[Sit, Merrilees and Birch, 2003]. As a result, retailer concern with patronage and repatronage is now an important topic of marketing research [Machleit, Meyer and Eroglu, 2005].While considerable research has focused on patronage of retail stores, less is known about consumer intentions towards patronage of a specific shopping centre and factors that may influence repatronage. Prior research has demonstrated that store image has a significant role to play in consumers' patronage decisions [Oppewal and Timmermans, 1997]; thus it may be assumed that the image of a shopping centre may also impact on consumers' decisions of where to shop. However, while considerable work has been done on the role of store and even shopping mall image on consumer patronage [Finn and Louviere, 1996;Wakefield and Baker, 1998;Sit, Merrilees and Birch, 2003] there is, to date, very little research examining the image of the regional shopping centre, as a more holistic entity, in determining consumers' patronage decisions. This is important because understanding more about what attracts consumers to a specific shopping centre, followed by effective management of consumer evaluation, should lead to increased repatronage intentions.Consumers have many different choices of shopping locations, however. Regional shopping centres in particular play a key role in the future of the modern economy [Finn and Louviere, 4 1996;Phillips and Swaffin-Smith, 2004]. Since shopping has been identified as the primary purpose for the majority of visits to town and city centres [Warnaby and Davies, 1997] having the correct retail offer and facilities to entice visitors into a regional centre results in increased spending, greater employment opportunities and hence local economic regeneration.Furthermore, regional centres have been struggling to attract and keep local customers that may otherwise 'outshop' or patronise competing shopping areas [Kirkup and Rafiq, 1999;Whyatt, 2004;Williams, Hubbard, Clark and Berkeley, 2001].Regional shopping centres represent more than a shopping mall in this instance. For the purposes of this paper, they include shopping areas with a wide range of shopping facilities within larger geographical regions, such as town or city centres. They contain a mixture of traditional high streets, commercial shopping malls and smaller shopping precincts, and incorporate features which are either privately owned (merchandise, buildings, signs) or publicly owned (roads, car parks and amenities) [Bell, 1999]. Perhaps a major difference is that whilst specific retailers and shopping malls have a long history of co-ordinating their advertising and promotion efforts, regional shopping centres have only recently begun to market themselves in terms of image creation and maintenance [Kirkup and Rafiq, 1999;Kupke, 2004;Warnaby and Medway, 2004].The majority of research in this field has concentrated on shoppers' responses at the individual store or, at most, the shopping mall level; this study focuses on a relatively untouched area of research...

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Purpose: This article sought to identify the skills gaps associated with retail employees in SME and multiple retail companies, and to investigate the potential training and business implications that arise from these skills gaps. Methodology:Research was conducted within one geographical region and across five counties within the United Kingdom. Telephone and face-to-face interviews, focus group workshops and retail forums were conducted, resulting in responses from 121 retailers. Findings:The key issues and areas of concern to emerge were: the industry image and impact on recruitment and retention; employee and management skills gaps; perception of retail qualifications and barriers to training. Implications:The findings highlight the need for UK retail industry to raise the image of the sector, to promote the variety of career options; to clarify the retail qualifications and training available, and to work towards retail's earlier inclusion in school curriculum.

Feedback systems in the Loughborough University Business School operate in the context of a centralised university framework which provides guidelines, codes of practice, questionnaire templates and OMR equipment to read large quantities of forms. Informal feedback is encouraged and a system of course representatives and liaison committees is supported with help and training from the Students' Union. These are supplemented by questionnaires at module, year and programme level, containing both central and departmental questions. The systems culminate in annual Programme Review Boards whose actions are reported back to students. With suitable safeguards, efforts at closing the loop encourage sufficient student confidence in the system for the results to be reliable and useful. Staff confidence is increased by involvement in the process although this can conflict with central requirements. However central support is crucial for success and Business Schools can resolve this dilemma by taking the lead in university developments.

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