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This article focuses on one key aspect of industrial buying behaviour, namely the buying process itself. Using a common questionnaire, a large sample of respondents in Australia, Canada, the UK and the US were interviewed by mail from two sectors, the paper and pulp and chemical and allied products industries. The similarity of results between the different industries and the countries — as well as similarities between this and previous surveys in the UK and US — allows generalisations to be made about the respective involvement of corporate departments in the purchase process for equipment, materials and components.

Describes an empirical study examining the strategies of auto parts suppliers to transplanted Japanese OEMs. Finds that suppliers have become more customer‐focused, following the marketing concept, and also more aggressive in buying from second tier suppliers, in accordance with reverse marketing. Examines the background to the growth of Japanese OEMs in North America, together with an analysis of the traditional marketing concept, reverse marketing and the Japanese hierarchical structure of suppliers. Concludes that reverse marketing leads to strong partnerships, and that relationships with both existing and new suppliers must be developed. Relates the research to the oretical concepts and offers managerial recommendations.

Reports on the results of a study carried out in Canada and compares this with an earlier UK study (the Cunningham Roberts report). Investigates how Canadian pump and valve manufacturers' perceptions of customer service offered by their metal suppliers. Compares with the perceptions of their UK counterparts. Concludes that there are substantial disparities between the two countries.

There are many products we sell at absolute cost because they are part of the image of our business. We sell Kodak cameras at cost — we will sell between 5,000 and 6,000 of the new disc cameras between now and Christmas. — A drug chain buyer.

In the summer of 1971, the United States announced a ten per cent import surcharge. Hit by a decline in orders from the United States, many exporters found they needed a replacement market for their lost sales. Canada would seem their natural choice. Although only one‐tenth of the population of the United States market, her purchasing power is far higher than any other country of equivalent size, and Canada appears similar to the United States in language, economic environment, culture and aspirations.

The growth in the number of marketing firms emphasising international perspectives in both their philosophy and scope of operations points to the need for additional studies focused on marketing practices in other nations. A knowledge of the nature of the relationship between marketing structure, marketing practices, and the environment in which the marketing institution operates is essential. This article reports on a research study which assesses the relationship between the size of household appliance distributors in Nigeria, and the economic, technological, and socio‐cultural environment. It also examines how the existing relationship could explain the marketing practices.

The cardinal point to note here is that the development (and unfortunately the likely potential) of area policy is intimately related to the actual character of British social policy. Whilst area policy has been strongly influenced by Pigou's welfare economics, by the rise of scientific management in the delivery of social services (cf Jaques 1976; Whittington and Bellamy 1979), by the accompanying development of operational analyses and by the creation of social economics (see Pigou 1938; Sandford 1977), social policy continues to be enmeshed with the flavours of Benthamite utilitatianism and Social Darwinism (see, above all, the Beveridge Report 1942; Booth 1889; Rowntree 1922, 1946; Webb 1926). Consequently, for their entire history area policies have been coloured by the principles of a national minimum for the many and giving poorer areas a hand up, rather than a hand out. The preceived need to save money (C.S.E. State Apparatus and Expenditure Group 1979; Klein 1974) and the (supposed) ennobling effects of self help have been the twin marching orders for area policy for decades. Private industry is inadvertently called upon to plug the resulting gaps in public provision. The conjunction of a reluctant state and a meandering private sector has fashioned the decaying urban areas of today. Whilst a large degree of party politics and commitment has characterised the general debate over the removal of poverty (Holman 1973; MacGregor 1981), this has for the most part bypassed the ‘marginal’ poorer areas (cf Green forthcoming). Their inhabitants are not usually numerically significant enough to sway general, party policies (cf Boulding 1967) and the problems of most notably the inner cities has been underplayed.

Addresses the issue of the adoption of generic drugs by general medical practitioners in the National Health Service in England. The adoption and buyer behaviour of GPs is of central importance to the pharmaceutical industry and to the Government. Reports research based on the theories of perceived risk and work simplification, set in the context of the growing pressure on doctors to contain total prescribing costs. Based on the findings of in‐depth research interviews with 39 GPs, concludes that perceived risk on the part of the GP is a significant determinant of generic drug adoption and that the desire to simplify work load decisions is also important.

This study aims to predict the types of thermally induced dynamics (TID) that can occur on deployable solar panels of a small form factor satellite, CubeSat which flies in low Earth orbit (LEO). The TID effect on the CubeSat body is examined.

A 3U CubeSat with four short-edge deployable solar panels is considered. Time historic temperature of the solar panels throughout the orbit is obtained using a thermal analysis software. The results are used in numerical simulation to find the structural response of the solar panel. Subsequently, the effect of solar panel motion on pointing the direction of the satellite is examined using inertia relief method.

The thermal snap motion could occur during eclipse transitions due to rapid temperature changes in solar panels’ cross-sections. In the case of asymmetric solar panel configuration, noticeable displacement in the pointing direction can be observed during the eclipse transitions.

This work only examines an LEO mission where the solar cells of the solar panels point to the Sun throughout the daylight period and point to the Earth while in shadow. Simplification is made to the CubeSat structure and some parameters in the space environment.

The results from this work reveal several practical applications worthy of simplifying the study of TID on satellite appendages.

This work presents a computational method that fully uses finite element software to analyze TID phenomenon that can occur in LEO on a CubeSat which has commonly used deployable solar panels structure.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate and compare the across-time individual and contextual factors influencing the participation of Canadian residents in adult education and training during the 1990s and the early twenty-first century. This era is characterized by the social investment state (SIS), a policy paradigm adopted by various developed nations throughout the world, including Canada, during the latter part of the twentieth century.

The authors analyzed data obtained from the 1994, 1998, and 2003 versions of the Adult Education and Training Survey, which is administered by Statistics Canada. They employed binomial logit regression so as to predict the likelihood of the respondents participating in training.

Participants whose level of education was below the post-secondary level were less likely to participate in training, as were adult residents of households in which pre-school children also lived. These findings occurred across all three periods of data collection. Furthermore, urban residents exhibited an increasingly greater likelihood to participate in training across-time.

Future studies should consider the funding source for training, be it from the public or private sector, and how this may affect participation. The impact that various types of training have on employment and earning patterns in developed nations should also be further assessed.

This study, with its use of the most recent available data to analyze across-time changes in the determinants of participating in training in Canada, has contributed to the knowledge base regarding the SIS in Canada and how it compares to its European counterparts.