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The independent retail sector is a sector defined as “at risk” at both the European and national (UK) level. A number of recent initiatives, from benefactors such as the European Social Fund (ESF) and the University for Industry (UfI) have identified training and development of this sector as a priority objective in terms of improving economic prosperity, competitiveness and employability. Seeks to review the training needs and the types of training and development currently available to this sector in terms of materials and learning delivery systems. The purpose of this review is to audit current provision and disseminate the findings for the benefit of educational institutions and training providers who are currently involved, or wish to be involved, in sustaining the independent retail sector through training and development.

Marketing is one of the key pillars of the successful management of an enterprise. For the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe, this had previously been a neglected aspect. The aim of this paper is to assess the development of marketing practice in the firms of one of those economies, the Czech Republic, between 1999 and 2003. It analyses the implementation of the Internet as amarketing tool and how Czech enterprises approach marketing and marketing strategy. With the accession of the Czech Republic and other formerly communist countries to the European Union in 2004, the importance of marketing to such firms cannot be overstated, if the benefits of the enlarged marketplace are to be realised fully.

The issue of retailing in rural areas has received relatively little attention in recent years. This article considers retail businesses in a remote, rural area, the Uist chain in the Western Isles of Scotland. Drawing on the marketing and retail strategy literatures, a “funnical” model of rural retail strategies is developed, and examples of independent retail businesses that have adopted both market‐led and product‐led strategies are posited. These have ranged from a situation of “strategic stasis” within some retail organisations, where more “extensive” methods of running retail outlets have been adopted, through to various new development strategies. Overall, it is evident that retailers may mix strategic directions for their business within the specific geographic context that they are located. This appears to contrast with Jussila et.al. (1992: 192), who imply that their strategic alternatives are mutually exclusive and that the individual strategies are “spatially bound”. In the light of these findings, the article considers the implications presented for retailers in other rural areas of the UK.