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Describes the experiences of an American professor who taught a graduate course in cross‐cultural management at a Portuguese university. Outlines the overall experience before detailing several pedagogic issues which were unforeseen/problematic. Proposes ten axioms to guide similar future internal exchange experiences. Emphasizes four areas of difficulty, preparation, expectations, conduct and relationships.

Many types of services involve a sequence in which customers choose a service provider followed by selection of service specifications, that is selecting when and how the service will be performed. Specifications selection can be dominated by the provider, the customer or the customer and provider can jointly select specifications. Customer satisfaction results if specifications selection meets customer expectations of the provider‐customer role. Specifications selection unfolds as a process where information is exchanged between the customer and provider and the provider can be more or less customer oriented. Effective information exchange and a strong customer orientation by the provider contribute to customer satisfaction. Customers make attributions of provider or customer responsibility for specifications selection depending on the type of specifications selection that occurs and provider provision of specifications information. Customers who attribute specification selection to their decisions assume responsibility for the specifications selected.

Considers which interactive marketing behaviours will result in the broadest word‐of‐mouth or the largest volume of new client referrals. Suggests that the intensity and variety of client participation during the service delivery process is predictive of positive word‐of‐mouth and referrals. Reports on a study examining participation during service delivery which highlighted four key factors – tangibility, attendance, empathy and meaningful interaction. Maintains that these results support interactive marketing management in the field of complex services and can help the creation of a specific service delivery system.

As in the case with computers and automobiles, marketing seems to seek constantly new and improved models.

Much of the hype associated with the impact of electronic business is associated with the business to business (B2B) model. Analysts believe that enormous cost savings and efficiencies can be achieved through the utilisation of e‐procurement, a component of the B2B model. The role of procurement and the emerging use of large information systems to conduct e‐procurement is analysed and presented with the results of a survey of 38 major Australian organisations. The current direct and indirect procurement practices of the sample organisations will be analysed together with an analysis of the eprocurement drivers and barriers. The main results show that direct procurement is heavily dependant upon traditional practices whilst indirect procurement is more likely to use “e” practices. Small‐medium organisations are more nimble at adopting e‐procurement practices. Technical issues dominate e‐procurement barriers, with cost factors dominating e‐procurement drivers.

The ethics of librarianship has become a topic of increasing interest since the mid‐1970s, as a series of scandals beginning with Watergate seemed to show serious weaknesses in the ethical standards of lawyers and other professionals.

The primary purpose of this paper is to review and critique Taleb's notion of black swan blindness for a subset of the broader field of financial economics – the search for capital adequacy rules for financial institutions who invest in residential mortgages. This search entails the analysis and prediction of extreme events in housing and mortgage markets.

The focus of this paper concerns efforts to assess the likelihood and consequences of extreme and consequential economic events prior to their occurrence. The goal is to assess the criticism offered by Taleb that economists overstate the understanding of extreme events. One piece of evidence consists of a case study of the literature and policies regarding capital adequacy for financial institutions who invest in residential mortgages. The other is a review of recent literature about the crisis that offers similar conclusions.

The evidence suggests that the criticism is valid. The case study reviews a number of areas in which the search for capital adequacy reflected the traits of black swan blindness as described by Taleb. The review of the recent literature about the crisis highlights a number of papers that reach similar conclusions. These include high level overviews of the literature on the crisis, e.g. Lo, a number of papers that specifically focus on housing and mortgage markets, and some very recent work about agent based modeling and complexity theory presented at the 2012 ARES meetings.

The conclusion suggests a number of ways in which economists can combat the potential of black swan blindness is our search for extreme events. One suggestion is to combat the error of confirmation with ongoing testing. Combating overly simplistic narratives can also be addressed by listening more carefully to the criticisms by people outside the field. Pay more attention to silent evidence by having more substantial and ongoing consumer testing of new products, more work to identify best practices, and more resources to enforce lending laws. Finally, more attention needs to be focused upon assumptions in the models that are based upon limited empirical evidence and, if found later to be false, may lead to dire outcomes.

These include more and ongoing evaluation of stress tests. New rules to adjust capital requirements over the business cycle are consistent with the suggestions of the paper. Economists need to spend more time exploring and learning from outliers in the models.

The recent crisis has been driven by a wide variety of factors from within many sectors and agents. The outcome has been a major problem for people in many sectors and regions of the economy. The hope is that economists can do a better job in the future to help policymakers and others be more prepared for the potential of extreme events in the hopes of avoiding them in the future or at least reducing their likelihood and damage caused by them.

The paper draws upon a wide variety of literature to establish its main points. Central to it is a review of an issue on which the author had substantial experience – academic and professional – and that also played a major role in the crisis – inadequate capital for an extreme downturn in house prices.

ANOTHER Annual Meeting has come and gone. It was scarcely to be expected that the meeting at Bradford would be a record in the number of members attending, seeing that it is only three years ago since the Association met in the neighbouring city of Leeds, and that Bradford cannot boast either the historical associations or the architectural and scenic setting of many other towns. For the most part therefore the members who did attend, attended because they were interested in the serious rather than the entertainment or excursion side of the gathering, which was so far perhaps to the advantage of the meetings and discussions. Nevertheless, the actual number of those present—about two hundred—was quite satisfactory, and none, we are assured, even if the local functions were the main or an equal element of attraction, could possibly have regretted their visit to the metropolis of the worsted trade. Fortunately the weather was all that could be desired, and under the bright sunshine Bradford looked its best, many members, who expected doubtless to find a grey, depressing city of factories, being pleasingly disappointed with the fine views and width of open and green country quite close at hand.

Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way of using the law in specific circumstances, and shows the variations therein. Sums up that arbitration is much the better way to gok as it avoids delays and expenses, plus the vexation/frustration of normal litigation. Concludes that the US and Greek constitutions and common law tradition in England appear to allow involved parties to choose their own judge, who can thus be an arbitrator. Discusses e‐commerce and speculates on this for the future.

MUCH has already been said and written upon the subject of the indicator: but in view of the general trend of advanced Public Library administration a little space may with advantage be devoted again to the consideration of its value as a modern library appliance. Passing over (a) the decision of that curiously constituted committee formed in 1879 to consider and report on indicators, and (b) the support which it received in 1880 from the Library Association, it may be said that for the next fourteen or fifteen years the indicator system was the popular, almost the universal, system in vogue throughout the country. Of late years professional opinion as to its value has undergone a remarkable change. The reaction which has set in was brought about chiefly by the introduction of Open Access in 1894, with the many reforms that accompanied it, though much, doubtless, was due to the prevalence of a more exact and systematic knowledge of librarianship, and to the natural evolution of ideas. It is not, however, intended in this paper to compare the indicator with the open access system, but with others suitable to the requirements of a closed library.