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The following is an introductory profile of the fastest growing firms over the three-year period of the study listed by corporate reputation ranking order. The business activities in which the firms are engaged are outlined to provide background information for the reader.

Alasdair MacIntyre’s path-breaking book After Virtue launched him into a place of prominence in social and moral philosophy. Two central, and still relevant, themes are identifiable in the corpus of MacIntyre’s work. First, advanced modernity is in a perilous state because of the philosophical creation of the emotivist self. Second, virtue must be reclaimed if the crisis in moral philosophy is to be addressed and an institutional world worthy of what we are as human beings is to be built. MacIntyre’s heroic effort in this regard is a new presentation of a Thomistic Aristotelianism but he was not naïve about the chances of his project’s success. Emotivism has made it extremely difficult for a virtue perspective to even gain a hearing. MacIntyre proposed a way forward different from abstract theorising. He felt that at this point we could, and had to, learn how to act from accounts of exemplary lives. This chapter presents the wisdom of legendary basketball coach John Wooden as a contribution to aid in the recovery of virtue. The central claim being made is that it is long overdue that John Wooden should take his rightful place in the virtue tradition in ethics. This work gives John Wooden’s conception of leadership that flows from his understanding of virtue the attention it deserves. The examination of John Wooden’s life undertaken bridges virtue theory and leadership. Several other key elements of MacIntyre’s thought set the structure of the inquiry. The chapter begins with a biographical sketch of Wooden’s life because of the stress that MacIntyre places on tradition and narrative unity. The basis of Wooden’s reflection on virtue, the tradition informing his practical reasoning, is a selected canon of Western civilisation, its great literature and the Bible. The Midwestern values of hard work, honesty, faith, and caring for one’s family are also significant. MacIntyre places great emphasis on the need to understand the story of a life and, in particular, the need to understand how development was aided or hindered in childhood and what kind of apprenticeship into a practice was available. The singular influence John Wooden’s father had on his life is documented. The role that John Wooden’s teachers, coaches and mentors played in initiating him into the practice of coaching is reviewed. The experiential base for Wooden’s derivation of his emotionally healthy definition of success and his well thought out conception of the virtues is thus put in place. MacIntyre summarises the teleological structure of human life and the role of virtue in human flourishing by contrasting man-as-he-happens-to-be with man-as-he-should-be-if-he-realised-his-essential-nature. John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success identifies the combination of personal qualities and values, virtues, that fulfil MacIntyre’s second term, that are intrinsic to reaching one’s potential as a person. The 15 qualities Wooden gives – industriousness, enthusiasm, friendship, loyalty, cooperation, self-control, alertness, initiative, intentness, condition, skill, team spirit, poise, confidence, competitive greatness – are defined and illustrated. The rationale for the qualities and for their placement into a coherent whole is discussed. Basic elements of John Wooden’s leadership genius are then brought out. Leaders need to get the culture right, build cohesive teams, and be guided by a moral topline.

The purpose of this paper is to re‐examine the solution methodology to the facility grouping problem in group technology originally outlined by Mukhopadhyay et al. The aim of this re‐examination is to attempt to resolve some of the problems associated with the original solution methodology and to provide the system designer with an improved technique for the creation of an efficient initial system design solution. Cellular manufacture by its very nature requires work‐part transfer both within a machine cell and in some instances between machine cells. By utilising a design methodology which seeks to minimise work‐part transfer, these non‐value but cost adding tasks are kept to a minimum, thereby providing a faster throughput time and lower operational costs for companies who use cellular manufacturing systems in their production operations.

In approach, the technique advocated parallels the possible alternative solution method suggested by John et al. to resolve the problem of edge ranking ties which exists in the original Mukhopadhyay et al. solution technique. Presented and discussed in this contribution is a revised flow direction weighting scheme (FDWS) which simplifies the solution input data requirements and overcomes a perceived disadvantage in the earlier scheme outlined by John et al. The methodology outlined in the paper is subsequently evaluated for its generic nature, applicability and effectiveness via the use of previously published synthetic production data, and the findings compared to the results determined by several alternative approaches to the problem.

The development and application of the FDWS to cellular manufacturing system design is outlined in the paper and the usefulness of the technique is subsequently examined and compared to the results found for several competing methods. The approach provides for the identification of improved solutions to the test problems examined in both of the earlier contributions by Mukhopadhyay et al., and John et al. In addition, the results show that irrespective of the assessment criteria used, the FDWS technique provides solutions that are comparable to or better than the alternative approaches examined.

The proposed FDWS technique further contributes to the existing knowledge base on cellular manufacturing system design. It can provide good initial solution guidance for manufacturing system designers and thereby reduce the time required to achieve an acceptable and cost efficient design for a cellular production system.

The studies which connect international marketing emotions with perceived service quality are scarce. The purpose of this paper is to fill this knowledge gap and take into account the consumers’ perceived animosity, religiosity, and ethnocentrism to connect these with perceived service quality and purchase intentions of US-based fast food brand chains currently operating in Pakistan.

The authors collected data by means of a self-administered questionnaire, distributed among 500 consumers, randomly selected, patronized the four US fast food brands, namely, McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Subway in the city of Lahore in Pakistan. The data are analyzed by employing Structural equation modeling (SEM) based on AMOS 21.0 software.

Results of this study reveal that religiosity and ethnocentrism among Pakistani fast food consumers are low and do not influence the decision to purchase fast food brands. However, consumer emotions influence service quality perceptions – ultimately leading to purchase intentions.

The study generally adds to marketing and specifically to international food service marketing knowledge by eliciting the role of religiosity, animosity, and ethnocentrism to delineate service quality and purchase intentions. Furthermore, the external validity of PAKSERV scale and the context of Pakistan – a collectivist Muslim country are also the unique products of this study.

