Obeying the rules: Accounting for regulatory compliance costs in the United Kingdom

The U.K. Government has embarked on a deregulatory programme aimed at ‘liberating’ business from, inter alia, onerous regulatory compliance costs. In doing so it has developed and utilized an accounting-based technique known as Compliance Cost Assessment (CCA). This paper describes and analyses this technique, and demonstrates that CCA has been used as a perceived rational tool to counter regulatory growth and to privilege certain interests in society.     

Time price differentials in the rent‐to‐own industry: implications for empowering vulnerable consumers

Rent‐to‐own enterprises represent a lucrative and rapidly growing industry. They are of particular concern to social service agencies, policy makers and consumers because they target a vulnerable, economically disadvantaged segment of the population. This article presents an investigation of a major player in the industry in one US state that fell under scrutiny by the courts because of a question of whether it is a retail enterprise covered by truth in lending legislation. Findings indicate that the average time price differentials charged by the largest retailer in this state exceed by more than three times the regulated 30% cap on interest rates. Rent‐to‐own is an example where regulation must be put into place so consumers can make more informed decisions. Such regulation, however, must be accompanied by financial literacy education that will further empower vulnerable consumers in the marketplace.     

The appliance of science? New public management and strategic change

Changes in the nature of science as a social practice were fundamentally organic and endogenous in nature prior to the 1970s. Since then changes in UK public science has been policy-led and the imperatives exogenous. This shift was the result of attempts to achieve strategic managed change in the sector using new public management (NPM) techniques. This paper explores the discourses that promoted the change effort and the NPM techniques and processes deployed to this end. It seeks to identify the aims and objectives of the intended strategic change and evaluates the extent to which they have been achieved. Our conclusion is that rather than a planned, strategic change process directed at improved economy, efficiency and effectiveness, what occurred was a poorly processed ideologically driven attempt to achieve political aims.     

Shifting the strategic paradigm: the case of the catalytic converter

The formulation and implementation of technology strategies by firms are closely and critically interrelated with the rate and direction of technological advance. Policy has an increasingly important role in this technology strategy process, such as in the provision of increasingly stringent guidelines for paths of developement, as in the case of environmental legislation on the reduction of undesiable automotive exhaust emissions. Drawing on evidence from the automotive industry, with a particular focus on catalytic converter technology, this paper considers the paradigmatic qualities of firms' technology strategies. It examines aspects of shifts in strategic paradigms and their technological and organizational effects. It is particularly concerned with the interrelation between firm strategy and government policy, and the integration of environmental pressures into the firms processes that ultimately determine paths of technological development and competitive performance in the automotive industry.     

Local food production in a subarctic Indigenous community: the use of willow (Salix spp.) windbreaks to increase the yield of intercropped potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) and bush beans (Phaseolus vulgaris)

Addressing food security with local and sustainable food production is a key requirement for supporting a globally sustainable agricultural system. Food insecurity is prevalent in Indigenous communities in Canada, especially in rural and remote regions of northern (subarctic and arctic) Canada. Further, climate change has disproportionately impacted subarctic and arctic regions worldwide ? surface air temperatures are now more favourable for agricultural activities ? offering the potential for local food production under ambient conditions. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate bush bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) intercrops grown over a two-year period in two sites (treed, windbreak-lined with native willow, Salix. spp.; and non-treed, or open) in the subarctic Indigenous community of Fort Albany First Nation, Ontario, Canada. Intercrops grown in the windbreak-lined site produced significantly greater (p?3, NH₄ and total N) showed that with some local amendments such as offal and bone meal, both the windbreak-lined and open sites can support continued agricultural use. This study informs Indigenous communities across subarctic regions of the world that climate change not only brings challenges, but also opportunities, such as potentially sustainable local food production.     

Counting the Self-Employed Using Household and Business Sample Data

This study compares the number and attributes of self-employed workers using the 1982 and 1987 Characteristics of Business Owners (CBO) data and data from Annual Demographic Files (ADF) of the Current Population Survey (CPS) for the same reference years. Both sources of data have been widely used in empirical studies of entrepreneurship/self-employment. Substantial and inexplicable differences were found in the two data series' estimates of the number of self-employed men and women for both reference years. In terms of individual attributes, the CBO and CPS appear to report reasonably similar profiles of self-employed individuals in terms of marital status and geographic location, and similar systematic gender differences in the industrial distributions of these individuals. However, in terms of other attributes captured by both data series, including age, the two series exhibit notable dissimilarities.     

The 1982 Characteristics of Business Owners dataset

The 1982 Characteristics of Business Owners (CBO) dataset is a microdata file containing data on approximately 91,000 small businesses and 100,000 owners of those businesses. This dataset is unique in that it unites information on the personal attributes of business owners with information on various attributes of their businesses. The CBO dataset is also distinguished by the large volume of data that it contains on minority and female business owners and their businesses. This paper provides an overview of the coverage and contents of the dataset, and the design of the survey upon which it is based. In addition, the strengths and limitations of the CBO dataset are discussed and illustrated through synopses of studies that made use of these data.Economist, U.S. Small Business Administration, Washington, D.C. The views expressed in this paper are the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Small Business Administration.     

A Compendium of Multi‐Item Scales Utilized in Logistics Research (2001–10): Progress Achieved Since Publication of the 1973–2000 Compendium

Forty years have passed since the first multi‐item measurement scales were employed through survey research to better understand important logistics concepts. Through the years, four leading logistics journals have published research containing a total of 1,670 scales within 283 articles. A 42% increase in utilization has occurred during the most recent decade. The research fully discloses the conceptualization, composition, and properties of the multi‐item survey scales utilized in the study of logistics and supply chain management theory and practice. By documenting each scale published from 2001 to 2010, the authors make comparisons with results from the 1973–2000 study. Primary findings indicate an increase in the percentage of research utilizing multi‐item scales, and an increase in the application of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) has assisted in producing more highly acceptable psychometric properties of the scales. This implies that researchers are utilizing more highly developed scales and following strict scale‐development procedures for building more robust scales to measure concepts important for advancing our knowledge of logistics and supply chain management. The top four conceptual categories for the scales have remained the same since 1973 and account for greater than half of the scales published. Eight additions to the categories since 2001 pertain greatly to controlling our supply chains for customer, brand, and overall security benefits. The compendium of scales provides a central document to reference as researchers seek to employ highly developed survey measures.