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This paper describes the results of surveys which provide information on the relative status, qualifications, knowledge, practices and needs of production/operations managers within the UK. The qualifications and ambitions of production managers are shown to be lower than managers in other functions. A disturbing finding is the level of knowledge of established operations management techniques and concepts. Moreover, those who do have knowledge make low utilisation of it. Comparison of American and British‐owned companies indicates that production managers in the former make greater use of good management techniques. There is demonstrated a need for active career development to enable well qualified and ambitious recruits to enter the profession and progress to senior management positions.

In any country which relies heavily on manufacturing for a healthy economy, its production managers constitute a major asset. Yet a recent study has revealed that the qualifications and ambitions of production managers are lower than those of other managers in other functions. More disturbing still, is the low level of usage of operations management techniques and concepts in Britain. Indeed, if British manufacturing industry is to survive, let alone succeed, much needs to be done to improve the education, training and status of the production manager in the UK.

Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.

The work described in this paper is part of a large study of the barriers to acceptance of production management techniques in UK manufacturing industry. The first part of this study is described, it:(i) establishes the use being made of proven traditional techniques of production management and operational research/statistical techiques by British production managers; and (ii) begins to investigate the barriers to acceptance of the techniques. The results reveal that in industry in the UK there is low usage of many of the techniques, particularly the highly quantitative techniques. The major barrier preventing usage of the techniques is lack of knowledge; training in production management has been found to be an extremely important factor in the usage of all the techniques examined.

The management of the transformation process is commonly divided into production and service. Production is fairly easy to define but service has many definitions. These are discussed and it is concluded that debate over differences in production and service should be abandoned since they essentially function in the same way. Research should instead focus on the difference between profit‐making and non‐profit‐making institutions.

In this first of a two‐part series, the methodology for the research is described. This took the form of a postal questionnaire carried out in conjunction with the Institute of Industrial Managers to establish the current situation. The results were compared with a similar study carried out in 1980. Work on the questionnaire was supplemented by a series of interviews and in‐company work. This included measurement of the movement of materials through the system and machine utilisation, the results and conclusions from which are presented. Part II of the series proposes a methodology for sustained improvement of production management systems.

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.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.

A satisfactory manufacturing policy can be drawn up systematically—amendments can them be audited. There are five axioms to take into account, three unities to preserve and the five Ps characterising the production management function. These, with SWOT analyses, provide a matrix by which policy can be examined.

Suggests that, although the potential value of network analysis to aid marketing decisions has been recognised, there is a need for a reappraisal of the procedure in a marketing environment, in particular the distinction between the planning and control possibilities of networks. Includes an examination of the reasons why some disenchantment exists with the technique and presents the fundamentals of the approach. Weighs up that the marketing function is an area into which inflexible techniques of management do not fit easily, but has attempted to demonstrate network analysis may be used in a way making it relevant to the marketing decision – particularly at the planning stage.