Public sector pay: Comparability,no‐strike agreements,and ‘pendular’ arbitration

Leaving aside the disputes, like the miners’ and the teachers’, that have flared into the open, there is evidence of growing resentment within the public sector at the Government's pay policy (see page 9). This paper, an edited version of a speech to the CIPFA annual conference in June this year, suggests a way forward for both public and private pay.     

Learning Objectives and Testing: An Analysis of Six Principles of Economics Textbooks,Using Bloom's Taxonomy

This study applies Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives to six principles of economics textboks and the accompanying instructor's manuals to determine whether the test banks provided are likely to measure the textbooks' stated objectives. The study finds significant discrepancies between the stated objectives of most textbooks and the instruments included in the instructor's manuals to measure student achievement.     

Retailing strategy for customer growth and new customer attraction

The image that current and potential customers have of a retail store affects the magnitude of patronage at that store. In attempting to increase store patronage, management of a retail store must look to people who already are customers, as well as to people who are not current customers. The appropriate strategy depends upon the dimensions used by people in their evaluation of the store. The hypothesis is tested that the strategy used for gaining increased patronage from customers may have to differ from that used to gain patronage from noncustomers.Field survey techniques were used to collect data from 225 adult females. Respondents evaluated three large retail department stores, which were believed to have distinct images in the minds of female shoppers, on the basis of a set of 12 semantic scales that represented various store attributes. Each respondent indicated frequency of shopping at each store. The data were analyzed by two different multiple discriminant analyses. For the customer growth strategy, the semantic scale measures were used to develop a discriminant model for each store to determine which attributes would be the best predictors of shopping frequency. The analysis relevant to the strategy of new customer attraction differed. First, shoppers were classified as loyal to one store on the basis of their rates of shopping at each store. Second, the 36 attribute measurements (12 scales for 3 stores) were factor analyzed, and three factors were extracted. Those attributes which loaded highest on each of the factors for each store were used as predictor variables in the discriminant analysis.The results of this study indicate that different marketing strategies may be required for increasing sales to existing customers and attracting new customers. In addition, consumers do not necessarily differentiate similar type retail stores on the same dimension.     

Recreation research and planning in the federal republic of Germany: A commentary

Abstract

German recreation planning is strongly oriented toward the maintenance and provision of outdoor recreation areas. The rapidly growing consumption of outdoor recreation activities within a densely populated area has led to refined procedures of evaluating landuse potential and distributing outdoor facilities within environmental constraints. One such procedure is the use of attractivity models. Such models utilize a matrix of social, aesthetic, physical, and infrastructure attributes to arrive at a ranking of attractivity for given landscapes. The rankings are the basis of general landuse decisions and outdoor recreation investment procedures.     

Does Latin America Comprise Transnational ‘Subregions’?

We live in a world of nations, but also one of multi‐nation systems. These systems, or transnational regions, affect global economics, politics and diplomacy. Latin America is a widely recognised and documented transnational region. It contains subregional nation systems that might have all of the characteristics and significance of regions and might also affect the broader integration of Latin America. The author defines regionality on the basis of economic integration and measures it with two methods for Latin America, North America, three Latin American subregional systems and one arbitrarily defined nation system within Latin America. He finds a high degree of integration in Latin America, the Andean nations and the Southern Cone of South America. He finds only a modest degree of integration in North America and not significantly greater integration in South America than in Latin America. The division of Latin America into subregions is consistent with the incidence of sub‐regional trade initiatives in the past two decades and might be at least partly responsible for the limited progress to date towards Latin America‐wide integration. Latin American subregions might now be providing a foundation on which to build regionalism in the future.     

Ekistics,ecumenopolis and the wilderness

In this paper, threats to the world's wilderness areas are reviewed. The author argues for a global approach to this encroachment, so that countries struggling against adverse social and economic conditions are not forced to pay the price of mistakes made due to genuine ignorance or the greed of the more advanced nations. A classification of wilderness areas is given, and the threats facing them are outlined. The author then moves on to explain how ekistics, the science of human settlments, can be applied to the problem. In this way, he suggests, man's need to develop and the environment's need for protection can be united. The paper concludes with a plea for a multi-disciplinary approach and, more important, a general awareness that all environmental issues are related.