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The purpose of this paper is to outline some of the key issues related to migrant workers, work, public policy and HRM while introducing the five articles included in the special issue.

The paper reports on the issue which is made up of articles that present research based on surveys, interviews and longitudinal census data.

It is evident that high‐performing economies attract migrants from lower‐performing economies. However, with influxes of migrant labour there are a number of challenges that need to be met at the organisational and policy levels.

The indications are that some economies are beginning to slow and this means that migrant flows will also slow or reverse. The implications for migrant‐dependent sectors and countries are not clear, although all five papers indicate areas for further research.

Each article includes practical implications depending on the sector, skill and country being examined. Practical implications include the role of day labour centres as HR mediators between organisations and employees, the need for culturally sensitive and tailored training programs to assist professional migrants and the need for policies geared towards the assimilation of migrants and return migrants in order to assist their integration into the labour market.

The five articles presented here represent a wide range of approaches, skill levels and sectors within the five counties examined: the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, and Finland. Some, such as the US paper which includes the first national survey of day labour worker centres, present findings from a highly under‐represented area.

AS J. L. Hobbs shows so clearly in his recent book, the interest in local history is growing enormously at present. The universities, training colleges and schools, as well as the institutions of further education, are all making more use of local studies—geographical, economic, social and historical—in their regular courses, in their advanced work, and in their publications.

Although there are a number of hybrid tropes and cross-over conventions that relate to contemporary action cinema, broken down to its most rudimentary components, the genre places its cinematic hero in scenes of ritualised violence or conflict, with the intent of showcasing both athletic mastery and aesthetically pleasing physiques for interested and invested audiences. In as much as it is difficult to define the contemporary genre, the role of the action hero is clear in all permutations. Indeed, there is little question or query about who or what makes for a popular and long-standing action star. After all, names such as Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Statham have become inextricably linked to the genre in question. While there is much to consider here in relation to the muscles and power of these hard-bodied heroes in sweaty vests or form fitting t-shirts, there is another iteration of masculinity, a different and more agile physique, a more refined sartorial code, that has quietly overtaken these macho figures as the site of contemporary action, and that figure is Keanu Reeves. With this in mind, this chapter will examine the ways in which popular media reviewers foreground star image, acting, movement, the body and performance in order to position Reeves as an action star removed from the physical excesses of bulkier, slower and less agile men who continue to perform in the genre around him.

This chapter provides an overview of the South Pacific states from geographic, environmental, cultural, political, economic and demographic perspectives. Topics covered include environments and hazards, climate change, cultural diversity, colonialism and late independence, economic development, population and migration, trade, and aid. The contribution of the most important industries of agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining and tourism are reviewed. In terms of the future, it is argued that the key challenge in the South Pacific states is that of creating sustainable development, alongside employment and growth, and coping with environmental change.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce this special issue volume on vulnerable work and strategies for inclusion. Definitions, measurement, analysis and policy responses to vulnerable work and strategies for inclusion are addressed before the key aspects of the nine papers included in the special issue are summarised.

The topic of vulnerability at work is explored, before the distinguishing features of jobs that generate vulnerable conditions and the characteristics of vulnerable workers are identified.

Vulnerable work is insecure and irregular with few protections accorded to the vulnerable workers who are often characterised by their age, ethnic status, gender and skill profiles. The consequences include: poor job quality, low and irregular incomes and personal/family hardship. Vulnerability is widespread across the workforce, with workers subject to work intensification, employment insecurity and poor work-life balance.

Vulnerable work and workers constitute a growing and global phenomenon. Consequently, governments and employers need to work together on programmes, such as the ILO’s decent work agenda, to ensure that basic human rights at work are widely recognised and provision to ongoing employment, safe working conditions and regular hours are offered across a variety of industries/sectors.

This volume examines the conceptual, empirical and policy aspects of vulnerability in employment. It documents the international dimensions of vulnerability, the different forms it takes, those groups that are at risk of vulnerable employment and the underlying factors that generate and support vulnerability.

Explores the main issues within hotel chain branding, focusing particularly on the problems of branding heterogeneous hotel portfolios. Relates the theory of branding to hotel chains, and outlines the difficulties of bringing consistency to hotel brands. Reviews the development of branding within the US and UK and identifies some of the features associated with hard and soft brands. Examines Forte Hotels′ 1991 rebranding exercise, the implications of which are considered in a wider context.

Compares two of the largest and most recent examples of international franchising with Europe. Data collected from UK master franchisee personnel are used to illustrate how Friendly Hotels became the European master franchisee for Choice Hotels International and how Scotts Hotels became a major provider of Marriott International hotels in the UK. Focuses particularly on a comparison of the two relationships and on levels of product‐system transfer. Concludes by drawing out the issues relating to the introduction and marketing of international franchise brands.

Provides insights into the nature of relationships between UK hotel franchisees and their international franchisors, and shows how operating systems and service provision are adapted to take into account local management views. Identifies a process between the principals, termed “attunement”, which involves three core variables. The first involves the franchisee rejecting on the basis of culture and industry convention (in the host country); the second involves the franchisee selecting managerial techniques, concepts and operating systems; while the third involves the franchisee aligning because of contractual and customer insistence factors.

There are many actions‐at‐law in which chemical problems come up incidentally for consideration; there are other cases in which they are the very essence of the matter in dispute. Especially does this apply to proceedings under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts. There the main, if not the whole, question at issue is purely chemical in its nature; and yet the tribunal sitting in judgment need not have, and generally has not, any chemical training or knowledge. Of necessity, this leads to decisions of an unsatisfactory nature, and which are not infrequently at variance with the obvious and generally admitted deductions from chemical analysis. Another consequence is that on practically the same set of facts, diametrically opposite decisions may be given. This is well exemplified in the two following cases of alleged adulteration of ginger‐wine and lime‐juice cordial respectively with salicylic acid.

The medical tourism market across the globe lacks a consolidated, standard customer-based brand equity (CBBE) scale till the present day. The purpose of this research is to theorize a scale with probable existing dimensions and based on prior literature adding culture and infrastructure/superstructure as new components for global comparison among BRICS and SAARC nations. This empirical research initiates laying the foundation of deriving a unified scale.

Extensive literature reviews from leading academic journals, books and web information were used to theoretically propose the scale. R (an open source coding language) was used for quantitative analysis.

Culture (environment index) and infrastructure/superstructure (industry/economic index) were found to be relevant in the context of CBBE scale for medical tourism. The other dimensions are brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality and loyalty.

The research literature was fragmented because of international scopes of medical tourism destinations as well as a variety of medical services offered. The dynamic nature of this industry, which is dependent on several factors such as healthcare, cost, related services, tourism etc. made it difficult to access the real contribution of individual items.

This paper proposes the foundation to develop a CBBE scale for medical tourism in India, adding culture and infrastructure/superstructure as new dimensions. It opens doors for new research with scale refining, branding assessment and fine-tuning items for the new dimensions.

This research is the first of its kind to create a standard CBBE scale for developing countries. It has added a new set of literature and consolidated prior contextual works on culture and infrastructure in reference to medical tourism. The questionnaire is of practical value to hospitals. The interview transcript is novel in nature for future works.