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Six sigma means less than four (3.4) defects or errors experienced for every 1 million transactions – that is, only one out of every 250,000 parts produced would not fully meet all aspects of the customer’s product specification. Simply put, “first‐time” six sigma performance is a commitment to perfection.

The following appointments to the Board of directors of Craig & Rose Ltd have been made: Andrew Elliott, George Duncan Rosie, and Charles Arthur Spence.

When you reduce the work force, you also must reduce the work.

THE Reference Department of Paisley Central Library today occupies the room which was the original Public Library built in 1870 and opened to the public in April 1871. Since that date two extensions to the building have taken place. The first, in 1882, provided a separate room for both Reference and Lending libraries; the second, opened in 1938, provided a new Children's Department. Together with the original cost of the building, these extensions were entirely financed by Sir Peter Coats, James Coats of Auchendrane and Daniel Coats respectively. The people of Paisley indeed owe much to this one family, whose generosity was great. They not only provided the capital required but continued to donate many useful and often extremely valuable works of reference over the many years that followed. In 1975 Paisley Library was incorporated in the new Renfrew District library service.

I once heard an employee say: “If this company would only treat me as well as they do their machine tools, I would be a happy camper. They are constantly spending money on testing, upgrading, monitoring and attempting to get the best they can from their machine tool investment. Their consistent objective is Six‐Sigma production quality.” An interesting thought …

The time horizons for setting out strategic plans have never been established in principle, and hence vary widely over one, two, three, five, ten, fifteen, twenty years and more. This paper presents a total system of planning horizons at one, three, seven, twelve and twenty‐five years. Each time horizon is linked to a specific organizational layer. The larger the organization, the longer is the top‐level planning horizon. The larger time horizons encompass the shorter, so that, for example, the CEO of a large corporation can set the corporate strategic plan in terms of a 25‐year plan, with corporate strategic milestones at twelve years, seven years, three years and one year. Every subordinate function can be planned in the same way.

We have repeatedly dealt with the question of the differences which are from time to time exhibited in the certificates issued by Public Analysts, when compared with those emanating from the Somerset House Laboratory in regard to the analyses of samples which purport to be representative portions of one and the same article, and we have shown that if due regard be given to the principles of evidence, it is not only wholly unjustifiable, but utterly absurd to conclude that such difference, as a matter of course, indicate error or carelessness on the part of the Public Analyst. In season and out of season we shall continue to expose the fallacies which underlie the abominably unjust assumption referred to, and to urge that in each case of the kind every possible step should be taken by those concerned on behalf of prosecuting authorities, to make all the conditions affecting the case as clear as they can be made to the lay mind.

What proof have the public, independent of the assertions of the makers, that all the firms whose products are sold indifferently by the shopkeepers use only the best materials; or, indeed, that a large number of the articles sold are not mixtures more or less objectionable or fraudulent ? This, in effect, is the question put by a writer in a West of England newspaper, and it might be used as a text upon which to write a lengthy homily on the adulteration question and on the astonishing gullibility of the public. As a matter of fact the only evidence of the character and quality of food and other products, in regard to which there is no independent guarantee, is that which is afforded by the standing of the makers, and to some extent of the firms which offer them for sale. And this evidence cannot, under any circumstances, be looked upon as constituting proof. The startling allegations so commonly put forward by advertisers with respect to their wares, while they may be ineffective in so far as thinking people are concerned, must nevertheless be found pecuniarily advantageous since the expense involved in placing them under the eyes of the public would otherwise hardly be incurred. Many of these advertised allegations are, of course, entirely unjustifiable, or are incapable of proof. It may be hoped that the lavish manner in which they are set out, and their very extravagance, may, in time, result in producing a general effect not contemplated by the advertisers. In the meantime it cannot be too often pointed out that proof, such as that which is required for the satisfaction of the retailer and for the protection of the public, can only be obtained by the exercise of an independent control, and, in certain cases, by the maintenance of efficient independent inspection in addition, so that a guarantee of a character entirely different to that which may be offered, even by a firm of the highest eminence, may be supplied.

This paper honors the breadth of some of March’s key ideas on organizations by applying them to the development of amphibious operations in the United States. The development of amphibious operations highlights, in part, March’s appreciation for little ideas, the importance of ordinary actions as opposed to great men, and the larger societal trends in which evolutionary organizational change is nested. The persistence of ordinary men and a series of little ideas that accumulated for decades prior to the far more celebrated 1919–1939 interwar period established the intellectual and organizational foundation that made the interwar innovation period possible. We use this case not only as an example of how many of March’s ideas are relevant to a given case, but also to demonstrate how extending March’s ideas to different kinds of institutions and organizations might be useful for future scholars and for organizational scholarship.

We observe with pleasure that the French Analytical Control, which is known as the Controle Chimique Permanent Français, continues to make satisfactory progress. The value and importance of the system of Control cannot fail to meet with appreciation in France—as it cannot fail to meet with appreciation elsewhere—so soon as its objects and method of working have been understood and have become sufficiently well known. From the reports which appear from time to time in l'Hygiène Moderne, the organ of the French Control, it is obvious that a number of French firms of the highest standing have grasped the fact that to place their products on the market with a permanent and authoritative scientific guarantee as to their nature and quality, is to meet a growing public demand, and must therefore become a commercial necessity. An ample assurance that the Controle Chimique Permanent Français is a solid and stable undertaking is afforded by the facts that it is under the general direction of so distinguished an expert as M. Ferdinand Jean and that he is assisted by several well‐known French scientists in carrying out the very varied technical work required.