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As the Chinese economy continues to develop, rising incomes for many people has meant significant shifts in consumption patterns. Over the past several years, per capita wine consumption in China has doubled. Although off a relatively low base, this still represents a significant sales volume. At the same time, the wine industry in the country has been undergoing restructuring with China now emerging as a major producer in world terms. These developments have been occurring at a time when the global wine industry has become increasingly globalised with so‐called new world (NW) suppliers challenging established European companies in existing and emerging wine markets. In this context, the paper aims to look at the possible threats as well as opportunities presented by China as a relatively new player in the market.

The paper reviews recent production and consumption trends in the world wine market. The changing patterns and growing volume of global wine trade is then assessed in light of the significant structural changes occurring in the industry in both importing and exporting countries. Recent developments in the wine market in China are identified and possible future implications for the world market are discussed.

NW wine producers are increasingly encroaching on traditional wine consuming markets and gaining advantage in new and growing markets. One result has been an expanding and increasingly competitive global market place. China, meanwhile, is seen to have considerable potential for growth in terms of wine consumption, while at the same time posing a possible threat to existing exporters in third markets.

Knowledge of emerging trends in wine markets and likely future developments are important for industry participants as well as policy makers in countries where wine is an increasingly important traded commodity. The paper provides an important contribution to the understanding of the global nature of the wine industry and the potential influence of China as both a major producer and consumer of wine.

The aim of this paper is to shed light on recent debates in this journal on differences in home‐region orientation depending on type of company and the home region in which they are based.

The paper looks at the structure of trade (imports and exports) across different types of goods in order to shed light on differences between sectors and types of technology. The paper also explores structures across regions in order to shed light on regional differences.

This research indicates that there are major differences in structures of trade between different types of goods. However, these differences do not necessarily conform to a clear pattern across different technological levels and differ between regions and the direction of trade. The fact that Asian cultures have greater psychic distance from European and North American cultures is not reflected in higher levels of home‐region orientation.

The paper helps to clarify some of the hypotheses on home‐region orientation recently identified in this journal and, thus, helps to advance theories about why this orientation is so prevalent. The main limitations are related to the methodology. Using trade data, the paper cannot define the boundaries of the firm and, therefore, can only make conclusions at the macro level. These conclusions can, nevertheless, help to orient work at the micro level to further explore the key questions which recent work has raised.

Limited comparative work across sectors or technologies has been undertaken in the context of the debate on home‐region orientation. Differentiating between different types of goods can help to give us insights into why so many companies tend to focus so consistently on their home region, while others are more global.

This paper seeks to focus on industry clusters and a rationale for why they may be considered an antidote for stimulating knowledge sharing and collaborative innovation.

Community based participatory research was undertaken using case studies and interviews within four industry clusters based in two countries – Australia and Dubai. Findings were ranked according to a knowledge sharing relational framework.

Industry clusters can play a key role in growing both established and new areas of economic development. Member firm collaboration, knowledge sharing and innovation can result in positive outcomes if the cluster is managed and facilitated appropriately and knowledge sharing is nurtured.

The paper examines top-down, hybrid and bottom-up clustering from a variety of sectors as a way of understanding knowledge sharing and innovation exchange. However, given this research comprised case studies, it is recommended that broader, more internationally generalizable research is conducted that includes cluster firms within a range of sectors.

The stimulation of opportunities for collaboration and innovation are mandatory for firms and regions to move forward. Irrespective of the uncertainty of the outcome, cluster managers/facilitators need to ensure that they provide regular opportunities for cluster firms facilitators/managers and representatives to network and generate new ideas.

The role of cluster managers/facilitators in supporting knowledge sharing processes has been largely overlooked to date. Agglomeration needs both visible and invisible hands to stimulate knowledge sharing and exchange.

The purpose of this paper is to explore leadership styles and patterns in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and the USA in order to contribute to a greater understanding of global leadership.

The paper uses cultural mythologies as a lens (Kessler and Wong-MingJi, 2009a) to extract the most favored leadership traits within selected countries. In doing so, the paper explores historical trajectories and core values of each country to identify their distinctive characteristics. Additionally, leadership styles of well-known business leaders in each culture are examined to develop a comparative discussion of global leadership patterns and styles.

The paper finds that leaders may share same characteristics across countries, however, their behavioral expressions tend to unfold differently within each context. The paper argues that without context, meanings embedded in cultural mythologies and behaviors often become lost. The paper concludes that a comparative analysis of selected countries reveals a more complex and rich array of cultural meanings, thus offering support to a contextual view of leadership.

Examination of cultural mythologies on leadership makes important theoretical contributions by illustrating that cultural mythologies indeed shape the values, behaviors, and attitudes of global leaders, and provide three important functions that are identified as: cultural bridging, meaning making, and contextual nuancing.

Understanding comparative leadership patterns is critical in international business. The paper offers cultural mythologies as a tool for leaders who seek to cross-cultural boundaries in developing long term and high-quality productive international business relationships.

The value of the study lies in developing a comparative analysis of leadership patterns in three Southeast Asian countries and the USA with the help of cultural mythologies. The paper urges that scholars to move beyond quantification of cultural dimensions to a more contextualized understanding of leadership.

The third RMDP seminar on Shop Location Analysis was held at the end of June; it focussed as much on the business of finding the right site as on site evaluation. The most eagerly‐awaited presentation came from a representative of Marks & Spencer; as our writer says, “it is their revitalised attitude to merchandise which is directly responsible for their need to increase sales space.” M&S revealed that they need an extra 3 million sq ft of sales space for new and existing products. Other presentations came from Jeremy Smither of Hillier Parker and Dr David Thorpe of the John Lewis Partnership.

Drawing upon Alfred Sohn-Rethel's work, we argue that, just as capitalism produces abstract labor, it coproduces both abstract mind and abstract life. Abstract mind is the split between mind and nature and between subject/observer and observed object that characterizes scientific epistemology. Abstract mind reflects an abstracted objectified world of nature as a means to be exploited. Biological life is rendered as abstract life by capitalist exploitation and by the reification and technologization of organisms by contemporary technoscience. What Alberto Toscano has called “the culture of abstraction” imposes market rationality onto nature and the living world, disrupting biotic communities and transforming organisms into what Finn Bowring calls “functional bio-machines.”

Index by subjects, compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals: Facilities Volumes 8‐17; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐17; Property Management Volumes 8‐17; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐17.

Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management Volumes 8‐18; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐18.

Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐17; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐17; Property Management Volumes 8‐17; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐17.