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In the past, too many government sponsored initiatives have presented valuable learning resources which have been wasted because the target small business audience have failed to utilise them. This paper explores the issue of offering learning materials to small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises in a manner which recognises their working environment, mode of operation and preferred learning methods, and after addressing these, outlines differing methods at present being tested in the UK and Ireland. The two methodologies are different in that one programme is aimed at distance learning in primarily small businesses, whilst the other is aimed at face‐to‐face learning primarily in micro‐enterprises. It is the contrast between the two which we hope will indicate those common elements in the two methodologies that can specify an ideal path for educating/training micro and small enterprises – the vast bulk of EU organisations.

This paper is an initial attempt to discuss the American institutionalist movement as it changed and developed after 1945. Institutionalism in the inter-war period was a relatively coherent movement held together by a set of general methodological, theoretical, and ideological commitments (Rutherford, 2011). Although institutionalism always had its critics, it came under increased attack in the 1940s, and faced challenges from Keynesian economics, a revived neoclassicism, econometrics, and from new methodological approaches derived from various versions of positivism. The institutionalist response to these criticisms, and particularly the criticism that institutionalism “lacked theory,” is to be found in a variety of attempts to redefine institutionalism in new theoretical or methodological terms. Perhaps the most important of these is to be found in Clarence Ayres’ The Theory of Economic Progress (1944), although there were many others. These developments were accompanied by a significant amount of debate, disagreement, and uncertainty over future directions. Some of this is reflected in the early history of The Association for Evolutionary Economics.

The case was created via an interview of the protagonist.

The case describes the dilemma a young leader, Captain Bryson, faces after a few months in his new organization. Amid a routine meeting, two of CPT Bryson’s direct reports get into a verbal (and nearly physical) altercation over a relatively benign issue. CPT Bryson must decide how to handle the conflict at that moment. Further, the organization is resource constrained, so the personnel will be working in the same organization for at least the next six months. Therefore, CPT Bryson must try to diagnose the types and sources of conflict so that he can decide on how to manage the conflict in both the short and long terms.

This case is designed for use in undergraduate and graduate level courses on leadership and management. The case is useful for teaching lessons (or electives) on conflict management, developmental communication (counseling), emotional intelligence and power and influence.

Purpose: At a conference inspired by Hans Christian Andersen, this chapter makes the case for his shadowy American contemporary, Edgar Allan Poe.

Methodology: Employing a comparative literary analysis, it contends that consumer culture theory (CCT) can learn more from Poe’s quothful raven than Andersen’s ugly duckling.

Findings: Principally that Poe’s Ps of Perversity, Pugnacity, and Poetry are particularly pertinent to an adolescent, self-harm-prone subdiscipline that’s struggling to find itself and make its way in the world.

Originality: Poe and Andersen’s names rarely appear in the same sentence. They do now.

Superstores, convenience stores, supermarkets, limited line stores, the future for own brand and generic products, the growth in DIY, the non‐food sector. All these subjects are covered by John Allan of Fine Fare who puts his assessment of the market within the context of the developments of the last decade and his predictions for the next. Also tackled are such questions as the fate of the department stores and specialist multiples and chain stores, as well as the prospect for in‐home shopping. This paper was presented to the Oyez IBC conference, “Retailing in the Eighties” in London recently.

The purpose of the paper is to research the stress caused to small to medium‐sized enterprise (SME) staff by online collaboration. It aims to investigate online team roles as possible stressors.

The paper is based on research carried out on online collaborative teams by the authors in the Open University Business School, and on existing literature on stress and collaboration. The paper uses MTR‐i™, a commercially used team role analysis tool, and Myers‐Briggs personality types to postulate reasons for stress caused by online collaboration in SMEs.

If team roles are not taken into account then the entrepreneurial members of an SME team may well find online collaboration stressful and so may not be able to fully participate in collaboration, or support others to do so.

The limitations of the research are that so far the research has been carried out on relatively small numbers. A much wider scale study is needed.

The research so far indicates that online collaborative learning in SMEs (whether formal, or informal) needs to take into account the team roles usually carried out by individuals at work if full use is to be made of in order to optimise online collaboration.

This paper links Myers‐Briggs personality types to the ability of SMEs and entrepreneurs to collaborate online. It will inform educators and SME entrepreneurs.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the benefits and challenges of using a virtual learning community (VLC) as a vehicle for workforce development. This paper argues that VLCs provide a flexible vehicle for workforce development. However, workplace realities may lead to unexpected challenges for participants wanting exploit the flexibility of e‐learning technologies.

The case study is located in a strategic healthcare organisation in the UK. The study used a multi‐method approach to develop a rich picture of the VLC. Data were collected from a variety of sources (programme evaluation questionnaires, learning logs, discussion group messages and VLE tracking system) and analysed using quantitative and qualitative methods.

The findings indicate that while membership of a VLC offers new opportunities for collaboration, learning and working at a time and place that suits individuals it also offers many challenges. The following issues were identified as having an impact on effective participation in the VLC: motivation; time management; public/private boundaries; work/life balance; and access to ICT.

There are limitations in generalising from a particular case study. The use of a case study provides a depth to the study that helps to illuminate the experiences of individual e‐learners.

The findings have strategic implications for organisations planning to use VLCs to support workforce development. The study indicates the need for facilitators to enable participants to explore time and work/life balance issues. It highlights the importance of involving the managers of e‐learners in the negotiations involved in establishing a VLC. Finally, the study identified that employers need to provide protected time for e‐learners and that access to technology is an issue.

The research has value to managers who are considering using VLCs as a means of enhancing workforce development.

Electronic publishing (EP) is taken to mean the collection, storage, manipulation and distribution of information held in electronic form, and consumed via a computer VDU screen. EP and computer‐mediated communication (CMC) systems are potentially powerful educational tools offering advantages like amplifying teacher and student input, encouraging a resource‐based, transactional approach to learning, providing experience of computer‐supported cooperative working (CSCW), and enhancing students' feedback and self‐monitoring. ‘JIMMY’, an electronic publishing and communication environment on a Vax minicomputer at Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh, and its use by arts, business and health care students and staff, is described. Work in progress includes providing remote access from clinical placement sites and evaluating the use of CMC for information management education.