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The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the national policy context for the development of higher apprenticeships (HAs) and discuss the initial vision and rationale for the University of Derby Corporate's (UDC) High Impact Apprenticeship project.

A critical evaluation of historical policy developments is undertaken outlining the potential for the development of a highly skilled workforce for businesses across all sectors. An embedded case study articulates the application of this learning to emergent thinking on the evolution of a framework and infrastructure to support the development of HAs.

Initial findings discuss the challenges to be faced when developing flexible and sustainable frameworks and highlight areas of good practice encountered to date. UDC's recognised expertise in work‐based learning is applied in the context of curriculum development and specifically the development of the capacity and capability of work based tutors to support learners in the workplace.

Key areas for further investigation within a longitudinal study are identified, which will contribute to the academic discourse in the area and offer insights into the perspectives of the key stakeholders involved in HAs, with a view to identifying and disseminating best practice for all parties.

The paper will be of value to all key stakeholders in the HA partnership: providers, tutors, employers, as well as those charged with the governance of such developments, including Sector Skills councils and NAS.

The institutional work literature has paid little attention to cognition and interests in the creation, maintenance, and disruption of institutions. The purpose of this paper is to explore the construct of interests as it relates to institutional work projects. The authors frame interests as recognitions situated within broader institutional meaning systems, with a specific focus on interest plurality.

The authors conducted an 18-month ethnography exploring institutional work projects within a rural chamber of commerce. The authors aimed to understand how projects contributed to community survival on a micro-level and institutional change on a macro-level. Rural chambers of commerce represent a unique example of emergent public-private partnerships, challenging traditional commercial logics of chambers of commerce. The research design included qualitative data collection, coding, and analysis of field notes, interviews, and archival sources.

Purposive action was grounded in the community inhabited by the rural chamber of commerce and not the institution itself. Recognized interests enabled nontraditional workers – public employees with newly founded and legitimate roles within the chamber – to pursue community-focussed projects. Change across the institution of chambers of commerce occurred because of the separated and aggregate projects spanning across rural communities.

Recognized interests are a social, plural, and malleable phenomenon supporting situated agency and the co-creation activities embodied in institutional work projects. The authors contribute to the institutional work literature by introducing the idea of interest plurality and illustrating how the work of rural chambers of commerce captures contemporary forms of community organizing.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate rationales for integrated reporting (<IR>) adoption and factors that impact on the extent of adoption in the UK early adopter organisations. Diffusion of innovation theory was used as a guiding theoretical lens

The study was based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with 36 senior executives actively involved in IR in finance, sustainability, communications and legal functions within seventeen organisations. A content analysis of the interviews was undertaken using qualitative coding techniques within Nvivo 11 software.

Organisations drew on a wide range of rationales for adoption, with a predominance of sociological over economic rationales, both of which offered organisations a relative advantage over existing practices. Economically, <IR> emerged as an incremental process, which filled a performance gap is predominantly manufacturing and utility industries with significant impacts on the environment/society. Predominant sociological rationales were: external pressures, primarily due to perceptions of shifts in societal expectations; and internal aspirations relating to enhancing reputation. Findings also revealed that the <IR> framework was not fully adopted by the majority of organisations, primarily due to incompatibility with organisational requirements and/or perceived complexity of the framework.

This research study was limited by the small sample of organisations that participated, although significant efforts were made to ensure that the sample incorporated the majority of early adopter UK organisations who demonstrated best practice in <IR>.

Recommendations on how the adoption of <IR> may be further enhanced in the future are outlined.

Research that provides recommendations to inform policy and practice regarding how <IR> could be more widely adopted, and its practices further diffused, within organisations is important given <IR> has the potential to contribute to societal and environmental well-being.

This study is significant as research into <IR> adoption decision motivations and subsequent extent of adoption is scant, particularly in the UK. It responds to the call by Dumay et al. (2016) for <IR> researchers to engage more with practice. It further enriches prior research on the adoption of management innovations where an extensive body of innovation literature has focussed on the rationale for organisational adoption of management innovations but has neglected the subsequent extent of adoption.

Public access to European Union information has become an issue in European Union information policy. The Public Information Relay has been established in the United Kingdom in order to facilitate access to European Union information for the general public. This research project aimed to assess the effectiveness of the new Relay in facilitating public access to European Union information by interviewing some of the key personnel involved as well as other relevant individuals. Several criteria were set against which the potential effectiveness of the Public Information Relay was measured: the general public's opinion of the information they received; the Public Information Relay structure; the Relay members' commitment of resources to the Relay; the Relay members' participation in regional and national networks and the European Commission's commitment to the Public Information Relay. The research explored issues which are particularly relevant to an information provider catering to the needs of the general public.

Ink transfer means for printing machine. In GB patent 2278574 David Edward McManamon describes an ink transfer means for a printing machine. It includes an application roller to receive ink from an ink rail and transfer ink to print rollers for printing. A pair of wiper rollers are provided above and below the centre of the application roller and in close proximity to the surface. The wiper rollers are driven in opposite directions so that they effectively wipe the surface of the application roller. This prevents build up of ink and the associated ink misting, irrespective of the direction of rotation of the application roller.

This chapter offers insights into one of the most influential aspects of external branding, namely, branding within business-to-business (B2B) sales. In particular, the authors of this chapter claim that B2B sales are indispensable for the growth and existence of a brand. The special attention of this chapter is focused on sales personnel, as representatives of firms and carriers of branding. In other words, the impact of sales personnel on branding in a B2B context is presented theoretically and examined empirically. The chapter thereafter offers an interesting case study of Logomo, a cultural venue in Finland, specializing in selling customized space to companies, as well as organizing different kinds of public events. Through a combination of theory and practice, the authors demonstrate the importance of branding within B2B sales and conclude by providing specific implications for practitioners.

Reports of a number of countries imposing a limited ban on the use of D.D.T. have appeared from time to time in the B.F.J., but in the last few months, what was a trickle seems to have become an avalanche. In Canada, for example, relatively extensive restrictions apply from January 1st, permitting D.D.T. for insect control in only 12 agricultural crops, compared with 62 previously; there is a reduction of maximum levels for most fruits to 1 ppm. Its cumulative properties in fat are recognized and the present levels of 7 ppm in fat of cattle, sheep and pigs are to remain, but no trace is permitted in milk, butter, cheese, eggs, ice cream, other dairy products, nor potatoes. A U.S. Commission has advised that D.D.T. should be gradually phased out and completely banned in two years' time, followed by the Report of the Advisory Committee on Pesticides and Other Toxic Chemicals recommending withdrawal in Britain of some of the present uses of D.D.T. (also aldrin and dieldrin) on farm crops when an alternative becomes available. Further recommendations include an end to D.D.T. in paints, lacquers, oil‐based sprays and in dry cleaning; and the banning of small retail packs of D.D.T. and dieldrin for home use in connection with moth‐proofing or other insect control. The Report states that “domestic users are often unaware that using such packs involve the risk of contaminating prepared food immediately before it is eaten”.