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The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that costs reduction is no longer a complete indication of performance and should not be attained at the expense of the firm’s sustainable social responsibility and environmental aspects. The question of whether outsourcing is a “blessing” or a “lesson” remains unresolved in the minds of practitioners and researchers alike. The literature is replete with the up- and down-sides of outsourcing, all going in different directions, making it very cumbersome particularly for practitioners to articulate when and what to outsource (if at all) and how to contain or mitigate outsourcing downsides.

Outsourcing as a two-edged sword can be value creating strategy or a firm’s soft spot. This paper focusses on the latter through a review of sourcing in two leading multinational companies: Benetton, in the fast fashion industry, and Nestlé, in the food industry.

Benetton experienced the biggest catastrophe in the garment industry, the Rana Plaza collapse. Nestlé went through the horse meat scandal, perhaps one of the most complex food crime cases in history. Both cases illustrated the strategic vulnerability that arises from the international outsourcing of production.

Clearly, production costs are no longer a complete indication of performance as the two cases unveil. Management control systems should be especially vigilant when outsourcing transfers social and environmental responsibility from one contract to another in a global business context. Monitoring costs cannot be outsourced when it comes to sustainable social responsibility and environmental aspects.

Firms can leverage relationships with stakeholder groups, activists and NGOs to help them to monitor their international operations. Institution-based trust to protect brands, increased integration and control are necessary mechanisms.

Indeed, global outsourcing in any industry should transfer not only industrial operations but also credible and responsible social and environmental benchmarks.

The use of competitor analysis is a rapidly growing area of business activity, especially among major corporations, across the world. The old military stratagem “know your enemy; through knowing your enemy you can beat him/her”, has found new life in the contemporary business environment. Surveys carried out in Europe and the USA in 1989 found that two‐thirds of competitor analysis departments were less than three years old. Competitor analysis is becoming increasingly seen as a key component in strategy formulation, in particular, in forming marketing strategy.

Providing a framework for integrating aspects of externally directed corporate and marketing communication efforts, this paper makes a case for the communication of positive and credible ethical values as a potentially critical component in communications strategy and sustainable competitive advantage. Using an uncertainty‐reduction model adapted from the diffusion literature, it is suggested that appropriately communicated moral and ethical values can have a role in underpinning an organisation’s reputation and “trusted capacities”, thereby heightening confidence in likely future actions, offering a predictive mechanism for lowering uncertainty in market transactions, and facilitating a potential to trade by offering a rationale for an organisation’s secure market position. Underpinned by ethical principles, the paper proposes implications for the role of “reputation for trustworthiness” and its symbolic evocation. It is argued that a reputation can become accepted as a social “fact”, able to endure critical interrogation in its social environment.

This paper deals with the rationales which prevail in the organisation of the communication function of international companies, ie the reasons which govern this organisation and the principal patterns and underlying conceptions of corporate communication. Beyond the logic or absence of logic in this organisation, one should be able to contribute to knowledge of communication in the following areas: what conceptions (definition) of corporate communication does this organisation manifest? What are the main patterns in the organisation of communication according to business field and to country? Are some better than others? To what extent does this organisation depend on managerial cultures (national culture, culture of the business sector, management style, culture of the company, etc…)? This paper was written from a survey conducted in the chair ‘Communication et Management’ of ESSEC, Graduate School of Management, in 1995. Its results appeared in International Public Relations Review, IPRA, Volume 16, 1995.

Discusses, with many illustrative examples, the concept of brand worth, the definition of a brand and strategic branding options. Presents three case studies.

Today's marketplace is characterised by turbulence and uncertainty. Market turbulence has tended to increase for a number of reasons. Demand in almost every industrial sector seems to be more volatile than was the case in the past. Product and technology life‐cycles have shortened significantly and competitive product introductions make life‐cycle demand difficult to predict. At the same time the vulnerability of supply chains to disturbance or disruption has increased. It is not only the effect of external events such as wars, strikes or terrorist attacks, but also the impact of changes in business strategy. Many companies have experienced a change in their supply chain risk profile as a result of changes in their business models, for example the adoption of “lean” practices, the move to outsourcing and a general tendency to reduce the size of the supplier base. This paper suggests that one key element in any strategy designed to mitigate supply chain risk is improved “end‐to‐end” visibility. It is argued that supply chain “confidence” will increase in proportion to the quality of supply chain information.

Retailers, it is said, are behaving as brands. Tests whether retailers can be considered to be brands by comparing the current practices of British retailers against four criteria for a brand which are developed from the existing literature on branding. The four criteria are that the brand should: differentiate; be capable of a separate existence; command a premium price and; offer the customer some psychic value. Concludes that retail brands not only exist but also exist in two forms: the more obvious merchandise brands, commonly known as own‐brand that are now marketed as more than generic commodities; and the less obvious process brand that represents the experience that retailers provide. Argues that the process brand is purchased with the shoppers′ time rather than with their money. The process brand has value to the retailer as it generates customer flow, customer loyalty and higher expenditure.

This special “Anbar Abstracts” issue of the European Journal of Marketing is split into seven sections covering abstracts under the following headings: Marketing, Europe and international business; Marketing strategy; Supply‐chain management; Product management; Services marketing; Marketing in the public sector; and Marketing and information technology.

Many studies have analyzed the retail and distribution systems in transitional economies, either from a general perspective or by analyzing specific countries. However, only a few, if any, have analyzed the situation and changes taking place in the Cuban market. The purpose of this paper is to provide a current overview of Cuban wholesaling distribution and retailing for consumer products. It examines the challenges that are taking place in the wholesale and retail distribution system in the country and describes the sharp contrast between the state of retailing in Cuba before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The research is principally exploratory, based on fieldwork and in‐depth interviews carried out in Cuba during the first semester of 2003.

The analysis presents a fast‐paced evolution process in the Cuban distribution system. Cuban retail durable and non‐durable consumer goods market presents two different distribution structures: one in Cuban pesos, formed by the traditional socialist retail system, and a growing second structure formed by the new stores and wholesalers operating in US dollars. The dollar market encompasses many semi‐autonomous government‐owned and operated companies, vertically integrated, with store sales totaling over $1.4 billion in 2002.

The paper concludes by discussing the current and future opportunities for brand manufacturers and exporters, and the close relationship between Cuban retailing and tourism.

Looks at strategic logistics management and technology strategies for manufacturing and groups the contents under four main headings: logistical future; information challenge; 21st century manufacturing; 21st century service industries. Aims to look at the many challenges facing logistics practitioners and researchers.