paper is one of the few engagement-based studies which explore the perceptions of less economically powerful stakeholders towards CSR developments in an emerging economy – Bangladesh. The findings of this study using the theoretical lens of accountability with administrative and institutional reforms lead us to conclude that companies in Bangladesh have low level of CSR towards stakeholder accountability and stakeholder engagements.

The paper contributes to the CSR literature by highlighting the needs of CSR from the stakeholder’s accountability perspective.

Designing a social marketing intervention for low-income earners requires an understanding of the key motivations. As part of the Low-Income Earner Energy Efficiency Programme, this study investigates the key factors that influence energy behaviours amongst Australian young low-income earners as part of the Reduce Your Juice social marketing programme. The authors also investigate the effect of gender.

An online survey of 753 low-income renters was conducted using validated measures. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling.

The two factors that had the highest influence on intentions for energy-saving behaviours was the “mind” factor of self-efficacy and “money” factor of price concern. There were gender differences in the effect of bill control and price concern on intentions for different energy efficiency behaviours.

This study provides guidance on the factors to emphasise when designing an energy efficiency programme for low-income earners.

This study provides evidence for different motivations amongst low-income earners for energy efficiency programmes and that a “one size fits all” approach may not be effective.

While there is high interest in the public sector for motivating young-adult low-income earners to change their energy behaviours, little is known about the key factors that motivate intentions to engage in these behaviours.

This paper aims to provide exploratory evidence on corporate governance (CG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) interfaces. Although there remains a voluminous literature on CG and CSR, very little effort has been put forward to explore the nature of this relationship.

Using interviews with Senior Executives of New Zealand Stock Exchange listed firms, this research assesses CG and CSR practices, identifies barriers for CG and CSR adoption and investigates the nature of the relationship between CG and CSR.

The results indicate a moderate level of CG and CSR practices, with a lack of resources and cost-time balance as common barriers for CG and CSR adoption. However, despite these barriers, we note that the majority of executives appreciate the increasing convergence between CG and CSR, and believe that a more robust CG framework will lead to more sustainable CSR practices.

These findings have important implications for managers and policymakers interested in understanding the CG-CSR nexus and promoting responsible business practices.

Presents a special issue, enlisting the help of the author’s students and colleagues, focusing on age, sex, colour and disability discrimination in America. Breaks the evidence down into manageable chunks, covering: age discrimination in the workplace; discrimination against African‐Americans; sex discrimination in the workplace; same sex sexual harassment; how to investigate and prove disability discrimination; sexual harassment in the military; when the main US job‐discrimination law applies to small companies; how to investigate and prove racial discrimination; developments concerning race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; developments concerning discrimination against workers with HIV or AIDS; developments concerning discrimination based on refusal of family care leave; developments concerning discrimination against gay or lesbian employees; developments concerning discrimination based on colour; how to investigate and prove discrimination concerning based on colour; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; using statistics in employment discrimination cases; race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning gender discrimination in the workplace; discrimination in Japanese organizations in America; discrimination in the entertainment industry; discrimination in the utility industry; understanding and effectively managing national origin discrimination; how to investigate and prove hiring discrimination based on colour; and, finally, how to investigate sexual harassment in the workplace.

The purpose of the research was to discover the process of social and environmental report assurance (SERA) and thereby evaluate the benefits, extent of stakeholder inclusivity and/or managerial capture of SERA processes and the dynamics of SERA as it matures.

This paper used semi‐structured interviews with 20 accountant and consultant assurors to derive data, which were then coded and analysed, resulting in the identification of four themes.

This paper provides interview evidence on the process of SERA, suggesting that, although there is still managerial capture of SERA, stakeholders are being increasingly included in the process as it matures. SERA is beginning to provide dual‐pronged benefits, adding value to management and stakeholders simultaneously. Through the lens of Freirian dialogic theory, it is found that SERA is starting to display some characteristics of a dialogical process, being stakeholder inclusive, demythologising and transformative, with assurors perceiving themselves as a “voice” for stakeholders. Consequently, SERA is becoming an important mechanism for driving forward more stakeholder‐inclusive SER, with the SERA process beginning to transform attitudes of management towards their stakeholders through more stakeholder‐led SER. However, there remain significant obstacles to dialogic SERA. The paper suggests these could be removed through educative and transformative processes driven by assurors.

Previous work on SERA has involved predominantly content‐based analysis on assurance statements. However, this paper investigates the details of the SERA process, for the first time using qualitative interview data.

This study investigates how direct cultural interaction between a supplier country’s personnel and host country purchasing decision makers (HCNs) occurring during the exporting of professional, high-contact services can help shape the latter’s perception of the image of the supplier country and their willingness to buy its services or products. The article develops a theoretical framework that identifies those key drivers and their relationship.

This is a conceptual paper based on a comprehensive review of the literature complemented by a pilot study with offshore executive MBA programs.

A conceptual model is developed with a series of testable propositions.

The framework should help companies and organizations involved in the exporting of such services devise programs to bolster the image of their country as a provider of these and other services and products.

Trade in services is becoming a lifeline for many developed countries that have seen their manufacturing industries relocate to low labor-cost countries. Thus, it is imperative for these countries to bolster their COO to gain competitive advantage. Developing countries can also use such a framework as a means of improving the overall image of their own country and its products.

This research complements those rare studies done on the acculturation of HCNs by examining, for the first time, this process in the context of the exporting of professional services and on how it can lead to changes in the perception of the HCNs vis-à-vis the image of the supplier country.