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How corporations can achieve growth, especially in these uncertain economic times, is a preoccupying concern for both academics and practitioners alike today. Many of the old models and templates have fallen by the wayside, as competition has intensified, and innovators – both new entrants and renewed enterprises – have changed the rules of the game, the market, and the industry. Here, by looking at some of the interesting players, the article shows an approach to growth. The view is that using “customer minded” principles and tools to drive strategy and resources creates value and wealth through services.

Internal services are fundamental to corporate competitiveness today. Not only do they support line functions but also are directly adding value to the company′s final offerings. However, the level of performance of internal service providers is not meeting the requirements of their users. The authors, continuing their research in this area, surveyed 300 executives on the importance and performance of internal services. They demonstrate the perceived gap between service users′ needs and service providers′ performance, try to understand why this gap exists, and offer some organisational diagnostics for identifying these gaps and prescriptions for redressing them.

Many companies are building on their manufacturing expertise and branching out to provide services for their customers. Here, a number of European firms demonstrate how they manage this new customer relationship and ensure that the service business is profitable.

The healthcare context is a highly complex one for a variety of reasons. One priority that is, however, firmly established on the agenda for the future is that of patient consultation and involvement in the design and delivery of healthcare services. What is an important next step is to consider ways in which such consultation can be achieved in practice. In order to provide high quality services that represent good value for all concerned, consideration also has to be given to the multiple stakeholder groups that exist in healthcare. The Servqual instrument and the nominal group technique can both provide some useful insights into patient and stakeholder priorities from both the service user and the service provider perspective which can then be incorporated into the service design and the service planning processes.

In this article, we try to extend previous research on socially responsible practices by investigating the effectiveness of the environmental communication of an organization. The work is mostly based on the results of a qualitative research about the environmental efforts of a supermarket chain, particularly through its replacement strategy of nylon bags by biodegradable ones. There are many studies in the marketing literature on corporate environmentalism emphasizing the advantages of communicating the socially responsible practices (Detchessahar, 2001; Gabriel, 2003; Kolk, 2000; Krogh and Roos, 1995) but there are also risks related to communication strategy. Therefore, it is very crucial to know the possible impacts of this kind of communication in order to be successful in the market (Brown and Dacin, 1997; Creyer and Ross, 1997; Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001). The impact of this communication has to be analyzed by different points of view such as the consumers, the employees and the managers. The results of this study will provide various managerial insights and recommendations for companies willing to succeed in their socially responsible actions as the responsible business practices can build sales, develop the workforce, boost enthusiasm, and enhance trust in to the company by increasing its reputation.

The increase in environmental consciousness around the world since 1970's pushed firms to engage in socially responsible behaviors. The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has naturally gained attention in the academic and business world (Colvin, 2001; Harrison & Freeman, 1999; Sen & Bhattacharya, 2001; Waddock & Smith, 2000). The reasons for these socially responsible behaviors are not only the external obligations or regulatory compliance but also the firms desire to increase competitiveness, to improve stock market performance (Bansal & Roth, 2000; Drumwright, 1994, 1996; Klassen & Mclaughlin, 1996; Russo & Fouts, 1997; Waddock & Smith, 2000) and to create a positive self‐image among consumers. There have been numerous studies on CSR suggesting a link between social initiatives and consumer's positive product and brand evaluations, brand choice and brand recommendations (Brown & Dacin, 1997; Drumwright, 1994; Handelman & Arnold, 1999; Osterhus, 1997; Sen & Bhattacharya, 2001). Moreover, the consumers are continuing to become more interested in CSR and green product market is fast growing so the use of CSR initiatives by the firms to receive the support of the society and to influence consumer behavior has become quite common. However, these socially responsible steps must also have an effect on corporations' major objective: maximizing the profits.

Two profound changes are taking place in Europe—the economic and political integration in the West and the democratic and economic evolution of the East. Though war and its expectation have been the destiny of the European nation states since the Middle Ages, the future holds out the promise of peace, economic growth, and prosperity.

An international survey, sponsored by the Journal of Knowledge Management in association with the Best Practice Club™ and The Benchmarking Exchange, sought to explore the drivers and approaches to creating knowledge‐based organizations from the viewpoint of those practitioners who are actually responsible for implementing Knowledge Management as a business strategy. Three major conclusions have emerged from the study. Whilst organizations recognize the importance of creating, managing and transferring knowledge, so far they have been unable to translate this competitive need into organizational strategies. Secondly, successful Knowledge Management implementation is mainly linked to “soft” issues, such as organizational culture and people. Finally, most organizations are struggling to effectively use Knowledge Management tools and techniques. The study reveals that although most of the survey group understood the commercial or institutional imperative to implement Knowledge Management as an organizational strategy, few benchmarks of best practice have yet to emerge.