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The aim is to demonstrate the necessity of a scenario approach to decision making where non‐experts are forced to choose between expert opinions about which they cannot possibly form their own expert opinion.

This is an opinion column.

The 2012 presidential election is almost sure to result in more of an austerity approach to the economy – and the level of that austerity may actually be greater under a re‐elected Obama than under a new President Romney.

Decision makers and strategists should be prepared for more of an austerity approach to economic policy, no matter who is elected in November.

Few people are thinking through the actual implications of this election. A scenario analysis makes it fairly clear that the range of plausible policy outcomes is far narrower than is commonly believed.

The article gives a possibly unique outlook on the 2012 presidential election.

Success and business reputation depend upon the quality of products where product quality depends upon the capability of a process, yield value and sigma score, etc. Poor quality of ceiling fan and mass rejection from quality check resulted in an alarming amount of cost for rework. As a result, the fulfillment of the production target was getting difficult day by day. The main purpose of this research is to identify the crucial causes for humming noise of ceiling fans and control it to a tolerable level so that maximum quality can be achieved.

The poor quality of ceiling fans was determined from the Pareto analysis of the define, measure, analyze, improve and control model which was humming noise during running and further actions were undertaken regarding the reduction of the humming noise. Project charter was formed before initiating the measure phase to study the suppliers, inputs, processes, outputs and customers diagram with process parameters and existing noise data were collected from random samples to determine the rolled throughput yield (94.95% existing) and existing sigma score which value of 3.14 and also the poor value (1.05) of process potential index implied that the process condition was below standard (<1.33) and need to be improved badly. Then root causes analysis and relationship diagram was prepared to identify the possible causes and with the design of experiments and correlation analysis, it was clear that the air gap between the stator and rotor was the main culprit behind the humming noise.

The minimum value of air gap was determined from boxplot analysis which was 0.2 mm–0.225 mm and the corresponding mean, the minimum and maximum value of sound level in dB (37.5–40.3 dB) for 0.225 mm air gap with the watt consumption (83 w) from the hypothesis test for the corresponding air gap. Finally, the updated sigma score and process capability analysis were performed with control charts to show the comparison after applying the DMAIC-six sigma methodology. The final sigma score was 5.1 which indicates a significant improvement of the process with the capability of saving US$23,438/year caused by the poor quality of ceiling fans.

Only quantitative values of the causes behind the humming noise were possible to identify. Other trivial many causes elimination might improve the sigma score closer to 6.00. The final sigma score that was achieved from this research was sustainable.

A structural approach with proper data analysis and application of various tools to detect the actual cause behind the humming noise of ceiling fans with numerical value has not been found in any literature. This research study can be a valuable asset for ceiling fan mass producers.

The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the characteristics and impact of “gifted amateurs” who are maximising the potential of Web 2.0 technologies to grow their businesses creatively and in a cost‐effective manner. They are “punching above their weight” in their dealings with larger competitors who are less exposed to these new skills and more restricted in their structures.

A total of 378 small businesses in the South East of England are surveyed and 30 detailed empirical case studies charting the activities of these “early adopters” of Web 2.0 tools are developed.

Proactive “gifted amateurs” can systematically raise their profile through blogging, networking and judicious use of search engine optimisation techniques. They are competing effectively against larger organisations by applying network effects to their marketing activities, often circumventing the need for increasingly complex IT systems by continuing to rely upon cost‐effective Web 2.0 tools and their own networking skills as the business grows.

Technology has now developed to the point where the entry costs and barriers to remote and collaborative working have disappeared. “Gifted amateurs” can acquire new online marketing skills and secure IT systems, plus the ability to network and collaborate globally if necessary on knowledge projects, by creating virtual (and even disposable) organisations without having to commit themselves to a traditional IT infrastructure. Therefore they can avoid reliance on IT suppliers and grow their businesses in more flexible ways.

By recording the characteristics and experiences of these early adopters, this paper is one of the first to document the significant changes in business growth patterns and priorities that these tools are starting to facilitate.

Eco-social crises such as the loss of biodiversity call for transformative learning. This study analyzes the prospects of social media in learning about nature.

The study is placed in the intersection of science and technology studies, futures studies, environmental social sciences, and environmental humanities. The study draws on a qualitative case study of a mycologists' Facebook group. The empirical material was collected through digital ethnography.

Social media provides opportunities for learning about nature for many people. However, specialized naturalist social media groups are increasingly geared towards citizen science. The development may fragment the online naturalist cultures and narrow the scope for learning.

Insights from a single case study cannot be broadly generalized. However, the case highlights significant features to consider in promoting collective learning in social media in the future.

