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Very few companies operate with clearly identified strategies for reaching long‐term goals, yet strategic thinking and planning offer businesses abundant opportunities for success. They serve as a road map for navigating in today's competitive and rapidly changing business environment. They help people act before problems crop up and offer the best hope for companies that want to make the maximum use of their time, money, and personnel resources. Carefully conceived strategies help position companies to outperform the competition, understand prospect and customer needs, provide quality products and services, improve morale, and develop personnel. Yet far too many companies seem to stumble along without well‐defined action plans for the future.

Narrates the discussion between Juan (a corporate executive of a multinational company) and Audrey (an independent environmental consultant) when they sit next to each other on a flight. Explains, through the dialogue, some of the environmental pitfalls companies can encounter when basing operations in the USA, such as regulations relating to clean air, clean water, emissions, toxic pollutants, land use restrictions, species protection plans etc.). Makes the point that it is individuals who face civil and criminal penalties for breaking these regulations, not the company. Provides an overview of US environmental regulations and recommends that companies can avoid falling foul of the law through education, training and taking legal advice. Mentions ISO 14000 and 14001 environmental standards as a potential way forward, although they do not yet carry any weight under US law.

The agency problem inherent in governing public corporations predicts a management not acting in shareholders’ best interest. The purpose of this paper is to use the Green Bay Packers’ unique ownership structure as a case study to show that a disperse shareholder base does not necessarily lead to failures in corporate governance.

The Packers have been run by a great management team since 1992. The authors argue that the new management has become the de facto owners of the Packers organization and dealt away the agency costs as a result. This argument is in line with the Coase Theorem.

The ownership of the Packers is a property. As would be argued with the Coase Theorem, if the property right is well defined, who controls the property, under certain circumstances, is irrelevant in regard of maximizing ownership value.

With only one sample point, the authors, however, cannot rule out the randomness of the Packers’ stellar performance and also the possibility that the new management acts in the best interest of Packers shareholders because they have well-designed employment contracts.

Nevertheless, the findings offer a new perspective to the corporate governance literature.

Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.

Presents a special issue, enlisting the help of the author’s students and colleagues, focusing on age, sex, colour and disability discrimination in America. Breaks the evidence down into manageable chunks, covering: age discrimination in the workplace; discrimination against African‐Americans; sex discrimination in the workplace; same sex sexual harassment; how to investigate and prove disability discrimination; sexual harassment in the military; when the main US job‐discrimination law applies to small companies; how to investigate and prove racial discrimination; developments concerning race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; developments concerning discrimination against workers with HIV or AIDS; developments concerning discrimination based on refusal of family care leave; developments concerning discrimination against gay or lesbian employees; developments concerning discrimination based on colour; how to investigate and prove discrimination concerning based on colour; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; using statistics in employment discrimination cases; race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning gender discrimination in the workplace; discrimination in Japanese organizations in America; discrimination in the entertainment industry; discrimination in the utility industry; understanding and effectively managing national origin discrimination; how to investigate and prove hiring discrimination based on colour; and, finally, how to investigate sexual harassment in the workplace.

A religious revival is occurring in the United States today as the traditional wall preventing faith from entering the work place is crumbling. With workers increasingly practicing their religion at work, employers face a growing cavalcade of dilemmas, including those where employees discuss religious tenets, wear religious symbols, object to employer edits on the basis of faith, and proselytize. The faith/work challenge is made even more complex because of the greater number of religions practiced today (both traditional religions based on Judeo‐Christian principles and the so‐called “immigrant religions” that have blossomed during recent decades) coupled with the growing popularity of a host of “spirituality” movements. As the mixing of faith and work becomes common place, employers and employees naturally look to the law to establish concomitant rights and duties.

Devotes the entire journal issue to managing human behaviour in US industries, with examples drawn from the airline industry, trading industry, publishing industry, metal products industry, motor vehicle and parts industry, information technology industry, food industry, the airline industry in a turbulent environment, the automotive sales industry, and specialist retailing industry. Outlines the main features of each industry and the environment in which it is operating. Provides examples, insights and quotes from Chief Executive Officers, managers and employees on their organization’s recipe for success. Mentions the effect technology has had in some industries. Talks about skilled and semi‐skilled workers, worker empowerment and the formation of teams. Addresses also the issue of change and the training that is required to deal with it in different industry sectors. Discusses remuneration packages and incentives offered to motivate employees. Notes the importance of customers in the face of increased competition. Extracts from each industry sector the various human resource practices that companies employ to manage their employees effectively ‐ revealing that there is a wide diversity in approach and what is right for one industry sector would not work in another. Offers some advice for managers, but, overall, fails to summarize what constitutes effective means of managing human behaviour.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the genre of tabletop fantasy role‐playing games and provide guidance in building an initial collection.

The first part of the paper is designed to present the development of tabletop fantasy role‐playing games in a historiographic model, tracing the history of these games from the 1970s to 2006. The second portion is a bibliographic essay and critique of several noteworthy fantasy role‐playing games, including analysis of the settings and systems of each game.

The paper provides a history of the development of fantasy role‐playing games and provides guidance on how to start a collection. The study recognizes a lack of academic research on the topic and seeks to provide a brief introduction.

The paper provides a clear concise history of role‐playing game development and balanced advice for librarians who wish to begin collecting role‐playing games.

This paper begins to fill the need for academic study of the subject and provides practical advice for collection development librarians.

Looks at the issue of homosexual harassment in the workplace. Defines sexual harassment according to the (US) Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines. Provides some background history of traditional sexual harassment in the workplace, extending this, in the 1990s, to also encompass homosexual harassment. Describes what is meant by “quid pro quo” and “hostile working environment” harassment, providing examples of what would constitute unacceptable behaviour. Reports on the findings of some surveys of homosexual harassment in the workplace. Offers some helpful tips for employers to follow to prevent and/or protect against homosexual harassment occurring within their organization.

According to John Grant’s New Marketing Manifesto, contemporary consumers “act their shoe size not their age” by resolutely refusing to grow up. They are not alone. Managers too are adopting a kiddy imperative, as the profusion of primers predicated on children’s literature – and storytelling generally – bears witness. Winnie the Pooh, the Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland and Hans Christian Andersen are the marketing gurus du jour, or so it seems. This paper adds to the juvenile agenda by examining the Harry Potter books, all four of which are replete with references to market‐place phenomena, and contending that scholarly sustenance can be drawn from J.K. Rowling’s remarkable, if ambivalent, marketing imagination.