New Paths to Capitalist Agricultural Production in Africa: Experiences of Ghanaian Pineapple Producer–Exporters

With the global restructuring of agri‐food markets since the 1980s, an impressive amount of scholarship has examined its impacts in African countries. However, little has been written on the emergence of local medium and large‐scale commercial farmers selling to export companies or controlling their own export marketing arrangements. This article examines Ghanaian commercial farmers producing and exporting fresh pineapples to European markets. This group of pineapple producer–exporters represents a path to capitalist agricultural production that can be conceptualized as capitalism from outside: where capital flows into the countryside, rather than accumulation occurring from above or below within the agrarian economy. The emergence of this form of agrarian capitalism is stimulated by opportunities in new high‐value agricultural export markets, but its stabilization depends on country‐specific characteristics such as rural social structures, property rights and state support. The article documents the conditions of emergence of this new group of Ghanaian capitalist farmers, the period of destabilization caused by increasing international competition that resulted in a small number of large‐scale agribusiness firms surviving, and the challenges that these agribusiness firms faced in stabilizing their capitalist agricultural production.     

More than ‘continuing professional development’: a proposed new learning framework for professional accountants

This paper explores literature relating to continuing professional development (CPD) and lifelong learning to develop an understanding of how the learning landscape has evolved in recent years, both in the accountancy profession and more widely. Three different perspectives on learning are drawn together and this synthesis is used to develop a framework for professional learning. In this, the concepts of CPD and lifelong learning are replaced with ‘learning relating to professional competence’ and ‘learning relating to career adaptability’. The framework also contrasts the learning of an ‘informed professional’, a ‘competent professional’ and a ‘complete professional’. This holistic model, derived from existing literature, will be of interest to professional accountancy bodies and educators of accountants and will inform their ongoing interactions with current and future professional accountants.     

The Impact of Exporting and Importing Goods and Services on Productivity in the UK

This paper investigates the impact of exporting and importing on productivity for UK plants using a combination of regression and propensity score matching. Unlike earlier papers, the data allows us to distinguish the effects of trade in goods and services. In confirmation of the results from other countries, we find that plants that both export and import have higher productivity than plants that only do one of these activities. In manufacturing, this is the case regardless of whether the trade is in goods or services (which suggests that servitisation of manufacturing is beneficial).In services, the results are more mixed and the benefits from involvement in international goods networks that are seen in manufacturing do not occur to the same extent (however, for the wholesale and retail sectors, trade in both goods and services is generally productivity enhancing).     

Does strategy matter? An analysis of generic strategies and performance in business service firms

How relevant is strategy formulation to performance? The empirical study reported here matches samples of business service firms in Scotland and the South-East of England and classifies them into Porter's generic strategy groups. Differences in performance are then tested using a variety of performance measures. The evidence provides support for the notion of a link between strategy and performance.     

Developing and using a customer profile data bank

This article proposes the implementation of a customer profile system to aid the industrial marketer in: making daily sales decisions involving the firm's customers; the development of the vendor's “buyer mix”; and the production of marketing analysis reports used by the firm. The components of the customer profile are presented and the procedures by which these elements can be incorporated into the firm's decision making are explained. Working examples are also provided to reinforce the concepts. Unfortunately the names of the actual corporations had to be deleted or changed for reasons of confidentiality.     

Counselling to resolve a clash of cognitive styles

A conflict concerning perceived effectiveness arose within a small specialised department between the departmental managers and their senior analyst. Through self-referral and by referral from the managers, the analyst approached the author for counselling. Data concerning the cognitive styles of the departmental members were gathered using the Kirton Innovation-Adaption Inventory (KAI). Additional data on the analyst were gathered using the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. The KAI data was fed back to the members of the department along with an explanation of the theory underlying the instrument. They discussed the problem and their new perceptions in an attempt to develop a solution. The author acted to manage the process and keep the aims of their discussion in focus. Additionally, individual counselling with the analyst was carried out, using the other psychometric data and data derived through discussions of the problem. The analyst subscribed to look for an alternative career as a means of escaping from his situation since the pressures on the Company were reducing the possibilities of operational change within his department. The problems of counselling in this situation and the pitfalls of the approach are discussed, along with the benefits derived. The conclusions give new perspectives useful to future counselling situations.     

Impacts of COVID-19 on Women and/or Caregivers in Accounting Academia at Canadian Postsecondary Institutions and Suggestions Moving Forward: A Commentary*

This commentary provides insights on the issues faced by women and/or caregivers in accounting academia at Canadian postsecondary institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Personal reflections from 23 contributors across Canada were compiled and analyzed using thematic content analysis. Results show that COVID-19 has adversely impacted research, teaching, and other areas of work and life for this demographic. Research stopped or slowed, lower productivity was experienced, concerns over academic integrity increased, interactions with students decreased, academics left the profession, mental health was adversely impacted, and academics lost dedicated work time. In addition, the contributors provide suggestions to address these issues moving forward to help equity-seeking groups. Suggestions include support from postsecondary institutions at all levels, additional funding, adjustments to tenure and promotion criteria, and the option for a reduced workload.     

NSPCC: Marketing the “solution” not the “problem”

In private sector companies, marketing philosophy and their accompanying portfolio of tools and techniques have long had a strong and shaping role in the creation of a market‐led corporate strategy. This is because in most cases there is an obvious and direct link in the economic transaction which takes place, between the consumers of the product and the suppliers of the product. In such a relationship, consumer preference and consumer sovereignty are meaningful and explanatory concepts. In contrast, in the Charitable Sector, the situation arises where a consumer receives a product or service which is supplied by a charity, but paid for by a third party, which may be a private sector organisation, a public sector organisation or a private individual. This arrangement has often meant that charities have only selectively applied those marketing techniques which are primarily concerned with attracting income from funders to the organisation. Thus a marketing philosophy and all that it implies for the development of an interactive and consumer responsive marketing system, has not been significantly developed.

This paper will argue through use of the illustrative example of the NSPCC (National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children), that charitable organisations can enjoy substantial benefits through the wider application of marketing principles to their activities.

It will show through its narrow emphasis upon its relationship with the funders, that the NSPCC has created a brand image based upon the problems encountered by the NSPCC, rather than upon the “solutions “ to those problems. This has had the further consequence that the resource allocation and resource attraction systems within the NSPCC has remained separate. A simple model is presented which facilitates examination of this relationship.

It will be suggested that this dichotomy within the NSPCC can be bridged through the Introduction of a marketing orientation which will enhance understanding of the relationship between the NSPCC and its funders, and which above all will provide the stimulus to the creation of a communication system between the funders and the children who are beneficiaries of the NSPCC activity.