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Much has been written about integrated marketing communications (IMC) but agreement on a precise definition is still lacking and, although interest levels seem to have reached fever pitch over the past few years, practical implementation, and evidence of the effectiveness of implementation, seem to be fairly rare. This paper sets out to investigate the sometimes confiding views of what the concept means and asks a number of related questions: what are the driving forces behind the growth of IMC, what is inhibiting its implementation, what is needed to make IMC a reality and what does the future hold for IMC?

This case followed Todd Duncan, Chairman of Duncan Aviation, as he considered which international locations Europe, Latin America, or Asia were most important in positioning Duncan to benefit from continued internationalization of the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) industry. The company had the option to hire Regional Managers to actively manage these areas, recruiting new customers and building relationships with existing ones. The case provides students with an opportunity to identify the core competencies of a company, and to recognize ways in which employee engagement contributes to Duncan's core competencies. Optionally, the case may be used to introduce students to Dunning's eclectic paradigm.

The research for this case was obtained from a combination of primary research, secondary research, and personal experiences. One of the research assistants for this case was employed at the company for over two years, and reflections thus obtained, supported with supplementary research, enriched and deepened the paper. Duncan's Debrief magazine and news releases were important secondary sources, in addition to industry web sites, industry journal articles, reference books, and newspaper articles.

This case is intended to be taught in undergraduate international business or marketing courses.

This case is an illustration of the complexity, and strategic importance, of considering whether, and how, to build customer relationships outside the firm's home country. Such decisions confront many companies facing increasingly global industry environments. The eclectic paradigm, developed by John Dunning, explains why companies expand and participate in international markets.

The meshfree node-based smoothed point interpolation method (NS-PIM) is extended to the forward and inversion analysis of a high gravelly soil core rock-fill dam during construction periods.

As one member of the meshfree methods, the NS-PIM has the advantages of “softer” stiffness and adaptability to large deformations which is quite indispensable for the stability analysis of rock-fill dams. In this work, the present method contains a reconstruction procedure to deal with the existence or nonexistence of the construction layers. After verifying the validity of the NS-PIM method for nonlinear elastic model during construction period, the convergence features of the NS-PIM and FEM methods are further investigated with different mesh schemes. Furthermore, the NS-PIM and FEM methods are applied for the forward analysis of a high gravelly soil core rock-fill dam and the convergence features under complex stress conditions are also studied using the rock-fill dam model. Finally, the NS-PIM method is used to calculate the Duncan–Chang parameters of the deep overburden under the high gravelly soil core rock-fill dam based on the back-propagation neural network method.

The results show that: the NS-PIM solution for construction analysis still possesses the property of upper bound solution even under complex stress conditions and can provide comparatively more conservative results for safety evaluation. Furthermore, it can be used to evaluate the accuracy of results and mesh quality together with the FEM solution which has the property of lower bound solution; the inversion analysis in this work provides a set of material parameters for the deep overburden under high rock-fill dam during construction period and the calculated results show good agreement with the measured displacement values and it is feasible to apply the NS-PIM to the forward and inversion analysis of high rock-fill dams on deep overburden during construction periods.

In further study, the feasibility of three-dimensional problems, elastic–plastic problems, contact problems and multipoint inversion can still be probed in the NS-PIM solution for the forward and inversion analysis of high rock-fill dams on deep overburden.

This paper introduced a method for the forward and inversion analysis of high rock-fill dams during construction period using the NS-PIM solution. The property of upper bound solution ensures that the NS-PIM can provide more conservative results for safety evaluation. The inversion analysis in this work provides a set of material parameters for the deep overburden under high rock-fill dam during construction periods.

First, the analysis from forward to inversion for high rock-fill dams during construction period using the NS-PIM solution is accomplished in this work. A procedure dealing with the existence or nonexistence of the construction layers is also developed for the construction analysis. Second, it is confirmed in this work that the NS-PIM still possesses the property of upper bound solution even under complex stress conditions (the forward analysis of high rock-fill dams during construction period). Thus, more conservative results can be provided for safety evaluation. Furthermore, it can be used to evaluate the accuracy of results and mesh quality together with the FEM solution which has the property of lower bound solution. Third, the calculated material parameters of the deep overburden in this work can be used for further studies of the high rock-fill dam.

This paper reports on the effects of laundering on physical properties (pilling and edge abrasion) of washed denim fabrics.

Garment washed denim blue jeans were subjected to repeated launderings; the effects of the cycles on pilling and edge abrasion were determined. Data were collected by means of a laboratory experimental factorial design. Analysis of variance was used to determine significant differences in the three garment washed treatments; pre‐washed, stone washed and enzyme treated blue jeans. Duncan's test of multiple range determined the source of significance.