Every merger and acquisition deal presents a different goal and a different mix of critical issues to manage. Making, consummating, and integrating a deal puts pressure on chief executives to play multiple leadership roles and switch quickly from one role to another throughout the merger process. The roles employed vary dramatically with the type of deal and how ambitious the strategy. As the rationales for transactions have changed, new challenges have evolved, especially for those leading the deals: leaders must establish and communicate the strategic vision for the merger ‐‐ they need to explain the top four or five sources of value in the deal and what the core values and culture of the new organization should be; leaders must cheer on the stakeholders to generate enthusiasm for the merger or acquisition, and to confront fear and uncertainty in its various forms; leaders must close the deal; leaders captain change by managing the integration of the two entities; and leaders crusade for the new entity. These five roles are essential to all transactions, but leaders need to employ each at different times. The strategic rationale behind the deal, and the inherent risks and opportunities that it presents, determines which roles a leader needs to play and when.

In 2016, the oversight body for policing in England and Wales reported a national shortage of 5,000 qualified detectives and other investigators. Commissioned by the National Police Chiefs Council, this research critically assessed initiatives taken by the Police Service of England and Wales since that time to remedy that shortfall. The purpose of this study is to answer the question, “To what extent can fast-track investigator recruitment and training schemes enhance the PSEW’s investigative capacity and capability?”

Between 2019 and 2020, the authors examined four cases in England and Wales. Three were novel fast-track programmes for new joiners. The fourth was an investigator resilience programme. This study was qualitative and interpretive in nature. The authors carried out systematic reviews of the literature on investigative policy and detective work. The authors reviewed internal evaluations completed by Forces A, B and C. The authors interviewed respondents (n = 82) and supplemented the interview data with survey data (n = 45; N = 127); the authors analysed the data thematically and reviewed the findings in the context of systems theory and social identity theory.

The major themes identified by the analysis presented in this study were marketing and recruitment, attrition and progression, acceptance of the trainees, training and trainees’ welfare and well-being. The programmes were not as successful as they might have been because of systems failures. Principally, ineffective coordination of the programmes with other elements of the forces on which their success also relied (such as training, human resources and detective, departments). A critical limiting factor was the lack of experienced, skilled detectives able to train, support and mentor the trainees.

This paper provides empirical evidence of the efficacy of a whole systems approach to organisational change. This study evidences the crisis in police investigative practice that limits the service that the police can provide to victims and communities and ultimately threatens police legitimacy. This study provides insights from police practitioners into detective work in the modern era and highlights areas where improvement is necessary. The research on which this study is based was commissioned by the National Police Chiefs Council. Thus, there is institutional buy in to its findings.

With its roots firmly in empiricism, this paper presents the first scholarly evaluation of the police's attempts to make up a massive shortfall in investigators. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper presents the first attempt to explain the challenges the police faced in this context, thematically. This study’s focus on systems and on human behaviour is intended to inform a wide audience beyond British policing.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

This article examines experience with global financial integration to identify norms for evaluating economic globalization. There are two perspectives regarding globalization: mainstream economics and personalist economics. The first perspective regards itself as value‐free even though its premises originate in individualism and utilitarianism. The second perspective originates in personalism and finds no fault with being value‐laden because there is no other way to proceed in evaluating economic globalization. Mainstream economics brings to bear a few principles from positive economics. Personalist economics employs a larger set of principles from normative economics. The authors hold fast to personalist economics as more relevant to evaluating economic globalization properly. Our argument rests on principles from personalist economics and two other sources: Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and John Paul II's public statements. We intend to contribute to the discourse on globalization using recent experience regarding financial integration to refine the norms for evaluating economic globalization.

Predictions can be fun to make, and the temptation must be overwhelming if you're an “expert” in a field as dynamic as personal computing. For that matter, market analysts are paid to make projections. Thus, the PC field doesn't lack for insights into the future. If you base your plans on those predictions and projections rather than your understanding and a touch of caution, you can be led seriously astray. As with most other projections for the marketplace, PC predictions range from superb to awful. Worse yet, some supposedly objective analysts become advocates—coloring their projections with their hopes. To wrap up this year‐long look back at a decade of personal computing, the author notes a few of the failed predictions and assertions that litter the computer press. Hindsight is always easier than foresight, and some of these predictions should have been correct. Meanwhile, it's worth noting a few general areas where projections have gone wrong.

The case is an example of the dilemma and constraints an entrepreneur faces as they go forward in implementing ideas while setting up an enterprise. Through the eyes of John, the case helps the participants to understand and analyse two distinct business models, the bricks and clicks model and an online aggregator model and evaluate them using a visual business tool like the business model canvas (BMC). Thus, the case helps the participants to:▪ Analyse the customer segments and demand.▪ Apply frameworks for analysing a new venture’s prospects.▪ Understand two distinct business models and learn how to sketch a business model using the BMC.▪ Compare various business model designs using the BMC template.

Set against the backdrop of high consumerism and haute couture, conventroad.com is an example of fashion aggregation and curation in the online platform. Once known as the fashion hub of Kerala with its crowded streets, cramped with boutiques on each corner, Convent Road lost its following as big and major stores left the miniscule space for better facilities in the name of development. This case follows Rijin John, founder and developer, through the course of his idea conceptualisation. In an attempt to regain its popularity through the internet, John set out to rope all the popular Convent Road boutiques into one platform. But, as more options became available, John was in a dilemma about whether he should continue to try to convince the indifferent boutique owners to be a part of his enterprise or explore an alternative model and create a platform for weavers while sacrificing the brand value of Convent Road.

The case is designed for use in an undergraduate or graduate-level course on entrepreneurship, marketing, business policy and managing growing ventures.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.