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Networking has been defined as the planned acquisition of contacts for mutual support. The usefulness of networking in several areas, sales, corporate, job search, etc., is described, and its particular usefulness for females in business is emphasised. A description of a networking system used by a major US company is provided. The conclusion provides some networking guidelines.

This study aims at providing exploratory insights into the initiative and capabilities of Chinese SMEs to develop and utilize diverse networks to support internationalization. Such network development and utilization efforts are fundamental to the analysis and explanation of Chinese firms’ internationalization patterns and outcomes. Extending from the existing network studies in the Chinese context that generally put emphasis on strong‐tie and ethnic‐oriented networks, this paper investigates and explains explicitly the use and effects of both strong‐ and weak‐tie networks in the international development of Chinese SMEs. Indepth case studies on four rapidly internationalized Chinese SMEs are conducted. The case findings demonstrate that weak‐tie networks are essential to the firms’ business development in foreign markets; and were proactively developed and utilized in the course of the firms’ development. The cases also provide alternative perspectives to the beliefs and values underpinning strong‐tie networks presumed in existing literature. The findings draw attention to the changing business values and approaches of the Chinese firms aiming at developing internationally. Managerial implications concerning the significant influence of effective networking on internationalization are pinpointed.

The purpose of the paper is to identify and discuss the transport service triad (TST) as a key unit of analysis to understand the operations and conditions for change in freight transport systems at the micro level, i.e. at the level of analysis where business decisions and change interaction take place.

The theoretical framing is rooted in the IMP approach and in the literature on triads. A case study approach is used to illustrate the TST by analyzing a case involving a wholesaler of installation products, tools and supplies, a main construction company and a transport service provider.

The paper shows how the connections between the business relationships in the TST, influenced by connections to relationships outside the triad, impact on the efficiency in freight transport. The paper illustrates how analysis of TSTs can be applied in micro-level studies of change in freight transport systems and in supply networks.

The triadic approach is instrumental to understand change in the transport system because it includes all relevant parties and relationships of concern, as well as the logic framing of their actions. However, while arguing that TSTs are generic to their nature, each TST is unique and needs to be identified and analyzed in its specific context.

The suggested framework may contribute to an understanding of the embeddedness of transport services in supply/business networks. The framework may support the development of new ways of operating and creating value for customers and offering sustainable transport solutions.

From the transport policy makers’ perspective, micro-level analysis is important to understand behavioral adjustments to new policies.

This study aims to examine buying center members’ information control (IC) in complex organizational buying contexts to uncover the effect of IC on overall procurement performance (PP) and the effects of expert power (EP), legitimate power (LP) and referent power as antecedents to IC.

The study uses confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling in AMOS version 21 to assess the hypotheses using a cross-sectional survey of 294 Sri Lankan buying center members active in complex organizational buying.

Results show that IC has positive effects on overall PP and that both EP and LP are significant antecedents to IC.

The findings challenge the conventional wisdom that sharing all information in complex organizational buying is a sure-fire way to gain success. Instead, a measured, deliberate approach is more productive and this is more likely necessary and fruitful if the buying center member has EP or LP.

Procurement managers, supply chain managers and other managers with responsibility for implementing complex organizational buying outcomes should seek to enhance IC in buying center members to promote positive procurement outcomes, but this may stifle suppliers’ attempts to influence the process. Buying center members with EP and LP are more likely to face pressure to exert IC.

This study is the first to examine IC, its antecedents and consequences in complex organizational buying scenarios. EP and LP appear to underpin IC which, itself, has significant effects on PP.

The bio‐fouling and corrosion characteristics of 60/40 brass were investigated in the Palk Bay waters of the Mandapam Coast, India, over a period of a year. The experimental methods included corrosion rate by weight loss measurement and analysis of the corrosion product by X‐ray diffraction. The bio‐fouling characteristics of 60/40 brass were studied in terms of seasonality of recruitment of organisms and quantification of the fouling community development pattern. The XRD analysis of the products on brass threw more light on the protective nature of the compounds formed and their impact on the overall corrosion rate of the material. The organisms found in fouling deposits on brass included algae, bryozoans and hydroids. The results of the study are discussed in the light of the sea‐water characteristics and monsoonal effects.

There is a huge amount of information and data stored in publicly available online databases that consist of large text files accessed by Boolean search techniques. It is widely held that less use is made of these databases than could or should be the case, and that one reason for this is that potential users find it difficult to identify which databases to search, to use the various command languages of the hosts and to construct the Boolean search statements required. This reasoning has stimulated a considerable amount of exploration and development work on the construction of search interfaces, to aid the inexperienced user to gain effective access to these databases. The aim of our paper is to review aspects of the design of such interfaces: to indicate the requirements that must be met if maximum aid is to be offered to the inexperienced searcher; to spell out the knowledge that must be incorporated in an interface if such aid is to be given; to describe some of the solutions that have been implemented in experimental and operational interfaces; and to discuss some of the problems encountered. The paper closes with an extensive bibliography of references relevant to online search aids, going well beyond the items explicitly mentioned in the text. An index to software appears after the bibliography at the end of the paper.

In a previous issue, a systematic scheme for the examination of corroded metal specimens was presented, and the purpose of this article is to illustrate how the procedure has been applied to components which have failed in service. The ubiquity of the scheme is demonstrated by reference to six examples chosen from a wide range of materials which have been used under diverse operating conditions. Detailed application of the various techniques mentioned in the scheme is discussed for the first example only, the remaining samples being dealt with more briefly.

MR. DENIS HOWELL, M.P., Minister for Libraries, who was to have told Conference how public libraries had progressed since the Act, had to withdraw and so we did not find out how the responsible minister felt about us.

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a mixed methods study that explored how active community engaged and connected managers were in their local and broader communities (engaged leadership, EL). The paper specifically investigates an under researched aspect of EL – “connectorship” – with focus on developing a measure for connectorship. The authors present the conceptual framework for EL, followed by the operationalization of “connectorship” construct.

The paper focusses on developing a measure for connectorship using data from a qualitative study of 18 senior managers followed by a survey of 458 managers in Canada.

Content analyses of qualitative data led to the generation of 93 items measuring connectorship. Based on these items, quantitative analyses of survey data from 453 respondents yielded a final measure of connectorship, which consisted of 28 items explored under eight dimensions.

An organization’s emphasis on connectedness and engagement of leaders will improve knowledge sharing and better mutual understanding of organizational issues among managers. It will also help attain employment stability and decrease hiring and related costs by reducing turnover. Future research, specifically longitudinal studies of leaders at various organizational levels, could incorporate connectorship as a key criterion for leadership effectiveness.

The focus on connectorship skills implies that in organizations the emphasis should go beyond traditional leadership skills development and included the neglected connectorship skills development. Increased connectedness and engagement among leaders will have positive performance implications.

For effective corporate citizenship, the EL framework and a focus on connectorship would help leaders better understand the importance of social networks, be aware of their own network, and improve their skills in connecting the people within their networks.

Using a variable centered approach within the framework of EL the paper contributes to leadership literature by conceptually defining connectorship developing a measure for this construct and testing its psychometric properties.