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A programme of introducing teamworking into the business was undertaken at BICC Cables, a leading cable manufacturer. Teamworking allowed managers to combine their efforts in dealing with business strategy and organizational change, and to implement changes in a spirit of common purpose and shared responsibility. Team development provided the necessary catalyst for improved relationships and purposefulness, whilst a focus on actions and follow‐up generated a great deal of successfully implemented changes in a relatively short time.

Posits that while team development has become fashionable managers are often uncertain about its value to their business and what is required from the organization to support its introduction. Explores some key questions faced by managers and answers are supported by case studies and examples. Outlines the benefits of team development initiatives for major organizational change and emphasizes the need to fully support the introduction of teamworking to maximize its impact. Considers various problems and pitfalls and ways of overcoming these difficulties, and details a team development process for those interested in what actually happens to the teams.

Many corporations fail to find the Holy Grail of globalization because they have not paid “enough” ongoing attention to the process. Without greater attentional effectiveness in their efforts to globalize, firms waste precious executive resources or decide to standardize their operations to limit the complexity of their international strategies. Neither of these reactions is desirable. While companies can deploy a range of helpful tools in increasing overall levels of global attention, these tools are costly and not every company is in a position to achieve and sustain high levels of global attention effectively. In this article, the authors discuss three dimensions of management attention: aversion/attraction, captive/voluntary, and front‐of‐mind/back‐of‐mind. Each of these dimensions provides an array of tools to focus management attention. By maximizing each of these dimensions, attention effectiveness is increased. In an international business world with abundant information, managers need to focus on their most scarce resource – management attention.

Commencing immediately Polyvinyl Chemie Holland b.v. has changed its name into ICI RESINS b.v.

The sheer strength of almost a million engineers is proving to be the deadweight around the neck of the AUEW. For it is now obvious that it could not finance a national strike in support of its current pay claim fight. Instead, the union's leadership, like Bob Wright, facing page, is going towards the tactic of picking off any of 5,000 plants one at a time. Preston Witts reports.

UK government counter‐terrorism policy in the wake of the London bombings of 7 July 2005 has included an evolving set of measures seeking to engage the support of and productive interaction with UK citizens, so as to help oppose violent extremist ideology, to thwart potential sympathy for its proponents and to avert future incidents. The primary focus of such attempts has been Al‐Qaida‐influenced violent extremism. Government preventative measures have provoked controversy, especially in British Muslim communities. The article examines their reaction, from research commissioned by the Metropolitan Police Service and undertaken in London by the International School for Communities, Rights and Inclusion (ISCRI) from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), in its community engagement (CE) Pathfinder programme. The findings from this research find many parallels in recent academic literature and other commentaries. The authors contend that some government programmes have erroneously served to stigmatise UK Muslim communities ‘en masse’, which has been counter‐productive to the government objective of gaining community support and involvement, and has thereby compromised the effectiveness of counterterrorism preventative measures. The article highlights a different emphasis and some specific elements for a revised prevention policy in counter terrorism from consideration of these sources, including the primary evidence from Muslim communities themselves in the community engagement Pathfinder programme.

The competitive pressures being placed on Western manufacturing organizations require new restructuring models, which take account of value‐adding capability and guide investment. Time‐based manufacturing strategies offer a framework to develop the total input/output chain in isolation of selling price. This method can be used successfully in batch‐manufacturing companies to reduce throughput time and conversion cost – the method is non‐capital‐intensive and involves total company and people commitment. Discusses a case study and results from implementation in a JIT environment in the electrical switchgear industry. Further research is required to link throughput time reduction with total factory cost and investment justification.

This paper discusses public relations (PR) practice from the perspective of a former editor and current senior editors in the UK to provoke a debate on PR education, particularly as it prepares intending practitioners for work in media relations and, more broadly, careers in PR. The main issues and concepts raised in the paper relate to trust, ethics and the development of PR as a strategic function. The paper discusses the PR programme in the department of journalism at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK. The discussion focuses on the need to shift the emphasis in PR education to become more ethical and strategic without discrediting the continued need for tactical career preparation and good press relations.

To map and evaluate current research and policy evidence from a major conference against the seven strategic themes published in the UK's Small Business Service policy document; draw conclusions concerning the research underpinning; and provide guidance for the future direction of research.

Evidence is presented from an analysis of 180 papers and research presentations combined with expert opinions and perspectives from participants at the 28th Annual Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Conference in November 2005. The evaluation framework is formulated on the seven themes and includes an analysis of the research methods employed.

Rapid growth evidenced in volume and diversity in small business and entrepreneurship research activity. The international community of researchers is growing with a greater preparedness to share findings and experiences. The engagement of more policy makers, advisors and practitioners together with researchers may improve the utility and effectiveness of research in terms of policy development and the communication of best practice.

A wide‐ranging definition of research is employed, i.e. incorporating the more usual refereed papers but also working papers, practitioner papers and outcomes from the debates in plenary sessions and tracks. The evidence does, however, provide a snapshot of the research in the field, encompassing a significant proportion of ongoing work.

Researchers need to utilize more effectively prior research to inform their own research and more effort is needed to integrate existing research within the relevant theme or field, both nationally and internationally.

This represents a unique study which takes a snapshot of the current research in the SME field, incorporating the work of researchers, policy makers and practitioners.

Delegates from around Europe converged on Preston, home of British specialist resin manufacturer Industrial Copolymers Ltd, to attend the company's first international sales conference.