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The purpose of this study is to describe the nature and operations of schools commonly regarded as “Miracle Examination Centres (MECs)” in Nigeria, through the lens of stakeholders in education. This study also assessed stakeholders’ perspectives on the possible solutions to the problem of MECs.

The study design was a stakeholders’ approach involving 39 key actors within the examination system from northern and southern Nigeria. The stakeholders comprised people from the Ministries of Education (MoE), Examination Councils (EC), school owners and teachers, security agencies and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) who were invited to interact, interrogate and debate the subject of MECs in Nigeria. Using thematic analysis, recurrent themes were identified from the data and used for a narrative synthesis of the findings.

MECs may attempt to circumvent quality assurance and regulatory requirements and may find support from prominent leaders and members of the communities through a wider informal economy. Interventions against MECs might only yield incremental results and must involve various groups like CSOs, anti-corruption agencies, EC and faith- and community-based groups. These interventions will be even more effective if the MoE will strengthen its integrity and improve its monitoring and regulatory functions without political interference.

This paper revealed that improving examination integrity and building a solid and reliable secondary educational level in Nigeria will be achieved through the combination of horizontal and vertical approaches that involve local actors and those in authority.

The purpose of this study was to describe teacher candidate perceptions of the influence of solution-focused brief coaching (SFBC) sessions on movement toward self-identified outcomes. The SFBC approach emanated from the London-based organization BRIEF: The Centre for Solution Focused Practice (BRIEF, n.d.).

This qualitative study engaged ten participants in two SFBC sessions. In the first coaching session, participants identified a “preferred future” and described what would be happening when it came to fruition. Coaches employed SFBC elements such as the “miracle question,” scaling questions, descriptions of strengths and recognition of resources already in place (Iveson et al., 2012). In the second session, following coaching, participants shared their perceptions and experiences of the SFBC process.

All participants reported movement toward desired outcomes, and their perceptions of the SFBC process revealed five themes: an increase in positive emotion, enhanced self-efficacy, value in the co-construction of their preferred future, the coaching process as a catalyst for actualizing their preferred future and adoption of a solution-focused lens in other contexts.

This study answers the call for additional research in three areas: it provides data from completed SFBC sessions, examines participant follow-up on progress toward their preferred futures and provides insight regarding the coaching relationship dynamic. In addition, it provides qualitative findings for the SFBC approach, which have traditionally been dominated by quantitative results.

Employee gratitude is often associated with positive customer-related benefits. However, our understanding of employee gratitude is notably underdeveloped within the service literature. To address this issue, this study aims to position employee gratitude within the service profit chain (SPC) framework as a complementary mediator. Further, the authors empirically examine service climate as a central antecedent to employee gratitude and employee customer-oriented behavior as an outcome that triggers an internal and external reciprocal social exchange.

The examination of the research questions was done across two studies, using employee self-reported data (Study 1) and employee–customer dyadic data (Study 2). In Study 1, the authors investigate how employee gratitude mediates the relationship between service climate and customer-oriented behavior, with employee interpersonal influence functioning as a moderator. In Study 2, the authors examine how customer-oriented behavior, an outcome of Study 1, influences customer satisfaction and customer avoidance, with customer gratitude functioning as a mediator.

Results from both Study 1 and Study 2 support the proposed relationships. These studies contribute to the service literature by evaluating how and why employee gratitude functions as a significant factor in determining employee and customer behavior within the service context.

This work enriches the gratitude literature by empirically testing a novel theoretical perspective on employee and customer gratitude in service encounters. In doing so, the authors provide a more nuanced understanding of how internal and external processes are connected and potentially reinforced in SPC.

Examines the economy of Southeast Asia during the period 1997 to 1999 against a background of socio‐economic theory and a transition from disequilibrium to general stable and equilibrium conditions. Discusses solutions towards establishing self‐regulating mechanisms needed for a free, just and stable economy and society: reform of officially organized securities commodities and foreign exchange makets; reform of the public budget and budgetary policies; and reform of the foreign exchange system and internaitonal commercial and financial relations.

David Hartstein started KaBloom in 1998 with the goal of creating “the Starbucks of Flowers.” He successfully built brand recognition for the gardenlike shops, but problems plagued the young organization. Nearly three years and one recession later, KaBloom failed to live up to Hartsteinʼs forecast of exponential growth. This case has been designed for a graduate-level course in entrepreneurship/innovation. Students can compare franchising with other business models, examine the impact of organizational structure and leadership styles on business effectiveness, relate issues of supply chain management and logistics to environmental changes, and recognize the impact of innovation on business sustainability.

Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and shows that these are in many, differing, areas across management research from: retail finance; precarious jobs and decisions; methodological lessons from feminism; call centre experience and disability discrimination. These and all points east and west are covered and laid out in a simple, abstract style, including, where applicable, references, endnotes and bibliography in an easy‐to‐follow manner. Summarizes each paper and also gives conclusions where needed, in a comfortable modern format.

The Asian crisis, which exploded in Thailand in July 1997 initially, spilled to the other ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Philippines) and later it spreads to Korea and even crossing the continent to Russia and Brazil. The chronological pattern seems to indicate the contagious behaviour of the crisis. However, the sequential economic down‐turns that occurred in the Asia Pacific do look like a contagion effect. The idea that currency speculators contributed to the depth of the crisis is agreeable but to conclude that they are the roots of the problem would be misleading. This paper argued that the roots of the problems lie in current account deficit and loss of competitiveness, and moral hazard and over‐investment This paper also argued that the currency crisis is a symptom and not the cause of the Asian crisis.

WEST BERLIN has a population of 2.2 million and its public libraries in 1961 recorded a circulation of 6.3 million books. For an Englishman, who knows about library statistics of big cities in his own country, it must be difficult to understand why public opinion in Germany would consider a per capita circulation of not even three books something like a miracle. Of course this is no miracle, but the German observer might be led to think so because statistics of German public libraries show that—in relation to the population—figures are much smaller than those reported by public libraries in Britain.

IT was only a very few years ago that computers came into fashion, as it were. Firms, unfortunately denied the benefit of foresight, vied with each other in being the first in their respective fields to own a computer.