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In this paper we give a synoptic view of the growth of the text processing technology of information extraction (IE) whose function is to extract information about a pre‐specified set of entities, relations or events from natural language texts and to record this information in structured representations called templates. Here we describe the nature of the IE task, review the history of the area from its origins in AI work in the 1960s and 70s till the present, discuss the techniques being used to carry out the task, describe application areas where IE systems are or are about to be at work, and conclude with a discussion of the challenges facing the area. What emerges is a picture of an exciting new text processing technology with a host of new applications, both on its own and in conjunction with other technologies, such as information retrieval, machine translation and data mining.

Organizational effectiveness depends upon a capacity to build and maintain an identity congruent with environmental realities. Much recent literature on leadership insists upon the leader as holder of vision and values. Here, this literature is reviewed and is seen to create problems for the leaders themselves, for other persons in organizations and for the organizations. Argues for a synthesis of values and vision with the need for systemic wisdom, in which leadership is a form of service.

WE publish this issue on the eve of the Brighton Conference and our hope is that this number of The Library World will assist the objects of that meeting. Everything connected with the Conference appears to have been well thought out. It is an excellent thing that an attempt has been made to get readers of papers to write them early in order that they might be printed beforehand. Their authors will speak to the subject of these papers and not read them. Only a highly‐trained speaker can “get over” a written paper—witness some of the fiascos we hear from the microphone, for which all papers that are broadcast have to be written. But an indifferent reader, when he is really master of his subject, can make likeable and intelligible remarks extemporarily about it. As we write somewhat before the Conference papers are out we do not know if the plan to preprint the papers has succeeded. We are sure that it ought to have done so. It is the only way in which adequate time for discussion can be secured.

The purpose of this paper is to extend existing and motivate future sustainable supply chain management (SCM) and logistics research by examining a structure-conduct-performance framework linking resource commitment to sustainable SCM, reverse logistics, and operational performance. A sustainable reverse logistics capability is investigated as mediating the performance benefits associated with resource commitments to sustainable SCM.

Survey methods and structural equation modeling were used to collect and analyze data from 180 supply chain professionals.

The results of a mediated model suggest that resource commitments may be used to develop a sustainable reverse logistics capability, reducing the environmental impact of reverse logistics activities. A strong sustainable reverse logistics capability results from resources committed specifically to sustainable reverse logistics and a commitment to the sustainability of the supply chain.

This study applied a purposefully general sampling procedure. Specific industries may have additional constraints (e.g. risk, transparency, governance factors) that directly impact reverse logistics. These constraints are limitations of the study as well as opportunities for future research. Resource commitment is critical to the success of an overall firm strategy to build a sustainable supply chain, especially when considering reverse logistics.

As managers examine the benefits of sustainable SCM, they must consider the resources required. For firms engaging in sustainable SCM, developing a sustainable reverse logistics capability is a key success factor for improved performance.

Given the growing acceptance and importance of sustainable SCM, this research provides insights to managers and academics regarding the key mediating role of a sustainable reverse logistics capability when integrated into existing and future supply chain research frameworks and processes.

The popular total quality management (TQM) approach has tended to focus on internal processes, rather than external issues such as competitiveness and market appeal, and is more reactive and adaptive than anticipative. The time has come to go beyond TQM and to understand the nature and application of organizational learning. Learning organizations envision change, are committed to generating and transferring new knowledge and innovation, and have learned how to learn. TQM may be embedded in the learning organization, but TQM is but the first step or wave in transforming and creating organizations which continuously expand their abilities to change and shape their futures. This article first defines and identifies the characteristics of a learning organization, then explores some techniques to develop and transform an organization into a learning organization, and finally suggests some traditional and newer techniques, such as data envelopment analysis (DEA), as ways to measure and evaluate organizational learning.

Journals in business logistics, operations management, supply chain management, and business strategy have initiated ongoing calls for Big Data research and its impact on research and practice. Currently, no extant research has defined the concept fully. The purpose of this paper is to develop an industry grounded definition of Big Data by canvassing supply chain managers across six nations. The supply chain setting defines Big Data as inclusive of four dimensions: volume, velocity, variety, and veracity. The study further extracts multiple concepts that are important to the future of supply chain relationship strategy and performance. These outcomes provide a starting point and extend a call for theoretically grounded and paradigm-breaking research on managing business-to-business relationships in the age of Big Data.

