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There is a growing belief that business leaders can learn valuable lessons from successful sports coaches and athletes. This article seeks to examine the extent to which methods for achieving sporting success are applicable to business.

The research utilised a qualitative, interview‐based approach to data gathering. The data sample consisted of eight leading coaches. The interviews were analysed using template methodology.

The research found that there are areas in which business leaders can learn lessons from sport, especially in terms of change and staff development.

The research is based on interviews with a small sample of coaches. In order to develop the research further, a more extensive sample is required.

Business leaders should only focus on those aspects of sporting excellence which are applicable to the business world. However, they should also recognise that these are applicable to all levels of leadership in an organisation and not just senior managers.

The research challenges some of the hype around the relationship between sporting excellence and business excellence, but it does show lessons can be learned in important areas of staff development, the most prominent being the ability to welcome and bring about change.

Over the last 20 to 30 years, privatisation has become a world‐wide phenomenon. This article explores the rationale for and changing nature of privatisation. In particular, it draws attention to the range of definitions of “privatisation” and the differing views on its effectiveness in providing improved services to consumers. The main focus of the article is a study of the privatisation of the Public Power Corporation (PPC) of Greece. Examines why and how it was privatised and discusses its future as a private enterprise. It shows that the structure and operation of the privatised PPC and the liberalisation of the Greek electricity market were, and will continue to be, determined principally by the EU's commitment to free market competition.

States that the ability to manage change is now recognized as a core organizational competence, and this is reflected in the large number of books and articles devoted to prescribing how success in this area can be achieved. Notes that although these prescriptions may vary significantly, they all tend to argue that their way is the “one best way” for all organizations. Challenges the idea that there can be a “one best way” and instead seeks to replace prescription with choice. Begins by reviewing the two main models of change ‐ the planned and emergent approaches ‐ before moving on to discuss the merits of adopting a contingency model of change. However, argues that such an approach does not offer real choice: instead it merely seeks to replace one set of prescriptions with another. Concludes by calling for a recognition that organizations do have real choices in what they change and how they change it.

The purpose of this paper is to explore issues related to a recent article by Bradley Bowden published in QROM titled “Empiricism, and modern postmodernism: a critique”. The argument presented here is that antagonism between different sub-communities undertaking work related to the “historic-turn” in management and organization studies (MOS) should give way to greater acceptance of different “phenomenal” concerns and different methods of research.

This paper is based on a critical reading and interpretation of relevant texts. This paper critiques recent work by Bradley Bowden. These are then used as a starting point for a discussion of the different ways in which historical research is practiced in MOS.

The central interpretation developed is that despite many strengths, there are both interpretative and argumentational limitations to Bowden’s criticism that the historic-turn in MOS is postmodernist in nature. In pointing to the varieties of historical research and interpretation in the field, this paper calls for greater and more sympathetic understanding between the different related sub-fields that are interested in history in relation to management and organization.

This paper concludes by calling for more historical work that deals with historiographical and theoretical issues, rather than a continuation of methodological debates that focus on antagonisms between different methods of undertaking historical research to the exclusion of advancing the creation of new historical knowledge, however constructed.

This paper articulates a pluralistic and ecumenical vision for historical research in relation to management and organization. The primary contribution is therefore to attempt to dissolve the seeming assumption of dialectical antagonism between different but related sub-communities of practice.

This paper seeks to examine the factors which influence the ability of SMEs to align their enterprise‐planning systems with the requirements and constraints of supply chain relationships in order to meet their own and their customers' strategic and operational requirements. The objectives are to: identify the range of trading relationships that exist between an SME in the manufacturing sector and its customers and suppliers; examine the implications of these external relationships for the SME's internal enterprise‐planning system; develop a composite framework of enterprise planning and supply chain management which allows manufacturing SMEs to understand how these interact and can be aligned.

The paper develops a composite framework that allows first‐ or second‐tier manufacturing SMEs to identify the types of relationships in which they are involved and how they can understand and address their internal arrangements in order to meet their external obligations. In developing a composite framework, the primary objective is to understand how short‐term enterprise planning and supply chain trading relationships interact.

The paper has shown the developed understanding of aligning trading relationships and enterprise planning for the benefit of the supply chain. It has shown the importance of a manufacturing SME's strategic and operational requirements in achieving this alignment.

The next stage of the research is to undertake an in‐depth longitudinal case study of a number of manufacturing SMEs with the aim of gaining a greater understanding of the issues emanating from the developed composite framework. Since these mechanisms will be the responsibility of a small group of people within the SME it is planned to collect data that focus on the interactions of both short‐term operational issues and a longer‐term strategic view within each of the selected businesses.

