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There is noted emphasis on the role of small businesses as conduits for economic development especially in emerging economies. Given this, there is need for constantly seeking for ways to assist small businesses achieve success. Calls exist in the literature to investigate the combined role that strategy and human resource management practices can play leading to efforts of financial success.

A structured questionnaire was utilised and data collected from 401 small businesses operating in the Eastern Province of South Africa. Pearson product–moment correlation and hierarchical regression were used in the data analysis.

The results confirm that a direct relationship exists between strategy and financial performance. Further, the relationship is made significant only through the mediation effect of human resource management practices.

To fully realise the enactment of strategy within small businesses there is need to pay attention to the role that human resource management practices may potentially have on financial performance. Small business owner-managers need to ground their strategies with sound human resource management practices. Through this, firm financial performance can be attained.

The paper sheds light and presents a model that illustrates the mediating role of human resource management practices on the relationship between strategy and financial performance.

This paper aims to analyse trends related to hotel investment in Canada and propose innovative practices for the financial management of hotels.

The foundation for this paper was laid during a well‐attended Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes (WHATT) roundtable discussion between industry leaders and hospitality educators in May 2012. Topics of hotel investment and financial management in Canada are discussed in the context of the theme for the 2012 Canadian WHATT roundtable and the strategic question: “What innovations are needed in the Canadian hotel industry and how might they be implemented to secure the industry's future?”

The paper outlines historic hotel investment patterns dating back to the 1980s and analyses the current investment climate. Out of 850 hotels sold in Canada during the first decade of this millennium, foreign investor participation was less than 10 per cent. Currently the foreign interest in hotel investment in Canada is increasing and hotel assets in the 100‐175‐room range are more popular.

The paper presents three innovative practical tools for strong financial management of hotels to optimise ROIs – profit sensitivity analysis, strategic revenue management and embracing historical low interest rates.

Although Canada has done well weathering the global financial storm, Canadian hoteliers should exercise due diligence in financial management. As the team of authors represents both the industry and academia, this paper will be of immense value to students, researchers, and educators, as well as practitioners.

Blues music is in the midst of its second revival in popularity in roughly thirty years. The year 1960 can be identified, with some qualification, as a reference point for the first rise in international awareness and appreciation of the blues. This first period of wide‐spread white interest in the blues continued until the early seventies, while the current revival began in the middle 1980s. During both periods a sizeable literature on the blues has appeared. This article provides a thumbnail sketch of the popularity of the blues, followed by a description of scholarly and critical literature devoted to the music. Documentary and instructional materials in audio and video formats are also discussed. Recommendations are made for library collections and a list of selected sources is included at the end of the article.

THE earliest catalogue of Cambridge University documents was compiled by Mr. William Rysley, in 1420. Most of the documents enumerated in this list are still extant. An interesting List of the Documents in the University Registry, from the year 1266 to the year 1544, was communicated to the Cambridge Antiquarian Society by the Rev. H. R. Luard, B.D., then University Registrar, on March 6th, 1876. From this, it appears that “The earliest document which the University possesses is so late as the year 1266. The earliest in the Record office is dated 16th July, 13 Hen. III., i.e. 1229. This is a permission to scholars of the University of Paris to come to England, and remain for purposes of study.”

This research aimed to identify cross‐cultural adjustment interventions to assist the personal wellbeing (psycho‐cultural) and cultural interaction (socio‐cultural) of managers on foreign assignments. Both pre‐departure and in‐country interventions were sought.

A questionnaire was employed and comprised two adjustment measures. Data were collected from 244 Australians in south‐east Asia working in two industry groups – manufacturing/industrial and financial/services. Exploratory factor analysis was employed to identify adjustment constructs. Pearson correlations, as well as ANOVAs and t‐tests, were employed to explore the effect of industry group, respondent group, number of cross‐border assignments, age and gender.

Eight adjustment interventions were identified and were labelled: quality of life awareness; host business and cultural awareness; family impact awareness; staff and business colleague awareness; home country networks; cultural reinforcement and support; cultural inclusion; and host language skills.

The research was limited to a specific business region, to one cross‐border manager cultural grouping and an exploratory technique was employed. Hence further work is needed to confirm the constructs and to assess the generalisability of the results to other business regions and to other cross‐border manager groups.

Whilst some important differences existed, the implications and value of the research may be evident in assisting psycho‐cultural problems such as anxiety and stress, and to encourage socio‐cultural interaction such as involvement in and with cultural environments and decreasing the potential for failed assignments.

This study aims to examine how customers’ perceptions of the quality and credibility of restaurants’ food safety information influence customers’ information adoption and, consequently, their trust in the restaurant and purchase intention. It also explores the moderating effects of customers’ food safety knowledge and health consciousness.

Participants were asked to read a food safety message from a chain restaurant’s website before taking a self-administered online survey. Using a cross-sectional design, a total of 526 valid responses were collected in the USA through Amazon Mechanical Turk. A two-step approach consisting of a measurement model and a structural equation model was applied to test the direct and indirect effects. Additionally, hierarchical regression models were developed to test the moderating effects.

Results show that perceived information quality significantly affects perceived information credibility and has a significant direct and indirect influence on information adoption. Furthermore, information adoption has a direct positive influence on customers’ trust in the restaurant and an indirect effect on purchase intention (full mediation effect of trust). Finally, the moderation effects of health consciousness and food safety knowledge were supported.

Restaurateurs can apply research findings to increase the likelihood that customers adopt their food safety information and to enhance customers’ trust and, consequently, purchase intention in restaurants.

Reflecting on framing theory and information processing theory, this study examines the ways that customers process restaurants’ food safety information by developing an original conceptual framework with strong empirical data support.

