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The purpose of this study is to examine the design, development and implementation of responsibility centre management at a mid-sized Canadian university, within the context of decentralized decision-making. More specifically our study focused on the design, development and implementation of a revenue and cost allocation process known as transparent activity–based budgeting system (TABBS).

The authors conducted this study using a qualitative case study methodology, rooted in grounded theory, as the primary approach to collect and analyse data, and report the findings. Primary data were collected from ten participants using semi-structured interviews.

The main takeaways from our research are that (1) such systems take time to design, develop and implement, (2) consultation, communication and information sharing and model adjustment and refinement are important enabling mechanisms, (3) internal and external events posed significant challenges, (4) although such systems are often designed keeping in mind several intended outcomes, there exists the possibility of experiencing some unintended consequences and (5) the juxtaposition of the above has the potential to negatively or positively impact organizational performance.

The research demonstrates that the design, development and implementation of a complex resource allocation model is an important element of a responsibility-centred approach to planning and decision-making. It highlights the importance and contribution of enabling mechanisms as well as the challenges that large, complex organizations may confront when introducing change.

Our hedonic and emotional evaluations of the foods we encounter in daily life are predictive of whether we will choose to consume these foods in the future. Given the context-dependent nature of these evaluations and the rise in studies set in naturalistic and ecologically valid consumption settings, it is crucial that we examine the impact of contextual variables on our current consumer emotion measurement methods.

Three important factors that influence meal-evoked emotion – meal time, location and social setting – were explored via online survey of 866 English-speaking adults from all over the world. Respondents were asked to recall three meals they had consumed in the past week and report on their subjective liking and emotional associations. Subjective liking was measured with a labelled affective magnitude scale and emotion was measured using EsSense25.

Dinner meals, meals eaten at the home of a family member or friend, and meals eaten with one's spouse or partner were rated highest in subjective liking. Meals eaten at work or alone were associated with the lowest intensities of positive emotion.

The majority of investigations into meal context and emotion have measured consumers' emotional associations in the moment and in the laboratory. The present study characterises the influence of contextual variables on the emotional associations of past eating experiences in naturalistic settings.

Beside the cannon at Eton, Robert McNeile, managing director of Guinness, reflects on his old school's influence. Richard Brooks talks to leading educationalists and industrialists about the power of the public schools. Pictures at Eton, Harrow and Oxford by Eric Lockrane.

British technologists have eliminated the possibility of nuclear ‘leaks’ at power stations during the critical refuelling stages—using the same process that controls the mixing of the secret recipe of Coca‐Cola drinks. This particular development is a good example of the way many advances in technology hinge on a marriage of existing engineering principles, rather than the application of some new fundamental principle.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a general overview of the origins, development and rise in importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and demonstrate how CSR has been incorporated and implemented in the UK construction industry.

This paper briefly introduces the concept and origins of CSR and then provides appropriate examples of how the UK construction industry implements it. A literature review provides the historical context and development of CSR and this is augmented with a “milestone of events” which summarises the notable events and identifies the influential people that have shaped the development of CSR throughout the world. The paper is structured on the following themes: introducing corporate social responsibility; incorporating and reporting corporate social responsibility; and implementing corporate social responsibility.

The findings of this paper reveal a surprising and welcome contrast to the generally held negative views expressed in recent seminal reports that castigate the UK construction industry for lacking innovation and the desire to embrace change. This paper demonstrates, through the use of case study examples, how the UK construction industry organisations add significant value to local and national communities by implementing CSR.

Although an appropriate literature review has been able to provide the historical overview and development of CSR, the case study examples provided have been limited to ten major UK contracting organisations and will therefore not necessarily be representative of small or medium sized organisations.

The practical implications of this paper are potentially significant. Individuals or organisations should be able to apply the principles and examples provided and apply them to suit their own circumstances.

This paper has provided a useful historical overview of CSR and succinctly demonstrates the significant milestone events that have shaped the development of this increasingly important phenomenon. CSR has, over the past few years developed into a powerful agenda in the boardrooms of organisations throughout the developed world. Initial token philanthropic gestures have latterly expanded and developed into mainstream corporate strategy. CSR is now becoming embedded in business practice and is not just seen as an altruistic burden but as making sound business sense and for providing an opportunity to gain strategic competitive advantage.

Natural Fats.—It is important to bear in mind that there is an acute shortage of fats throughout the world. Most of the great sources of tropical fats, palm oil, copra and ground nut oil, are still producing much smaller quantities than before the war, partly because a lack of consumer goods makes the natives disinclined to collect raw material, partly because it takes a long time to rebuild a complicated industry and trade that was wrecked in many areas to a large extent by the upheaval of the war. Other sources of raw fats that were available to us before the war have dried up entirely, so far as we are concerned. India no longer exports edible oils. But, even if these sources of fat were as productive now as they were before the war there would still be a big world shortage, so great has become the demand for fats. As I see the problem, the only real solution, although it necessitates taking a very long‐range view, is rapidly to push ahead with the development of ambitious undertakings in the tropical belt of the world, similar in character to the ground‐nut scheme that our Government has had the courage and initiative to launch. The potential productivity of the vast tropical belt is prodigious, if the enormous tasks of dealing with disease, infestation, sanitation, fertilisation and land conservation can be successfully tackled, as I am confident the pioneer experimental attack in East Africa will demonstrate. Such developments will provide not only the fat so greatly needed for human use but enormous quantities of animal feeding stuffs with which to increase the production of bacon, meat, poultry, milk, butter and cheese. But, as I have remarked, this is a long‐range view. It will be asked whether there is any alternative likely to bring about an increase in. the supply of fats during the next two or three years. There is a possibility that there may be a steady, if slow, improvement. The supply of tropical fats will, I think, tend to get a little better as conditions in the producing areas gradually return to what they were before the war, and there is also the hope, perhaps a rather slender one, that food for livestock will not be as restricted in the next year or two as it has been. Production of whale oil is also on the up‐grade. So much, then, for the supply of ordinary natural fats, but, as we should consider every possible approach to the problem, passing reference should be made to other potential sources of supplies. There are two directions in which much exploration has been undertaken. In both the Germans were the pioneers.

The Bertelsmann International Network of Public Libraries was created by the Bertelsmann Foundation of Germany to think flexibly about the public library of tomorrow and to develop model solutions to address the issues faced by public libraries across the world. From the first meeting, topics of relevance to public libraries were discussed and then the first group of participants had to choose a topic to research and create a model which could be implemented in other public libraries. Summaries of all research papers are available on the Internet at www.stiftung. bertelsmann.de Some models are currently being implemented in libraries of the participants and the new members of the Network are currently working on their research.