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Despite discussions about the universal work station, there is increasing workplace dynamics in US organisations. These dynamics include space configuration changes, space enclosure changes, changes in occupant density and increasing equipment density. At the same time, building infrastructures have not evolved to meet these demands, with little flexibility in the heating, ventilation and air‐conditioning (HVAC), lighting, or electrical/telecommunication systems of new or existing office buildings. This paper examines the effects of organisational workplace dynamics and building infrastructure flexibility on the environmental and technical quality of offices. Resulting from extensive field studies in US buildings, the authors contend that there are numerous statistically significant issues for the design and management of buildings for the dynamic organisation. The study identified numerous factors that affect thermal, air, lighting and technical quality in offices. In relation to infrastructure, for example, occupants who work in office areas provided with greater cooling capacity and more supply air volume, and combined with smaller HVAC zones, appeared to have higher levels of thermal satisfaction. Those who work in areas with higher outlet densities gave higher technical quality ratings; and those provided with relocatable outlets (raised floor and furniture based) gave significantly higher technical satisfaction ratings than those provided with least‐first‐cost ‘tombstones’. In relation to organisational dynamics, increasing occupant densities in existing buildings are related to more thermal and air quality complaints, more complaints about outlet accessibility, as well as more complaints about inadequate light levels on work surfaces. This paper will outline the major findings of a study linking organisational dynamics with building infrastructure, moving towards the definition of innovations in facility design that will more effectively support dynamic organisations.

Asks the question: what if the focus of educational supervision was to shift from inspecting individual teacher‐behaviour to examining and improving three sets of key organizational variables ‐ work processes, social architecture and environmental relationships? What if supervision could be transformed from performance evaluation into a process for designing high performing schools? Presents the paradigm of Knowledge Work Supervision, an innovative model of educational supervision designed to achieve what is alluded to in the above questions. It is a systemic and systematic model for redesigning the anatomy (structures), physiology (flow of information and webs of relationships) and psychology (beliefs, values) of an entire school system. Explains that the paradigm is cyclical, having four phases each with several activities, and it was constructed by reviewing real‐world practices in several interrelated areas: socio‐technical systems design, knowledge work, quality improvement, business process re‐engineering and organization development. Claims that Knowledge Work Supervision marks the leading edge of an emerging paradigm shift in the field of educational supervision.

Although universities are increasingly competing for international students, little has been written about the influence of cross‐cultural values on the positioning of international education brands. This study investigates the values that students in three Asian markets place on overseas university education, and the media they use to gain information about universities. The results suggest that a common media mix can be utilized in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, and that a standardized or adapted branding strategy could be adopted, depending on how many of these markets universities wish to target. The results have important implications for the positioning of international university brands in Asian markets.

It is ironic, but even today we often have more information available about the relative merits of different cars or copiers costing a few thousand pounds than we have about buildings costing ten or a hundred times as much. Yet buildings are really only ‘products’ writ large, purchased or leased by firms for specific purposes. They are tools of the trade, meant to help get a job done.

To discern patterns of property and facilities management (FM) evolution of the offices of growth firms.

Statistical analysis with ten variables which are analysed through four perspectives (clusters, industrial sectors, age and size).

The result consists of characteristic features of three clusters labelled as “low”, “high” and “moderate” FM firms with a ubiquity from all major industry sectors. The studied population reveals that various industry sectors expose more significant differences of FM variables than age and size. However, age is a background factor for discerning the three clusters and it reveals to be the youngest cluster that has the most intense FM activities, which argues for linkage between rapid growth and FM.

Relevant study for predefined Swedish growth firms.

Reveals linkage between faster growth and FM.

Survey empery is collected in a primary database of FM variables and analysed.

Argues that facilities management is an indispensable part of property management. Clarifies the role of the facilities manager and identifies some of the emerging issues which are directing their attention. Concludes that facilities management is currently at a crossroads in its evolution, and that a lack of professional clarity threatens to undermine further progress in the field.

The increasing impact of international competition and changing business environment has raised the important role of standardization, which was reflected in national standards. This paper presents the results of a study that provides insight into the role of Jordanian product standards in the local industry. The effect of companies’ characteristics on both the importance and satisfaction level with Jordanian Standards (JS), identifying reasons for using foreign standards and the need for new JS in manufacturing sectors were investigated. The findings revealed that there are no statistically significant differences in the way that Jordanian companies perceive the importance of having JS and the level of satisfaction or interest. Regardless of the company characteristics, it is concluded that targeted companies consider JS important to their business and JS are satisfying the companies’ interests. The surveyed Jordanian companies show a serious interest in foreign standards. However, the lack of familiarity with the existing JS in some small and medium enterprises and its benefit to their industry was observed.

This study aims to develop and test a theoretical model to delineate the effects of target market characteristics, firm characteristics and strategic resources, and product characteristics on standardization decisions in brand management of emerging market firms. The effects of standardization on brand performance in international markets are also to be explored.

The study develops a model based on the extant literature and tests its relevance through a survey of eligible managers in charge of international brand operations of 94 strategic business units in Turkey.

The empirical findings indicate that several factors exist as significant drivers of standardization decisions at various levels of brand management. Interestingly, even though firm characteristics and strategic resources were found to be the most critical drivers of brand performance, standardization versus adaptation approaches did not have any significant impact on strategic brand performance.

The study takes a standardization perspective to strategic brand management in international markets and tests it from the perspective of emerging markets.

Market researchers often treat Asian consumers as a single entity and compare them with their Western counterparts. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast consumers in two Asian countries, Thailand and Turkey. Since global and local brands co‐exist in many regions of the world today, this study, by examining two Asian cultures, examines the impact of personality traits and values on individuals' intentions to purchase global versus local brands. The authors also investigate the role of priming (local versus global cues) in the relationship between these individual traits and purchase intentions.

The study involves a series of pretests and an experiment conducted among 240 participants from Thailand and 142 participants from Turkey. Though exploratory in nature, content analysis also suggests interesting avenues for future research.

The findings suggest that although both societies are perceived as traditional and collective, consumers from both Thai and Turkish cultures exhibit some striking differences. There were differences in the ways in which individual traits and values impacted global vs local brand purchase intentions. For instance, while it was discovered that traditionalism and susceptibility were important among Thai individuals, ethnocentrism and materialism were at similar levels in both samples. Traditionalism had an important effect on intentions to purchase local brands in Thailand, while it did not have a very meaningful impact among Turks. Similarly, in Thailand, susceptibility affected global brand purchase intentions. However, a similar pattern was not seen among Turks.

The research is valuable in understanding that two seemingly similar Asian cultures (Thailand and Turkey) are – in effect – dissimilar on key variables such as traditionalism and ethnocentrism and that impacts how these two cultures perceive global and local brands. As marketers aim to satisfy consumer's needs by offering goods and services, it is extremely important to understand consumers' evaluations of these brands and how these perceptions are formed in the first place. Such an understanding will help marketers in their positioning strategies as well as marketing communications design.