I now pass on to an aspect of calcium metabolism which is more topical, but probably more controversial. I refer to the incidence of calcium deficiency. By what means can we determine if people are getting enough, too much, or too little calcium? It is the last condition which concerns us. There are four standard methods. Each have their advantages and their disadvantages. They are (i) a clinical examination; (ii) a dietary survey; (iii) a radiographic examination of the skeleton ; (iv) A study of the calcium balance. (i) The clinical examination is the simplest, but it is the least sensitive method for determining either the early or the mild stages of calcium deficiency. The clinical signs are a softening and bending of the bones (osteomalacia), brittle bones liable to fracture, and tetany. These, however, are signs of late or advanced calcium deficiency, and failure to detect them does not imply that the subject is having enough calcium. Nevertheless, in this country osteomalacia and tetany due to a poor calcium intake have been reported. (ii) A dietary survey is the second method. Before the war several surveys were made, in this country and in America. From their findings there was agreement among reliable authorities that calcium deficiency was present in large sections of the population. Orr has divided the population of this country into six groups according to income. The three lower groups with a total population of over 22,000,000, he found, were getting insufficient calcium. It was shown first, that the consumption of the low calcium foods such as bread and potatoes was practically uniform throughout the classes, and secondly, that the consumption of the calcium‐rich foods, milk, eggs, cheese, green vegetables was low in the poorer classes and rose with income. As income increased the following improvements occurred—disease decreased; children grew more quickly; adult stature was greater; general health and physique improved. It may be argued, that the improvement in health in the higher income groups was due not to better food, but to better housing. This is not so. For, if people in the lower income groups are only given better food, their health approaches that of the higher income groups. Then there are the observations of Dr. McGonigle at Stockton‐on‐Tees. A slum clearance resulted in the removal of poor people to better houses and improved living conditions. The sickness rate increased. Why? Because the higher rents of the new houses prevented these people spending as much money on food as they did when they lived in the slums. Dietary surveys before the war, therefore, support the belief that many people in this country were getting too little calcium. As most of our staple foods have a low calcium content, it follows that the absence of hunger does not necessarily mean the absence of calcium deficiency. (iii) Radiographic examination of the skeleton is the third method. Unfortunately X‐rays of the bone density of the trabeculæ do not readily give an indication of its calcium content unless the decalcification is severe. If we may judge by thyrotoxicosis, where there is an increased loss of calcium from the body, X‐rays show the decalcification only in the most severe 25 per cent. of cases. Radiographic studies will detect however an excessive withdrawal of calcium from the skeleton, before such clinical signs as softening of bones, brittle bones, and tetany develop. In this country there is radiographic evidence of decalcification resulting from low calcium intakes. (iv) Finally there are the observations on the calcium balance. Earlier in this paper it was stated that a normal healthy person requires to ingest 0·55 gram of calcium daily to avoid persistently losing calcium from his skeleton. A daily dose of 0·55 gram calcium then produces calcium equilibrium, and intake equals output. It has also been stated that a daily intake of 0·8 gram is the minimum amount of calcium which will bring about the maximum storage. In other words no matter how much in excess of 0·8 gram calcium daily a healthy adult ingests, he will not store any more calcium than he would if he were taking 0·8 gram. These facts provide us with two means of determining whether calcium deficiency is present or not. Calcium deficiency is present if the figure for calcium equilibrium falls significantly below 0·55 gram daily. Calcium deficiency is present if more storage of calcium takes place with intakes above 0·8 gram daily, than at 0·8 gram daily. Is there any evidence from calcium balance studies in this country that calcium deficiency exists? There is evidence. I have just described the methods which are available for determining whether calcium deficiency is present or not. I believe, on the evidence obtained from all four methods, that, before the war, a large proportion of people in this country were taking too little calcium. I would like at this point to digress for a moment. There are certain people who would have us believe that clinical and radiographic evidence is essential to prove the presence of calcium deficiency. As I have explained, these methods only showed the advanced stages. I reply: “ Must we wait for secondary deposits in the liver, extreme emaciation, ascites, before diagnosing cancer ?”

Not many weeks back, according to newspaper reports, three members of the library staff of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London were dismissed. All had refused to carry out issue desk duty. All, according to the newspaper account, were members of ASTMS. None, according to the Library Association yearbook, was a member of the appropriate professional organisation for librarians in Great Britain.

This paper seeks to demonstrate the value of using social media to capture fashion trends, including the popularity of specific features of clothing, in order to improve the speed and accuracy of supply chain response in the era of fast fashion.

This study examines the role that text mining can play to improve trend recognition in the fashion industry. Researchers used n-gram analysis to design a social media trend detection tool referred to here as the Twitter Trend Tool (3Ts). This tool was applied to a Twitter dataset to identify trends whose validity was then checked against Google Trends.

The results suggest that Twitter data are trend representative and can be used to identify the apparel features that are most in demand in near real time.

The 3Ts introduced in this research contributes to the field of fashion analytics by offering a novel method for employing big data from social media to identify consumer preferences in fashion elements and analyzes consumer preferences to improve demand planning.

The 3Ts improves forecasting models and helps inform marketing campaigns in the apparel retail industry, especially in fast fashion.

THIS number will appear at the beginning of the Leeds Conference. Although there is no evidence that the attendance will surpass the record attendance registered at the Birmingham Conference, there is every reason to believe that the attendance at Leeds will be very large. The year is one of importance in the history of the city, for it has marked the 300th anniversary of its charter. We hope that some of the festival spirit will survive into the week of the Conference. As a contributor has suggested on another page, we hope that all librarians who attend will do so with the determination to make the Conference one of the friendliest possible character. It has occasionally been pointed out that as the Association grows older it is liable to become more stilted and formal; that institutions and people become standardized and less dynamic. This, if it were true, would be a great pity.