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The Gulf States (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman Bahrain and Qatar) represent a major global market accounting for 26 per cent of European exports, 22 per cent of Japanese exports, 27 per cent of South East Asian exports, and 14 per cent of US exports. Despite this importance comparatively little interest has been shown in buyer behaviour in the Gulf States. Based on extensive research and direct experience a number of salient differences between western models of organizational buying behaviour and actual practice are identified and give rise to specific recommendations for marketing strategy in the region.

In many circles, the study of industrial marketing has been segregated from that of consumer marketing, as if inherently different. This article highlights the significance of the organisational purchaser in all segments of the market. Whilst acknowledging the importance of the views of consumer and end‐users, the article suggests that in focusing on the needs of the organisational customer in the first instance, a degree of unity can be achieved between “industrial” and “consumer disciplines”, at both academic and practitioner level.

Identifying and measuring personality traits assists to understanding professional career choices, however, what impact personality traits have on nursing student rural career choice remains absent. The purpose of this paper is to identify personality traits among nursing students that may be predictive of pursuing a rural career.

A cross-sectional design was used to examine the importance Bachelor of Nursing students place on undertaking rural careers. All nursing students (n=1,982) studying a three-year bachelor’s degree were invited to complete a questionnaire examining personality traits and rural practice intentions.

Students who saw themselves working rurally after graduation had higher levels of conscientiousness than those who wanted metropolitan careers. Students with higher levels of agreeableness or open-mindedness were more likely to consider rural practice when individual community factors were carefully considered. Finally, students with higher levels of neuroticism were less likely to consider rural practice as a future career pathway.

The cohort had high numbers of student from rural and regional settings, which may limit the ability to generalise the findings. In addition, student respondents of the survey may not be representative of the whole student cohort given the low response rate.

Key personality traits are identifying factors that contribute to nursing student decision making regarding rural practice. Students who displayed higher levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness and open-mindedness have traits that are most likely to impact the consideration of rural practice across their nursing career, which gives additional insight into targeted recruitment strategies.

Though academic research into the marketing/ entrepreneurship interface is of only relatively recent origin, it would seem that the basic principles of marketing appear to be equally valuable to both large and small firms. This article provides a critical review of the research into the role and process of marketing in small firms and attempts to classify the existing studies. In so doing, it identifies four approaches, namely the stages/growth model; the management styles model; the marketing as a management function model and the contingency model. From this, it concludes that in order to advance the theory of small business marketing a theoretical framework integrating the contingency approach and the process model appears to hold the greatest potential.

The purpose of this paper is to create an understanding of the true nature of contemporary SME marketing activities. While acknowledging operational constraints, the paper aims to hypothesize that, if effective marketing planning was employed, this would improve the long‐term growth of small to medium‐sized enterprises. The paper seeks to assess the implications current practices may have on the long‐term survival of enterprises and to identify significant SME marketing development and training needs.

A marketing audit approach yielded data from the collation of 125 completed online questionnaires within the East of England region. Statistical analysis using SPSS was applied to produce an in‐depth quantitative analysis of these data. In addition, qualitative data were collected through face‐to‐face interviews of some 20 owner‐managers. These responses were further inductively analysed and interpreted.

Data analysis demonstrated a significant disparity between their perceived marketing effectiveness compared with their actual practices recorded at interview. Significantly, they failed to understand why campaigns did not yield results, as they routinely did not employ appropriate controls and procedures. SMEs believed that they were fully cognisant of the effectiveness of their marketing activity, through further exploration; evidence revealed that they failed to employ sufficient review procedures, and in the extreme cases these procedures were non‐existent. A direct correlation was also witnessed between company size and the application of effective marketing planning. Larger enterprises demonstrated a greater awareness of strategic marketing competence.

Their ability to understand their marketplace and to become truly competitive relies on SMEs developing a deeper understanding of their current marketing decision‐making processes through the systematic adoption of more robust strategic procedures. In summary, there is an observable difference between marketing activities conducted by SMEs and best practice defined in academic theory.

The purpose of this paper is to review state-of-the-art literature on product/brand positioning to re-examine the positioning concept and developing a more comprehensive definition from a theoretical viewpoint.

A systematic review of positioning was conducted. The review conformed to a rigorous set of core principles: it was systematic (organized according to a method designed to address the review questions), transparent (explicitly stated), reproducible and updatable and synthesized (summarized the evidence relating to the review question).

The literature review reveals that there is lack of coherent definition for positioning, and there is no mutual agreement among marketing scholars and practitioners about the exact meaning of the concept. Therefore, comprehensive definition of positioning encompassing the five underlying positioning perspectives (competition; empty slot/mind; consumers’ perception, differentiation and competitive advantage) is suggested.

This paper will be useful for academicians to analyze the current nature of academic research in this area and will provide an added advantage to managers to design and implement positioning strategies for their product/brands that will allow their organizations to gain competitive advantage. This study acknowledges limitations with respect to its exclusive search criteria, which might affect its generalizability.

Position and positioning is of relevance in society in broad terms, e.g. in sports, politics and culture. Positioning strategy is discussed and implemented in different industries (business-to-business and consumer), for all kinds of brands (including, for instance, corporate brands) and for “brands” in the very widest sense (such as places or people).

This is the first systematic review of positioning that provides a detailed understanding of the current state of positioning research on a single platform and also draws a comprehensive positioning conceptualization.

I. INTRODUCTION This study attempts to extend and expand previous research conducted by the Department of Marketing at Strathclyde on the adoption and diffusion of industrial products.

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.