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Part‐time work in Japan, as in other countries, is increasing as a form of paid work. There are, however, significant differences developing out of Japan’s gender contract. Employers have created a gendered employment strategy which has been supported by governments, through social welfare policies and legislation, and the mainstream enterprise union movement which has supported categorisations of part‐time workers as “auxilliary” despite their importance at the workplace. An analysis of one national supermarket chain indicates that part‐time work as it is constructed in Japan does not challenge the gendered division of labour but seeks to lock women into the secondary labour market.

Increases in the number of jobs for part‐time workers has had little impact on the rate of unionisation for part‐time workers, the majority of whom are women. The argument run by union officials in Japan is that women, and thus part‐time workers, are not interested in industrial issues. This study explores an alternative explanation which is that union officials and “core” male workers are excluding women and part‐time workers in order to protect their own privileged position. Whilst it is acknowledged that the organisational structure of enterprise unions makes it difficult to incorporate the needs of part‐time workers, it is the attitudes of “core” male workers and union officials to women as paid workers that is the major hurdle to the non‐unionisation of part‐time workers. For women and part‐time workers there is no power in the union.

Rich research discussion that occurs at conferences is rarely made accessible after the event. This paper aims to report on two “equality diversity and inclusion” (EDI) conferences held in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2008 and 2011. It summarises, compares and contrasts the processes and content of the conferences as well as identifying research trends and suggesting future research directions.

Text from the abstracts and transcribed audio recordings of conference discussions and presentations were analysed for similarities and differences. Two of the authors completed individual analyses of each of the conferences before reaching consensus on the overall themes.

Enduring EDI concerns over the two conferences were: identity, change practices and context. At the 2008 conference, three linked categories permeated discussion: methodologies, identity and practices for effective change. Over the intervening three years, research volume grew and differentiated into speciality areas. At the 2011 conference, methodological enquiry was less visible, but was intertwined through content areas of differentiated identities (sexuality, ethnicity, and gender), roles (leadership and management) and context (country, sport, and practice).

This paper distils research trends from two conferences and suggests directions for research.

The paper provides a bounded overview of developments and changes in the EDI sub‐discipline. Rich research discussion often occurs informally at conferences but is not made widely available. This paper aims to share conference discussions, research trends and potential directions for research.

As a result of the changes caused by the preparation of foods gradually passing out of the home into the hands of manufacturers, there has arisen an absolute need for a complete supervision of the public food supplies. A supervision which shall place some limit upon the substitution of cheaper and inferior methods and dangerous materials in place of the standard formerly used in our homes.

This monograph contains abstracts from the 2005 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, 6‐7th September 2005

Many companies are increasing their expenditure on information technology and information systems (IT/IS) to obtain or even sustain a competitive advantage in their respective marketplaces. Many managers, however, are often left with the quandary of how to evaluate their investments in technologies. Reasons of this difficulty have been suggested in the normative literature as centring on the socio‐technical (human, organisational and technical) dimensions associated with the adoption of IT/IS. The inability of managers to determine the true costs of deploying IT/IS is considered attributable to a lack of knowledge and understanding of IT/IS related costs. In developing a broader picture of such cost dimensions and their respective taxonomies, the research presented in this paper uses a structured case method to gain an understanding of how a construction firm embraced the IT evaluation process. A review of the IT cost literature is presented and a conceptual IT evaluation framework that focuses on indirect costs is proposed.

The most marked example of progress in marketing communications is the emergence of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). Many organizations now consider IMC to be a key competitive advantage of marketing. This paper reviews the developmental progress of IMC. Now, just a few years into the 21st century, IMC is entering a critical period, with many businesses – and the agencies that service their needs – apparently enmeshed in the first stages of IMC development. The early promise that IMC offered seems to be fading, unless organizations start to take it seriously, even when faced by the realities of organizational exigency.

In its passage through the Grand Committee the Food Bill is being amended in a number of important particulars, and it is in the highest degree satisfactory that so much interest has been taken in the measure by members on both sides of the House as to lead to full and free discussion. Sir Charles Cameron, Mr. Kearley, Mr. Strachey, and other members have rendered excellent service by the introduction of various amendments; and Sir Charles Cameron is especially to be congratulated upon the success which has attended his efforts to induce the Committee to accept a number of alterations the wisdom of which cannot be doubted. The provision whereby local authorities will be compelled to appoint Public Analysts, and compelled to put the Acts in force in a proper manner, and the requirement that analysts shall furnish proofs of competence of a satisfactory character to the Local Government Board, will, it cannot be doubted, be productive of good results. The fact that the Local Government Board is to be given joint authority with the Board of Agriculture in insuring that the Acts are enforced is also an amendment of considerable importance, while other amendments upon what may perhaps be regarded as secondary points unquestionably trend in the right direction. It is, however, a matter for regret that the Government have not seen their way to introduce a decisive provision with regard to the use of preservatives, or to accept an effective amendment on this point. Under existing circumstances it should be plain that the right course to follow in regard to preservatives is to insist on full and adequate disclosure of their presence and of the amounts in which they are present. It is also a matter for regret that the Government have declined to give effect to the recommendation of the Food Products Committee as to the formation of an independent and representative Court of Reference. It is true that the Board of Agriculture are to make regulations in reference to standards, after consultation with experts or such inquiry as they think fit, and that such inquiries as the Board may make will be in the nature of consultations of some kind with a committee to be appointed by the Board. There is little doubt, however, that such a committee would probably be controlled by the Somerset House Department; and as we have already pointed out, however conscientious the personnel of this Department may be—and its conscientiousness cannot be doubted—it is not desirable in the public interest that any single purely analytical institution should exercise a controlling influence in the administration of the Acts. What is required is a Court of Reference which shall be so constituted as to command the confidence of the traders who are affected by the law as well as of all those who are concerned in its application. Further comment upon the proposed legislation must be reserved until the amended Bill is laid before the House.