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During the past two decades, Physical Distribution (PD) has been described as having “come of age”, in semi‐maturity and most recently, as being in an actual state of maturity. Paralleling this development in an increasing number of firms, the PD function has been organised as a separate department to manage both the inbound and outbound flow of materials and goods.

Discusses the results from an empirical study that investigated potential career frustrations and concerns of women in distribution, defined as female marketing and logistics professionals. In general, both groups of respondents have some reservations about career opportunities in their respective fields. Moreover, perceptions about career opportunities appear to be influenced by personal demographic characteristics such as education and managerial status. The results also suggest that education and continuous learning are crucial for a successful career in distribution.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.

In 1966, Professor Donald J. Bowersox mused that the acceptance of the physical distribution (logistics) concept was in “semi‐maturity”. The question then becomes—now, more than a decade later, has the concept of physical distribution reached maturity? Today, most senior executives at least recognise that physical distribution activities generally represent a significant expense item to their firms. While their respective views of the importance of physical distribution vary, most can empathise with this anonymous observation: “Line executives are a happily blessed race who radiate confidence and power. They stride confidently. They can develop a new pathway to greater profits by using decisive words and gestures. However, each line executive usually has one or more logisticians riding on his back. He knows that, at any moment, the logisticians may lean forward and whisper, “No, you can't do that”.”

Physical distribution (PD) management has often been viewed only as the administration of storage and transportation activities. However, increasing demands on customer service, added product complexity, increased transportation costs and intensifying competition have significantly broadened the scope of PD management. A modern PD manager must do more planning, command greater decision‐making authority and become more active in formulating and implementing marketing strategies (e.g. price setting, packaging design, etc). In order to assume these new responsibilities, PD managers will require a reconceptualisation of their jobs and function as an integral part of the firm. Most important is the need for a set of carefully conceived PD strategies and tactics that are sequenced according to some workable framework. The authors maintain that the product life cycle (PLC) concept represents such a guideline. They discuss how the PLC concept can be used to gauge changing market conditions as well as the subsequent impact this has on the formulation and implementation of timely PD strategies and tactics.

The purpose of this paper is to explore developments in the field of integrated marketing communication and the changing relevance of its component processes that have implications for marketing managers.

The paper integrates concepts including a range of recently published (1993‐2005) theoretical works, practitioner developments in practice and industry studies.

The paper provides information and action approaches to marketing communicators that may increase the success of their promotional efforts. In addition, the paper provides a useful perspective in the proper use and applications of event marketing. It outlines the benefits of adopting event‐marketing techniques and offers practical suggestions for maximizing their value in the promotion process.

The theoretical concepts that form the foundation of the paper appear to have a significant application to the integrated marketing communications. Some, but not all, have been tested empirically.

This study allows marketing managers to reformulate their marketing communications mix to achieve a more successful promotional process.

This paper describes current trends in event marketing, explores the elements of event marketing and repositions them into an enhanced integrated marketing communications framework. It offers the potential of improving the success of the promotion of products and services in practice, resulting in increasing effectiveness. Moreover, it provides a strategic perspective that is necessary for an effective integrated marketing communications process.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and validate two new constructs with the potential to sharpen our understanding of how and why firms integrate their internal supply chains and assess the governance structure of their supply chains. The first construct, organizational alignment (OA), is a reflective scale measuring the extent to which upper management attempts to foster integration between internal supply chain functions. The second, supply chain governance structure (SCGS), is a formative index, and is a first attempt at developing a measurement instrument to assess SCGS along multiple dimensions.

Following a literature review, measures of OA and SCGS are conceptualized. These instruments are used to collect data, after which they are refined and validated through parallel scale development (OA) and index construction (SCGS) processes.

OA shows acceptable content and construct validity, and SCGS shows acceptable results for content and item specification, as well as multicollinearity.

OA and SCGS may provide some insight into how to promote better internal supply chain integration within the firm, and may allow for an assessment of the governance structure of the firm's supply chain. In different industries and at different times, this knowledge may prove useful in supply chain design and supply base optimization decisions.

These scales have considerable applicability in logistics and supply chain management research. Together, they represent initial attempts to assess upper management influence on internal supply chain alignment (OA), and to assess the governance structure of a firm's supply chain.

Career shifts and talent shortages in supply chain management (SCM) are evident at most occupation levels and need further attention and understanding. The purpose of this paper is to present factors that shape SCM career expectations, choices, and satisfaction and to advance career theory and research that is currently absent in SCM literature.

This study administered open‐ended surveys to individuals educated and working in SCM to elicit the satisfaction and dissatisfaction that professionals derive from various aspects of their SCM careers. Resulting data were content analyzed and categorized into major themes representing career satisfiers (likes) and dissatisfiers (dislikes).

This exploratory study found evidence of traditional career components and the presences of objective and subjective components that transcend organizational boundaries. The results indicate an emergence of the boundaryless career concept in SCM, as the SCM career appears less dependent on a single employer. From the data emerged six major career satisfiers and seven major career dissatisfiers. Challenge is the most satisfying aspect of a SCM career. Challenge, however, may have limits, as the most dissatisfying aspect of a SCM career is the overload that can overwhelm a SCM professional in his or her career.

Career satisfaction can be readily measured and categorized to explain SCM career expectations and choices that may lead to positive or negative work outcomes. Supply chain managers could utilize the information to understand employee perceptions and behaviors that may influence performance and to contend with disruptive career shifts and looming talent shortages in SCM.

This paper introduces contemporary career theory concepts and is a first of its kind in the field that explores attitudes and perceptions toward careers in SCM, as it focuses on career satisfiers and dissatisfiers described by SCM professionals.

As part of the work leading to the development of the National Healthy Schools Scheme, an audit was carried out of existing healthy schools schemes in England. This, together with an evaluation of healthy schools activities within eight pilot healthy schools partnerships throughout England funded by the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Employment, formed part of the research underpinning the creation of a National Healthy Schools Standard. Principles for effective working are identified, as well as difficulties likely to be encountered in creating and promoting such a standard.