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The paper aims to examine the role of the media in encouraging corporate responsibility in the toy industry and question whether it acts responsibly itself in reporting in a balanced and fair way (telling toy stories) or whether it overindulges in scaremongering (telling horror stories) or in exaggerating or making false accusations (telling fairy stories).

The paper focuses on qualitative data gathered through in‐depth interviews with 15 senior toy company managers, toy retailers, representatives of the toy industry body, and with a sample of parent toy consumers.

It was found that consumers generally have little knowledge about toys or the toy industry but that any negative media coverage about toys might influence or change their purchase decisions. Many managers felt that there was only limited media coverage of the toy industry and most stories were overly negative, failing to reflect the many responsible activities they pursue. A range of stories is provided that point to an important role for the media in bringing ethical issues to public attention but also indicate that greater prominence could perhaps be given to the industry's worthier practice.

Toy companies need to continue to work closely with the media to keep them informed, particularly concerning their benevolence. They should, however, also look for other ways of communicating such care to consumers both directly and via retailers.

The paper objectively considers the influence of the media in an important children's market and points to lessons about social responsibility for both the media and the toy industry.

Trust is a key business value and a corner‐stone of all company‐consumer relationships, but is particularly critical in children's markets because of their vulnerability. This paper seeks to explore how trust is created between toy companies and parents, the main purchasers of toys, and a conceptual framework is proposed, arguing that trust is underpinned by both ethical and marketing dimensions.

This paper uses rich qualitative data gathered from personal interviews with a sample of senior executives in 12 leading toy companies in the UK. The findings are then used to evaluate a framework developed from a synthesis of the business trust literature.

Evidence gained from the sample indicates that the framework is reasonably robust. Although the managers believed that consumers' trust was chiefly driven by the marketing offer (commitment and satisfaction), they also recognised the importance of behaving responsibly and provided examples to demonstrate their integrity and benevolence.

The consumers' perception of the toy industry is not as positive as the managers would like or believe is deserved. Many responsible activities that might help improve consumer sentiment are failing to be adequately communicated. Trust and worthy deeds need to be “sold” to consumers as a part of the marketing package.

Although trust development is widely discussed and its value recognised, it is still inadequately understood. This paper adds a new perspective by highlighting the importance of ethical issues as a key dimension of trust building.

Whilst earlier studies of market entry success factors have mostly focused on large emerging markets such as China or India, limited attention has been given to smaller emerging markets. The purpose of this paper is to identify the effects of firm-level (i.e. entry mode and firm size), country-level (i.e. market potential, country risk and openness) and cultural distance on successful market entry strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in a smaller emerging country (Thailand).

Using archival data from 1996-2008 and a survey of 139 firms, the results reveal significant influence of both market potential and cultural distance on successful market entry.

Overall, the findings demonstrate a cautionary approach when generalizing the results of studies focusing on large emerging markets to smaller emerging markets. Smaller emerging markets such as Thailand offer very different market-space than large emerging markets and therefore the overall determinants of success may differ substantially.

Market potential appears to be the most significant variable in entering the Thai market. The findings also suggest a negative and significant relationship between cultural distance and market success in Thailand. This reveals that foreign firms that enter small emerging markets which are culturally close to their home countries can enjoy a greater possibility of success.

This study is a first step towards sensitizing corporations and policy makers in understanding the differences in market entry success factors between larger and smaller emerging markets and strategizing accordingly.

Fitting ethical responsibilities into day‐to‐day business practice represents a challenge for marketers who have to operate at the customer interface. When young children are the target market the puzzle becomes more complex. Based on a case study of the toy industry, this paper examines the moral issues of “care” and “vulnerability” and evaluates toy company practice.

The paper builds upon Ross' proposed prima facie duties of benevolence, fidelity, and nonmaleficence (1938), which it argued are particularly relevant when vulnerable consumers are involved. The supporting fieldwork is based on qualitative interviews with senior managers in 12 leading UK‐based toy companies and compares the findings with other documentary evidence.

Evidence of some ethical responsible practice was discovered although this appeared to be primarily driven by external forces rather than company philanthropy. Although the companies argued that targeting children directly is supported by their human rights, this practice will always attract criticism on moral grounds because of children's widely accepted vulnerability. The study identifies a paradox that it is parents who fund most toy purchases but are often overlooked in the marketing process who are vulnerable as well as their children.

This paper adds to the limited literature on ethical issues in marketing to children and provides empirical evidence from an important children's market. The paper seeks to provide a balanced account of where the toy companies are adopting a responsible approach and where they still need to improve their moral credentials.

