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Research into management information, control and decision‐making in small businesses appears on the surface to be contradictory. Some research suggests that small businesses have little management information, poor control and that decision‐making is ad hoc. Other research suggests that small businesses acquire effective information and control through informal means, and that decision‐making can be sophisticated. This research addresses these apparent contradications by conducting a longitudinal, in‐depth exploration of the management information and decision‐making processes in four service sector businesses that have recently broken through the micro‐enterprise barrier. Multiple sources of evidence were used to construct a longitudinal history of information provision and decision‐making in each case. These included taped, oral, accounts of each owner‐manager’s life, focused semi‐structured interview questions and documentary evidence. The quality of the data has allowed a cross case causal network to be constructed which synthesises the evidence. This traces the chains of causality from the informal systems at the start of the businesses through to the later developments of more formal systems. This leads to a consideration of implications for small businesses, practitioners and policy makers.

Activity‐based costing (ABC) data have the potential to inform a wide range of management decisions. Recently the term Activity‐based management (ABM) has emerged to describe any application of ABC data, but there is currently no framework which pulls together the disparate strands of potential uses. We have conducted a systematic review of internationally reported ABC applications to produce an integrated and comprehensive ABM framework for management decision making. Traditional methods of costing are critically evaluated as a precursor to explaining the ABC model. We go on to illustrate our ABM framework with case examples.

The purpose of this paper is to appraise local absent without leave/missing persons policy in use across the nine NHS mental health trusts providing services across the Greater London region.

A review of the literature on best practice management was conducted, evidence collated and an appraisal tool produced. This tool was used to systematically appraise individual policies.

Despite some core consistency in policy, there was some notable variability in guidance. Novel and unique approaches to management were also identified.

It is recognised that policies often arise from pragmatic approaches using local multi-agency agreements and therefore some variability across London was expected. It is also recognised that the audit tool produced is unvalidated but does reflect the best available evidence.

The authors have shown policy variability in the management of what is a common psychiatric problem across a relatively homogenous population. Standardisation of policy is likely to improve the efficiency in managing these incidents as well as encourage sharing of innovative practice. The authors also illustrate practical implications for local policy benchmarking in the absence of clearly defined national standards.

This study has shown the variability of policy in managing a common problem faced on psychiatric wards. It also highlights issues related to policy development on a local and regional level.

To provide an in-depth survey and review of innovation in library and information services (LIS) and to identify future trends in innovative research and its practical application in the field.

An in-depth review and summation of relevant literature over the last twenty years, along with an analysis and summary of the other papers in the volume.

Innovation in library and information work varies between the evolutionary and the discontinuous. A taxonomy of innovatory approaches to development and provision in the sector is provided, along with a detailed listing of the key elements of successful and not-so-successful innovative practice.

The work is dependent on existing literature rather than direct empirical work. However, because it draws together all major aspects of the topic, it has the potential to be used as a springboard for further generic studies and also specific programmes of work.

The need for innovation in LIS will be ever more pressing. The present chapter provides a necessary and rigorous overview of the necessary elements required for success in this area. It will be useful as a reference tool for intending researchers in library and information provision in a wide range of environments.

Because the chapter brings together a substantial body of information on the topic of innovation, it provides a comprehensive study of major developments and likely future trends in the field.

COVID-19 accelerated change within the UK retail market. It encouraged the growth of online shopping, providing the necessary demand for grocers to invest in their operations, and transformed the economics of their businesses. As innovative new business models emerged, some existing retailers collapsed leading to significant changes on the high street. Landlords were also affected. As some retail tenants struggled to pay their rents, other parts of the sector prospered and sought additional warehouse capacity to cope with rising demand. Not only does this illustrate how different parts of the retail sector faired during COVID-19, but it also demonstrates how the move online has resulted in the emergence of new opportunities.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

Presents 31 abstracts, edited by Johanthan Morris and Mike Reed, from the 2003 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, held at Cardiff Business School in September 2003. The conference theme was “The end of management? managerial pasts, presents and futures”. Contributions covered, for example, the changing HR role, managing Kaizen, contradiction in organizational life, organizational archetypes, changing managerial work and gendering first‐time management roles. Case examples come from areas such as Mexico, South Africa, Australia, the USA, Canada and Turkey.

This paper aims to explore how accounting is entwined in the cultural practice of popular music. Particular attention is paid to how the accountant is constricted by artists in art and the role(s) the accountant plays in the artistic narrative. In effect this explores the notion that there is a tension between the notion of the bourgeois world of “the accountant” and the world of “art for art's sake”.

This paper draws on the cultural theory of Pierre Bourdieu to understand how the character of the accountant is constructed and used by the artist. Particular attention is paid in this respect to the biography and lyrics of the Beatles.

Accounting and accountants play both the hero and the villain. By rejecting the “accountant villain”, the artist identifies with and reinforces artistic purity and credibility. However, in order to achieve the economic benefits and maintain the balance between the “art” and the “money”, the economic prudence of the bourgeois accountant is required (although it might be resented).

The analysis focuses on a relatively small range of musicians and is dominated by the biography of the Beatles. A further range of musicians and artists would extend this work. Further research could also be constructed to more fully consider the consumption, rather than just the production, of art and cultural products and performances.

This paper is a novel consideration of how accounting stereotypes are constructed and used in the field of artistic creation