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The aim of the paper is to provide a framework for benchmarking firm performance (profitability) using panel data. Further, to illustrate how the estimation results can be used for simulation (what if?) exercises.

The authors apply the econometric techniques used in panel data to estimate profit functions, thereby enabling us to compute measures of firm efficiencies which can subsequently be used as benchmarking tools.

The results suggest that both large firms and those highly specialised, enjoy higher profit margins, whereas the more capital intensive a firm is, the lower is its profitability. As with previous studies there is strong evidence of the U‐shaped relationship between market share and profitability. The authors present an analysis of the distribution of firm efficiencies across industries as a whole, and by a number of industry groups.

Only a limited sample (with regard to the time span) of Australian firms is used. A major assumption of the procedure is that firm efficiencies are constant over time. Given the short time period used in the empirical application, this does not appear to be unrealistic.

The paper provides firms with easy‐to‐use tools with which to benchmark their performance relative to other firms, conditional on their base characteristics.

This is the first time that this type of benchmarking exercise has been applied to firm profitability using relatively simple panel data techniques: it will be of use to market analysts, managers and shareholders alike.

Local Government Board, Whitehall, S.W., 9th February, 1917. PUBLIC HEALTH (REGULATIONS AS TO FOOD) ACT, 1907. Amending Regulations with respect to Cream. SIR, I am directed by the President of the Local Government Board to transmit to you the enclosed copies of an Order which has been made amending the Public Health (Milk and Cream) Regulations, 1912.

The Professors of the Imperial College of Science and Technology have addressed to Lord Crewe, the Chairman of the Governors of the College, a memorial urging the necessity of the encouragement of science and of research. In commenting upon this document the Journal of Chemical Technology observes that “a satisfactory feature of the memorial is the recognition on the part of the signatories that scientific education should be on broad lines.” “We have always contended that an indispensable preliminary to a professional career should be a thoroughly sound general education. Whether or not the study of science is the best kind of study may be a debatable point, but it is certain that exclusive attention to science is thoroughly bad. A man's mind is narrow when he is unable to recognise the importance of things outside his own particular sphere of action, and it is precisely this state of mind that the exclusive study of science tends to produce. It is, therefore, the more necessary, in seeking to secure greater attention to scientific studies in the reform of our educational system, to take care that nothing be done which may curtail the period required for the acquisition of general knowledge. It is far better to delay than to hasten specialisation. A step in the right direction has been made when scientific men themselves state that they do not believe that “an education which includes good teaching of science need be a narrow education,” but we wish that this opinion had been positively rather than negatively expressed. The memorial refers to the “lethargy, misconception, and ignorance” of the public regarding national education. It is pertinent here to remark that when anything goes wrong and no particular individual or individuals can be held to be, or will acknowledge themselves to be, responsible, the “public” is blamed; the public being everybody with the exception of the denunciator and his friends. In the present instance the fault is not, even for the greater part, with the people. They are, naturally enough, interested in education only in so far as it is expressed in terms of school and college accounts and of wage‐earning capacity. Of the bearing that improvement in education and the advancement of physical science has on the welfare of the community the average man knows little and cares less. He has to be educated in the value of education. He is not, and probably never will be, interested in education as an abstract good. What interest he has in it is purely utilitarian. If he sees that the knowledge which he himself does not possess carries with it but doubtful prospects for the future, poor remuneration in the present and a social position little better than his own, he is unlikely to be impressed with the value of education. The fact is that there is a lamentable want of opportunity for the intellectual classes in this country and until this state of things is remedied the public will continue to display—and with every justification — “lethargy, misconception, and ignorance” in respect to national education.

In 1899 the medical practitioners of Dublin were confronted with an outbreak of a peculiar and obscure illness, characterised by symptoms which were very unusual. For want of a better explanation, the disorder, which seemed to be epidemic, was explained by the simple expedient of finding a name for it. It was labelled as “beri‐beri,” a tropical disease with very much the same clinical and pathological features as those observed at Dublin. Papers were read before certain societies, and then as the cases gradually diminished in number, the subject lost interest and was dropped.

The purpose of this paper is to present a language-agnostic approach to facilitate the discovery of “parallel passages” stored in historic and cultural heritage digital archives.

The authors explore a novel, and relatively simple approach, using a character-based statistical language model combined with a tailored version of the Basic Local Alignment Tool to extract exact and approximate string patterns shared between groups of documents.

