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Welcome to the new section of the Journal entitled News and Views. This section will include practitioner papers, news, events, conference reports, calls for papers, trend summaries, statistics, working papers etc. Submissions are invited from both academic and industry sources.

The achievement of Next in changing the shape of UK high streets, in revolutionising both women's and men's fashion has been remarkable. In August came the launch of Next's latest development — Next Interior, with home decor and furnishings getting the same treatment. Next's chief executive, George Davies, outlined the concept and future plans to Penelope Ody.

This paper seeks to address the important modern management issue of vision management. In particular, it attempts to provide examples of, and to differentiate between three different types of visionary who have been the focal points for the theorists working in this area. It presents a profile of the ‘ideal visionary’ as portrayed by theory and provides a checklist of generic visionary qualities to help those readers who need to assess a would‐be visionary, and predict the likelihood of his/her achieving success at the top of an organisation. Finally, the paper notes that the strengths of the visionary are often the sources of his/her eventual failure. These strengths‐come‐weaknesses have been identified along with more externally generated organisational performance reducers.

When George Davies started his Next chain of fashion shops over two years ago he may not have realised what a revolution he was putting in train. Based on the realisation that purchasing power had moved from the young to the older 25–45 woman, — “women,” he says, “who care about fashion first and price second,” the Next group by the end of this year will have 162 outlets trading including a handful in Germany. Naturally, he has not been without his imitators. Names like Now, Visuals, Look, Surprise and Principles proliferate; variety chains like BHS and Marks & Spencer have been forced to take a long hard look at their fashion ranges; even the department stores have faced up to a changing scene. In this special feature Penelope Ody makes a close examination of the effervescent fashion sector. And the future? It could be, she hazards, that the over‐50 will be the new flavour of the month.

This paper summarises the FSA's enforcement action taken to date under the market abuse regime and considers how the implementation of the Market Abuse Directive (‘MAD’) will affect the work of city compliance officers. In particular, this paper focuses on the new requirement for the regulated sector to make suspicious transaction reports in respect of market abusive behaviour as well as considering how the newly revamped market abuse regime will sit alongside the criminal offence of insider dealing.

This is the first part of a detailed annotated chronology of significant events in the history of money in the context of social, economic, political and technological developments from the dawn of civilization until the closing years of the twentieth century. Starting with the origins of money and of banking the chronology moves on to the development of coinage in Asia Minor and its extension by the conquests of Alexander and later Rome before proceeding to the start of the long history of the pound sterling. The origins of paper money in China, the re‐emergence of banking in Europe, the financial effects of various wars and conflicts and the age of exploration, and subsequent developments up to the threshold of the industrial revolution are all covered.

The paper seeks evaluate to the comparative progress of Asda in the UK since its surprise takeover by Wal‐Mart in 1999. Wal‐Mart expected to become the number 1 retailer in the UK and many commentators saw massive problems ahead for local retailers. These expectations were not met; this paper investigates why.

Asda's progress is considered through a brief discussion of the company's history to 1999, an investigation of the changes Wal‐Mart subsequently made to Asda's operations, the comparative impact of these changes and then a consideration of the restrictions on impact deriving from organisational, competitive and environmental factors.

Despite the strong rhetoric on entry, the commercial reality has seen only moderate success for Asda and a widening gap to the market leader, Tesco. Explanation for this includes competitive strategy and reactions, market restrictions particularly in land‐use planning and unwillingness by Asda (Wal‐Mart) to alter their focused store format strategy in line with competitor actions and market directions.

The analysis is at a macro corporate and national level, drawing mainly on published data. Research implications include the rebalancing of considerations of organisational competence and market environment factors on international success. A focus on political and non‐market activities is suggested, though an unwillingness of companies to reconsider strategic directions is also indicted as a key factor.

Implications for national and international strategic decision making at the corporate and governmental levels are identified. Businesses can use the findings to re‐consider their positioning and actions. Reflections on hyperbolic reactions to takeovers might also be provoked.

No other paper has considered the market level changes in connection with Asda since its take‐over by Wal‐Mart and sought explanations for the relative (lack of) performance. The conclusion, that Asda has not been as successful as reported in the literature and the media, is original.

Leadership is best seen as the psychological process of accepting responsibility for task, self and the fate of others. There are variations in the scope and impact of these responsibilities which can be considered as instrumental, developmental, regulatory and symbolic, but they all weigh upon us to some degree. Both as individuals and as groups in organisations we are ceaselessly, awarely and unawarely, accepting, rejecting or avoiding these responsibilities. As we watch individuals and groups become more aware of how they make these choices, we see leadership develop.

Successful growth companies represent the future. Their opportunistic, customer‐responsive styles and operating practices are just what today′s turbulent, competitive environment demands. As they grow, they will become powerful forces in the economy and their successful planning and operating practices will be adopted by other aspiring organisations. The focus is upon the fast‐growing companies in Britain. Their experience over a relatively short time frame demonstrates the opportunities, threats, problems and pitfalls attached to dramatic business growth. A new set of rules which would guide companies through the necessary and predictable transitions of growth are sought. It is hoped that chief executives and strategic planning directors will use the findings, conclusions and recommendations presented to shape the future practices of their own organisations.

Wal‐Mart is the world’s largest retailer with ambitious plans to increase its international sales. Europe is a logical target for Wal‐Mart to consolidate and build upon acquisitions in Germany and the UK. This paper assesses the opportunities for Wal‐Mart in these markets and in France, which has the highest level of sales through food retailers in Europe. While Wal‐Mart has made an impact in both Germany and the UK, it has not been as successful as originally envisaged. Moreover, its growth aspirations have been frustrated by the difficulty in making further acquisitions in Germany and France because of the nature of ownership of targeted companies.