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Concerns itself with the way in which company images are formed and disseminated and discusses work carried out among the employees, suppliers and purchasers of a heavy goods manufacturing company. Argues that company employees should be made the focus of attention, since these are potential salesmen in the widest sense of the world. Suggests a company's experience, particularly in the industrial and service sectors will rely heavily on personal contact with employees, e.g. employees will portray an image of the company as it effects them. Proposes that all people external to the company but coming into contact with it receive the same image. Pinpoints a questionnaire involving a company image profile of engineering where employees are slightly pessimistic – includes these in question and answer format. Concludes that a company's good image among its employees and subsequently among those outside it, rests in the hands of top management. – and how can this be ignored?

Introduction In his quest to maintain or gain market share, the manufacturer of branded goods makes various assumptions about potential customers, using his current knowledge to picture who they are and how they can be reached cost‐effectively. In essence, he builds on the socio‐demographic characteristics and assumes that people of a particular profile will respond to image, price, point‐of‐sale material, competitions or bargain offers. His decision is made and implemented and, provided the outcome is satisfactory, it is taken that the assumptions are correct. If the market reacts in an unexpected way, he deems that perhaps there were other variables which affected behaviour—or perhaps that his judgement was wrong—in which event he is apt to try another tack to see if that will produce the desired response. He works best on experience and rationalisation, believing that his inadequate knowledge of the market‐place is unavoidable and that he is doing the best he can in the circumstances.

This study empirically explores one of the important channel issues – the relationship between various channel support given to channel partners and the perceived (by managers) goal‐orientation of a firm. Results from an emerging market, India, indicate that perceived orientation towards both profitability and market share is not associated with any of the channel support considered. Growth orientation however is strongly associated with most of the channel support activities – both business (e.g., business advice, pricing and ordering assistance, and personnel training) as well as marketing (advertising support, sales promotional material, and inventory management assistance) oriented activities. In contrast, perceived sales volume orientation is only associated with advertising support and business advice, however, the relationship is negative. These findings have interesting implications for channel management and channel motivation.

To achieve a full understanding of the role of marketing from plan to profit requires a knowledge of the basic building blocks. This textbook introduces the key concepts in the art or science of marketing to practising managers. Understanding your customers and consumers, the 4 Ps (Product, Place, Price and Promotion) provides the basic tools for effective marketing. Deploying your resources and informing your managerial decision making is dealt with in Unit VII introducing marketing intelligence, competition, budgeting and organisational issues. The logical conclusion of this effort is achieving sales and the particular techniques involved are explored in the final section.

Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.

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.

Reports on a study to investigate the impact of customer satisfaction of different types of company responses to letters of complaint. Considers the effects on consumers of various defensive marketing strategies: letter and free good, letter only, and no response. Surmises that the results support the notion that appropriate defensive marketing strategies can improve the company′s image among customers who write complaint letters.

Aim: Previous research has documented the widespread use of antipsychotic drugs by nursing staff with older persons, although less is known about the knowledge that nurses actually have about these drugs. The purpose of this exploratory, descriptive study was to survey a sample of UK gerontological nurses from different work settings on their knowledge of antipsychotic drugs.Methods: An exploratory descriptive study design was utilised, whereby a sample of nursing staff was given a questionnaire developed to determine knowledge about antipsychotic drugs and their use with older persons. Questionnaires were distributed to 100 nursing staff, including registered general nurses, registered mental nurses, state enrolled nurses, nursing assistants and care assistants. Of the 100 questionnaires distributed, 62 were returned and 57 were completed substantially enough for data analysis.Results: Descriptive statistics including frequencies and means were calculated for demographic variables and the questionnaire responses. Results indicated that the use of antipsychotic drugs within the psychiatric hospital setting was substantial, with 43.7% of patients receiving antipsychotic drugs, for an average length of time of 1.8 years. Conclusions: Nursing staff participants from all three work settings revealed a number of significant knowledge gaps, particularly with regard to appropriate indications for antipsychotic drugs with older persons and the side‐effects of antipsychotic drugs. Summary: This paper adds new information regarding the use of antipsychotic drugs in the nursing care of older people.

What's Going on at Buckingham? Is it rash or rational? Crazy or calculated? The decision to launch an entirely independent, new type of management school at university level may seem more than a shade imprudent, especially in today's uncertain economic climate. Yet the Management Centre from Buckingham (UMCB), to be launched shortly with senior staff from existing university schools and myself as Principal, is just such a venture. We will be going into business in the autumn with Professor Reg Revans as our President.

This article describes the application of principles applied in the development of a Masters programme in Public Administration in the Netherlands fifteen years ago to the design of a very different programme for senior managers in a UK public bureaucracy. Both programmes placed heavy emphasis upon the role of the manager as learner and on the importance of practical application as the most significant part of the learning process. Rather than teach techniques the development team offered a variety of well established frameworks by means of which participants were encouraged to develop their understanding of themselves, their organisations, their roles within them and the pressures for change arising within the environment of their organisation. The objective was not only to develop areas of managerial competence but, perhaps more significantly, to encourage the higher levels of confidence necessary to managing in an increasingly uncertain and pressured environment. A significant contributor to the achievement of this end was a concentration on those frameworks which had worked effectively in a wide variety of situations and circumstances rather than on more novel and, perhaps, more fashionable approaches.