Constructing and using a company Intranet: 'it's a very cultural thing'

Organisational Intranets provide a testing ground where certain theories of technology and organisations meet with emerging innovative practice. This paper develops a theoretical framework that is used to analyse a case study of the adoption, introduction and use of a company Intranet focusing on the competing representations of the Intranet presented by the staff involved.     

Short reviews

Wynne, D. (ed.) 1992: The Culture Industry: The arts in urban regeneration. Aldershot: Avebury, £30.00 cloth.     

Medicare payment: how low it will go and how to prepare

Hospitals should begin preparing now for a decade of reductions in Medicare payment with strategies aimed at: Partnering with clinical leadership, Performing detailed margin analysis, Engaging with service line managers and physicians, Revamping care coordination, Ensuring efficient operating room utilization, Improving emergency department operations.     

Short reviews

Centre for Employment Research, 1990: Ethnic Minority Businesses and Employment in Greater Manchester. Manchester: Greater Manchester Economic Development Officers Ltd, no price stated.

The National Economic Development Council, 1990: Working for Pleasure -Tourism and Leisure Tomorrow. London: NEDO, £15.00 Report, £35.00 Conference Papers.

John Freeman, Frank Gaffikin and Mike Morrissey, 1989: The Irish Economies: A Common Future? Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union, Belfast. No price given.

Morrissey, H. 1989: Women in Ireland: The Impact of 1992. The Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union.

Gorman. G. 1989: School-Industry Links. London: Kogan Page.

Brewster, C. and Teague, P. 1989: European Community Social Policy-Its Impact on the UK. Institute of Personnel Management, £30.00 cloth.     

The Education and Training Mismatch

Ken Mayhew argues that money spent on eduction is misallocated and that the biggest problem for training is lack of demand for a flexibly skilled workforce.     

Economic Targeting of Agricultural Beneficial Management Practices to Address Phosphorus Runoff in Manitoba

The mechanisms used to deliver agricultural beneficial management practices (BMPs) can influence the performance of these policies. Research has suggested that agri‐environmental instruments targeted based on specific economic or environmental characteristics can improve policy performance. Using a case study approach, we evaluate the relative performance of different mechanisms to target subsidized water retention pond BMPs to reduce phosphorus (P) runoff in an agriculture dominated subwatershed within the Lake Winnipeg watershed in southern Manitoba. The water retention pond BMPs were targeted based on estimated establishment costs (cost targeting), total phosphorus removal from surface water (benefit targeting), and pond‐specific benefit–cost ratios. The targeting was simulated using predictions of retention pond‐specific P removal from an adapted hydrology model and site‐specific pond construction and land opportunity costs assembled in a geographic information system database. Targeting of water retention pond BMPs has an impact on the cost effectiveness of the policy delivery with benefit–cost targeting being the most cost‐effective approach. Water retention ponds providing higher P removal at lower cost were smaller in size and on land previously used for the production of lower value crops. Le ciblage économique des pratiques de gestion bénéfiques en agriculture pour remédier au ruissellement du phosphore au Manitoba Les mécanismes utilisés pour livrer des pratiques de gestion bénéfiques (PGB) peuvent influencer la performance de ces politiques. Des études suggèrent que le ciblage d'instruments agroenvironnementaux basé sur des caractéristiques économiques ou environnementales précises peut améliorer la performance des politiques. Au moyen d'études de cas, nous évaluons la performance relative de divers mécanismes pour cibler les PGB des bassins de rétention d'eau subventionnés pour réduire le ruissellement de phosphore (P) dans un sous‐bassin du bassin du Lac Winnipeg au sud du Manitoba. Les PGB du bassin de rétention des eaux ont été ciblées en fonction des coûts estimés d'établissement (ciblage des coûts), de l′élimination totale du phosphore de la surface de l'eau (ciblage des bénéfices), et des ratios avantages‐coûts liés au bassin. Le ciblage fut simulé au moyen de prédictions du taux de suppression de P spécifique à chaque bassin de rétention obtenues à partir d'une adaptation d'un modèle hydrologique et d'une base de données d'un système d'information géographique (SIG) contenant les sites de chaque bassin de rétention et le coût d'opportunité du terrain. Le ciblage des PGB des bassins de rétention d'eau a un impact sur la rentabilité de la mise en ?uvre de politiques, le ciblage coût‐avantages étant l'approche la plus rentable. Les bassins de rétention d'eau ayant le plus haut taux d'élimination de P à moindre coût s'avéraient plus petits et sur des terrains ayant servi, auparavant, à la production de cultures de moindre valeur.     

Potential implications of COVID-19 on the Canadian pork industry

Canada and the United States have strong economic ties and form part of an integrated North American pork industry. Canada's pork industry is export-oriented, and the United States represents a key market for both live pigs and pork. Pork value chain stakeholders include input suppliers, pig producers, transportation companies, slaughter plants, wholesalers, and retailers. There are three overriding areas of concern for the Canadian pork industry with respect to potential impacts of the current pandemic (COVID-19). The first is Canada/US trade and the ability to continue exporting Canadian live pigs and pork to the United States. The second is labor and the impact of potential absenteeism on all sectors of the pork value chain. The third is global trade, because Canada's pork industry relies heavily on exporting pork to markets around the world.     

Social Marketing as Transformational Marketing in Public Services

Abstract

This article presents a case study of a social marketing intervention, developed as an innovative action research project for a Fire Service, to tackle the public service challenge of reducing the incidence of deliberate countryside fire-setting in certain communities. The case demonstrates the effectiveness of a social marketing approach to tackling an anti-social behaviour that had become a local social norm which conventional education-based campaigns had failed to change. The case also explores unexpected impacts that applying a social marketing approach had on the sponsoring Fire Service, acting to transform certain aspects of its operations and culture.