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The paper seeks to review recent developments in theory and research regarding the nature and role of relations and networks in business markets and to argue for a more dynamic, interactive and evolutionary view.

Complexity theory, as well as theories of distributed cognition and control, is used to show that business markets, relations and networks are complex adaptive systems of interacting people, firms, activities, resources and ideas in which no one player is in control.

The theoretical perspective described has profound implications for management practice, policymaking and research. In particular it leads to the concept of soft assembled strategies in which management and firms utilize the inherent response properties of the relations and networks in which they operate to extend what they can do, sense, know and think.

Relevant research methodologies for addressing the academic, management and policy issues arising from this perspective are described.

The paper shows the relevance of developments in the complexity sciences and distributed cognition to business marketing and management.

The purpose of this paper is to review and synthesise some of the main contributions of Donald F. Dixon to marketing theory and the history of marketing thought.

Personal experience, as well as a review of the major papers and the book Dixon co‐authored are used to highlight the development of his thought and contributions.

Dixon championed a broad hierarchical systems approach to understanding marketing and was able to identify the origins of concepts and ideas in history in a way that showed his depth of scholarship, the deep intellectual history of marketing thought and the misrepresenting of earlier theories that are present in some modern writings.

Dixon's contributions are of major importance but not well known in marketing. It brings together some of his major contributions and indicates their value.

The purpose of this paper is to comment on the meaning and significance of the article by Don Dixon on the change in teaching of marketing theory at Wharton in 1955‐1957.

The paper presents a personal reflection and consideration of the history of marketing research since 1957.

Dixon has throughout his career championed a broad systems framework for understanding marketing. His comments show the beginning of a major shift in marketing theory towards a narrow one sided marketing management focus that limited research and neglected areas that ended up being taken up by other disciplines such as strategic purchasing, supply chains and networks.

Highlights a tipping point in the development of marketing theory that restricted the development of marketing theory.

Bowersox et al in their well‐known book on physical distribution management stress the underlying importance of overall distribution channel behaviour to PDM. ‘At the outset it is clear that the distribution channel is of fundamental importance to a treatment of physical distribution, because the channel is the arena within which marketing and logistics culminate into consumer transactions. Therefore, for a proper understanding of physical distribution, one should develop a sound insight into the overall nature of total distribution channels’.

This series of papers aims to explore the transition from higher education into work. It reports on research undertaken over a period of two years and which sought to track a number of young graduates as they completed their studies and embarked upon career of choice.

The approach adopted is defined and discussed as one of “common sense”. Alongside the notion of “common sense” the paper deploys two further concepts, “convention” and “faith” necessary to complete a rudimentary methodological framework. The narratives which are at the heart of the papers are built in such a way as to contain not only the most significant substantive issues raised by the graduates themselves but also the tone of voice specific to each.

Five cases are presented; the stories of five of the graduates over the course of one year. Story lines that speak of learning about the job, learning about the organisation and learning about self are identified. An uneven journey into a workplace community is evident. “Fragmentation” and “cohesion” are the constructs developed to reflect the conflicting dynamics that formed the lived experience of the transitional journeys experienced by each graduate.

Whilst the longitudinal perspective adopted overcomes some of the major difficulties inherent in studies which simply use “snap shot” data, the natural limits of the “common sense” approach restrict theoretical development. Practically speaking, however, the papers identify issues for reflection for those within higher education and the workplace concerned with developing practical interventions in the areas of graduate employability, reflective practice and initial/continuous professional development.

The series of papers offers an alternative to orthodox studies within the broader context of graduate skills and graduate employment. The papers set this debate in a more illuminating context.

Provides an empirical assessment of non‐exporters′ perceptions on the factors that hinder the initiation of export activities. The research investigation, which was conducted among a representative random sample of 112 Cypriot manufacturing concerns, revealed that the increasing competitive pressures in the world market constituted the most severe impediment to the export initiation process. A number of organizational determinants exhibited a discriminating effect on certain export barriers. Specifically, there was a tendency by firms with no prior export experience, of small size and with relatively few years in business, to overstress some of the export barriers addressed. However, the type of goods manufactured did not exhibit any differentiating impact. An attempted classification of the export barriers according to internal/external and domestic/foreign typologies revealed no significant differences in the inhibiting impact of the resulting groups.

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.

This study is concerned with an empirical investigation that explores the barriers to export that emerging market entrepreneurs face when engaging in international business. The data was gathered from a survey of 214 manufacturing firms, headquartered in Malaysia, and considered to be an emerging market. Statistical analysis was carried out using one‐way analysis of variance and the Tukey‐Kramer Multiple Comparison Procedure. The study’s key findings indicate that exporters and non‐exporters perceive the importance of the need to adapt products to meet foreign customer preferences and a lack of capacity dedicated to a continuing supply of exports differently as barriers to export. However, other than those barriers to export the study findings indicate no significant differences in the perceptions of exporters and non‐exporters from an emerging market towards the different barriers to export.

The purpose of this research is to specifically explore the role of management characteristics in the international development of SMEs.

Since the intention of this study was to build theory from an unexplored area of research, a multiple case approach was deemed most appropriate. In doing so, this paper responds to recent calls in the literature for in‐depth case research (e.g. Westhead et al., 2002; Doherty, 2003).

This paper highlights the importance of objective and subjective characteristics as factors which impact not only the initial decision to expand and the support of overseas operations, but the subsequent path and pace of international development.

While this paper confirms the pivotal role of the owner manager in the international decision‐making of retail SMEs, it is recommended that future research examines the role of management characteristics in SMEs based in other industries.

The findings from this empirical study have important implications for both managers of SMEs and private and public sector organisations, and these recommendations are discussed in the conclusions of this paper.

While the effect of management decisions upon the internationalisation of SMEs is at a relatively developed stage in the literature, one of the less studied aspects is the role of decision‐maker characteristics. Given the manufacturing focus of research contributions in the field, this paper yields new insights into SME foreign development and the role of management in the context of the retail sector and the broader service industry.

The accumulation of knowledge and learning by firms has been identified as being critical to their internationalisation. This paper aims to explore the knowledge assimilation processes of rapidly internationalising small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).

This is a qualitative enquiry in two stages. First, four case studies were selected from firms that were participating in an internationalisation programme run by Scottish Enterprise, the regional development agency. Data collection involved semi‐structured interviews with chief executive officers (CEOs) and programme providers, and archival data. Second, two focus groups were held with six CEOs participating in the programme.

The findings indicate that knowledge sharing is important for rapidly internationalising SMEs and that firms adopted high levels of formality in assimilating knowledge. Two key aspects of formality were identified as important; formal planned events to share explicit and tacit knowledge and the codification of tacit to explicit knowledge. Knowledge may be assimilated less formally by the retention of tacit knowledge as tacit, while utilising elements of formality. The paper finds that learning for internationalisation can be transferred to support domestic growth.

It is important for firms to develop appropriate knowledge assimilation processes within their management systems to support internationalisation. The CEO and management team need to take the lead in marshalling commitment to learning processes and in cultivating an organisational culture that is supportive of learning.

This research contributes to international entrepreneurship by providing insights into the knowledge assimilation processes employed by rapidly internationalising SMEs to manage the tensions between the need for greater formality to be efficient at learning, and informality to enable speedy decision making.