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The purpose of this paper is to optimize system redundancy and maintenance intervals of a propane pre-cooled mixed refrigerant (C3MR) liquefaction process on floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) export platforms.

The reliability modeling is based on the time-dependent Markov approach. Four different system options are studied, with various degree of redundancy. Failures in the liquefaction system usually lead to shutdown the whole LNG production plant. The associated shutdown cost is compared with the cost of introducing redundancy and the cost of onboard maintenance. To ensure a high profitability, a model for maintenance optimization is utilized and applied to the main unit of the C3MR liquefaction system to minimize the onboard maintenance cost.

The results indicated that the introduction of a second liquefaction system (as a standby unit) is the best option for liquefaction plant in terms of reliability and cost. This will substantially reduce the unavailability from 14.7 to 2.19 percent of the total operational hours. Based on the presented system configuration, the annual system profit will increase by 180 million USD if the redundancy is implemented on FLNG export ships. The optimum maintenance intervals of major process components are also calculated to minimize the total cost of maintenance.

The originality of this paper lies within the context in investigating the reliability of the C3MR liquefaction system on LNG floating export terminals using Markov modeling for the first time.

The purpose of this paper is to present memories of Don Dixon in Australia and of his outstanding contribution.

The paper is based on recollections and personal diaries.

Don Dixon made a significant contribution to the development of marketing as social discipline in Australia and to the evolution of the concept of a marketing system.

The paper contributes to a reassessment of the role of Don Dixon as an outstanding scholar in the discipline of marketing.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

The purpose of this paper is to review and synthesise some of the main contributions of Donald F. Dixon to marketing theory and the history of marketing thought.

Personal experience, as well as a review of the major papers and the book Dixon co‐authored are used to highlight the development of his thought and contributions.

Dixon championed a broad hierarchical systems approach to understanding marketing and was able to identify the origins of concepts and ideas in history in a way that showed his depth of scholarship, the deep intellectual history of marketing thought and the misrepresenting of earlier theories that are present in some modern writings.

Dixon's contributions are of major importance but not well known in marketing. It brings together some of his major contributions and indicates their value.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.

Dixon recently commented that 50 years ago “marketing management and planning was part of marketing theory, today it seems to be all there is.” There is now a growing fragmentation of marketing thought, and a lack of marketing relevance to critical social and economic questions, that is of increasing concern to both internal and external critics. The purpose of this paper is to explore briefly the evolution of marketing thought over the last 100 years and to suggest a better response to the critics.

The paper comprises an historical review of the development of marketing as a discipline that could lead to a reconceptualization of the field.

Adam Smith emphasised both scale and diversity in markets. However, it was the economics of scale that caught the attention of economists and then of marketing specialists. This incomplete view of Smith limited the scope of marketing thought to single or related products. However, Smith's emphasis on diversity leads, logically and inevitably, to the development of the concept of a marketing system. A set of propositions are then suggested that lead to a generalised theory of marketing based on the marketing system concept.

This approach holds promise of resolving the concerns of both the internal and external critics of marketing, opening the door to a fresh, relevant interpretation of marketing thought that might address the concerns expressed by Dixon.

Using a two‐round Delphi process among 92 manufacturing managers from around the world, assesses the appropriateness of a variety of performance measures. The Delphi process used a survey technique that was pioneered by Dixon, Nanni, and Vollmann to highlight gaps (high perceived importance to the company but low weight in the performance measurement system) and false alarms (low perceived importance to the company but high weight in the performance measurement system). Direct cost reduction, machine efficiency, and labour efficiency are almost universally seen as false alarms. On the other hand, new product introduction, customer satisfaction, and employee involvement are frequently revealed to be gaps, although with less consistency. Cross‐industry comparisons are a distinctive feature of this research.