Much of the previous research has focused on social media uses in the formal education of youth. This study addresses social media in informal and collective learning, specifically about nature.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

ROUSED out of pre‐breakfast tea‐gulping torpor recently by hearing on Radio London the confident assertion, ‘Oh yes, there's a great shortage of librarians throughout the country…’ No Rip Van Winkle beard, wasn't April 1 and no echo of the Last Trump. It was all about a book called Work after work by Judy Kirby and REACH—Retired Executives Action Clearing House, which seeks to relieve the withdrawal symptoms of the retired by finding outlets for their skills in work for voluntary organisations. These withdrawal symptoms in librarians are easily recognised and include immediate and compulsive reading of everything in the Record, a tendency to beam for the first time at young people at conferences, and a not always suppressed urge to write rude letters to the professional press or to the LA. Editing the professional press is not recommended as nostrum for those old retirement blues.

I READ WITH particular interest P R McKenna's observations in this issue on librarians as book‐reviewers (which I did as part of my normal proof‐reading duties). As a publisher, and to a much lesser extent as author, I have been on the receiving end of book‐review criticism for a great many years, and though my epidermis has thickened in that time, it is still occasionally penetrated by advanced crassness or irresponsibility.

Gillette’s historically successful “razor and blade” business model (RBM) has been a promising benchmark for multiple businesses across diverse industries worldwide in the past several decades. The extant literature deals with very few nuances of this business model notwithstanding the fact that there are several variants of this business model being put to practical use by firms in diverse industries in grossly metaphorically equivalent situations.

This study adopts the 2 × 2 truth table framework from the domains of mathematical logic and combinatorics in fleshing out all possible (four logical possibilities) variants of the razor and blade business model for further analysis. This application presents four mutually exclusive yet collectively exhaustive possibilities on any chosen dimension. Two major dimensions (viz., provision of subsidy and intra- or extra-firm involvement in the making of razors or blades or both) form part of the discussion in this paper. In addition, this study synthesizes and streamlines entrepreneurial wisdom from multiple intra-industry and inter-industry benchmarks in terms of real-time firms explicitly or implicitly adopting several variants of the RBM that suit their unique context and idiosyncratic trajectory of evolution in situations that are grossly reflective of the metaphorically equivalent scenario of razor and recurrent blades. Inductive method of research is carried out with real-time cases from diverse industries with a pivotally common pattern of razor and blade model in some form or the other.

Several new variants of the razor and blade model (much beyond what the extant literature explicitly projects) have been discovered from the multiple metaphorically equivalent cases of RBM across industries. All of these expand the portfolio of options that relevant entrepreneurial firms can explore and exploit the best possible option chosen from them, given their unique context and idiosyncratic trajectory of growth.

This study has enriched the literature by presenting and analyzing a more inclusive or perhaps comprehensive palette of explicit choices in the form of several variants of the RBM for the relevant entrepreneurial firms to choose from. Future research can undertake the task of comparing these variants of RBM with those of upcoming servitization business models such as guaranteed availability, subscription and performance-based contracting and exploring the prospects of diverse combinations.

Smart entrepreneurial firms identify and adopt inspiring benchmarks (like razor and blade model whenever appropriate) duly tweaked and blended into a gestalt benchmark for optimal profits and attractive market shares. They target diverse market segments for tied-goods with different variants or combinations of the relevant benchmarks in the form of variegated customer value propositions (CVPs) that have unique and enticing appeal to the respective market segments.

Value-sensitive customers on the rise globally choose the option that best suits them from among multiple alternatives offered by competing firms in the market. As long as the ratio of utility to price of such an offer is among the highest, even a no-frills CVP may be most appealing to one market segment while a plush CVP may be tempting to yet another market segment simultaneously. While professional business firms embrace resource leverage practices consciously, amateur customers do so subconsciously. Each party subliminally desires to have the maximum bang-to-buck ratio as the optimal return on investment, given their priorities ceteris paribus.

Prior studies on the RBM have explicitly captured only a few variants of the razor and blade model. This study is perhaps the first of its kind that ferrets out many other variants (more than ten) of the razor and blade model with due simplification and exemplification, justification and demystification.

With the recent emergence of organizational and systemic restructuring in Anglo‐American societies, leadership and the search for prospective leaders has taken on new significance. Focuses on leader development and defines the nurturing of leaders as leader formation. Doubt is cast on the efficacy of currently popular leader models, such as transformational leadership, which purport to facilitate and enhance organizational learning. Instead, if leaders are to promote learning, recognition of a shift in focus in leadership studies towards constructivism and contextualism is required. Documents and illustrates these trends by a historical instance of institutionalized leader formation: the English public school tradition of gifted amateur, gentlemanly power. Draws the implications of the case for instrumental approaches to leadership, organizational learning and programmes of management development.