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Mid Kent Area is part of Kent County Council Social Services Department. In 1993, its managers asked if a typical local authority bureaucracy was a suitable organization from which to provide the quality, customer responsive services espoused in recent public service legislation and government guidelines. They shared their concerns with staff, and the “Towards Excellence!” programme is a direct response to those discussions. Relates how staff enthusiastically identified the disempowering characteristics of the organization, throwing down the gauntlet for change. In response all staff agreed on a statement of the area’s overriding purpose, established a communication charter giving rights to essential information, received vitalizing feedback on their performance, and released a flood of creativity and innovation. The principles of a learning organization, reflected in responsiveness to customers and in the continual development of staff, have made a dramatic impact. Outlines the processes employed, as well as some of the unintended consequences of this approach.

Sees the objective of teaching financial management to be to help managers and potential managers to make sensible investment and financing decisions. Acknowledges that financial theory teaches that investment and financing decisions should be based on cash flow and risk. Provides information on payback period; return on capital employed, earnings per share effect, working capital, profit planning, standard costing, financial statement planning and ratio analysis. Seeks to combine the practical rules of thumb of the traditionalists with the ideas of the financial theorists to form a balanced approach to practical financial management for MBA students, financial managers and undergraduates.

This report is the result of a five‐month survey of information provision in the London Borough of Islington. It looks at information on learning opportunities for adults and complements Brenda Neale's survey of adult learner needs which identified a lack of accessible information as a major barrier for adults in the Borough wishing to return to learning.

This paper's aim is to identify structural and relational factors influencing the upstream channel management of organized retailers in India.

In‐depth interviews were conducted with 15 organized retailers and two manufacturers in India. Data were analyzed using the thematic network analysis technique from qualitative research. The authors use the framework of institutional theory to guide the discussion.

The findings suggest that government regulations influence the supply chain structure in India. Relational bonds offset the uncertainty borne of weak institutions. Informational transparency and long‐term orientation foster trust between channel partners. This trust, in turn, leads to collaborative partnerships.

The findings have implications for multinationals planning to enter the Indian retail industry. There is a need to understand complex regulatory and social institutions in India. The uniqueness of these institutions calls for adaptive strategies toward channel management.

The paper contributes to the literature on the supply chain structure in India. Despite growing interest in the Indian retailing industry, not many studies reflect on the specific B2B exchange structure in India. The paper fills this gap and also provides several marketing implications for multinational retailers planning to enter the Indian market.

A study of repository plans and practice has been carried out as part of the Universal Availability of Publications programme. The concept of a repository varies widely, but is generally equated with the storage, preservation and continued availability of low‐use material discarded by libraries through lack of space. Most repositories have a passive storage function rather than an active part in national interlending or acquisition systems, and relatively little attention has been given to them. Factors that influence the successful establishment of repositories include: the willingness and ability to transfer library stock; provision of buildings; the difficulties of managing repository stocks; relegation decisions; and user perceptions of their need for onsite access. Only nine countries were found to have co‐operative repositories, though many more had some storage facilities. Repository plans, but not their implementation, exist in some 12 countries. Australia, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic are currently developing national policies. It is concluded, however, that repositories suffer in general from being a long‐term need that is given low priority in relation to recent and more glamorous developments

THE COMMENT by Don Revill in the August issue of NEW LIBRARY WORLD raises a number of interesting points. The allocation of library book funds between departments or between site libraries has always proved a sticky problem, and, as Revill points out, a variety of solutions have been advocated. Of course, the actual division of the funds presents no real problem (everyone is willing to spend the money!) once the bases on which this division is to be made have been decided. Thus the real decisions boil down to judgements of the relative value (to the university? to the state? to the librarian?) of such factors as:

The term ‘obsolescence’ occurs frequently in the literature of librarianship and information science. In numerous papers we are told how most published literature becomes obsolete within a measurable time, and that an item receives half the uses it will ever receive (‘half‐life’) in a few years. ‘Obsolescence’ is however very rarely defined, and its validity, interest, and practical value are often assumed rather than explained. Before reviewing studies on ‘obsolescence’, therefore, it is necessary to look at the concept and to identify the reasons why it should be of interest.

The commercial airline is an extremely competitive, safety‐sensitive, high technology service industry. People, employees and customers, not products and machines, must be the arena of an organisation’s core competence. The implications are vast and pervasive affecting no less than the organisation’s structure, strategy, culture, and numerous operational activities. Completed by 13 respondents (executives), this audit presents a series of select findings of a human resource management audit carried out in 2001‐2 and contains extensive data on airlines from nine countries from around the globe. The conclusion drawn from these three bodies of work is that, with the exception of a handful of high performing airlines, the industry as awhole continues to function as per a traditional, top‐down, highly divisionalised, industrial model of operations and governance. This model is manifestly inappropriate in such a highly knowledge‐based service market as the airline industry. HRM expertise in general and compensation and benefits in particular are required now,more than ever, to spearhead the strategic development of a customer‐centric, learning‐oriented workforce that is capable of adapting quickly to the strategic goals and change imperatives facing the airline industry.

In this paper we analyze consumer demand for and acceptance of online food retailing using longitudinal data collected in three studies (1998, 1999, and 2001). Information reported is from online food shoppers in ten US markets. Comparisons of results from each of the three studies is presented and change patterns identified. We conclude by recommending that researchers shift their attention toward addressing some of the more troublesome supply side issues of the online food retailing equation.

Seeks to summarize relevant literature reporting on western research and to use a grounded theory approach to form the model. Also to develop a Chinese retailer new product decision process model. And consider unique aspects of Chinese culture and the ongoing economic transitions.

Foreign producers have little knowledge about the internal operations of China's chain stores. As China's markets open to the world, an understanding of the ways in which retailers and suppliers interact in China – especially the ways in which they make product selection decisions – will be crucial to companies expanding into this area of the world.

Results are presented from in‐depth interviews with retail food buyers in China. Interviews were conducted during 1999‐2000 in Shanghai and Beijing. The interview data are used to develop a model of buyer‐seller relationships that lends itself to a better understanding of the complexities – cultural and market‐related – of retailer‐supplier relationships in China.

Since, China is a vast country this study forms a small part of the process in understanding its buyer‐seller interactions.

The literature, including grounded theory and the research undertaken with the sample of respondents highlight the potential gains from understanding the nature of Guanxi and the culture of China. Managerial implications are discussed.

The study investigated buyer‐seller relationships within the Chinese market. When Chinese food retailers make decisions on new product acceptance, their criteria are similar to those of food retailers reported in research focused on western society. Supplier role performance, price, trade assistance, and relationship with supplier are primary considerations; these criteria support results from western literature.