Purpose: Building on the concepts of learning communities of practice, the paper aims to evaluate their application within degree apprenticeships (DAs) to support pedagogic engagement and inclusive education within a university setting. Design/methodology/approach: A case study of an existing B2B sales degree apprenticeship reviewed relevant…

This paper builds on and follows up papers delivered at UALL conferences over the last decade: Critten P (2007); Critten P, Squire P & Leppenwell G (2010); Critten P (2012) and Critten P, Squire P and Locke G (2015). The theme common to them all is the unfolding story of a partnership between business (specifically Consalia Ltd) and Academia…

This paper investigates the speech act of refusal taking as a case study British responses to a salesperson's offer through the study of recordings of 109 conversations between the salesperson and a potential British customer. The data are analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively with the aim of finding the most frequent responses that denote…

The UK labour market is subject to significant graduatisation. Yet in the context of an over-supply of graduates, little is known about the "demand" for and "deployment" of graduate skills in previously non-graduate jobs. Moreover, there is little examination of where these skills are developed, save an assumption in higher…

This study reports upon the perceptions of a sample of Education Studies undergraduates of their employability within three jobs: teaching, accountancy and marketing/sales management. The concept of employability is framed around two themes analysed through a Bernsteinian conceptual analysis: transferable utility of an Education Studies degree for…

A literature review and data from 346 British business studies students identified the importance of relationship marketing approaches in business and highlighted the need for students to gain experience in work placements. Careful management of work placements by universities is required. (SK)

A study examined changing skill requirements for the occupation of sales assistant in the United Kingdom. Data were collected from four sources: a review of the existing literature; exploratory interviews with key contacts concerned with sales assistants' skills/training; in-depth interviews of 19 employers; and a seminar at which the study…

An empirical test of the service-profit chain in a large United Kingdom retail business explored how employee attitudes and behavior can improve customer retention and, consequently, company sales performance. Data were collected from 65,000 employees and 25,000 customers from almost 100 stores. The business collected customer satisfaction for…

An international team of researchers studied the following aspects of training in the United Kingdom's retail sector: structure and characteristics, institutional and social context, employment and labor, changing conditions and their implications for skill requirements, and training and recruitment. Data were collected from an analysis of social…

The skills and education/training implications of the development of electronic commerce in the United Kingdom's retail industry and its associated supply chain were examined. The major data collection activities were as follows: a literature review; consultation with leading academics and advisers; an e-mail-based call for information from…