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This paper aims to investigate and comment critically on the influence that an observable career requirement for marketing academics, the PhD, has on their teaching, their research, and the much‐debated “gap” between marketing academics and marketing practitioners.

A review of the literature and of secondary sources of general data is combined with the author's own past research findings to arrive at a coherent, personal point of view.

A strong focus on “scientific” research in the marketing discipline has caused a form of academic myopia, and precipitated a debate on the role of research in business schools, somewhat belatedly. The conclusion in this paper is that academic research skills, and doctoral study in particular, are not a de facto prerequisite for effective teaching of an applied discipline to future practitioners. The PhD is not necessarily the good predictor of future publication that it is assumed to be. The research output of doctoral researchers, typically with little or no business, is seen as irrelevant by business, contributing to the academic‐practitioner divide.

The findings link current recruitment policies with future performance, and rekindle the debate on the pernicious role of the PhD in marketing education.

The author dares to question the research foundations on which modern universities have built themselves, and the role of doctoral research in the transmission of knowledge from business schools to business.

This research explores the intricate dynamics of national interests realised through Japan's official development assistance (ODA) to China. It aims to deepen the understanding of these mechanisms, detailing the extent to which Japan has accomplished its national interests.

The paper applies the role theory and narrative analysis to elucidate Japan's national role conception and its categories of national interests with regards to its ODA policy. It utilises both qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the success rate in achieving Japan's diplomatic objectives and how those interests have manifested over time.

The findings suggest a mixed outcome. Whilst Japan's ODA to China has helped in expanding trade and fostering mutual understanding and cooperation, it has been less successful in promoting democratic governance in China or effectively counterbalancing China's regional power. Hence, the realisation of national interests through ODA is a complex process contingent upon numerous factors.

This study stands out for its multifaceted approach in examining Japan's ODA policy towards China, integrating both quantitative and qualitative methodologies and applying the role theory in the context of international development aid. It fills a significant gap in the literature by analysing the interplay between national interests and foreign aid, providing nuanced insights into the successes and challenges of Japan's pursuit of its diplomatic objectives. The study's findings have important implications for understanding the complexity of international aid dynamics and can inform future policy decisions in the realm of international relations and foreign aid.

Charities appear to be of growing significance in the United Kingdom, particularly in the context of changed attitudes towards the scope and role of the welfare state. They are also becoming increasingly professional in their management. This article attempts to break new ground in considering charities as a segment for the provision of banking services, beginning with an account of the current policies of the major clearing banks. The second half of the article assesses current market shares, using publicly available data on a sample of large and medium‐sized charities.

In the British and European motor industry there co‐exist firms which differ widely in size. Given the existence of economies of scale the smaller firms are faced with the problem of survival; more precisely, of being able to charge a premium price to offset higher unit costs. After confirming the existence of scale economies this paper looks at the corporate strategies of smaller firms, but first it is necessary to clarify what we mean by “smaller firms”. In any market for any good where economies of scale exist in its production, firms smaller than the optimum could, if no non‐scale problems exist, be at a cost and, with competition, a profit disadvantage. However, in the motor industry the term “smaller” covers various types of operation.

To explore the link between enterprise scale, ownership and responsibility, specifically with regard to environmental responsibility. The paper argues that more local ownership and the co‐operative organisational form may ensure a higher level of corporate responsibility

The paper is mainly discursive, although three case‐studies of companies are used to illustrate the argument: Shell, Vaux Brewery, and Tower Colliery.

The central findings are that the nature of ownership, the scale of an enterprise, and the governance form are key considerations in terms of the corporate responsibility of firms.

Further explorations of CSR in relation to the nature of governance and ownership of firms, and the scale of their operations, would develop and explore this paper's central argument further and thus provide more valuable insights.

The paper suggests that the issue of scale and the role of co‐operatives may be of more significance as corporate governance comes under greater scrutiny and sustainability plays a more central role in business practice.

This is the first conceptual application of the concept of CSR to co‐operative ownership and governance.

This study applies Oviatt and McDougall’s (2005) model of forces influencing the speed of internationalisation to small, export oriented enterprises. The purpose of this paper is to explore the significance of the forces enabling, motivating, mediating and moderating internationalisation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the manner in which these forces manifest themselves in the market.

A qualitative research approach utilising eight case studies within Norway and Ireland was adopted in order to facilitate theory building required for this study.

The findings demonstrate that four forces in particular are found to be strongly significant to the speed of internationalisation among the case SMEs: the enabling force of technology, the mediating force of entrepreneurial actor perceptions/owner-managers’ global vision and the moderating forces of foreign market knowledge and tie strength in networks.

The empirical evidence has several implications for managers and policy regarding influencing the speed of internationalisation process. The enabling force (technology) has implications for government in their support of the SME macro environment. The motivating force (competition) has implications for government, in understanding what motivates entrepreneurs to enter international markets. The two moderating forces (foreign market knowledge and network tie strength) have implications for managers and can be leveraged through product innovation, increased focus on intellectual property rights for better protection against copycats, and through active and deliberate international networking.

The paper suggests adjustments to Oviatt and McDougall’s (2005) model, permitting researchers to gain an in-depth understanding of the complex reality of SME internationalisation.

David Stubbs is a specialist in conservation biology and environmental management with particular application to the sport and recreation industry. Here he talks to Trevor Slack about green issues in the staging of major games and green sponsorship.

The purpose of this study is to know the various factors librarians consider while selecting open access (OA) journal for publication, and to know the challenges librarians face with OA journal publishing.

Online questionnaire was designed to collect data using SurveyMonkey software from 335 academic librarians in 57 institutions (Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education) in Nigeria.

The findings of the study revealed that majority of the academic librarians are aware of the gold and green publishing routes, while the majority of academic librarians are not aware of the diamond publishing route. The study also revealed that when considering where to publish, reputation and impact factor of journal were rated as very important among the factors that inform their choice of OA. The study further revealed that academic librarians have little or no knowledge about the existence of institutional repositories in their institutions, and only a few actual use institutional repositories and ResearchGate to self-archive their publications. The majority of the academic librarians agreed that author fees (Article Processing Charges) and low impact factor of journal are barriers to publishing in OA journals. Training on OA publishing is recommended for librarians to increase their knowledge and confidence to discuss OA with faculty members in future.

Knowledge of authors’ attitude toward OA publishing models will help OA advocates focus on the factors that are meaningful that are raised in this study.

The study is an original research work that investigated academic librarians’ perception and engagement with OA publishing as they lead the OA campaign in their institutions.