If, as Adam Smith once famously suggested, Britain was a nation of shopkeepers then it is now a nation of shopworkers. Retail is now a significant part of the UK economy, accounting for £256 billion in sales and one-third of all consumer spending (Skillsmart, 2007). It is the largest private...

This paper discusses the literature on the established determinants of productivity in the retail sector. It also draws attention to some neglected strands of research which provide useful insights into strategies that could allow productivity enhancements in this area of the economy. To date,...

Despite the interest over recent years in the fragmentation of organizations and the development of contracting, little attention has been paid to the impact of the associated inter-organizational relationships on the internal organization of employment. Inter-organizational relations have been...

This article evaluates the British system of NVQs, focusing on their capacity to increase skill levels. It reviews the way NVQs were designed and argues that they are ill-equipped to encourage knowledge and skills, partly because they simply replicate the weaknesses which currently exist in the...

Changes in organisational forms are central to the way new technologies impact on the future of work and employment. Drawing on case-study evidence of a call centre and its client relations and a multinational IT firm and its partnership with a government department, this paper explores the...

This paper seeks to examine processes of state restructuring in exploring the ways inwhich Business Improvement Districts are being introduced into UK cities. Inadvancing the analysis the focus here is on the way in which one or two New YorkBusiness Improvement Districts were constructed as...