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This paper reviews the practice and performance of revenue forecasting in selected OECD countries. While the mean forecast errors are small in most countries, the precision of the forecasts measured by the standard deviation of the forecast error differs substantially across countries. Based on a comparison of forecasting practices we show that these differences can be attributed to a large part to differences in the timing of the forecasts and in the tax structure. In addition, we find some evidence that differences in methods and institutions also matter for the forecasting precision. In particular, we find that the use of macroeconomic models as well as the independence of revenue forecasting are associated with a lower standard deviation of the forecast error.

Abstract

Owner‐managers of Chinese restaurants in the UK have a need to continually monitor their business practices to obtain an advantageous position in a competitive business environment.
Specific attention to elements of the 'marketing mix' — product, place, price and promotion — is likely to positively benefit many owner‐managed businesses.
Hiring and training of appropriate staff members is important in order to offer enhanced customer service.

This paper considers the importance of cultural factors within ethnic minority‐owned firms' business practices and provides a contribution to the growing body of knowledge at the marketing–entrepreneurship interface. Specifically, it reports on an empirical investigation into the business practices of a sample of Chinese‐owned restaurants operating in the UK. The findings from ten in‐depth personal interviews provide an insight into the practices of these businesses. The results indicate that particular cultural issues balanced against resource constraints had a major impact on owner‐managers' operations. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This short piece concerns the figure of the screen as a boundary object and screening as a boundary-drawing practice during COVID-19. The screen is understood of as a surface that filters, shields, protects, conceals, mediates, intrudes and on which images can be projected and made visible. This text links together and thinks through various instantiations of the figure of the screen, such as digital screens and face masks. In so doing, it makes visible the ways in which the digital, affective and embodied screens and screening practices shape the perception of and response to COVID-19 in various contexts, as well as the multiple and often contradictory ways in which boundaries of spaces and bodies are materialized and undone.

Drawing on ethnographic research in a Nigerian-based Pentecostal church in Berlin, this article explores the discussions that emerged when my scholarly representations of the congregants' aesthetic engagements with the Elsewhere diverged from the church leadership's expectations. More specifically, it interrogates my representational practice in relation to the stakes of the diasporic congregation, which is operating at the political margin of Berlin's widely diverse religious landscape. In exploring the collision of my analytical focus on the affect-charged elements of the believers' routines of connecting to the Elsewhere with the church's emphasis on affective discipline and moderation, the article demonstrates how aesthetic practices that engage with the Elsewhere not only have a religious but inevitably also a political bearing.

Abstract

Family decision‐making still constitutes a niche of consumer research. The preference towards using individualist approaches is even more prevalent in research on environmentally oriented consumer behaviour. However, many green consumer practices involve several family members, who may be able to exert significant influences on household subscription to these practices. The present study used qualitative research methods to examine family member interaction in relation to four topics: organic food, water and energy, waste and transport. Results show that peaceful as well as more conflict‐ridden, day‐to‐day influences between family members are a common phenomenon, even when it comes to inconspicuous, everyday consumer behaviour. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Purpose
This study aims to explore the causes, characteristics and consequences of workplace anger expression and suppression, with an additional aim of testing the emotional dimension of Affective Events Theory.


Design/methodology/approach
Participants (n = 187) from management and non-management positions completed an event-contingent anger diary over a period of four working weeks, alongside measures on trait anger and job satisfaction.


Findings
Over 50 per cent of the sample disclosed anger-causing events. In keeping with Affective Events Theory, disposition was important, with trait anger higher in those disclosing anger-causing events. There appeared a range of factors predicting the expression of anger, with these focused primarily on individual issues and pre-existing emotion rather than work characteristics.


Originality/value
Through consideration of management and non-management workers and by using a longitudinal design, the study highlights the importance of individual factors in understanding workplace anger. It notes the value in focusing on discrete emotion. The findings offer a clear direction for future research that could assist with enhancing models of workplace emotion, particularly if the aim is to account for discrete emotions.

Social Services Inspection Final Report for Craigavon & Banbridge - fieldwork inspection 14-25 Nov 2005

AbstractLegitimizing a practice is a challenging task because it has to be constantly made understandable and meaningful to prospective users. Garnering such legitimacy is critical for successful practice diffusion and potential institutionalization. The process of theorization—rendering of ideas into understandable and compelling formats—is considered central to legitimacy construction. However, we still have a limited understanding of the specific mechanisms through which theorization happens. In this article, we address this issue by examining the microprocesses through which the practice of Design Thinking (DT) was theorized by its proponents in the field of business management. We undertook qualitative analysis, using grounded theory, of archival data. Our analysis revealed three key microprocesses: appropriation (presenting DT as a solution to abstract field-level problems), assimilation (integrating DT with current vocabularies and legacy practices within user organizations), and adaptation (redefining DT in order to resolve contradictions with legacy practices within organizations). This study makes two contributions. First, to the literature on theorization by explicating key microprocesses underlying theorization and providing a nuanced understanding of how legitimacy and theorization may be linked. Second, to the literature on management knowledge production, by showing how management practices and concepts may be contextualized and interlinked.

Los jóvenes son las víctimas más vulnerables de la pobreza: el desempleo juvenil, el hambre, la desnutrición, la legislación inadecuada y el empobrecimiento son perjudiciales; los jóvenes constituyen el mayor recurso humano para el desarrollo, deberían ser los agentes claves del cambio social y se encuentran en el grupo social acosado por la incertidumbre sobre su futuro y en inadecuadas oportunidades para la realización personal. Surgen interrogantes en relación a los adolescentes (14-18 años) y su relación con la familia, la comunidad y el sistema general. Se impone como necesidad analizar la constitución de las unidades componentes de estos adolescentes: los grupos de crianza y pertenencia que la integran, como forma de develar las nuevas modalidades vinculares, a efectos de anticipar las condiciones de vulnerabilidad en la crianza, la pertenencia y la referencia frente a los cambios socio-culturales actuales. ; Youth are the most vulnerable victims of poverty: unemployment among the young, hunger, malnutrition, inadequate legislation, and impoverishment are harmful. The young constitute a major human resource for development, and should be the key agents of social change. However, they find themselves in a social group threatened by an insecure future with a lack of opportunities for personal realization. Questions arise in relation to adolescents (14-18 years old) and their relationship with their family, their community and the system in general. There is a need to analyse the constitution of the units comprising these adolescents -the groups they were brought up in and belong to- as a way of shedding light on new bonding modalities in order to anticipate the conditions of vulnerability in the sense of growing up, belonging, and reference in the face of current cultural changes. ; Grupo de Investigación Antropología y Filosofía (SEJ-126). Universidad de Granada