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One of the businesses (AA) in the UK was making losses and staff motivation was poor. If only its management realised it; however, its circumstances could offer it potential salvation.

Ratcliffe Springs and Pressings Ltd, a leading supplier of specialist springs and related components for aerospace and defence applications, has commenced construction of a new £2 million factory development in Rochdale, Lancashire.

Considers the structure of grocery retailing in Australia and, in particular, presents and contrasts the development strategies being pursued by the three major retailers in this highly concentrated market. Woolworth’s, the market leader, is a classic corporate recovery story and is emerging as one of the most impressive food retailers in the world. By contrast, the grocery businesses of Coles Myer, Australia’s leading retailer and one of the largest retailers in the world, are under intense pressure from both a rejuvenated Woolworth’s and the company’s own internal weaknesses, many of which are a legacy of a long period of unchallenged market dominance. Coles now faces the challenge of reinventing itself and is taking an approach quite different to that of Woolworth’s. Franklins is number three in Australian grocery retailing and its origins are as a price aggressive discounter. However, as Franklins’ own market position has come under pressure, the company is responding by moving towards more direct competition with Coles and Woolworth’s.

Harry Potter is one of the world's most remarkable marketing phenomena. The purpose of this paper is to reveal that consumers interact with the Potter brand in a variety of ways, ways that parallel the four archetypal houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The paper interrogates Pottermania by means of a longitudinal qualitative study of fans, non‐fans and neutrals.

The paper finds that, just as pupils at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and wizardly are many and varied, so too Rowling's readers come in several distinctive forms. In keeping with the prototypical characteristics of the Hogwarts houses, four Rowling reading archetypes can be tentatively identified: Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins.

This paper shows, contrary to the stereotype, that there is much more to Harry Potter consumers than the long lines of enthusiastic fans standing outside bookstores at midnight.

In a world where brands are narratives and consumers are readers, this paper shows that there are several distinctive modes of “reading a brand” and evaluates their implications for the future of the Harry Potter franchise.

Reproduces the main texts of hitherto unpublished reminiscences of the style and influence, as a teacher, of Allyn Abbott Young (1876‐1929) by 17 of his distinguished students. They include Bertil Ohlin, Nicholas Kaldor, James Angell, Lauchlin Currie, Colin Clark, Howard Ellis, Frank Fetter, Earl Hamilton, and Melvin Knight (brother of Frank Knight who, with Edward Chamberlin, was perhaps Young’s most famous PhD student). There has recently been a revival of interest in Young’s influence on US monetary thought and in his theory of economic growth based on endogenous increasing returns. These recollections of his students (addressed to Young’s biographer, Charles Blitch) shed light on why Young has, at least until recently, been renowned more for his massive erudition than for his published writings.

Beginning in this issue, the Music Notes column will review recommended selections of mainly—but not limited to—jazz CDs. Good collecting and good listening!

The purpose of this paper is to provide an evaluative comparison of databases for argumentative/persuasive rhetoric.

This paper reviews and compares the databases in terms of the organization, types of information included and the ease of use.

To assist students in learning the rhetorical modes of argument and persuasion, some database vendors have developed proprietary electronic databases specific to this purpose. EBSCOhost’s Points of View Reference Center and Gale/Cengage’s Opposing Viewpoints in Context are two such databases. Which is better largely depends on the dominant user demographic of the educational institution. Both databases have strengths and weaknesses; therefore, the best results can be achieved by using them to complement one another. But if only one database can be selected, then that choice should most be influenced by the user demographic served.

These databases have value as primers and introductions to research and writing in the rhetorical mode(s) of argumentation and persuasion, but students taking advanced classes should supplement them with more sophisticated searches in standard aggregator databases, which are not examined in detail in this paper.

This paper offers selectors an apples-to-apples comparison and analysis of two related resources, providing an insight about which can be used in the selection process.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the processes and procedures utilized by Jacksonville State University's Houston Cole Library to digitize an oral history collection and provide access to it through the Library's catalog, web presence, and the state‐wide digital repository initiative, Alabama Mosaic (see www.alabamamosaic.org).

The paper is based on the Library's experiences in acquiring, digitizing, creating metadata for and making accessible a collection of oral histories.

The paper describes the obstacles overcome, issues encountered, procedures established, and ramifications of the project.

Many institutions are currently digitizing unique collections as part of repository initiatives, both institutional and collaborative. Effective practices and guidelines must be developed in order to streamline the process and provide the most complete access to these unique collections. The paper provides a practical model to address these issues.

The paper provides common practices for the digitization, creation of metadata, and provision of access for unique oral history collections; it also provides insights into issues that can arise and how best to address them.

Supporting the learning and wellbeing of vulnerable students is an important yet challenging part of school educators’ work. The purpose of this paper is to investigate advice-seeking patterns around the issue of supporting the learning and wellbeing of vulnerable students, among professional staff in six English secondary schools. The paper focuses on investigating variation in advice-seeking patterns among schools, exploring the association between these patterns and staff perceptions of the school climate for collaboration, and examining how these informal advice-seeking patterns relate to formal support arrangements in the schools.

A mixed-methods approach that combined findings from social network analysis with in-depth interviews was used.

It was found that advice-seeking patterns among staff vary substantively, even among similar schools. Furthermore, schools with more cohesive and reciprocal advice networks also showed a stronger climate for collaboration (i.e. mutual respect and distributed leadership). Also, formal organizational structures and informal advice-seeking structures showed coherence in the sample, as formally designated leaders, such as the Headteacher and the Special Educational Needs Coordinators, were generally highly central to their schools’ advice network.

This study advances the field as there is little research that examines the social networks of educators in England, and no previous studies that explore teacher advice-seeking networks in relation to supporting vulnerable students, internationally.