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The purpose of this paper is to assess the differences pertaining to the resources presently accessible for problem-based learning (PBL) among six colleges of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana.

Data for the study are the cross-sectional type drawn from 1,020 students. Poisson and zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) models were implemented on the data to ascertain the variations regarding the extent of resources available for PBL across the colleges of the university.

The study outlines the specific resources accessible for PBL across college levels of KNUST. On aggregate, 25.7 per cent reported that their respective colleges have sufficient resources, while 74.3 per cent indicated otherwise. The ZIP model exhibited superiority over the Poisson model, when compared under a Vuong test. As per the ZIP model, none of the colleges appeared to differ significantly in terms of having sufficient resource for PBL.

Findings are applicable to informed decision-making which targets achieving quality education through the use of PBL. Access to sufficient resources that meet the needs of colleges or departments of a University is emphasized.

The application of Poisson and ZIP models to aggregated count data in a PBL setting is novel.

The aim of this conceptual paper, predicated on a hermeneutic literature review, is to improve understanding of the nature of value continues to be extensively studied with its ability to create competitive advantage. Understanding what constitutes value improves corporate social responsibility (CSR) comprehension, including managerial CSR values. This paper aligns with studies into value and/or CSR, whether hermeneutic or otherwise.

This study provides a reflexively critical understanding of the value literature. It focuses on the “identifying” stage of a hermeneutic circle (identifying central terms, core journals and seminal authors). A hermeneutic helix is proposed to better reflect the need of constant re-interpretation of the relevant literature.

Themes include value location (value in exchange, value in use, value in meaning and value in context); architecture (pathways, constellations and networks); creation versus determination; and value types.

This paper neither seeks to define value nor delve into the overarching value discourses. It does, however, refer to the antecedents for these areas. As a hermeneutic literature review, it lacks empirical testing.

CSR practices are strongly influenced by personal values. Hence, CSR practitioners must identify the processes involved and differentiate between the sought value and value types.

The paper could engender better understanding gaps between stakeholder attitudes and practices, i.e. consumers self-identifying as “green” may not engage in ecologically sound practices. As discussed herein, the value sought by university students influences where (and what) to study.

Outdated notions such as value propositions are widely used; value may be proposed; however, only stakeholders can take value. What constitutes value is under-represented in the CSR literature. Hence, terms such as value and values (i.e. value types) are incorrectly used interchangeably.

The construction of real estate facilities in emerging markets can be challenging due to a variety of unique constraints rarely apparent to the uninitiated. The process of weaving a thread of efficiency in the disarray that exists, while keeping costs to a minumum can be both frustrating and time consuming. Developing market can pose seemingly insurmountable challenges in construction due to existing economic and financial considerations. A lack of infrastructure, complicated bureaucratic procedures, restricted foreign investment, substandard materials, building standards and design and a lack of competitive market forces are further obstacles to the sector. While a simple lease option may appear a more dependable solution, the financial and operational benefits of constructing a ‘Build‐to‐suit’ facility demand that corporates explore innovative solutions that neutralise the difficulties. The resultant strategy, however, has to be flexible enough to address the myriad possibilities of a company’s growth, its contraction or total withdrawal.

In the 1980s and beyond, key elements in the formula for bank retailing success will include people, place, plastic and machine strategies designed to effectively mix high‐touch and high‐tech operating modes in order to satisfy customer demand for time and place convenience. A scenario depicting the extensive delivery system of a fictional major multi‐state banking organisation that has evolved through a series of regional mergers and acquisitions (First Southeast Financial) attempts to speculate about the look of an overall delivery system in 1990, and how the operating mix elements will fit together.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.

The impact of the deregulation movement in the United States on commercial banks and other depository institutions is evaluated and their strategic responses to the intensification of non‐bank competition on the financial services industry are considered.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the interactions of the different actors – the state, multinational oil and gas companies, environmental advocacy groups and local people – in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

The paper draws on interviews, observations and focus group discussions, as well as on archival materials relating to the development of the oil and gas industry during the colonial period (i.e. pre-1960 Nigeria).

A cultural theory-based analysis of the environmental risk perceptions of the different actors reveals a profoundly unconstructive institutional configuration, in which the collusion of two “solidarities – the oil companies (individualism) and the state (hierarchy) – has led to the exclusion of the local communities (egalitarianism) who have found themselves impoverished and marginalised (fatalism). With these two “elephants” – individualism/hierarchy and egalitarianism/fatalism – pitted against each other, it has been the “grass” – the natural environment that has suffered.

Giving the local communities a stake in the wealth-creating process, from which they are at present excluded, would shift the pattern of inter-solidarity engagement from one in which two “active” (i.e. non-fatalist) voices silence the third to one in which each voice is able to make itself heard and is then responsive to the others.

Innovative and current on under-researched topic and geography. The main fieldwork was conducted between 2007 and 2008, with further field visits and updates between 2009 and 2013.

This article evaluates maintenance management in an electric utility setting. It begins with a historical review before discussing present pressures on management and the new importance of maintenance costs. It discusses remedial, preventive and predictive maintenance, and the implications of each one of these maintenance functions.

Without the stories, or narratives that organisations construct, there could be no social negotiation or sense making. A problem is that the narratives are often “too straight”, too simplistic and self‐serving to be helpful representations of reality. Most stories in organisations that are used to manage change efforts are too simple, and too much believed. They foster naive optimism that soon degenerates into cynicism. Stories are maps, but are often confused with the territories themselves. Some examples of stories or accounts of organisational change efforts that are straight, and how they might have been made more “crooked”, are discussed. Some suggestions on how leaders in organisations can become more thoughtful consumers of straight stories and make those stories more helpful maps to guide organisations through the turbulence of change are offered.

Robotics will revolutionize American manufacturing. The unmanned factory of the future will bring with it a new systems orientation to strategic planning and will, at last, make operations a part of the top management team.