The pre‐washed jeans were more prone to pilling than the enzyme and stone washed jeans. On the other hand, the pre‐washed jeans experienced the least amount of edge abrasion while the stone washed experienced the most.

The results can be used by the denim garment manufacturers to design and engineer their products to suit the customer demands.

Jeans are an important part of a consumer's wardrobe and a large portion of denim garments are manufactured with some type of garment wash treatment. Results of this study will provide denim garment manufacturers with pilling and abrasion information regarding garment washing treatments to allow them to utilize the garment treatment that best meets their needs.

Prejudice against Jews was part of the landscape in the Union of South Africa long before Nazism made inroads into the country during the 1930s, at which stage Jews constituted approximately 4.6% of the country’s white (or European) population. Aggressive Afrikaner nationalism was marked by fervent attempts to proscribe Jewish immigration. By 1939, Jewish immigration was included as an official plank in the political platform of the opposition Purified National Party led by Dr D.F. Malan, along with a ban on party membership for Jews residents in the Transvaal province. Racial discrimination, in a country with diversified ethnic elements and intense political complexities, was synonymous with life in the Union long before the Apartheid system, with its official policy of enforced legal, political and economic segregation, became law in May 1948 under Dr Malan’s prime ministership. Although the Jews, while maintaining their own subcultural identity, were classified within South Africa’s racial hierarchy as part of the privileged white minority, the emergence of recurrent anti-Jewish stereotypes and themes became manifest in a country permeated by the ideology of race and white superiority. This was exacerbated by the growth of a powerful Afrikaner nationalist movement, underpinned by conservative Calvinist theology. This chapter focusses on measures taken in South Africa by organisational structures within the political sphere to restrict Jewish immigration between 1930 and 1939 and to do so on ethnic grounds. These measures were underscored by radical Afrikaner nationalism, which flew in the face of the principles of ethics and moral judgement.

The view of Karl Marx as “revolutionary” endorsing violent overturn of the capitalist system is standard textbook fare filtering through to popular and professional opinion. John Stuart Mill specialists frequently contrast their subject with Marx in this regard. The perspective on Marx as “revolutionary” is unconvincing, for Marx was no less “evolutionary” than Mill, his version of evolution reflecting concern that reformist measures to correct perceived injustices in the capitalist-exchange system might assure its permanence, and extending to the stage following a proletarian political takeover which might itself occur by way of democratic voting enabled by extensions of the franchise accorded by the capitalist state itself. Our demonstration prefaces a speculative evaluation of Mill’s stance regarding Marx – “speculative” since Mill apparently never read Capital. In particular, Mill would doubtless have welcomed Marx’s position, for to differentiate him from the continental “revolutionaries” makes excellent sense considering his principle that when it comes to prediction all depends on ruling circumstances coupled with his evolutionism including allowance after a proletarian takeover of a residual capitalist sector, income inequality, and compensation of expropriated property owners. By the same token he would have found unpalatable Marx’s vision for a more distant communism of a central-controlled system.

The purpose of this research is twofold: first, to conceptualise integrated marketing communication (IMC) by adopting a more inclusive and broader organisational perspective, and second, to empirically develop and validate a new measurement scale to assess firm-wide IMC.

This paper is based on a multistage research design adopting qualitative and quantitative approaches. First, a comprehensive literature review and a two-round Delphi study served as the primary basis for the development of the IMC theoretical framework, including generation of items and content validation. Second, a pilot study (n = 39) enabled us to purify the measurement tool. Third, the data gathered via an online survey conducted among CEOs and other senior managers (n = 180) led to empirical validation of the proposed firm-wide IMC scale applying second-order confirmatory factor and structural equation modelling analyses.

This research produced the firm-wide IMC scale, a 25-item Likert-format measure exhibiting adequate dimensionality, reliability and construct (convergent, discriminant and nomological) validity.

The need for a more holistic approach emerged from both the academic literature and the professional arena. However, even very recent attempts to measure integration have involved the adoption of a narrow marketing communications-centred approach. Thus, the value and uniqueness of this paper lies in its novel definition of IMC as a four-dimensional construct and the development of a theoretically consistent, valid and reliable measurement tool for the assessment of integration based on a firm-wide organisational approach.

The results of five experiments on design of work stations are discussed. The first two experiments investigated the effects of work surface height on performance, the third investigated eye‐hand coordination at two heights and directions of movement, the fourth investigated both height and direction of movement, and the fifth studied the effect of angle and direction (in versus out) of movement. It was found that the optimum height is about one inch below the elbow. The effect of angle at a height is important: the best moves for a right‐hand movement are at 45 degrees.

Knight's Industrial Law Reports goes into a new style and format as Managerial Law This issue of KILR is restyled Managerial Law and it now appears on a continuous updating basis rather than as a monthly routine affair.