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This study examines the impact of the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on small business in Australia in the context of the experiences faced in similar countries overseas. Using a case study methodology, data was gathered from six small businesses that were observed throughout the introductory period of the new tax system. In particular, this article considers the costs for small businesses in complying with the new tax system. Businesses reported actual GST compliance costs ranging from $3,331 to $30,140 per business in the cases examined. For the two smallest businesses, their compliance costs amounted to over 3% of the firm's reported annual turnover. The study also identified significant on‐going record keeping and accounting costs that are required by small businesses in order to meet their GST obligations. These findings indicate that governments need to be more aware of the impact of tax reforms on small businesses if they wish to implement changes with minimal adverse impacts on business operations.

A survey of young microfirms was conducted to investigate their growth intentions. The findings confirm the distinct profiles of four types of firms categorized on the basis of current and future employment: Lifestyler, Entrepreneur, Manager, and Mover. They differ in terms of the owner's perceptions of the desirability and practicality of growing their firm, and with respect to the moderating variables of industry affiliation, business location, and investment level. Research issues and service implications for business support agencies are identified.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a form of distance education courses. They have been celebrated as revolutionizing the way learners access education and the way colleges and universities could expand education on a global scale beyond their traditional campuses. The purpose of this study is to identify the pedagogical strategies used for instruction and assessment in leadership-oriented MOOCs and gain a more refined understanding of the current state of MOOCs in leadership education. This study examines 96 leadership MOOCs across the platforms of Coursera, EdX, FutureLearn, Canvas.net, and Standford Online through a content analysis research framework. The study concludes with a discussion of leadership MOOC pedagogy and presents the current state of MOOCS among leadership education and professional development.

This paper aims to explore and test the relationship between emotion recognition skill and assessment center performance after controlling for both general mental ability (GMA) and conscientiousness. It also seeks to test whether participant sex or race moderated these relationships.

Using independent observers as raters, the paper tested 528 business students participating in a managerial assessment center, while they performed four distinct activities of: an in‐basket task; a team meeting for an executive hiring decision; a team meeting to discuss customer service initiatives; and an individual speech.

Emotion recognition predicted assessment center performance uniquely over both GMA and conscientiousness, but results varied by race. Females were better at emotion recognition overall, but sex neither was related to assessment center performance nor moderated the relationship between it and emotion recognition. The paper also found that GMA moderated the emotion recognition/assessment performance link, as the former was important to performance only for people with low levels of GMA.

The results seem to contradict those who argue that E‐IQ is an unqualified predictor of performance. Emotional recognition is not uniformly valuable; instead, it appears to benefit some groups more than others.

The paper clarifies the emotional intelligence literature by providing further support for the predictive validity of emotion recognition in performance contexts, and by separating out how emotional recognition benefits certain population groups more.

David M. Gordon advanced labour economics with his theory of labour market segmentation, in which jobs rather than the marginal productivity of individual workers were the unit of analysis. He advanced economic historiography and macroeconomics by conceptualising social structures of accumulation – a framework built on the foundation of his institutionalist training and enriched by his study of Marxist economics. By appropriating methods from other social science disciplines into econometrics, he augmented empirical analysis in economics. He was a founding member of the Union of Radical Political Economics and its journal, the Review of Radical Political Economics – that advanced and promoted heterodox, radical, and Marxist economists in the United States. His contributions to economics, to organised labour, and to the New School for Social Research, where I studied with him, were stunning.

Part 1 lays out some context about the New School Graduate Faculty where Gordon taught. Part 2 explores what historical forces, including his family, led to his expansive creativity. Part 3 summarises how he expanded labour economics to include the relations as well as the technology of production, linked his understanding of the production process to a historical materialist view of labour in the United States, then extended that to econometric analyses of the US macroeconomy. Part 4 presents a bibliometric analysis to provide some idea of the impact of his work. I end with some concluding remarks.

The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.

Little attention has been paid to prospective customers who defect before buying. This paper examines the almost customer phenomenon. It reviews literature on service quality, customer satisfaction, retention, relationships, loyalty and defection. It also categorizes the causes of almost customer experiences into a series of themes. The almost customer phenomenon and its effects are presented in the context of implications for managers and for future research. The almost customer phenomenon may appear to be a study of early customer defection, but the almost customer defects before buying. The customer defection literature assumes that a firm has attracted customers. But, not every attempted transaction leads to a purchase. Sometimes, elements of the interaction have an impact on whether or not the individual buys. This paper examines defection before a customer becomes a customer. Reducing the incidence of almost customer episodes represents an opportunity for firms to optimize growth and profitability.

A contributor to the Financial Times recently observed that the rise of the package has temporarily outstripped the rise of the “ profession or calling ” of packaging. It was for this reason that the Institute of Packaging organised the very interesting exhibition held at Olympia during the third week of January. The packaging of foodstuffs was necessarily one of the most important sections of the Exhibition—for reasons which are not hard to grasp. Not only has the consumption of bottled beer outstripped draught sales from barrels, but a whole host of foods have moved and continue to move into the domain of packed merchandise. For the moment it will suffice to mention sugar, flour, confectionery, bread, butter, cheese, bacon, vegetables, fruit, and even (occasionally) meat and fish. It has been estimated that the grocery trade sells nearly 80 per cent of its goods in packages. For the consumer, the packaging of food promises quality, purity and freshness, and, within certain limits, full weight and measure. In self‐service retailing, of course, the package is all‐important. Not only does the appearance of the package and its label take the place of the salesman in the retail shop, but the wrapping must also be a barrier which will be a safeguard against excessive evaporation, without inducing mould growth, and against decomposition and stateness. Conditions of moisture, humidity, temperature and pressure may be critical for the preservation of foods in the best possible state. There are dangers arising not only from the effect of the packaging material on the food but also from the reverse influence of the food on the container.