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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a prominent topic of debate, and yet remains subject to multiple interpretations. Despite this ambiguity, organisations need to communicate their CSR activity effectively in order to meet varied stakeholder demands, increase financial performance and in order to achieve legitimacy in the eyes of clients and various stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to explore how CSR is communicated, and the impact such communication methods have on CSR practice. More specifically, it examines the disconnect between the rhetoric espoused in CSR reports and the actualities of the ways in which CSR is practiced.

A qualitative content analysis of 100 CSR reports published by nine construction contractors informed the design of qualitative interviews. In total, 17 interviews were then conducted with contractors and public body clients.

Strategic ambiguity explains how contractors circumvent the problem of attending to conflicting stakeholder CSR needs. However, this results in a paradox where CSR is simultaneously sustained as a corporate metric and driver, whilst being simultaneously undermined in being seen as a rhetorical device. By examining this phenomenon through the lens of legitimacy, the study reveals how both the paradox and subsequent actions of clients that this provokes, act to restrict the development of CSR practice.

This is the first study to use the lens of legitimacy theory to analyse the relationship between CSR reporting and CSR practice in the construction industry. In revealing the CSR paradox and its ramifications the research provides a novel explanation of the lack of common understandings and manifestations of CSR within the construction sector.

Requirements management (RM), as practised in the aerospace and defence sectors, attracts interest from construction researchers in response to longstanding problems of project definition. Doubts are expressed whether RM offers a new discipline for construction practitioners or whether it repeats previous exhortations to adopt a more disciplined way of working. Whilst systems engineering has an established track record of addressing complex technical problems, its extension to socially complex problems has been challenged. The dominant storyline of RM is one of procedural rationality and RM is commonly presented as a means of controlling dilettante behaviour. Interviews with RM practitioners suggest a considerable gulf between the dominant storyline in the literature and how practitioners operate in practice. The paper challenges construction researchers interested in RM to reflect more upon the theoretical debates that underpin current equivalent practices in construction and the disparity between espoused and enacted practice.

The purpose of the paper is to explore the process of change within organisations in the construction sector related to the content of change called for by reformers such as Egan, Latham, Constructing Excellence and the “rethinking construction” movement. The concept of supply chain management is used within the research to facilitate this kind of exploration.

The broad framework adopted in the paper is contextual in nature and informed by structuration theory and new institutionalism. The approach followed is a case study method that looks for literal replication across a number of cases.

Supply chain management is found to be both synonymous with the concept of partnering and particularly problematic for organisations to implement within the construction sector due to specific contextual factors.

All methodological positions have limitations. Like all research this piece of work is the product of choices that could have been different and achieved different outcomes.

The findings support a view that contextual approaches provide greater insight into the problematic nature of change in the construction sector and concerns regarding the development of a robust, relevant and sustainable agenda for change within the sector.

Facilities management has inherited the understanding of how organisations work as value creators from various management models such as Porter's, where value is created through “primary” and “support” activities. The gap between the aspiration of strategic relevance and reality has prompted the facilities management profession to begin to address the question of whether facilities management is a legitimate discipline with attendant theories, research and practice. This paper attempts to bring an alternative theoretical perspective to such aspirations.

Facilities management arrangements and their value as a key organisational competence are outlined. Finally knowledge‐based functional competency is described that encapsulates the new perspective.

The paper provides an alternative perspective that will facilitate its acceptance as a strategically placed corporate function. A new knowledge‐based legitimisation for facilities management is proposed, marking a shift from facilities management's functional knowledge to an organisation‐wide knowledge base.

The way the discipline of facilities management is located within the business organisation sees its primary role in being fundamentally “supportive” to the parent organisation's primary function whether it is product provision or service delivery. This is problematic for a discipline that has been trying to align itself as strategically oriented. This orientation needs to be redefined to allow facilities management to be rather seen as a knowledge‐based core competency and a function that permeates the boundaries of primary and support functions.

The paper encourages wider debate and dialogue within the community on what appears to be a pivotal crossroads in the development of the discipline.

Learning within the supply chain is widely considered to provide the basis for enhanced competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to explore the theory and current practice of organizational learning in UK construction supply chains.

A qualitative research strategy is followed for this exploration of supply chain management and organizational learning. Research enquiry draws on semi‐structured interviews with key construction supply chain stakeholders. The semi‐structure interviews are recorded, transcribed and analysed via qualitative data analysis software.

Careful examination of the transcripts reveal that whilst supply chain management practice in construction is limited, key schools of organizational learning are similarly underdeveloped. Findings disclose construction supply chain organizations routinely employ learning strategies that are best described as reactionary and interventionist.

Research was limited to the UK construction industry and represents the assessment and evaluation of construction clients and first‐tier supply chain members working within construction framework agreements. The perspectives of construction SMEs were out with the data set.