In this chapter Suzanne Ross draws on her experience previously as a talent manager and now as a leadership consultant, Executive Coach and Senior Lecturer in Executive Education, and applies her research on leadership derailment to talent management. As organizations continue to invest in leadership development, research suggests up to 50 per cent of leaders derail or fail in their role. The derailment literature is, to-date, disconnected from TM although central to the definition of leadership derailment is that derailed leaders were previously successful and had potential. The chapter explores the concept of derailment, how it is defined, its scale and scope and some of the causes of derailment including a lack of organizational support during leadership transitions. The notion of the ‘accidental manager’ is used to provide an example of where literature on TM and derailment converge as a key derailer characteristic is having an overly functional orientation. This maps to the accidental manager concept and to the challenges that TM practitioners face in developing career pathways for expert/specialists beyond managerial roles. Suzanne argues that talent identification should take more account of derailment characteristics and suggests there may be gender differences in how these are perceived and in the consequences that arise when they are present. The chapter contributes to a greater understanding of how the concept of derailment can be integrated within talent management research and practice.

This research explores perceptions of knowledge management processes held by managers and employees in a service industry. To date, empirical research on knowledge management in the service industry is sparse. This research seeks to examine absorptive capacity and its four capabilities of acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation and their impact on effective knowledge management. All of these capabilities are strategies that enable external knowledge to be recognized, imported and integrated into, and further developed within the organization effectively. The research tests the relationships between absorptive capacity and effective knowledge management through analysis of quantitative data (n = 549) drawn from managers and employees in 35 residential aged care organizations in Western Australia. Responses were analysed using Partial Least Square-based Structural Equation Modelling. Additional analysis was conducted to assess if the job role (of manager or employee) and three industry context variables of profit motive, size of business and length of time the organization has been in business, impacted on the hypothesized relationships.

Structural model analysis examines the relationships between variables as hypothesized in the research framework. Analysis found that absorptive capacity and the four capabilities correlated significantly with effective knowledge management, with absorptive capacity explaining 56% of the total variability for effective knowledge management. Findings from this research also show that absorptive capacity and the four capabilities provide a useful framework for examining knowledge management in the service industry. Additionally, there were no significant differences in the perceptions held between managers and employees, nor between respondents in for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Furthermore, the size of the organization and length of time the organization has been in business did not impact on absorptive capacity, the four capabilities and effective knowledge management.

The research considers implications for business in light of these findings. The role of managers in providing leadership across the knowledge management process was confirmed, as well as the importance of guiding routines and knowledge sharing throughout the organization. Further, the results indicate that within the participating organizations there are discernible differences in the way that some organizations manage their knowledge, compared to others. To achieve effective knowledge management, managers need to provide a supportive workplace culture, facilitate strong employee relationships, encourage employees to seek out new knowledge, continually engage in two-way communication with employees and provide up-to-date policies and procedures that guide employees in doing their work. The implementation of knowledge management strategies has also been shown in this research to enhance the delivery and quality of residential aged care.

Dubai’s Electronic Transactions Law (“ETL”) is designed to stimulate E‐commerce in the emirate by improving the authenticity and integrity of electronic transactions. The ETL recognizes the legal validity of electronic documents and electronic signatures as acceptable substitutes for paper documents and ink signatures, respectively. Accordingly, electronic records may be used to comply with a statutory writing requirement, original document requirement and retention requirement, and an electronic signature attached to an electronic document may be used to comply with a statutory requirement for a paper‐and‐ink signature. If all parties are in agreement, a contract may be in electronic form and is just as legally enforceable as a written one. The ETL does not mandate Dubai’s governmental agencies to utilize electronic documents, but they may elect to do so. The ETL has created a compulsory system of licensing of Certification Authorities (“CA”). Their role is to ascertain the identity of a subscriber and to attest in an issued Certificate that the electronic signature used by that subscriber belongs to him. The ETL contains a list of computer crimes. The statute establishes a sound framework for E‐commerce, but it could be improved by adding consumer protections, more computer crimes, mandatory Egovernment, I.T. courts and long‐arm jurisdiction. The ETL’s exclusion of wills should be eliminated.

This study aims to examine the timing of the disclosure of a firm’s environmental certification. In general, certifications comply with signaling and legitimacy theories and serve to bolster a firm’s reputation, financial performance and valuation, among other benefits. However, when a firm finds itself facing a reputational threat, it is unclear whether disclosing a recent certification would provide those same benefits or be perceived by investors as “greenwashing” or a disingenuous distraction from the threat.

This study is based on a case and survey the authors developed that is supported in methodology and approach by past academic work.

The findings suggest that in the short term, the disclosure of the certification benefits the firm regardless of the current reputational environment, good or bad. More specifically, investors view the certification as a benefit (rather than an attempt to distract) even when its disclosure was immediately proceeded by a reputational threat.

This study is limited by the population of survey respondents from which the authors collected data and their internal predispositions and biases.

This work is applicable to firms that have engaged in certifications or are considering such certifications as well as firms that provide certification services. The study is also relevant to stakeholders and consumers of information related to certifications.

This study is operationalized through the use of a case and survey the authors developed. The research question the authors attempt to answer is derived from a question raised in the literature. The authors are unaware of any other study that addresses this question.