The approach is applicable to a wide range of languages, and compensates for variability in the text of the documents as a result of differences in dialect, authorship, language change over time and errors due to inaccurate transcriptions and optical character recognition errors as a result of the digitisation process.

A number of case studies demonstrate that the approach is practical and generalisable to a wide range of archives with documents in different languages, domains and of varying quality.

The approach described can be applied to any digital archive of modern and contemporary texts. This makes the approach applicable to digital archives recording historic texts, but also those composed of more recent news articles, for example.

The analysis of “parallel passages” enables researchers to quantify the presence and extent of text-reuse in a collection of documents, which can provide useful data on author style, text genres and cultural contexts.

The approach is novel and addresses a need by humanities researchers for tools that can identify similar documents and local similarities represented by shared text sequences in a potentially vast large archive of documents. As far as the authors are aware, there are no tools currently exist that provide the same level of tolerance to the language of the documents.

Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way of using the law in specific circumstances, and shows the variations therein. Sums up that arbitration is much the better way to gok as it avoids delays and expenses, plus the vexation/frustration of normal litigation. Concludes that the US and Greek constitutions and common law tradition in England appear to allow involved parties to choose their own judge, who can thus be an arbitrator. Discusses e‐commerce and speculates on this for the future.

Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.

In view of the vital and essential part which the trade of this country must necessarily play in the winning of the war and in safeguarding the peace, it is comforting to know that at last it is beginning to be realised in official quarters that the only way to resuscitate trade and provide a substantial proportion of exports in payment of indispensable imports is to remove restrictions and barriers and to allow trade its natural freedom as far as possible. The lamentable lack of foresight and the inefficiency shown, immediately following the outbreak of war, in imposing pools and controls in all kinds of trades, has already been responsible for the loss of vast sums of money by the commercial interests of the country, and the time has come when experimental hindrances of this kind must be resisted. A special correspondent of The Times, in an excellent article referring to the pooling system, observes that the disappearance of a trade name from shops and hoardings may not strike the ordinary man as really important. But the manufacturer who produces and advertises branded goods guarantees in effect that consumers are supplied with goods of a recognised quality and at a fixed price. To the maker pooling means the loss of whatever goodwill is vested in his name or trade‐mark, to establish which in public favour may have cost him many years of effort and a large investment. The goodwill of British industry and trade is in large measure the sum of goodwill earned by hundreds of separate commodities. The absorption of branded goods in a common pool confronts business men with a problem which they should examine here and now in preparation for the day when trade reverts to its function of satisfying the needs of people living at peace. The problem is to maintain their goodwill in the interval. Much the same difficulties will have to be met by other firms—and possibly by whole industries—which, though their products are not pooled, have turned over from fulfilling peace‐time demands to direct participation in the national war effort. There are clothing manufacturers whose output is needed for the Services. Some businesses find their occupation gone because their raw material—it may be timber—is not now freely available. The production of electricity and gas is restricted by rationing. As the Government ould not look with favour on campaigns to increase sales of gas or electricity, the industries which supply them cannot very well advertise in the ordinary way. But what, then, is to become of “Mr. Therm,” who has been built up so skilfully and at some considerable cost as a model public servant? Publicity seems to be the answer to this problem of keeping goodwill alive. The managing director of a leading motor manufacturing company has made it known that that is the policy which his firm intend to follow while they are exclusively occupied in building aero engines. They will keep their name before the public by advertising, and they believe all makers of British cars should do the same, whether they are at present turning out private cars or not. Advertising is included among the legitimate and, indeed, essential activities classed as business development work, and is allowed as a trade expense before profits are calculated for taxation. It would be well for firms to think carefully before letting all their normal expenditure on business development lapse in war‐time. Ordinary trade has a vital part to play in the war, if only because it is out of profits alone that the revenues needed for fighting can be found. Though the times are difficult, new opportunities and markets will present themselves. Markets hitherto served by Germany are to‐day open to the British manufacturer, if the requisite arrangements for export can be made. At home, with the life of the people going on, new habits are forming, and with them new requirements. The trader who puts forth his best efforts during war‐time is helping his country, not hampering it. It is for the Government to ease his way by removing needless obstructions to normal trade; it is for business men themselves to face their problems with initiative and energy.