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The quest for efficient and effective organisational performance induces management theorists and practitioners to centre attention on environmental factors. Aldrich (1979) and Child (1972), among others, believe that an organisation's timely response to environmental change has a significant effect on performance. Harrison (1986) reviews literature on environment and organisational performance and concludes that firms which have employed a strategy responsive to change in the external environment have grown and prospered relative to other firms.

Judging the increasing number of strategic statements appearing in company advertisements, stockholder meetings and annual reports, corporate executives now believe there is a clear connection between strategic management and company profitability. The extent to which corporations reported on strategic management in their 1980 annual reports, reflects the growing belief that it is to a company's advantage to formulate and publicize its corporate strategy. In addition, by examining these reports, one may draw a correlation between a company's size and rank and its reported strategy.

Your company may find itself traveling down several different paths at once to reach its goals. The secret of success lies in making sure the roads are compatible. At one time, selecting the right options was a matter of chance. Today, finding the winning combination is almost a science.

Entrepreneurship has been widely recognized as having greatly influenced the United States. Its influence has especially been documented over the past 20 years. Paralleling our societal interest in entrepreneurship has been increasing interest in entrepreneurship education. While our interest in entrepreneurship education has grown considerably over the past two decades, this field of study continues to have critics both within and outside of schools and colleges of business (Kuratko 2004). In spite of these criticisms, some researchers suggest that the United States is still far ahead of other regions of the world in terms of entrepreneurial education (Solomon et al. 1998).

Using entrepreneurship education in the United States as a point of departure, this article uses a case study to analyze the efforts of a private university in Bogota, Colombia, to create a new program in entrepreneurship. The Colombian Legislature passed Law 590 in July 2000 as a means to promote and develop entrepreneurship in the nation. Shortly thereafter a private university in Bogota started a new program in entrepreneurship. At the university's invitation, a small number of faculty from U.S. universities participated in the school's “kick-off” efforts. The paper offers analysis and recommendations based on five criteria: 1) What is taught, 2) Why it is taught, 3) How it is taught, 4) How well it works, and 5) Leadership support. In addition, rather than simply adopting a U.S. or European model of entrepreneurship education, the authors propose that they should develop a center that integrates lessons from other models with elements that are relevant to the local situation.

How should your company respond to the complex competitive challenge of declining demand? The model described here can increase your prospects of success.

Purpose – Libraries have been experiencing relentless change and uncertainty in their environment. The literature on corporate communications, strategic management and planning, marketing and public relations more recently, has been recommending using communications as a strategy to coherently and proactively handle and foresee change. Planning and using an overall communications strategy will bring integrity and adherence to the library's goals and direction while reducing the discomfort of change. This selected bibliography is a quick starting point for understanding the significance of an overall communication strategy and its use for managing conflicts and changes in the library's environment strategically. Design/methodology/approach – This article covers books and articles from mid‐1980s to 2004, published around the world. The sources are listed alphabetically by author and then chronologically for different sources by the same author, providing brief but useful information about the content covered for each source. Findings – This bibliography illustrates a variety of research from corporate communications, strategic planning, communications management, marketing and public relations literature that emphasize the role of communication in strategic management. Research limitations/implications – It records a comprehensive list of publications covering international perspectives as well as publications about communication strategy. Practical implications – This selected bibliography is primarily intended for librarians, library planners, managers or administrators, but is also relevant to corporate and business professionals, planners and administrators. Further, it would also be a useful resource for students, faculty and researchers of communication. Originality/value – This bibliography presents a much needed resource list for gathering insights into the strategic role of communication for organizations such as the library that are in a state of constant change.

It is understandable that, after a decade of oil worries, consumers and their governments should find joy in today's oil market. According to Department of Energy data, the real cost of a barrel of internationally traded oil has fallen somewhere between 25 and 40 percent over the past two years. While this poses problems for the international banking community and a number of oil‐producing nations, most experts are convinced that for the world as a whole it means higher economic growth and lower inflation.

When I came to Chrysler in 1979, the Michigan State Fairgrounds were jammed with thousands of unsold, unwanted, rusting Chryslers, Dodges, and Plymouths. Foreign operations were leeching the lifeblood out of the company. And worst of all, cars were coming off the assembly line with loose doors, chipped paint, and crooked moldings.

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.