This article sets out to critically evaluate the impact that higher education institution (HEI)‐based consultancy can have upon the adoption and use of e‐commerce by businesses units operating in the small business sector of the British economy. Anecdotal evidence suggests that “new” (post‐1992) universities are more likely to offer consultancy services to small businesses. It is also claimed that owner/managers seem reluctant to pay full economic prices and would only subscribe to HEI‐based consultancy services if and when these are supported by considerable subsidies. In order to test the owner/manager reluctance hypothesis, 60 matched case studies were conducted, involving small businesses based in the West Midlands region of Great Britain. Preliminary results indicate that most small business owner/managers are aware of the potential benefits accruing from ICT and e‐commerce and tend to use HEI‐based consultancy services as a subsidised access point to e‐markets, involving both their core and peripheral activities. There exists, however, an apparent mismatch between the supply and demand sides of the HEI‐based ICT and e‐commerce consultancy market.

In construction better practice has been sought through the employment of knowledge management. Interest in tacit knowledge has grown due to its importance for raising performance at all organisational levels. Aspects of the limits which tacit knowledge places on knowledge management approaches in construction are considered with the focus being upon broad knowledge management categories rather than the details of particular methods. The distinction between knowing how and knowing that coupled with examination of whether the main mode of knowing is tacit or explicit is used to analyse the relationship between tacit and explicit knowledge in construction. There are significant general theoretical difficulties with incorporating tacit knowledge into the objectivist knowledge management approaches which predominate in construction particularly since methods for converting tacit to explicit knowledge are problematic. Improving performance requires appreciating the limitations of objectivist and practice based knowledge management within the context of construction projects as consideration of performance management measures illustrates.

Contextualises a number of concerns related to the usage of National and Scottish Vocational Qualifications by both employers and employees in Britain. It provides an analysis of the main factors that are likely to affect the ways in which the newly formed Learning and Skills Council interacts with this well established, but controversial system of vocational qualifications.

Considers how basic skills affect competitiveness, particularly that of small businesses, and the effectiveness of some facets of recent policy initiatives directed at increasing the level of basic skills. Economic performance is seriously threatened by low standards of basic skills. Basic skills are an element of competitiveness because they are connected with personal development, occupational skills, and information technology skills. The application of market and system failure models offers some insight into the levels of basic skills training provided by employers. It is suggested that there is a substantial way to go before employers are firmly persuaded of the competitiveness benefits of undertaking more investment in basic skills training.

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