Should government and company planners influence each other?

With the National Plan of 1965, government planning in Britain got off to a poor start. Now, with the Governement's green paper, The Task Ahead, it seems about to be reborn. In this article the author argues the case for closer co-operation between planners in government and planners in business along the lines of the planning dialogue which occurs in NEDC. He answers critics who complain of government pressure on industry and the undue influence of business on government, and suggests that “consultative planning is essential if national plans to be made flexible and realistic, and if company plans are to be made with the national interest in mind”.     

Peak performing organisations

The literature on organisational performance is riddled with measurement problems that cannot easily be solved. In contrast we argue that elite theory in terms of performance can be more easily measured by the win record of sports organisations. Accordingly, this article argues that certain organisational peak practices are key to understanding how peak performance is sustained. Through data collected from the top ten sports organisations in the world we introduce the embryonic theory of Peak Performing Organisations (PPO). Sustained PPO practices offer more robust outcomes than the genre of High Performing Organisations.     

当前我国就业形势的特点和变化

文章通过2008年的调查数据,以就业问题为主题,分析当前我国就业形势的特点和变化.并对扩大和促进就业提出相应的政策建议.我国城乡就业状况的基本特点表现为:市场化导向的就业制度初步形成;劳动力市场灵活性增强,非正规就业成为重要的就业形式;非农就业成为农村居民重要的就业经历.我国城乡就业方面存在的问题主要有:失业问题有所加剧;非正规就业人群的社会保障水平及就业质量亟待提高;城乡隔绝的就业制度虽被打破,但城乡分割的就业市场依然存在.扩大和促进就业的相关建议主要包括:实行就业优先的经济振兴计划;更加积极地鼓励和规范灵活就业;重视把农民工转变为新市民的社会意义;重视职业教育,尤其是高等职业教育的发展,提高劳动力素质;逐步建立调查失业率的监控和公布制度. .     

Relocation or dislocation?—A planned approach to location

The commercial success, or indeed the survival, of an enterprise depends on forward thinking. Whether planners use sophisticated planning and modelling techniques or simply rely on hunches the objective of their planning is to project the economic environment, the market for goods and services, technological developments, etc. It is a fact, however, that relatively few enterprises, except those engaged in physical distribution, appreciate the often critical strategic importance of the location of their operations. The author deals with the factors involved in any decision to relocate.     

Telecommunications and the customer—Prospects for the 1980s

There will be major changes in the telecommunications system during the next decade and computing and broadcasting technologies will contribute to the advances in telecommunication. The author describes the prospects for the customer and the improved systems that will become available.     

The Shifting Sands of Open Access Publishing, a Publisher's View

This paper sets Open Access (OA) publishing in the context of today's scientific, technical, and medical (STM) publishing trends. Four areas are covered: (a) a brief overview of STM publishing and its value today; (b) OA's place in the industry; (c) the underlying economics of OA, particularly its author-pays model; and (d) directions in moving towards “universal access” to STM information, where both researchers and the public have access to the scientific information they need.