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Based on the concept of fuzzy sets of type 2 (or fuzzy‐fuzzy sets) defined by L. A. Zadeh, fuzzy‐fuzzy automata ate newly formulated and some properties of these automata are investigated. It is shown that fuzzy‐fuzzy languages characterized by fuzzy‐fuzzy automata are closed under the operations of union, intersection, concatenation, and Kleene closure in the sense of fuzzy sets of type 2, but are not closed under complement. The power of fuzzy‐fuzzy automata as an acceptor is the same as that of ordinary fuzzy automata and finite automata, though fuzzy‐fuzzy automata include fuzzy automata and finite automata as special cases. Finally, fuzzy‐fuzzy grammars are illustrated and it is shown that fuzzy‐fuzzy grammars with context‐free rules can generate context‐sensitive languages.

Assesses the place of Heinrich von Stackelberg in the history of ideas as reflected in the literature of economics. Uses evidence from three main sources: histories of economics, the periodical literature and doctoral dissertations to support the conclusion that Stackelberg already has an important and lasting place in the history of economic thought. Points out that the use of Stackelberg’s ideas and techniques is now as general and common as the use of those of Cournot, Walras, Pareto and Nash. Presents a short section devoted to his views on state control because these are so often misunderstood. Speculates on possible reasons why Stackelberg is not ranked more highly than he usually is.

This paper aims to explore the development of the accountability ideals and practices of Quaker industrialists during the period 1840–1914.

The research employs a case study approach and draws on the extensive archives of Quaker industrialists in the Richardson family networks, British Parliamentary Papers and the Religious Society of Friends together with relevant contemporary and current literature.

Friends shed their position as Enemies of the State and obtained status and accountabilities undifferentiated from those of non-Quakers. The reciprocal influences of an increasingly complex business environment and radical changes in religious beliefs and practices combined to shift accountabilities from the Quaker Meeting House to newly established legal accountability mechanisms. Static Quaker organisation structures and accountability processes were ineffective in a rapidly changing world. Decision-making was susceptible to the domination of the large Richardson family networks in the Newcastle Meeting House. This research found no evidence of Quaker corporate social accountability through action in the Richardson family networks and it questions the validity of this concept. The motivations underlying Quakers’ personal philanthropy and social activism were multiple and complex, extending far beyond accountabilities driven by religious belief.

This research has originality and value as a study of continuity and change in Quaker accountability regimes during a period that encompassed fundamental changes in Quakerism and its orthopraxy, and their business, social and political environments.

The present paper seeks to address the issue of MIS where developments in IT have had a significant impact on competencies.

This paper explores this notion which has received little coverage in IS literature to date, with a focus on the field of accounting and management control. Many authors have voiced their uncertainty about how the control function will evolve in the future. In effect, IS developments challenge controllers' legitimacy if the latters' know‐how fails to keep up with technological developments. This paper analyses the makeup of controllers' competencies and, in particular, the need for the latter to be able to use ERP systems. It proposes the concept of technological contingency as a means to understand evolutions in ERP controllers' competencies in comparison with traditional controllers.

Technological progress broadens controllers' competencies, and ERP plays the role of a medium through which increased contingency takes place. Organisations of a certain size are compelled to implement ERP, leading to management controllers having to adjust their skills set. The study provides an ERP model to be used by controllers.

The antecedents of the evolution can be more developed in another study.

The managerial impact is considerable. It is crucial for French university programmes to rapidly develop greater focus on ERP training, and job and skill referentials need to be updated in organisations, especially promotion, valorisation, evaluation, and career development systems. Being an IS specialist in a large corporation can confer real legitimacy as it becomes an imperative. For business organisations, interpersonal relations have changed completely; communication takes place through integrated tools and there is less face to face, but on the other hand relationships are pre‐ordained by IS tools. The way economic, accounting, and financial knowledge is disseminated will also change as it is communicated more explicitly.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, studies on management controllers' skills in an ERP environment are nonexistent. This is the first study on this subject.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents and consequences of employee engagement (EE) in global research and Vietnamese business context.

This review was conducted in the following order: an integrative review for garnering drivers and outcomes of EE in global research, followed by a narrative review for selecting variables relevant to Vietnamese businesses.

In EE global research, a 3 × 3 findings framework was devised. Three antecedent clusters included the internal environment, job-related and employee-related factors. EE resulted in three outcome clusters: intra-role behaviors, extra-role behaviors and personal development and growth. In Vietnamese businesses, few studies existed on organizational learning and organizational support as EE antecedents, whereas turnover intention was examined the most as an EE outcome.

The search was limited to EE-related peer-reviewed articles in Business Source Complete and Google Scholar. Literature on Vietnam EE was restricted to ProQuest Dissertations and Theses and Google Scholar because of a lack of literature availability on this topic in Business Source Complete.

Knowing that leadership, HR practices and working environment are important antecedents of EE in Vietnam (Table II) would prompt enterprise leaders and managers to improve the company’s conditions for engaging its employees. This is an important finding because Vietnamese businesses are suffering increasing turnover. Creating favorable organizational support evidenced via career growth opportunities, pay and benefits, company culture, job fit and effective management will stimulate employees to stay and engage.

This study emphasizes the organizational and employee factors in EE research and calls for combined research application to inform EE in Vietnamese businesses, thus providing ground for human resource development researchers and practitioners in their respective work.

In the Court of Appeal last summer, when Van Den Berghs and Jurgens Limited (belonging to the Unilever giant organization) sought a reversal of the decision of the trial judge that their television advertisements of Stork margarine did not contravene Reg. 9, Margarine Regulations, 1967—an action which their Lordships described as fierce but friendly—there were some piercing criticisms by the Court on the phrasing of the Regulations, which was described as “ridiculous”, “illogical” and as “absurdities”. They also remarked upon the fact that from 1971 to 1975, after the Regulations became operative, and seven years from the date they were made, no complaint from enforcement authorities and officers or the organizations normally consulted during the making of such regulations were made, until the Butter Information Council, protecting the interests of the dairy trade and dairy producers, suggested the long‐standing advertisements of Reg. 9. An example of how the interests of descriptions and uses of the word “butter” infringements of Reg. 9. An example af how the interests of enforcement, consumer protection, &c, are not identical with trade interests, who see in legislation, accepted by the first, as injuring sections of the trade. (There is no evidence that the Butter Information Council was one of the organizations consulted by the MAFF before making the Regulations.) The Independant Broadcasting Authority on receiving the Council's complaint and obtaining legal advice, banned plaintiffs' advertisements and suggested they seek a declaration that the said advertisements did not infringe the Regulations. This they did and were refused such a declaration by the trial judge in the Chancery Division, whereupon they went to the Court of Appeal, and it was here, in the course of a very thorough and searching examination of the question and, in particular, the Margarine Regulations, that His Appellate Lordship made use of the critical phrases we have quoted.