Give Them Something to Smile About: A Marketing Strategy for Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers

Using a marketing perspective, this study investigates whether the issue of “fun at work” would appeal to volunteers as a part of an effort to enhance recruitment and retention. Specifically, we examined volunteers' attitudes toward fun, their perceptions of what kinds of activities are fun and what are not, and the relative importance of workplace fun in what they perceive as an ideal volunteer position. In general, we found that volunteers had positive attitudes towards fun and experiencing fun at work was associated with higher job satisfaction and lower turnover intentions. Although “a fun workplace” was ranked relatively low in importance relative to other reasons why they volunteer, creating such an environment could enhance retention. Some age and gender differences were found in the perceptions of whether certain activities are fun or not. The implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.     

Reviews

DEPRIVATION IN THE OUTER CITY.

Barke, M. and Turnbull, G. 1992: Meadowell: The Biography of an “Estate with Problems”. Aldershot: Avebury, £32.00 cloth.

CHANGING BOUNDARIES OF RACE.

Jones, Trevor. 1993: Britain's Ethnic Minorities. PSI,

£15.

ENTERPRISE IN ARCADIA?

Curran, J. and Storey, D. (eds), 1993: Small Firms in Urban and Rural Locations, London and New York: Routledge, £40, hardback.

MAKING CONNECTIONS.

Turok, I. 1993: Loose connections? Foreign investment and local linkages in “Silicon Glen” Strathclyde Papers on Planning, 23. Centre for Planning, University of Strathclyde, 50 Richmond Street, Glasgow, G1 1XN. £4.00, paper.

COWLEY: THE END OF THE LINE?

Hayter, T. and Harvey, D. (eds) 1993: The Factory and the City: the Story of the Cowley Automobile Works in Oxford. London: Mansell, £40, hardback.

UPDATING SECTOR APPROACHES.

Geddes, M. and Benington, J. (eds) 1992: Restructuring the Local Economy. Harlow: Longman, £22.00, paper.

BORN AGAIN LOCAL GOVERNMENT?

Hodge, M. and Thompson, W. 1994: Beyond the Town Hall: Reinventing Local Government. Fabian Pamphlet, £3.90.     

Cultural partnership: The old fire station arts centre, Oxford

This article explains the creation of a partnership between Oxford City Council and Apollo Leisure pic to develop with others a live music and arts centre in Oxford. It puts the development in the context of the City Council's arts and cultural policies and their economic impact. It explains the nature of the partnership, including the finances, management and programming, and the benefits the parties see in the partnership. It also addresses wider policy issues.     

THE ECONOMIC ADVANTAGE OF LONGEVITY IN THE DAIRY COW

An adaptive stochastic dynamic programming model is described which solves the optimum replacement decision problem for the dairy cow under physical and financial assumptions currently typical for the UK. By expressing the expected net present value of the replacement heifer as an annuity equivalent under various assumptions with and without enforced (involuntary) culling an estimate of the value of longevity was obtained and an assessment made of its sensitivity to key assumptions. Increased longevity added about $20 per extra lactation per year on to the investment potential of the replacement dairy heifer under the assumptions made. This figure is sensitive to replacement cost, but could be used to provide economic values for longevity as part of an economic breeding objective for dairy cattle in the UK.     

Adoption of electronic systems in HRM: is national background of the firm relevant?

This paper explores how the national background affects the use of e‐HRM, using data from 13 European countries. Findings suggest that the adoption of e‐HRM is region‐specific and affected by multiple factors. They also support the existence of two distinct sets of HRM technological systems, that is, back‐end and front‐end ones.     

From spending to understanding: Analyzing customers by their spending behavior

In customer segmentation, a common strategy is to use individual differences as a predictor of future behavior. Recent advances in data management in large financial institutions give an unprecedented and potentially powerful source of data for identifying such differences. We show that spending data can substantially help target the direct marketing of financial products, and constitutes new information, not captured by demographics. In particular, a systematic combination of this independent source and more traditional measures can enhance the predictive power of marketing research and improve the relationship with customers as illustrated in a direct mailing selection method which substantially raises response rates.     