Underdeveloped organizational learning practices within supply chains present a significant barrier to the development and diffusion of supply chain management theory and practice in construction. In practical terms, the attainment of competitive advantage and the development of competing supply chain in construction would be extremely limited.

Connecting organizational learning to the development and diffusion of supply chain management has been largely overlooked within the construction management literature. The research makes two notable contributions. First, the adaptation of a pragmatic and holistic organizational learning framework for the appraisal of learning strategies and second an evaluation of organizational learning in construction supply chains.

The purpose of this article is to review the potential contributions of category management (CM) to the UK fashion sector and subsequently to establish evaluation criteria for the application of CM in the UK fashion sector.

Qualitative research was employed through an exploratory case study method.

Category management is limited in its application in the fashion industry. The study found that fashion companies adopted collaborative structures in order to implement a CM approach and a CM approach contributes to the development of a fast fashion business orientation.

Exploratory case study method does not allow for the results to be generalised.

The paper proposes a model of the evaluation of the application of category management in the fashion sector.

This paper discusses how a small business experiences professional management by examining the relationship between organisational networking and cultural organising in the workplace. A network perspective is presented in order to evaluate the ways in which workplace relations are enacted to cultural organising. A social constructionist perspective of organisational networking is proposed which emphasises how individuals attribute value and meaning to the interactions they have with co‐workers in the workplace. A work place ethnography is presented which discusses the recruitment of a “professional” manager and his attempts to introduce new working practices into the family business. The analysis highlights how organisational members shape cultural organising by invoking emotional categories to produce mutuality and a sense of belonging in the workplace. In continually re‐enacting workplace relationships in this way, it is found that individuals attempt to trade away variance, divergent views and new organising practices concerned with change. The paper concludes with a final analysis of the ethnography and its implication for small business research and training.

Grocery sellers that have entered the online business must now carry out order fulfilment activities previously done by the customer. Consequently, in a context of online sales growth, the purpose of this study is to identify and implement best practices in order to redesign the order picking process in a retailer with a store-based model.

To identify different work alternatives, an approach is developed to analyse the methods used in distinct stores of one large Spanish grocer. The methodology employed is a three-step statistical analysis that combines ANOVA and MANOVA techniques to settle on the best alternatives in each case.

Substantial improvements can be achieved by analysing the different working methods. The three-step statistical analysis identified best practices in terms of their impact on preparation time, allowing a faster working method.

To manage business processes efficiently, online grocers that operate store-based fulfilment strategies can redesign their working method using a criterion based on their own performance.

This is one of the few contributions focusing on the improvement of e-grocery fulfilment operations by disseminating best practices through decision-making criteria. This study contributes by addressing the lack of approaches studying the order picking process by considering its various features and applying best practices.

The overall aim of this research was to undertake an exploratory investigation to gain insights into attitudes and perceptions of supplier development and local sourcing programmes in the UK grocery retail sector.

Since this research is exploratory in nature, a qualitative approach to data collection was undertaken using semi‐structured in‐depth interviews.

Retailers do seem to be undertaking supplier development as defined in the literature but the data collected highlights some of the difficulties experienced by all suppliers in supporting grocery retailer category management and branding strategies. From this, local sourcing also implies the involvement of the micro‐enterprise producer. This has the potential for greater levels of power and trust imbalance.

The main research limitation was the small sample size. However, the research was exploratory and the sample was essentially convenience based. This resulted in over‐representation by the larger SME producer. The findings can be enhanced with further qualitative research focusing on the micro‐enterprise supplier.

The paper offers an insight into the debate on SME supplier development and local sourcing by providing empirical evidence of the current shape and scope of the various initiatives in the UK grocery sector.

This paper aims to explore Wal‐Mart's varying performance in Europe and eventual exit from the German market by singling out the role of consumer acceptance of Wal‐Mart's market propositions.

The paper uses the macro‐constructs of institutional theory to interpret and conceptualise micro‐level consumer data. Data were collected via telephone surveys in two regional German and UK markets in 2002/2003. Salient patronage norms in each market were established and Wal‐Mart's as well as its competitors' performance on those norms were assessed.

In the German context, the institutional theory approach to explaining Wal‐Mart's problems clearly foreshadows market failure and exit. In UK market, no clear pattern between retailers adhering to salient patronage norms, patronage behaviour and market position could be established. The constructs of institutional theory were more likely to predict and explain market failure than success.

Research in two regional markets limits the applicability of findings. Nevertheless, some key issues seem to indicate overall market performance. The telephone survey approach carries inherent problems, which however have only marginally impacted on the relevance of the findings.

The use of institutional theory constructs adds a further dimension to the discussion of international retailer success/failure and can constitute a valuable tool in the repertoire of the divestment and failure literature.