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This article describes the aims and background of the RIDDLE project, which was funded by the Libraries Programme of the Commission of the European Communities' (CEC's) Telematics Research and Technological Development Programme. RIDDLE (Rapid Information Display and Dissemination in a Library Environment) started in February 1993 and ended in December 1994. A subsequent article will deal with the technical side of the project in more detail. Further information is available via World Wide Web at the following sites:

The home economics teacher's attitude to school meals may well be influenced by her own childhood experiences and she may not welcome the thought of combining her teaching with those in the Educational Catering Service. Teachers may not think that such a combination is possible. Alan Harrison claims that it is time educational catering offered more towards food education, and time, too, that such help was accepted!

Research into the impact of the interaction between budgetary participation and budget emphasis on managerial performance and job related attitudes has failed to provide consistent results. Researchers are in general agreement that aspects of national culture, affecting the behaviour and attitudes of individuals within organisations, have to be taken into account. Motivated by the encouraging findings of Harrison's (1992) study in Singapore, this study is a partial replication of Harrison (1992, 1993) in the context of Indonesia. It explores further whether a high budget emphasis is an effective superior evaluative style in nations categorised as high power‐distance (PD) and low individualism. Specifically it examines the effect of participation on the budget emphasis in a superior's evaluative style and dependent variables: job satisfaction and managerial performance. In addition to the structured instruments used in prior research, open ended questions captured attitudes to management control issues. The results indicate that in Indonesia a low budget emphasis improves managerial performance, while high participation increases Indonesian managers' job satisfaction. This result does not wholly support previous research findings and leads to discussion of Indonesian national characteristics which potentially contribute to the impact of a superior's evaluative style in Indonesia. This research suggests that the same performance evaluative style is unequally effective across the nations common to Hofstede's cultural dimensions.

A BIBLIOGRAPHY may seem to many to be as dry as dust and I must admit to having subscribed to that view about some bibliographies in the past. This is one, for a number of reasons, about which I feel differently. For me, after nearly a quarter of a century's involvement in a particular area of librarianship, browsing through the pages is an evocative experience, like a meeting with friends. Some whose work is recorded here I never knew but reading about them and studying their writings over the years has produced an illusion of their being old and close companions; and there are those who were friends whose voices can still be heard in memory. Some authors cited I hope yet to meet because their views and ideas are challenging and awaken a sympathetic response or make me want to start an argument. Still others are former colleagues from whom I learnt much and whose example has been inspirational, and then there are those who are staunch friends, without whose support and co‐operation my professional existence would be very dull indeed.

Taken to be a distinctly Scottish dish from the 1750's onwards the haggis can be shown to have an interesting derivation and the ‘evidence’ is cast across several different areas. It was extolled as an English dish by Gervaise Markham in 1615. ‘Small oatmeal’ he says ‘mixed with blood and liver of either sheep, calfe or swine maketh that pudding which is called the Haggas of whose goodness it is vain to boast,…’ A modern writer remarks that haggises nowadays have all emigrated to Scotland; at one time however ‘haggas’ or ‘habbys’ was equally common in the ‘south’ and as ‘hash pudding’ was well known in Cumberland. Whatever its origin and distressing though it may be to patriotic Scots, the word, like the dish, is definitely English.

The impact of schedule stability on supplier responsiveness is investigated by comparing schedule and calloff quantities for two automotive assemblers who both use the same supplier. Components for the two assemblers are manufactured by the supplier in cells which are focused by customer. The world class assembler (a Japanese transplant) operated a stable, long‐term schedule policy whereas the non‐world class assembler (a Western mass producer) operated a schedule policy which is relatively highly uncertain. It is argued that the strategy of the world class assembler is likely to out‐perform the non‐world class assembler in the quest for lean distribution (build to customer order within short time cycles).

The sources and consequences of schedule instability at an automotive assembler producing two models on the same assembly track are described. One model was produced under conditions of relatively lengthy stable schedules, the other under more unstable schedule conditions. The two logistics processes were compared, and measures of schedule uncertainty identified. The relative impact on human resources was explored by investigating constructs of the two production systems according to people who worked in the processes. Relative quality and productivity of the two systems were evaluated. It was concluded that there were advantages in both of these measures for the more stable production system, and that the supply chain and core manufacturing process were relatively lean. But the less stable production system provided greater responsiveness to the market and greater discretion to people working in the process.

This paper aims to use institutional theory to explore the role of human resource (HR) practices as carriers in the evolution of interdependent supply relationships.

This is a qualitative study of an inter‐firm supply relationship where the two partners were interdependent as a result of a “closed loop” supply relationship. The paper explores the perspectives of employees at multiple levels within both partners, and collects pluralist evidence from 36 interviewees from both sides of the dyad. It collects documentary evidence such as minutes, contractual agreements and HR documents. This paper re‐analyses the evidence from earlier work using an institutional theory framework.

Using Scott's “three pillars” the paper shows that HR practices can act as carriers of regulative, normative and cultural‐cognitive elements in interdependent supply relationships through both formal and informal mechanisms. Regulative elements were less evident, but could be fundamental in shaping the other two. A tension was found between institutional pressures at the inter‐ and intra‐firm levels, an emergence of innovative practices and new routines at inter‐organizational level, and an evolution over time that could involve a de‐institutionalisation of the relationship as a result of internal priorities competing with the resource requirements of the supply relationship.

The paper addresses the interface between OM and organisational theory. Areas are proposed where institutionalisation of a supply relationship can be strengthened or weakened. The findings further challenge the view of supply relationships as a “spectrum” in which progress is unidirectional over time.

This article focuses on the application of manufacturing concepts in a medium‐sized manufacturer of plastic products for medical use. The company produces a range of product lines for a wide range of markets. The article illustrates how concepts such as factory focus, plant within a plant, and order‐winning criteria can be successfully applied. It describes the process whereby manufacturing strategy can be formulated within a company.

The reason for featuring this article is to provide home economists, particularly those in schools, with insight and perhaps inspiration, relating to future liaison with the hotel and catering industry. They will be able to see the professional approaches to food and drink, be able to form links with suppliers of food and equipment and perhaps obtain addresses for the future.