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The strategic planning consulting industry has grown very rapidly during the 1970s and is expected to continue to grow in the coming years. In order to determine the nature and growth rate of the strategic planning consulting industry and the variety of services, approaches, and impacts of such consulting firms, I recently conducted a field study.

Key structural changes in the business environment have affected the basic strategic elements of the chemical industry in the last decade. These environmental changes have not run their full course and require continual attention in strategic planning in an industry that shipped $187 billion in products in 1981.

WE MAKE NO apologies for taking Thomas Paine's classic title for our leader this month. Written all but 200 years ago, it was brought vividly to mind when we read letters in a contemporary journal. From two well‐qualified men in their early fifties, they regretted they could obtain no replies to many applications for employment. They were, all too evidently, considered “too old at 50'.

However well trained you may be in Organisation and Methods, or Office Management, it all goes haywire when it is a farm office you are working in and lambs need to be fed or the AG & Fish or VAT man arrives … .

THERE HAS never been more than one good reason for the founding of the European Economic Community — the Common Market, as it has come to be called. That was to extend the boundaries of each member nation to encompass them all.

WE WERE LISTENING, some time ago, to a television debate on old age. Mostly the speakers seemed convinced that it was something to look forward to, that a senior citizen (as they call them nowadays) is a sort of privileged person, able to spend his time on hobbies or take repeated holidays in glamorous far‐away places.

I was editor of the City Press weekly newspaper from 1966 to 1975. From 1970 I also produced for BBC sound radio a daily report on the city. For 5 years I did daily pieces for BBC Radio London; and for two years in addition I did a spot on the Stock Exchange and the financial news of the day for the ‘P.M.’ programme at 5.50. On top of this, at City Press we briefed both BBC Radio London and ‘The World at One’ on any exciting City events which took place in the morning, and often broadcast about them.

This paper aims to further the authors’ understanding of brand communities, and their role in brand co-creation, through empirical and theoretical contributions derived from researching the marketing dynamics operating within a successful but atypical form of brand community, Fairtrade Towns (FTT).

The paper reflects a pragmatic application of Grounded Theory, which captured qualitative data from key “insiders”, with a particular emphasis on FTT steering group members and their role as “prosumers”. Data were gathered via ethnographic involvement within one town and semi-structured interviews with participants in others.

FTTs, as brand communities, demonstrate elements of co-creation that go beyond the dominant theories and models within the marketing literature. They operate in, and relate to, real places rather than the online environments that dominate the literature on this subject. Unusually, the interactions between brand marketers and consumers are not the primary source of co-creation in FTTs. Instead, factors usually identified as merely secondary providers of additional brand knowledge become key initiators and sources of co-creation and active “citizen marketer” engagement.

This study demonstrates how brand co-creation can operate in physical geographical communities in ways that are formal without being managed by conventional brand managers. It conceptualises FTTs as a nested and “glocalised” brand and demonstrates how steering group members facilitate the process of co-creation as prosumers. It empirically demonstrates how FTTs have evolved to become unusually complex brand communities in terms of the variety of stakeholders and the multiplicity of brands involved, and the governance of the localised brand co-creation process.

Sustainability is becoming increasingly important in supply chains, particularly in those that function in highly competitive industries. The purpose of this paper is to understand more deeply the role sustainability plays within supply chains based on a qualitative study conducted in the New Zealand wine industry.

This research followed a grounded theory methodology which used in‐depth interviews with managers from wineries, retailers, and restaurants; observations of operations; and interpretation of field documents/artifacts.

The findings show that managers within the New Zealand wine supply chains are trying to find ways to leverage sustainability‐related competencies for competitive advantage in what is now a highly competitive industry. Within this context, the emergent theme of searching for advantage through sustainability involves: pursuing and leveraging sustainability; telling a story that involves sustainability; managing supply chain relationships around sustainability; and experimenting with sustainability initiatives.

The research is limited to the context and participants of the study. As a qualitative inquiry, findings are exploratory. The research implications, however, involve deeper studies into how wine industry firms in other nations and regions of the world are treating sustainability and searching for competitive advantages. Further validation of the models that emerge can be accomplished through future research, which would draw on aggregate data.

The approach and context within which sustainability is explored is unique. By seeking deep insights from managers on the cutting edge of sustainability initiatives, we are able to get close to strategic thinking and explore the impact on distribution relationships.