A manufacturing SME's strategic and operational requirements may be an area where those supplying products upstream have an advantage over their bigger manufacturing brethren. For a manufacturing SME, these issues and mechanisms will be the responsibility of only a few people whose interactions are likely to focus on short‐term issues, but they can begin to move their perspective from day‐to‐day pressures and take a more holistic, long‐term view of the business. By so doing, they can achieve a more effective alignment of external and internal requirements and mechanisms which will benefit themselves, their customers and the entire supply chain.

This composite framework of supply chain management and enterprise planning should enable those who run manufacturing SMEs to take an overview of their business and better align their internal priorities with the external requirements of their customers. Understanding these convergent topics is central to improving supply chain performance.

This article explores the impact of the Internet on the supply chain for music. Music is a massive global industry worth $38 billion annually. The global music industry is dominated by the “big five” major record companies. However, as this article will show, the advent of the Internet is having a significant impact on both the supply chain for music and the dominance of the big record labels. The article begins by describing the background to our research and the methods employed. It then goes on to examine how the Internet is transforming the supply chain for music. This is followed by a discussion of the impact of piracy on the music industry. The article concludes by arguing that while the future may look bleak for the major record labels, it looks much more positive for artists and consumers.

There is little doubt that two of the greatest challenges facing today’s organizations involve leadership and change management. When we think back over the technology revolution of the last 20 years, we do not get very far without appreciating the integral role change management played in its successful adoption. And similarly, when we also consider the long line of management initiatives such as TQM, Six Sigma and BPR, we also realize the importance of strong, visionary leadership in making them a reality.

The purpose of this paper is to address the increasingly important issue of the impact of product design on supply chain risk management in an era of global supply arrangements. The need to include product design considerations in the development of global supply chain strategies is highlighted.

The research methodology is based on an in‐depth longitudinal case study of a major UK retailer. Data collection tools included observation of supplier meetings/workshops, semi‐structured interviews and access to key company documentation and archives.

This paper provides a framework for design‐led supply chain risk management and thus presents a case for recognising design as more than a creative function but as a platform to manage risk in supply chains.

The empirical research reported in this paper is specific to the clothing manufacturing and fashion retail industry. Though the findings will most likely apply to all industries and supply chains where design has an integral role and plays an important part in the competitiveness of the final product, there would be benefit in extending the research into other sectors.

The increased trends to outsourcing and offshore sourcing and the elimination of trade barriers have added to the competitive pressures faced by clothing retailers, hence frameworks to manage supply chain risks are significant to the survival of companies from this sector.

Whilst there is a growing literature in the field of supply chain risk there is less empirical evidence providing practical examples of the impact of product design on risk. Design‐led risk management offers a novel approach to mitigating supply chain risk.

Presents and discusses the findings from a research project into the impact of the NHS internal market on the merger of colleges of midwifery and nursing. Begins by briefly describing the major changes which have been introduced in the NHS since 1979 and sets these within the context of the changing nature of the public sector in the UK. Second, describes the background to the research and the methods employed. Continues with a brief review of the approaches to the change management process, which in particular draws attention to the importance of the environment in which the organization operates, and of the relationship between management styles and the different approaches to organizational change. Presents a case study of the merger of five colleges of nursing and midwifery. Follows with a discussion of the case study and the conclusions drawn from it for the process of change within the NHS.

The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the need to treat negative workplace behaviours which are not perceived as bullying as seriously as those which are. The paper also aims to examine whether or not the National Health Service (NHS) appears to experience a higher level of negative behaviour than private sector organisations and whether lower frequency behaviour has similar levels of effect as higher frequency behaviour.

A mixed‐method approach is used whereby a mainly quantitative questionnaire is complemented by the inclusion of qualitative questions and the collection of qualitative data collected within the two NHS Trusts concerned.

The evidence collected draws attention to the considerable impact that workplace incivility, which may or may not be classed as bullying, has on the well‐being of employees and the effectiveness of organisations. Where aggression is present, the levels of effect are shown to be higher and the behaviour is always classed as bullying. The evidence also shows that the NHS does appear to experience a higher level of negative behaviour than private sector organisations, and that lower frequency behaviour does indeed appear to have similar levels of effect as higher frequency behaviour.

This article shows that the focus placed by many researchers and organisations on countering/eliminating behaviour purely perceived as bullying is unlikely to be effective unless they also adopt a similar approach to the full range of negative behaviours that employees experience/witness in organisations.