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Each member of the Journal’s Editorial Advisory Board reviews the state of empowerment in today’s organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a model which structures and links different types of efficient consumer response (ECR) measures; it does so by considering the use of both quantitative or “hard” and qualitative or “soft” measures in ECR, emphasizing the importance and causal role of “soft” measures throughout the ECR process.

This paper reviews the ECR and performance measurement literature and proposes a model that explains linkages from intra‐organizational, inter‐organizational and industry prerequisites through ECR activities to ECR outcomes; and highlights the role of performance, behavioural, attitude and capability measures. Two extant studies from Austria and Denmark are examined in the context of the model to exemplify some of its features.

Similarities regarding issues of inter‐organizational and intra‐organizational prerequisites were found, but the two studies also demonstrated variety in the use of measures in ECR research.

The proposed model is presented for primarily future investigation; thus there is no empirical study in this paper other than a comparison of the two extant studies to support some constructs and variables. However, the model represents a structure that can guide future research on more specific ECR elements.

The model makes a practical contribution by providing a structure from which measurement or scorecard systems can be established.

The model makes a theoretical contribution by providing an overall structure to link different areas of ECR research such as barriers for ECR implementation, and specific ECR concepts, activities, and their outcomes.

Using a bottom‐up, model‐free approach when building robots is often seen as a less scientific way, compared to a top‐down model‐based approach, because the results are not easily generalizable to other systems. The authors, however, hypothesize that this problem may be addressed by using solid experimental methods. The purpose of this paper is to show how well‐known experimental methods from bio‐mechanics are used to measure and locate weaknesses in a bottom‐up, model‐free implementation of a quadruped walker and come up with a better solution.

To study the bottom‐up, mode‐free approach, the authors used the robotic construction kit, LocoKit. This construction kit allows researchers to construct legged robots, without having a mathematical model beforehand. The authors used no specific mathematical model to design the robot, but instead used intuition and took inspiration from biology. The results were afterwards compared with results gained from biology, to see if the robot has some of the key elements the authors were looking for.

With the use of LocoKit as the experimental platform, combined with known experimental measurement methods from biology, the authors have shown how a bottom‐up, model‐free design approach can be used to gain specific knowledge on a robotic platform, and also how knowledge can potentially be generalized from this approach.

This paper shows that even though a bottom‐up, model‐free approach was taken, the results can still be compared with results from, for example, biology, because solid experimental methods were used.

Operating within the “settings” approach of the Ottawa Charter, the European Network of Health Promoting Schools has, since its launch in 1992, been the most powerful catalyst for the development of the health‐promoting school concept across Europe. Founded on a partnership between the European Union, Council of Europe and the World Health Organization, it is now established in 40 countries right across Europe. Its principles have been determined by a range of key meetings, conferences and documents, while the evaluation of its practice increasingly suggests that it is highly effective. The network is based on the principles of empowerment, partnership, democracy, equity, action competence and sustainability, and sees key areas for action as being teacher education, links with parents and the community, and evaluation, to move health promotion in schools on to a sound evidence base. Targets for the future development of the network include extending it to the few remaining countries that still fall outside it, and the widespread dissemination of its learning and goals, so that every child in Europe can have the benefits of being educated in a health‐promoting school.

Disasters bring about communities of focussed discourse. We show how a segment of one such community controlled the early stages of discourse during a financial crisis as a variety of professionals (bankers, analysts, editorial writers and academics) made multiple types of arguments (emotional and technical) to allay citizens’ concerns about an impending banking collapse. We examine the rapid rise of this segment by mapping and analysing the responses printed in Icelandic newspapers to a Danish bank’s warning of Icelandic banking instability. Using social network analysis, we illustrate the networks of public actors and their immediate public responses, showing how close-knit both networks became after just one week of commentary in the Icelandic press. We demonstrate the power that professionals of various kinds have over an uninformed citizenry through their rapid responses and closely connected networks and underscore the obstacles awaiting those who want to alter discourse during crisis.

This chapter presents a review of community transport in Australia with the aim of providing material for comparative research in flexible transport.

Research on Australian community transport has been brought together to present an analysis of the key features of the industry: history; geography; funding; regulation and the use of volunteers.

Each key feature has led to the current strong state/territory basis for service organisation and delivery, despite the federal responsibility for supplying most of the funding and ensuring equity and standards. Varying approaches to regulation and supply have also been driven by remoteness and the prevalence of large pockets of entrenched social disadvantage in some regions.

The chapter summarises research findings including hitherto unpublished research on an application of flexible transport services outside mainstream public transport operations in Australia.