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The use of celebrities, and particularly athletes, to influence consumers and sell products is not a new practice, but one that is gaining considerable steam in the sports marketplace. However, many academics and practitioners have long questioned the means by which celebrity endorsement is measured and evaluated. Through the use of validated surveys among US students and the inauguration of the Celebrity-Hero Matrix (CHM), some of their questions are answered. Being labelled a 'heroic' athlete does, it seems, have tremendous power for marketers, and provides endorsement clout for the athlete.

Standards are important in all areas of library automation. Standards will facilitate the linking of different types of systems within one library as well as systems that perform similar functions in different libraries. Stephen Salmon (Carlyle), George Sidman (INLEX), Richard Woods (Biblio‐Techniques), Mike Monahan (Geac), Richard Goldberg (CLSI), Stephen M. Silberstein (Innovative Interfaces), and M.E.L. Jacob (OCLC) express their views on existing standards, and the need for and probable course for developing additional standards.

Belbin′s Self‐Perception Inventory (SPI) has become a standard trainers′ tool. Interplace II has developed the original concepts, ironed out the weaknesses of the SPI and made progress in the field of team building. Examples are given of the specific assistance that can be obtained from the program, together with useful pointers for new users.

Over the last years several computer‐based psychometric tests have become available. They are offered as packages for purchase or as part of a bureau service. Describes one of the most popular – Interplace III, based on Meredith Belbin′s work on effective teamwork. Interplace III, available on IBM‐compatibles, allows managers to assess individuals and make up their minds on how best teams can be structured. Used intelligently it provides a tool for selection, assessment and career guidance.

Government reforms have seen shifts from rules-based to principles-based risk regulatory governance. This paper examines the effects of principles-based risk regulatory reforms on public sector risk management (RM) and management control practices in public sector organizations (PSOs).

The principles-based regulation focuses on providing autonomy to PSOs while maintaining control over their actions without direct intervention. This resonates with Foucault's notion of how modern forms of governments operate. The research is informed by Foucault's concept of governmentality. The authors conducted a qualitative field study of an Australian PSO, gathering and analysing data from interviews, focus groups, and archival documents.

The findings show the capillary modes by which principles-based risk regulatory regime penetrates and works with management control practices in pursuit of regulatory goals within the PSO the authors studied. In addition, the authors find that the principles-based approach (focusing on autonomy) and rules-based approach (focusing on control) are not opposites in kind and effect but rather, autonomy should be understood as a central pillar of control. Furthermore, the findings show how cultural controls and formal controls are not in conflict but are interconnected in RM practices, with cultural controls providing control architecture for RM and formal control translating the control architecture into routines. Finally, the study provides insights into how enterprise risk management (ERM) provides capabilities for and routinizes RM practices in a PSO and the management control systems (MCS) that enabled this to occur.

The paper provides novel insights into how MCS are infiltrated, mobilized and deployed to enact principles-based risk regulatory reforms. These insights are useful for regulators, practitioners and researchers.

In the 1970s there was a growing realisation of a need to prepare young people for work. It was hoped by many that public policy initiatives in vocational preparation would enable Britain to catch up with the more systematic youth training practices of its European neighbours. Ironically, the development of vocational preparation has really been fostered by the employment crisis of the 1980s. As unemployment began to climb in the late 1970s and surged in the early 1980s, the scale of training measures, paid out of public funds, likewise expanded. The YTS programme is a product of these trends.

Youth unemployment is one of the most serious problems of the early 1980s. In 1981 one in six youngsters under 18 years old were looking for jobs. As the problem has worsened the emphasis of public programmes has shifted from attempts to reduce the level of unemployment to the provision of training alternatives to employment, such as the Youth Opportunities Programme (YOP) and the Youth Training Scheme (YTS). At present, the Government is committed to employer‐based, on‐the‐job training for school leavers.

This paper aims to provide a critical assessment of existing links between risk management systems (RMS) and performance management systems (PMS) through a general review of the literature.

The research approach consists of a literature review, aimed at highlighting the “points of contact” between RMS and PMS along three main dimensions: scope of the system, measurement and ownership.

Key papers and books published in the field are examined. Based on this review, an assessment of similarities and potential synergies between RMS and PMS is offered. In addition, possible avenues for future research are discussed.

The paper provides managers with useful insights on pros and cons of integrating RMS and PMS. It highlights possible instruments and organizational arrangements that could be exploited by practitioners to connect the two systems and discusses the implications of different possible configurations.

Whilst the professional literature is loaded with illustrations of RMS and PMS as “integrated” solutions, this issue has been only partially addressed by the academic literature that generally focuses on one of the two systems. Hence, the study overall contributes to enrich the knowledge of the relationship between performance and risk management by mapping how and where the two systems are linked.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relations between perceived business uncertainty (PBU), use of external risk management (RM) consultants, formalisation of RM, magnitude of RM methods and perceived organisational outcomes.

This paper is based on a questionnaire survey of members of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in the UK. Using AMOS 17.0, the paper tests the strength of the direct and indirect effects among the variables and explores the fit of the overall path model.

The results indicate significant and positive associations exist between the extent of PBU and the level of RM formalisation, as well as between the level of RM formalisation and the magnitude of RM methods adopted. The use of external RM consultants is also found to have a significant and positive impact on the magnitude of RM methods adopted. Finally, both the extent of RM formalisation and the magnitude of RM methods adopted are seen to be significantly associated with overall improvement in organisational outcomes.

The study uses perceptual measures of the level of business uncertainty, usage of RM and organisational outcomes. Further, the respondents are members of a management accounting professional body and the views of other managers, such as risk managers, who are also important to the governance process are not incorporated.

This study provides empirical evidence on the impact of RM design and usage on improvements in organisational outcomes. It contributes to the RM literature where empirical research is needed in order to be comparable with the traditional management control system literature.