A native categories qualitative method commonly employed in sociology allows each executive respondent to provide rich, specific data. This approach reduces interviewer bias while examining 27 companies across six industrialized and industrializing nations. This is the first study in supply chain management and logistics (SCMLs) to use the native category approach.

This study defines Big Data by developing four supporting dimensions that inform and ground future SCMLs research; details ten key success factors/issues; and discusses extensive opportunities for future research.

This study provides a central grounding of the term, dimensions, and issues related to Big Data in supply chain research.

Supply chain managers are provided with a peer-specific definition and unified dimensions of Big Data. The authors detail key success factors for strategic consideration. Finally, this study notes differences in relational priorities concerning these success factors across different markets, and points to future complexity in managing supply chain and logistics relationships.

There is currently no central grounding of the term, dimensions, and issues related to Big Data in supply chain research. For the first time, the authors address subjects related to how supply chain partners employ Big Data across the supply chain, uncover Big Data’s potential to influence supply chain performance, and detail the obstacles to developing Big Data’s potential. In addition, the study introduces the native category qualitative interview approach to SCMLs researchers.

Assessment, care management and service planning for people with challenging needs should be sensitive to gender and ethnicity for equitable and appropriate service provision. This paper explores the relevant literature to map and identify the issues, and profiles a exploratory study of special schools, adult residential services and community support teams, to identify the gender and ethnic characteristics of people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviours. The findings suggest that gender stereotypes contribute to the attribution of maladaptive behaviour in boys, significant in severe and moderate learning disabilities in schools. The findings on ethnicity are discussed with reference to staff training and the implications of providing gender‐sensitive and culturally appropriate service responses and support.

This paper aims to explore internationalisation strategies of service firms in sectors where markets become increasingly globalised while resource environments still remain distinctively shaped by national institutions.

A theoretical framework is proposed that suggests that the more firms expand their business activities across borders by building up offices abroad or merging with firms from other countries, the more likely they are to embrace recombinant strategies to blend elements of different societal legacies. Subsequently, a comparative case study of internationalisation strategies, governance modes and organisational forms of European and US law firms is presented to illustrate the value of the framework, followed by the analysis of a novel data set on multi‐jurisdictional qualifications of partners in these international law firms.

By virtue of their integrative organisational model and mobilisation of versatile legal competences, large pan‐European law firms are challenging the dominance of US law firms in international legal markets, while the latter in response are revising their own previous export‐oriented internationalisation strategy.

The present study provides a starting point for further research on internationalisation in service industries.

The framework is useful to expand effect societal analysis to dynamic international environments.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of national institutional contexts on a multinational's project to develop a transnational talent management system.

The study combines a comparative analysis of British and French conceptions of management with qualitative empirical data drawn from interviews, observation and documents collected in France and the UK.

The concept of “talent management”, as understood by UK managers, could not simply be reproduced in the French setting where the idea of managing talent took on a different meaning. The attempt to do so through a UK‐instituted programme ignored this difference and resulted in the complete failure of the headquarters' project to develop a transnational talent management system.

Theoretical implications include the importance of an institutionally sensitive approach to the study of talent management within multinationals. A limitation of the study is that it is based on a single case study.

The paper is a case study of a cross‐national talent management programme from a comparative institutionalist perspective rather than that of mainstream international management. It highlights the conflicts and tensions involved in implementing management systems uniformly across national borders. The paper's Anglo‐French focus also contributes a comparative angle that is relatively rare in institutionalist studies of MNCs (multinational companies). Finally, the paper sheds light on the newly emerging and yet under‐researched concept of “talent management”, connecting this idea with existing debates on multinationals and institutional change and reproduction.

Propulsion programmes have recently been showing continuing efforts to improve factors such as efficiency, emissions, performance, and cost. Lamb suggested an arrangement shown in Figure 1 in which the combustion air is fed to the combustion chambers (d) on the rotor (c) by a centrifugal compressor (a) driven by the rotor (c) through a layshaft gear (k), the rotor being enclosed in a casing (g) into which the exhaust gas from jet nozzles (f) is passed to preheat the combustion air. Drive for the propeller is taken via a second layshaft (n). This system is limited to shaft power applications such as helicopters. It also employs a tip combustion rotating system.