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The paper examines the building of a new business network by women apparel retailers operating in small Midwest US communities to better understand the network development process and the contributions to small business marketing strategy.

Work draws upon the theoretical and empirical tradition of network studies using prior research for considering current small business owners. This case study approach involved documenting the evolution of relationships among retailers over a five‐year period by means of primary data collection from multiple sources.

Two theoretical network development frameworks were supported in the identification and description of critical transformation phases and the implicit impacts on retail member firms.

The case study involves a limited number of business owners in the same retail sector operating in small towns. It may not be representative of retail operations of different size, in different sectors, and in different sized communities. However, insights are gained that can be used to build studies that focus on a variety of business types, geographic locations, and owner demographics.

The paper shows that networking is a viable market strategy for small community retailers and that economic as well as social benefits are accrued from interactions with network members.

Given the unique challenges of operating a small independent business, this work provides suggestions for building networks that generate collaboration as a marketing strategy.

This paper reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

According to one well‐entrenched belief, it is not what, but who, people know that enables them to get on in life. These sentiments can be applied to the world of commerce too. Business annals will testify how many companies developed links with powerful others and completely transformed their fortunes as a result. For the little guys, any chance to build such associations can be a godsend. In the retail sector, for instance, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) often face considerable challenges in their quest to succeed. Resources are naturally limited, as is the time to engage in important market research. Then there is the level of competition. Discount stores frequently muscle in and threaten their already modest customer base. Some analysts predict that changes within the business environment will make things even tougher for smaller concerns over the next few years. In the face of this apparent adversity, how can SMEs respond? One possibility is to join with similar operators and create a network.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to digest format.

Classical and contemporary theorists are at odds over the structure of power relations in organizations and the relationship between power differences and the distribution of control and benefits. The classical arguments of Marx and Weber describe steep hierarchical structures in which those at the top exercise substantial control over subordinates and gain a disproportionate share of the organization's benefits. Contemporary theories are divided on two counts. Some imply that power is organized hierarchically—although not to the extent claimed by classical scholars—while others claim that power is diffuse. Similarly, the early exchange arguments separated benefit from control, and claimed that power is directly related to the distribution of control but inversely related to the distribution of benefits. Contemporary exchange theorists connect power to the distribution of control and benefit but most imply that power differences weaken, that is, power relations become less hierarchical, with power use.This paper offers the first simultaneous application of Elementary Theory, Status Characteristics Theory, and Legitimacy Theory to the study of organizational dynamics. Each theory describes the process through which differences on a single factor, e.g., power, influence, or organizations. We claim that most organizational analysts either focus on power processes to the exclusion of influence and legitimacy processes or conflate the three ideas and treat their confluence as power. In either case, the result is misspecification of the distribution of power in organizations and/or an underestimation of its effects on the distribution of control and benefit.We untangle the three ideas and use the three arguments to develop new understandings of the distribution of benefits and control in organizations. All three theories describe processes that connect behavior to structural conditions. Elementary Theory infers power differences from exchange structures that permit competitive mobility while Status Characteristic Theory infers influence from status orders. The three theories do not exhaust coverage of power, influence, and legitimacy processes under all conditions. However, when they are applied concurrently, the three describe greater concentrations of power than those implied by conventional organizational theories.Our joint application of Elementary Theory and Status Characteristics Theory offers a new explanation for the commonly described relationship between differences in expertise and the exercise of power. We also explain the relationship between uncertainty and the distribution of benefit and control. As uncertainty increases, the door is opened for subordinates to exercise greater and greater influence over superordinate actors. Our analysis also offers insights into the phenomena of power-at-a-distance and the relation between mobility in hierarchies and domination and obedience. Conditions that block mobility promote power decentralization. Finally, we show how legitimacy processes enhance and/or constrain power and influence processes. The complex interplay of power, influence, and legitimation processes can produce somewhat flatter distributions of benefit and control than separate analyses of the three processes might imply. We end with a cautionary note: some but not all of our applications of the three theories are supported by experimental studies. Especially in that regard, this work is quite preliminary. Our application of structural social psychological theories—and that of our predecessors—to the study of organizational dynamics leaves much work undone.

For work organizations and their members, establishing and maintaining mutually satisfying employment relationships is a fundamental concern. The importance that scholars attach to employment relationships is reflected in research streams that explore the optimal design of strategic human resource management systems, the nature of psychological contract fulfillment and violation, and the factors associated with achieving person-environment fit, among others. Generally missing from theory and research pertaining to employment relationships is the perspective of individuals who reside at the employee-employer interface – managerial leaders. We argue that, for managerial leaders, a pervasive concern involves the tangible and intangible resource requirements of specific employees. We then provide the groundwork for study of the leader’s perspective on employment relationships by proposing a model that identifies how employees come to be perceived as low versus high maintenance and how these perceptions, in turn, influence leader cognition, affect, and behavior.

Le rôle sans cesse croissant du tourisme dans nos sociétés induit inévitablement diverses conséquences économiques, sociales et culturelles dont certaines dans le domaine de l'emploi et de la formation.

The current study integrates self-enhancement and social exchange theories to construct hypotheses in which team-level narcissism is expected to negatively influence team-level task performance ratings and team-level organizational citizenship behaviors directed at team members (OCB-Is). Additionally, individual-level narcissism is expected to negatively influence peer performance ratings. Based on longitudinal data collected from 89 study participants constituting 29 project teams, results indicate (a) team-level narcissism influences task performance, (b) team-level narcissism influences changes in OCB-Is over time, and (c) individual-level narcissism influences peer performance ratings. Our findings suggest the necessity for practitioners to consider individual differences in the strategic formation of work groups.

Looks into sexual harassment complaints at Mitsubishi Motors in Illinois, USA, which could become the largest sexual harassment case in US history with nearly 500 female plaintiffs eligible to receive a total amount of US$150 million in compensation and damages. Mentions other foreign companies operating in the USA, which have been charged with violation of employee rights. Mentions Employment Practices Liability insurance, which protects companies against the costs of workers winning damages in cases of discrimination or wrongful discharge. Attributes some of these employee abuse problems to the lack of flow of information within a company’s communication network. Points out that most companies have got downward communication from top management to employees sorted out, but that other forms of communication are lacking. Suggests that this might be due to control, incompetence, lack of understanding and unfairness when dealing with various societal groups – all of which can cost organizations a load of money, particularly in the litigious USA.

The Web of Science (WoS) database has been intro‐duced recently by The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), but no applications of it have yet been described as far as I am aware. It is compiled from 8,000 journals providing some 130,000 articles annually, covered in the combined Science (1974 onwards), Social Sciences (1972 onwards) and Arts & Humanities (1975 onwards) Citation Indexes. New journals continue to be added. At present the storage requirements for this data is about 11.5 Gbytes.

Die Frage «Wie weit kann die öffentliche Hand den Fremdenverkehr fördern?» unterstellt bereits die vollzogene Tatsache der staatlichen Förderung des Fremdenverkehrs. Sie scheint diese hinzunehmen, ja sogar davon auszugehen, dass der Staat den Fremdenverkehr fördern soll, vielleicht sogar muss, wobei es dann, nur noch einen Schritt bis zur Untersuchung und zum Entscheid darüber bedeuten würde, wie weit er iiberhaupt zu gehen imstande ist, um das apodiktisch feststehende Gebot der staatlichen Unterstüzung maximal zu erfüllen.