The Stability of Judgmental Modelling: an Application in the Social Services

Judgmental modelling has been used on a wide variety of business problems, and with the advent of new technologies is becoming increasingly user friendly. The range of applications has helped develop understanding of managerial decision making processes, especially those related to group decision making. However, to date there has been little evidence of their use in the social services. This paper describes such an application among social workers in the United Kingdom.One of the difficulties facing social workers is deciding how to deal with individuals with mental disorders. The state has various legal procedures which can be brought into operation, ranging from no involvement with the individual through to compulsory hospitalisation. This study shows how a judgmental modelling approach was used to help define the decision variables. A group of experts from a particular social services department worked together on the problem, using a simple computer model to investigate its decision making criteria and the associated processes. The results are fully presented, and the implications for the role of social workers discussed.     

The Demise of Ethical Schizophrenia?

Business Ethics is a topical issue. The relationship between Business Ethics and Corporate Strategy, however, has been less widely discussed. This article argues that recent developments in society, including a greater awareness of environmental issues, encourage a different way of exploring this relationship.     

The Pay Review Bodies in Britain Under the Labour Government

The current Labour Government's public sector 'modernization' policy has placed new pressures on the 30-year-old Pay Review Body system. The Government is now expecting the six Review Bodies to make recommendations on pay reform and restructuring and key decisions on pay for public sector groups are being taken by Government outside of the Review Body process. Despite these problems, the Pay Review Body system still offers the main parties—the Government, employers and unions—a useful political device for handling pay determination at 'arm's length' in the public sector. While political expediency is the main defence for the Pay Review Bodies, the move to long-term agreements may undermine their role.     

中印熊市为何尚未严重拖累经济？

即使在全球信贷危机发生前,许多跨国企业就对中国和印度的新兴中产阶级寄予厚望。目前美国经济可能正步入衰退,来自这两个人口逾10亿的亚洲大国新消费者的需求,也就显得更为重要。     

Economic effects of rules of origin

Economic Effects of Rules of Origin. — Rules of origin exist because governments wish to discriminate amongst products on the basis of their “country of origin”. Since the components and activities that make up the total value added of many products are not created in a single location, rules to define a unique geographical source for products must be somewhat arbitrary, and inevitably introduce distortions into production and trade patterns as producers seek to provide their products with the most favourable origin. This paper considers the structure of such rules and their economic consequences.     

精益制造将成明日之星

精益制造正在舞台上绽放光芒,是制造商的拯救者!这当然是夸张之言,但精益制造确能让制造商提高竞争力及在新兴的以需求为本的供应链中有效地运作,更可让企业在短时间内生产多种类但小批量产品的订货,以满足客户需要.过去十五年工业形态的不断转变无疑给制造业建立了一个全新的面貌,让制造商更努力地去提高生产效率.……     

Criteria for Responsible Business Practice in SMEs: An Exploratory Case of U.K. Fair Trade Organisations

This paper develops a set of 16 criteria, divided into four groupings, for responsible business practice (RBP) in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) drawn from the existing SME/RBP literature. The current lack of a general set of criteria against which such activity can be judged is noted and this deficit is redressed. In order to make an initial assessment in support of the criteria so derived, an exploratory feasibility study of RBP in U.K. Fair Trade organisations was conducted. The findings from this study show that most but not all of the RBP criteria seem to be applicable to U.K. Fair Trade organisations but it is recommended that the complete set of criteria continues to be used in further research until such time as there is a general consensus as to which criteria are appropriate. Implications for RBP in small businesses in general, and for Fair Trade organisations in particular, are drawn out and suggestions for further research are identified.