Search results

The pressure on the food industry and society as a whole to evolve towards more sustainable production and consumption has increased in recent years. There are a number of drivers that can help reduce environmental impacts including legislative instruments, retail marketing and consumer choices and demand. One driver that has received attention recently is the use of product labels, either on a single issue or on multiple issues (using omni‐labelling). The purpose of this paper is to report on a framework that emerged from a wider study exploring effective approaches to environmental labelling of food products.

Techniques for assessing the environmental impacts of food production were reviewed and a consultation was undertaken with industry and consumer experts to ascertain their views (using multi‐criteria mapping) on the practicality and efficacy of environmental labels.

The wider study found that although the science is not sufficiently robust to develop an outcome‐based, environmentally broad, omni‐label at this time, there is a role for environmental labelling in conjunction with other initiatives to improve the sustainability of food production and consumption. The framework presented aims to support this role and help improve the practicality and efficacy of environmental labels. It provides a series of interrelated guidelines which provide a basis for developing more effective, robust, credible and practical environmental labels for food.

The framework can be used to design new, or evaluate existing labelling schemes and to identify opportunities for improvements. The process is illustrated with an application to four existing schemes.

Eco‐labelling of food products is gaining interest globally, but there are numerous issues that need to be fully understood in order to develop credible and robust labelling systems.

Existing research on the early careers of graduates has provided some useful information but has also suffered from several limitations. It has not examined the full range of graduate experiences, nor has it investigated differences between organizations or stages in early career. Reports a study designed to overcome these and other limitations. Presents data concerning the reported experiences of 797 graduates in the first three years of their careers with eight substantial UK‐based recruiters of graduates. The most pervasive finding is that graduates’ experiences varied a great deal between organizations. Thus it is important for managers and researchers to evaluate individual organizations rather than using aggregated data. Nevertheless, some general statements can be made. Graduates felt their social relationships at work were harmonious, but this co‐existed with less than adequate performance feedback from bosses, and some negative opinions about colleagues. They tended to feel that career prospects in the organization were fairly attractive, but were unsure about exactly what paths were available, or how to get onto them. Graduates generally did not feel their work taxed their skills, but it nevertheless developed them, and offered considerable autonomy. Training courses were rated quite positively, but some doubt was expressed about the overall planning of training and development. Organizational systems were seen as neither helpful nor obstructive. Perceptions of the adequacy of pay and benefits varied greatly between companies. With increasing tenure, graduates’ work involved more decision making and supervision of others, but not more autonomy or visibility within the company. Training was perceived more positively in the first year than subsequently. Graduates did not become clearer about career paths with increasing tenure. Overall these results paint a complex and differentiated view of graduate experiences at work. Some trends identified in other work are confirmed, but others are not. Specific areas of concern are identified. The data provide a benchmark against which other organizations can be compared.

Identifies the degree of satisfaction in the early employment experience of general commercial graduates in UK retailing, and examines the level and causes of dissatisfaction from both sides in the employment relationship using a gap analysis model. Concludes that there is a difference between short‐ and long‐term needs. Short‐term needs are more easily satisfied than longer‐term needs. Employers are able to select graduates with high levels of transferable skills; the graduates in turn benefit from early job responsibility and well‐developed training and development programmes. The business need for accelerated performance levels induces a responding desire for rapid career progression and job fulfilment in graduates. A changing environment with resultant organizational restructuring means graduates now find career paths blocked as the needs of the business take precedence in the longer term. This can result in high levels of graduate turnover.

The Graduate Development Project involved a close examination of graduate development in eight UK‐based companies over a three‐year period. Questionnaire data were obtained from a total of 1,189 graduates in the first few years of their careers, and 677 of their managers. The latter stages of the project involved company‐specific development work of various kinds. Key findings are reported concerning graduates′ experiences, attitudes and self‐rated competences. These are compared and contrasted with their managers′ views. Differences between companies, and between graduates at different stages of early career, are examined. The graduate experiences which most powerfully influence outcomes such as organizational commitment are identified. The impact of the project on the management of graduate development is discussed.

Aims to identify the need for graduate skills in the UK retail sector, and to assess the role that higher education currently plays and can potentially play in meeting these. Uses semi‐structured interviews with managers and graduates of six of the major companies, which demonstrate transferable skills dominate their skill needs. Finds that their need for demonstrated intellect and technical skills is small, and that vocational courses/course content play a definite role, but attributes required are not directly related to specific subject knowledge. Discovers that owing to competitive market place pressures, industry increasingly expects HE to play an active role in providing required skills. Claims that a lack of consensus on the extent to which HE can be held accountable for providing these skills is apparent, and that a clearer strategy for the use of graduate skills is needed, in view of the fact that HE serves a variety of different stakeholders in society with different value systems and objectives.