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Cultural studies in business and economics research are still limited to particular cultures. Knowledge on cultural differences may help international corporations to adapt management practices according to the markets they are operating in. The purpose of this paper is to study the issue of escalation of commitment and framing in a new cultural setting involving Germany and Vietnam. This setting is unique and particularly interesting, for Germany being the biggest European market and Vietnam being one of the fastest growing emerging markets in Asia.

The authors use a lab experiment with student participants from Germany and Vietnam.

In a 2×2 in between-experiment, the authors find strong support that Vietnamese participants have a stronger tendency to invest additional resources and evidence that negatively framed information leads to the higher escalation of commitment. Implications are discussed.

The unique empirical comparison is important because differences between other western and eastern countries do not necessarily generalize to the setting.

David Gordon’s early work included a focus on cities and their role in capitalist development, but he didn’t complete or publish an ambitious project called CAPITALopolis. Gordon instead developed a framework linking Marxian insights with historical analysis of institutional impact and change through his social structures of accumulation framework. Subsequent mainstream and radical urban analyses didn’t use Gordon’s work, but his early writings are consistent with his passion for fighting racial and economic inequality, and understanding those forces systematically as part of the history and logic of capitalism.

Margaret's story concludes our short series on recovery heroes. This series started with Dolly Sen, followed by Peter Chadwick, Gordon McManus and Matt Ward. Four of the five people featured were from our local service at South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. We have defined recovery heroes as individuals whose journeys of recovery can inspire both service users and professionals alike. Margaret once commented that, ‘all service users are recovery heroes’. It is fitting that the series should end with her own story.

The global telecommunications marketplace has witnessed considerable and unprecedented changes in the past twenty‐five years, so much so, that comparative recognition of most telecommunications fixed‐link network operators is impossible. Consequently, industry structures, market specific structures and the internal operation of incumbent firms have been transformed by visionary strategic directional changes. Demonstrably, the impact of national strategic intentions have identified clear shifts away from predominantly monopolistic – high bureaucratic, labour‐intensive and government‐run service providers, towards distinct deregulated markets – supporting increasingly competitive, innovative and market‐led organisations. With this in mind, this study considers the nature of organisational strategic evolution and its associated consequences on the UK incumbent BT, since UK telecommunications privatisation. A case study approach waqs adopted, with face‐to‐face interviews being carried‐out with senior executives, using semi‐structured questionnaire checklists. Content analysis was applied to the data set and results alluded to the nature of both strategic evolution and the emerging strategic focus occurring within the firm. Against the is backdrop, BT was seen to evolve from a dormant, fat, inward‐looking and inefficient organisation, towards a more dynamic, forward thinking, creative and global organisation. A conceptual model partraying the impact of strategic change on transforming the business focus of BT is developed.

IN 1972 the Public Libraries Research Group (PLRG) was presented with a discussion paper on public libraries and long range planning. The group had recently published its public library aims and objectives statement and was looking for ways to assess future developments in these areas of management. Wennerberg in Sweden had just published a paper in the Unesco Bulletin on the Delphi technique as applied to special libraries, and reading this had stimulated the discussion paper. A search of the literature had revealed some references to the use of Delphi in industry, urban planning and professional areas such as medicine and higher education and, after considerable discussion, the group decided to accept the offer of the author and a colleague, Gordon Pratt, to attempt some research using this approach. The project organisers combined substantial and varied experience in a number of libraries with statistical knowledge and this combination proved to be highly desirable producing a truly multi‐disciplinary approach to the work.

“Unplanned city” (and its relation “unchecked growth”) is the way many people describe cities of which they disapprove. They usually mean too little top-down planning, assuming that this is the only planning possible. But Stephen Davies, describing urbanization in England, shows that this was not always so. He notes that,[t]he years between 1740 and 1850 therefore saw an unprecedented amount of urban growth. Cities and towns of all kinds and sizes grew more rapidly and on a greater scale than ever before in history. The rapidly increasing population was drawn into the towns in ever larger numbers with the rise of industry, creating an enormous demand for housing and the urban fabric in general. This was the kind of situation that, when its like happens today, is regularly described in terms of “crisis” or even “catastrophe”. And yet the challenge was largely met. Housing and other facilities were built and provided. The towns of Britain grew to meet the new demands of a growing population and a transformed economy. There were no great shantytowns around growing cities such as Manchester and Birmingham. Instead a tidal wave of brick and stone swept over fields, turning them into new urban areas. Moreover, the period also saw the creation of great architectural achievements of lasting value in both the great cities and the new towns …. The elegance of Bath and Cheltenham, the West End of London and Bloomsbury, the New Town in Edinburgh, and the centers of Glasgow and Newcastle-upon-Tyne – all were built in this period. As this was the first instance of such wide-spread urbanization our understanding of its nature is crucial for our thinking about the process of urbanization in general, whether historically or today. In particular this instance raises the question of how urbanization can happen in the absence of an apparatus of planning and controls, by voluntary means, and what the results of this may be. (Davies, 2002, p. 19)

Confronted with cross‐cultural training the authors have used data collection instruments for flexibility and adaptability and to bridge the cultural and language gap. The frame of reference here is international but many of the advantages might also apply in other training contexts. This is how the utilisation reported in this article occurred.

Seeks to provide a historical case study of the founding and development of the Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing from the perspective of the two editors of the journal covering the first 20 years of publication.

The editors report on their experiences of establishing and nurturing the journal over a 20‐year period. Individual experiences are reported along with specific historical events and specific journal contents.

The paper provides information about the history of the journal and its founding, indicating the difficulties and managerial skills necessary to accomplish such a task. The paper also recognizes the 20‐year growth and contribution of the journal and those who contributed to it.

The viewpoints of the editors are anecdotal and recall events as far back as 20 years. They summarize the events of a 20‐year period in the article, relying on memory and information from archival files.

The paper provides one description of the founding and development of a leading journal in the field of business and industrial marketing. A list is presented summarizing Special Issues and significant milestones of the journal. The paper is a must‐read for anyone contemplating starting a new journal.

This article presents the only complete history of the Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss concerns that, despite recent campaigns, stigma has not been fully addressed by the psychiatric profession and that evidence suggests it may have unwittingly contributed to iatrogenic stigma.

The writer of this paper is a psychiatrist and considers the subject of stigma by employing the metaphor of bricked up windows. Arguments are supported through the evaluation of scientific research in addition to ideas from philosophy and literature.

The paper highlights areas of ongoing stigma and also identifies possible explanations for this in the current approach of the psychiatric profession.

It is hoped that this paper stimulates further discussion particularly within the psychiatric profession about the approach to tackling stigma.

This paper revisits the subject of Iatrogenic Stigma ten years on from an editorial in the British Medical Journal by Professor Norman Sartorius. The assumption of the psychiatric profession is that, by giving prominence to a biomedical view of mental illness, stigma will be lessened. This paper challenges this view and widens the discussion.

Looks in depth at the development of the marketing mix using the 4 Ps – product, price, promotion and place, to meet target needs. Also investigates courses offered and required in marketing, and discusses the most appropriate ones for the students involved.