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Many operating managers view culture and culture change as something “soft” or “squishy” and remote from day‐to‐day concerns. They're worried about “making their numbers” and say they haven't got time to think about organizational culture.

A poorly performing company, one in need of a complete turnaround, typically lacks resources for new strategic initiatives. The usual remedies are lay‐offs, cost‐cutting, and asset sales. However, these remedies often undermine the company's long‐term health. Moreover, they don't address the issues that lie at the heart of the problem: an ineffective corporate culture.

Speed‐to‐market is not just a buzzword. It is a belief and a behavior. Here's how to get your people to act in ways that achieve high speed‐to‐market.

Many people fear the approach of 1984. Why? Because in their minds too many of George Orwell's dark prophecies in his 1948 novel, 1984, appear to be coming true.

This paper applies the theory of cascading, interconnected and compound risk to the practice of preparing for, managing, and responding to threats and hazards. Our goal is to propose a consistent approach for managing major risk in urban systems by bringing together emergency management, organisational resilience, and climate change adaptation.

We develop a theory-building process using an example from the work of the Greater London Authority in the United Kingdom. First, we explore how emergency management approaches systemic risk, including examples from of exercises, contingency plans and responses to complex incidents. Secondly, we analyse how systemic risk is integrated into strategies and practices of climate change adaptation. Thirdly, we consider organisational resilience as a cross cutting element between the approaches.

London has long been a champion of resilience strategies for dealing with systemic risk. However, this paper highlights a potential for integrating better the understanding of common points of failure in society and organisations, especially where they relate to interconnected domains and where they are driven by climate change.

The paper suggests shifting toward the concept of operational continuity to address systemic risk and gaps between Emergency Management, Organizational Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation.

The purpose of this paper is to review the new trends in plastic additives, with special focus on developments in food packaging materials.

Phenomenological research has brought awareness and increased insight into the role of various plastic additives on the packaging of foods. The approach is based on the current trends and the industrial protocols for the additives used in plastic polymer processing for the development of food packaging materials.

Packaging of foodstuffs is a dynamic process which continually responds to the changes in supply and demand which are the result of adaptations to the varying demands of the consumer, changes in retail practices, technological innovations, new materials and developments in legislation, especially, with respect to environmental concerns. A wide range of additives is available for enhancing the performance and appearance of food packaging, as well as improving the processing of the compound. Polymer additives are important areas of innovation for packaging materials.

The paper reviews and summarizes the recent developments in the functionality of different additives, along with their advantages and disadvantages, currently being used to enhance the properties of food packaging materials that can positively influence the environment within the packaging for the increased demand for raw or processed foods.

The literature on economic forecasting, is showing an increase in criticism, of the inaccuracy of forecasts, with major implications for economic, and fiscal policymaking. Forecasts are subject to the systemic uncertainty of human systems, considerable event-driven uncertainty, and show biases towards optimistic growth paths. The purpose of this study is to consider approaches to improve economic foresight.

This study describes the practice of economic foresight as evolving in two separate, non-overlapping branches, short-term economic forecasting, and long-term scenario analysis of development, the latter found in studies of climate change and sustainability. The unique case of Ireland is considered, a country that has experienced both steep growth and deep troughs, with uncertainty that has confounded forecasting. The challenges facing forecasts are discussed, with brief review of the drivers of growth, and of long-term economic scenarios in the global literature.

Economic forecasting seeks to manage uncertainty by improving the accuracy of quantitative point forecasts, and related models. Yet, systematic forecast failures remain, and the economy defies prediction, even in the near-term. In contrast, long-term scenario analysis eschews forecasts in favour of a set of plausible or possible alternative scenarios. Using alternative scenarios is a response to the irreducible uncertainty of complex systems, with sophisticated approaches employed to integrate qualitative and quantitative insights.

To support economic and fiscal policymaking, it is necessary support advancement in approaches to economic foresight, to improve handling of uncertainty and related risk.

While European Union Regulation (EC) 1466/97 mandates pursuit of improved accuracy, in short-term economic forecasts, there is now a case for implementing advanced foresight approaches, for improved analysis, and more robust decision-making.

Building economic resilience and adaptability, as part of a sustainable future, requires both long-term strategic planning, and short-term policy. A 21st century policymaking process can be better supported by analysis of alternative scenarios.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the article is original in considering the application of scenario foresight approaches, in economic forecasting. The study has value in improving the baseline forecast methods, that are fundamental to contemporary economics, and in bringing the field of economics into the heart of foresight.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of undertaking a systemic view of learning management systems (LMSs) evaluation addressing the conceptualization and measurement of e‐learning systems success in higher education.

The paper adopts a quantitative case perspective and derives a conceptual model for e‐learning assessment (Hexagonal e‐learning assessment model – HELAM). The model is empirically tested for validity and reliability in the university setting.

Qualitative and quantitative findings have been presented, which will be valuable for academics and practitioners doing research in e‐learning evaluation. The findings support the flexibility and relevance of HELAM as an e‐learning assessment model. It highlights a number of success measures which are grouped under six dimensions.

Further research efforts should explore new dimensions or test the causal relationships among proposed dimensions within the boundary of e‐learning. In that, the paper is limited contextually where attention should be made not to generalize the findings beyond the empirical findings within the case analysis.

The paper supports a practitioner perspective through a consideration of a holistic approach to e‐learning assessment. E‐learning system developers may find the findings useful when designing and implementing the LMS.

The paper is original as the conceptual model has been derived through both theoretical constructs and empirical analysis. It provides an innovative approach to e‐learning assessment.