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The purpose of this paper is twofold: firstly to review what appear to be major long term changes in the social system which are likely to require planned reciprocal change in the way large scale corporate enterprises are managed; secondly, to review the ways in which the emerging discipline of Organizational Development may be relevant to organization change, in particular to the development of more satisfactory in‐company Industrial Relations climates.

In recent years, the problems of men as they pass through the period of ‘middle age’ have gained prominence in both the behavioural science literature and the general press. This article seeks to outline the nature of the ‘mid life crisis’, to examine some of its major symptoms in managerial behaviour and to explore the implications it has for management development.

‘The business of America’, said Calvin Coolidge in 1925, ‘is business’. Such a view, uncompromising and perhaps a trifle complacent, has been consistently reiterated in the West by many others. Such a proposition provided the basis for the protective managerial ideology with which the early English entrepreneurs sought to defend themselves against the Establishment in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The activities of those industrial pioneers irrevocably changed the society in which they lived. They ushered in not only a new technology upon which we are unalterably dependent, but a new hierarchical ordering of society and a new morality of utilitarianism to go with it. They institutionalized a new form of social conflict and provided the arena in which that conflict could take place.

This is a selective annotated bibliography of the literature on Christopher Columbus from 1970 to 1989. The subject is particularly relevant considering the approach of the Quincentenary of the “discovery” of America in 1992. For that same reason, there has been an outpouring of literature on the subject since 1990, a significant subset of which contributes to are interpretation of Columbus the man, his voyages, and their impact on the new world. It is hoped that this more recent literature will be part of a subsequent annotated bibliography.

As the thoughts and actions of marketers focus on the philosophy of relationship marketing (RM), the purpose of this paper is to broaden our understanding of the concept for its effect on ethical behaviour in organisations. Whilst there is evidence of strong ethical inputs in the theory formation of RM, there is also a need to separate rhetoric from reality. In this paper we argue that despite the evidence that RM is inherently a concept with strong ethical roots, there is a gap between the theory of RM and its actual practice. Indeed, major changes in values and ethics may be required if RM is to be truly adopted. Otherwise there is a danger of allowing RM’s ethical inputs (commitment, trust, etc.) to become axiomatic without being subjected to sufficient critical scrutiny at the practical level. We believe that the RM philosophy is capable not only of contributing genuinely to the strategic discourse of contemporary organisations, but also of playing the role of the social advocate by fostering mechanisms which will generate ethical introspection and promote ethical decision making.

Nuclear weapons confront us as the challenge of our times. To understand the special psychological and moral issues raised by nuclear arsenals and their use, we must first grasp the special nature of these weapons. In a recent book on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the authors highlighted a fact which often escapes public attention; namely, nuclear weapons, many times more powerful than the 12.5 kiloton uranium bomb and the 22 kiloton plutonium bomb dropped respectively on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are qualitatively different from conventional explosives.

The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the implications for curriculum design by operationalizing threshold concepts and capabilities (TCC) in subject delivery. The motivation for undertaking this exploration is directly related to addressing public concerns for the business school curriculum.

A post facto analysis of a compulsory subject in finance that is part of an Australian business degree and the impact on a subsequent finance subject.

Customary approaches to granting part-marks in assessing students, (fractionalising) understanding of content can mean students pass subjects without grasping foundational concepts (threshold concepts) and are therefore not fully prepared for subsequent subjects.

Students passing subjects through fractionalization are poorly equipped to undertake deeper explorations in related subjects. If replicated across whole degree programs students may graduate not possessing the attributes claimed for them through their qualification. The implications for undermining public trust and confidence in qualifications are profound and disturbing.

The literature has exposed risks associated with operationalizing threshold through assessments. This highlights a risk to public trust in qualifications.

Operationalizing threshold concepts is an underexplored field in curriculum theory. The importance of operationalizing customary approaches to assessments through fractionalising marks goes to the legitimacy and integrity of qualifications granted by higher education. Operationalizing assessments for TCC presents profound, inescapable and essential challenges to the legitimacy of award granting institutions.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the stream of thought regarding the concept of demand and supply integration (DSI) within the domain of environmental responsibility and green marketing.

Conceptual application of theory to strategic‐level concepts is used to develop propositions representing a theoretical approach to the integration of green marketing and green supply chain management (SCM).

Based on stakeholder theory, the authors propose that greater value will be perceived by customer stakeholders when the firm is able to successfully manage and coordinate demand (marketing) and supply (SCM) functions, ensuring that customer stakeholders receive what they are promised in regard to environmental products and services. For this relationship to offer competitive advantage and higher firm performance, the authors contend that it is necessary to better understand how customer stakeholders perceive firms' environmental initiatives, and to investigate if the degree to which a firm's demand and supply functions are integrated influences these perceptions.

Scholars will benefit from ideas and questions put forth in this paper as it suggests specific avenues to pursue empirically in order to understand stakeholder perceptions of a firm's environmental responsibility activities.

Managers will benefit from the results of this paper by better understanding the benefits of DSI in creating marketing campaigns for environmental products and services that stakeholders perceive as legitimate.

The authors introduce the concept of DSI to the green marketing and green SCM literature and position DSI within the broader rubric of environmental commitment in the firm.

Discusses issues concerning the relationship between codified marketing theory and practical strategic marketing expertise, particularly with respect to the importance of “tacit” or unarticulated knowledge. The trajectory of argument draws attention to the role of words as symbolic modelling devices and explores implications of this position for theorising marketing expertise. Makes use of a multidisciplinary perspective and draws material from work in cognitive science, the psychology of expertise and the philosophy of science. Sets the problematisation of practical theory in marketing within a broader context of a possible epistemological “crisis” of rationality in practical disciplines. The conclusion suggests that an epistemology of expertise for marketing management demands both theoretical and linguistic sophistication and implies a pedagogic shift towards a model of philosophic enquiry in marketing.