Sustainable development and the local economy

This article sets out the divergence so far between the developing “environmental economics” and local authority “green strategies”. We propose a model of environmentally sustainable economic development. Our argument outlines “environmental efficiency” and more stringent “sustainability” objectives. It reviews current local authority activities and practices. All are within the “environmental efficiency” framework. It concludes by identifying opportunities created by recent government commitment to environmental improvement targets and argues that local authorities are well placed to take up the challenge of developing sustainable development in local economies. It suggests that this process will involve intervention in the market in a way not dissimilar to that adopted in the 1980s by local authorities concerned with developing socially progressive economic strategies and that this process might be termed “social environmentalism”.     

Reviews

Basic economics. Mackintosh, M., Brown, V., Costello, N., Dawson, G., Thompson, G. and Trigg, A. 1996: ECONOMICS AND CHANGING ECONOMIES. Open University and International Thomson Business Press, £19.99 paper.

Tinkering with equality. Rees, T. 1995: WOMEN AND THE EC TRAINING PROGRAMMES: TINKERING, TAILORING AND TRANSFORMATION. Bristol: SAUS publications, £11.50 paper.

Construction and employment. McGregor, A., Fitzpatrick, I., McConachie, M. and Thorn, G. 1995: BUILDING FUTURES: CAN LOCAL EMPLOYMENT BE CREATED FROM HOUSING EXPENDITURE? Bristol: SAUS Publications, £9.95 paper.

Harrison, M. and Davies, J. 1995: CONSTRUCTING EQUALITY: HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS AND MINORITY ETHNIC CONTRACTORS. Bristol: SAUS Publications, £9.95 paper.

Globalisation and Local Economic Development. Killick, T. (ed) 1995: THE FLEXIBLE ECONOMY: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE ADAPTABILITY OF NATIONAL ECONOMIES. London: Routledge/ODI, £16.99 paper.

Michie, J. and Grieve Smith, J. (eds) 1995: MANAGING THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. Oxford: Oxford University Press, £14.95 paper.

City marketing. Neill, W. V., Fitzsimons, D. S. and Murtagh, B. 1995: REIMAGING THE PARIAH CITY: URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN BELFAST AND DETROIT. Aldershot: Avebury, £35.00 cased.

Flexible working. New Ways to Work, 1995: BALANCED LIVES: CHANGING WORK PATTERNS FOR MEN. London: New Ways to Work, £9.95 paper.

Cyberspace utopia? Graham, S. and Marvin, S. 1996: TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE CITY: ELECTRONIC SPACES, URBAN PLACES. London: Routledge, £15.99 paper.     

Working Together: Critical Perspectives on Six Cross-Sector Partnerships in Southern Africa

Early strategy scholars have pointed to the importance of reflecting on moral issues within the scope of strategic management. Although strategy content and context have been discussed in relation to ethical reflection, the third aspect, strategy process, has found only little or no attention with regard to ethics. We argue that by emphasizing the process perspective one can understand the related character of strategic management and ethical reflection. We discuss this relatedness along formal, functional, and procedural similarities. Whereas formal aspects refer to the conditions under which both processes occur, functional aspects look at the role that strategy process and ethical reflection fulfill. Procedural aspects account for similarities in the nature of both processes insofar as the activities that are conducted within each process phase share common characteristics. We claim that ethical reflection can be thought of as an integrative part of strategic management – either explicitly or implicitly. Michael Behnam received his PhD from the University of Frankfurt, Germany. He is an Associate Professor of Management at the Sawyer Business School, Suffolk University, Boston, USA. Prior to this he was the Head of the Department of International Management at the European Business School, Germany. His research has been published in Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of International Business and Economy as well as in German top-tier outlets. He authored or co-authored numerous book chapters as well as three books, most recently the 7th edition of a textbook on Strategic Management. His research areas are Strategic Management, International Management and Business Ethics. Andreas Rasche received his PhD from European Business School, Germany and is currently Assistant Professor for Business Ethics at Helmut-Schmidt-University, University of the Federal Armed Forces in Hamburg, Germany. He has published articles in the Journal of Business Ethics, Business Ethics Quarterly and authored numerous book chapters on international accountability standards. He has gained working experience at the United Nations in Washington D.C. and New York and works closely with the United Nations Global Compact Office. His research interests and publications focus on the process of standardization in the field of CSR and the adoption of standards by corporations. More information is available under: http://www.arasche.com