The localism agenda in England, to the extent that it has been followed through, relies on the increasingly free availability of government data for its success. The availability of this open government data, however, solves nothing: as many writers have pointed out, such data needs to be...

This paper contributes to current debates about gender, work and skill in the service economy, focusing specifically on the case of women's employment in telephone call centres. The paper asks whether call centre employers are capitalising on women's "feminine" social skills, and examines the...

In this paper we are concerned with the implications of information and communications technologies (ICTs), and the so-called 'new economy' with which they are associated, for regional development. As such, we are concerned particularly with examining the ways in which ICTs may 'change the...

In this paper we are concerned with the implications of information and communications technologies (ICTs), and the so-called 'new economy' with which they are associated, for regional development. As such, we are concerned particularly with examining the ways in which ICTs may 'change the...

Recent years have seen the growth of pre-employment training initiatives focusing on developing generic skills amongst the long-term unemployed in an attempt to ensure their access to jobs in the service economy. This article is concerned with the effectiveness of such training, focusing...

This paper attempts to reflect critically on the role which telephone call centers might play in the economic development of rural places in the 'information age', drawing mainly on a case study of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. It argues that although call center employment tends mainly...

This paper examines the demutualisation of the British building societies, the trend during the 1990s for these mutual financial institutions run on behalf of their members and without external shareholders to convert to public limited companies. Demutualisation resulted from cultural change...