Sustainable rural livelihoods? Evaluating the potential of small‐scale aquaculture in the Western Cape

Rural unemployment is exacerbated by the decrease in demand for farm labour on commercial farms; therefore, alternative livelihood opportunities for rural dwellers require investigation. The production of fish inform dams offers such an opportunity. A research project was undertaken to evaluate the potential of small‐scale aquaculture to create sustainable rural livelihoods. An existing aquaculture project in De Dooms in the Western Cape was evaluated in terms of its ability to provide an alternative source of income and a cheap animal protein source. A needs assessment of the local community and an evaluation of the pilot project in terms of its potential to meet the identified needs were carried out. The results indicated that, subject to the implementation of the recommendations, the project has the potential to create sustainable livelihoods, but that sociopolitical issues should be accorded equal consideration to biotechnical and economic feasibility.     

Socio-economic Decline and Adaptation: South Yorkshire's Former Coalfields

Two decades after the year-long miners' strike of 1984/5, this paper presents a contemporary account of the social and economic situation faced by ex-miners in South Yorkshire, uncovering those factors that continue to inhibit new employment and adaptation following the contraction of the coal industry. Forty-one in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with men who had worked in the region's coal mining industry for varying periods of time. The interviews were designed to examine many of the problems that have emerged following deindustrialisation and assess appraisals of retraining provision and prospects for employment. Findings increase understanding of issues endemic to many former pit villages including continuing high levels of localised unemployment and disproportionately high numbers of incapacity benefit claimants. A greater understanding of the reluctance of individuals to adapt, retrain and seek new, alternative employment will lead to more successful methods of dealing with the problems associated with continuing economic inactivity in the region's former coalfield communities and has many important consequences for existing regeneration programmes and employment initiatives.     

Sustainability reporting by local government in Australia: Current and future prospects

Sustainability reporting research has historically focused on the corporate sector, with public sector research still very much in its infancy. This exploratory study extends such research in considering the current and future state of local government sustainability reporting in Australia. We utilized a mail survey instrument to collect data. We found that local government in Australia reports on aspects of sustainability, with 50% of respondents indicating that they report on at least one area of sustainability with social reporting being most prevalent. Reporting existed across an array of reports, with no standout reporting focus found. The future of sustainability reporting in local government looks promising, with almost 40% of current non-reporters indicating that they are likely to report in the future.     

A PTAL approach to measuring changes in bus service accessibility

Accessible transport systems are essential to ensure equal opportunities for all people in society. The need for information about transport disadvantage is now a key policy requirement and previous studies have highlighted the need for tools to assess the impact of interventions on the bus network and the accessibility of the system. Geographical Information System (GIS) and ACCMAP enable the analysis of transport disadvantage and accessibility. This paper provides an analysis of the Citybus Network in Northern Ireland and assesses the spatial impact of a hypothetical network change on populations residing within the Citybus network area.     

Are Local and Organic Claims Complements or Substitutes? A Consumer Preferences Study for Eggs

This paper provides an analysis of consumer preferences for product claims, specifically about origin and production methods. In particular, it addresses two important questions: i) whether consumers are willing to pay a premium for food products carrying these claims; and ii) whether local and organic claims are complements or substitutes. A choice experiment designed to estimate two‐way interactions was undertaken in Spain for eggs. The findings show first, that consumers are willing to pay a positive premium price for an enhanced method of production (that of barn, free‐range and/or organic instead of cage produced eggs) as well as for the proximity of production (local, regional and national over imported). Second, the findings show that consumer preferences for the claims are heterogeneous with two consumer segments being identified: “origin preference”, the larger segment, and the “production method preference”. Results show that organic and local claims were complements for the larger first segment but that free‐range and local/regional claims were substitutes for the second smaller segment. These results provide the marketing chains with insights applicable for pricing strategies.     

Historical origins of persistent inequality in Nigeria

Horizontal inequality by ethnic group has remained remarkably persistent for wealth, education and access to certain public services in Nigeria. While there has been notable progress made towards improving access to, and reducing ethnic inequality in access to locally administered services like some sanitation services and potable water, outcomes are stickier for wealth, education and historically federally administered services like grid-based power access in the country. Populations in the Northwest and Northeast ethnic and geopolitical zones consistently report below national mean levels of wealth, education and electricity, while there have been significant gains made in closing the ethnic gap in access to water and sanitation over time. This paper explores different explanations for the patterns observed and puts forth the thesis that persistent ethnic inequality in access to federally administered services is partly driven by historical heterogeneous federal government policy towards different groups in Nigeria.     

Can We Still be Friends? The Role of Exit Conversations in Facilitating Post‐Exit Relationships

Organizations might benefit from maintaining relationships with former employees, who could be rehired later or encouraged to refer job applicants and customers. We integrate the management literature on voluntary resignations and the communication literature on relationship dissolution to explore how conversations between an exiting employee and his or her manager facilitate (or constrain) post‐exit relationships. Employees who had recently resigned from full‐time jobs described their exit experiences in semistructured interviews with the research team. The results suggest two dominant patterns. When employees exited for external reasons (e.g., to pursue a program of study), they engaged in very direct communication strategies, elicited positive responses from their managers, and left with high interest in a post‐exit relationship. But when employees exited for internal reasons (problems within the employment relationship), they engaged in multiple exit cycles and moved from indirect communication strategies toward increasingly direct ones. Managerial responses to these strategies failed to capitalize on opportunities to nurture post‐exit relationships and sometimes generated a “vendetta effect” among exiting employees. The results suggest that managers might benefit from training in how to conduct effective exit conversations, particularly with employees who are leaving for internal reasons. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

‘Pushing the Boundaries’ versus Identifying the Boundaries: An Institutional Perspective on NPM Principles

This paper considers the boundaries of new public management (NPM) principles in the context of the mandate for a commercial approach within a New Zealand state‐owned enterprise (SOE). Investigating a commercial approach to NPM through an institutional theory lens, the case study highlights complexities and potential conflict between structured NPM principles and the more complex reality. Analysis reveals blurred lines and boundaries have implications for public sector organisations such as SOEs, government and other stakeholders, where managers push the boundaries beyond the point where stakeholders are comfortable. Thus, a key challenge involves developing clearer institutional boundaries to balance freedoms with stakeholder acceptability.