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Describes the approach taken by Whitbread plc to education/industry links, including detail of the structure, strategy and activities undertaken. The main objectives of the partnership are to ensure a balanced programme in terms of the benefits which are generated; equal benefits to Whitbread as to education and those in it. There are some key challenges for the movement as a whole, including proliferation of organizations, focus on quantity, and lack of focus on quality. A considerable review needs to be undertaken not only of the number of organizations, but also of funding based on targets. Universal work experience for all year 11 students is unnecessary and a barrier to the achievement of quality.

Suggests that the aim of cultivating closer links between education and business has become the accepted wisdom and practice in the UK over more than the past decade. The advantages of such education‐business partnerships are seen to be mutual, and most large and many smaller companies are now entering into them with immediate benefits to the local economy. Indeed one initiative by a larger company seeks to encourage smaller companies to become involved. It is becoming increasingly common for some evaluation to be undertaken of the effectiveness of such arrangements, but generally on a one‐to‐one basis. Presents an independent evaluation of one large company’s partnership from the perspective of the education side of the equation. Provides insights of the strengths and potential weaknesses of such arrangements, and makes suggestions as to how improvements may be achieved.

The aim of cultivating closer links between education and business has become the accepted wisdom and practice in the UK over more than the past decade. With delayering resulting in flat organizations, one way to retain the interest and motivation of staff is through encouraging links with the world of education, which is seen as having training value to company employees, pupils and education institute staff. The advantages of such education‐business partnerships are seen to be mutual, and most large and many smaller companies are now entering into them. Indeed, one initiative by a larger company seeks to encourage smaller companies to become involved. It is becoming increasingly common for some evaluation to be undertaken of the effectiveness of such arrangements, but generally on a one‐to‐one basis. What is presented here is an independent evaluation of one large company’s partnership from the perspective of the education side of the equation. Many insights are provided of the strengths and potential weaknesses of such arrangements, with suggestions made as to how improvements may be achieved.

This paper aims to examine the training system adopted at Whitbread, which manages businesses in the hotel, restaurant and coffee‐shop sectors, and employs 35,000 people to serve the 11 million customers who each month visit one of its 1,400 outlets across the UK.

The paper details the reasons for blending e‐learning and classroom‐based learning, and the benefits for employees and the company.

The paper reveals that using the tablet PC provides a flexible learning environment. The technology is mobile, allowing employees to maximize their productivity during working hours. Since implementation of the solution four years ago, more than 98,000 e‐learning courses have been completed, which has culminated in 4,587 days or 12.6 years of learning. Classroom‐based learning, allowing the employees to work on a live till system with a trained tutor, blended with e‐learning, enables the students to learn in both a practical and theoretical manner. For Whitbread, the training ensures that staff are legally compliant in the hospitality sector.

The paper contends that trainees' confidence levels at the end of the training are significantly increased.

The paper describes how, in order to cater for the large number of nationalities Whitbread employs, the housekeeping course was designed in nine languages. The course is highly multimedia‐oriented, including video, voice‐over and animation.

Describes the approach taken by Whitbread plc to education/industry links, including detail of the structure, strategy and activities undertaken. The main objectives of the partnership are to ensure a balanced program in terms of the benefits which are generated: equal benefits to Whitbread as to education and those in it. There are some key challenges for the movement as a whole, including proliferation of organizations, focus on quantity, and lack of focus on quality.

Research commissioned by the UK Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development described industry’s failure to evaluate its investment in management education and development as “nothing short of scandalous”. But in practice, it can be very difficult to quantify the benefit of training and management development and the measurement process can be as expensive as the training itself.

Underlines that the development of a new European market for a UK company has to be strategically planned. Examines the introduction to the Dutch market of a particular northern UK beer product, suggesting that the use of strategic tools and a traditional marketing plan is essential while the development of heuristic devices could point out the tactical path to follow.

Discusses, in this special issue, material grouped under four main headings: tomorrow’s executive challenges; effective organizational learning; the virtual university model; and effective training capabilities. The items included are brief and to the point allowing the reader to take on board ranges of ideas and issues. Includes studies on IKEA; mentoring; Whitbread; Polaroid; BAA; Sema Group; Starbucks and McDonalds, among others.

Whilst the traditional English public house still represents the largest part of the market, its share is falling with the introduction of themed branded establishments. The UK's pub retailers have over the past five years reacted to a developing society whereby attitudes towards leisure time, drinking, eating out, health and entertainment have changed. Through diversification, they have moved away from the traditional British public house towards branded outlets that are able to appeal to diverse consumer demands. The reasons for this diversification will be explored along with the brewers' response. Within this process of diversification is the matter of promotion and branding. The emphasis seems to be slowly moving away from the beer product of a particular brewer to a focus on the service providers' corporate image, name and reputation. In cases such as Whitbread and Bass, companies are introducing a hierarchy of brands that revolve around five issues: physical evidence, service delivery, process, people and quality. It is the customer's perception of these five attributes that will determine establishments' success. This paper critically analyses the reasons for success of pub branding with a link made between the nature of the “product” and customers' perception.

Whitbread plc′s cellar service function has overcome the obstacles which many organisations feel that the NVQ system presents. Criticisms about ″bureaucracy″ are often, and perhaps justifiably, made because employers are only shown the administrative side of the NVQ system. For large organisations which employ people in many different roles, the thought of dealing with perhaps 20 different industry lead bodies to implement 20 different quality assurance systems is understandably daunting. However, it is possible to have one common system throughout the organisation, regardless of the number of occupational roles involved. It is possible to contextualise and operationalise the system to meet an organisation′s requirements