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From the point of view of a successful scenario writer for Royal Dutch Shell, there are several there are several artful techniques that go into crafting and presenting business scenarios. The first is art of keeping it short. To do this at Shell the author produced two different products based on two distinct mental disciplines: (1) thorough research leading to rich, fully articulated stories (the full scenario book); and (2) the distillation of these stories into essential concepts and images (a little book that was widely read and distributed). Any scenario author seeks to create new patterns of thinking in the mind of the managers. Therefore, model the scenario as if it were a stage set created by words. The managers are the actors who will animate it by their participation in each alternative scenario world. This then is the design goal for any scenario writing: engage the managers to step into the play and make it their own. The author’s method is to stimulate the development of scenarios in their minds to the point that they are just not hearing a memorable story but they are experimenting with it and imagining alternatives.

IN this number, as is our custom at this time of the year, we turn our attention to the coming Annual Meeting of the Library Association. The choice of Leeds as a venue for the Conference, coming as it does after Glasgow and Birmingham, is a proof to those who need it of the earnestness which actuates the Council, and the members, of the Library Association. We note that our colleagues the accountants, surveyors and others, have a weakness for Torquay, Southport and Scarborough for their serious annual deliberations; and such a choice has one advantage: it encourages members of committees to join their officers at the meetings. There are compensations, however, as any wise man will recognise. The library movement succeeds, in so far as it is able to convince the great centres of population of its value. Meeting in them has, therefore, a primary political value, if we may use that term in this connection ; and it has a secondary professional one in that in such great towns a really complete and active application of library work can be seen.

WE offer our readers the best wishes for the gracious season which is immediately in front of us. As each successive year passes we have repeated this wish, and probably have never done so in circumstances more interesting, and perhaps more encouraging, than those in which we write it to‐day. There is, of course, uncertainty as to the way the Government Committee on Libraries will deal with future library policy. Whispers reach us of possible loss of independence or the possible establishment of a new form of central control. It is too soon even to speculate. At all events, we know the old stultifying days of the penny rate have gone; we know the strides that libraries have made since 1919, in spite of financial difficulties, have been greater than those made in the twenty years before; and we believe it will not be long before the library system of England as a whole may, proportionately to its size, compare its work, and the public appreciation with which that work in regarded, with American libraries.

The nonhuman world is under substantial threat from human activities and economies. Rewilding gardens and community action can build relationships of care with the nonhuman, restore habitat, connect people and land, and empower humans to work with and for the nonhuman. Stories about family relationships to land and through land, and creating a wild garden are used to explore place attachment, creating relationships of care through gardening, and purposeful rewilding of a garden; stories about participation in a community service organization examine how collective action can take rewilding ideas out into the larger community. By consciously creating care for the nonhuman and participating in rewilding, we can actively build ecological paths forward for ourselves and our nonhuman neighbors.

This paper seeks to present a cultural approach to co‐branding. The purpose here is to discuss issues concerning the phenomena of brand and branding with particular focus on the mythological narratives that are at stake in a brand.

This paper conducts a case analysis of a co‐branded product. Provides both a managerial and a cultural reading of the co‐brand in question, before proceeding to make a “neo‐Freudian” analysis of the potentially transgressive meanings involved in the co‐branding in question. This is done not so much to produce an authoritative reading of the cultural and commercial sign of the co‐brand as to make a bold leap and provide a daring reading of a seemingly innocent co‐branded product.

Through the case study of the co‐branded product, the vast amount of cultural meanings that goes beyond the sets of brand identities proposed by the brand managers is explored. Discusses the limitations of traditional strategic branding models and suggests a certain degree of humility towards the mysterious and spiritual forces when trying to exploit mythological levels of social meanings and narratives in the branding process.

For brand managers who seek to co‐operate with other brands in the marketplace, this paper offers an argument for the almost limitless potential of symbolic dimensions that are inextricably linked to combining brand universes. By doing so, a more comprehensive understanding of the meaning management for co‐branded products and potentially a more successful outcome of the branding process may be achieved.

In addition to existing research, this paper illustrates that the practice of co‐branding involves a play with symbolic forces that can be unpredictable and difficult to control for a brand manager. This finding has implications for the degree to which one can expect to be able to manage the social communication processes generated from a co‐branded product.

Extending knowledge of the cultural shaping and variegating of white identity that occurs through the commercial diffusion of identity myths, we examine the reception of Southern identity myths promoted in the oppositional narratives of New South commercial media. We characterize oppositional narratives as texts which operate by eliciting an interpretive reading that devalues rather than supports the surface narrative, and explain the duplicitous text as one intended to seduce a dominant power, while empowering and bolstering identity of a marginalized group. After elaborating how oppositional discourse can serve to reinforce the identity frame constructed by regional media producers, we report on a study examining how urban and rural Southerners read and respond to this discourse. Our findings highlight mediators in the relationship between individuals’ oppositional readings and their alignment of identity in a manner responsive to it.

This author reminds us that strategic thinking is a critical part of every manager's job. Because strategy implies competing and outwitting competitors, so it follows that strategic thinking is the process of finding alternative ways of competing and providing customer value.

Describes how to systematically conduct the search for appropriate alternative strategies. Suggests that this “strategic thinking” should be a continuous process rather than only an annual strategic‐planning process. Explains why coming up with the “right” strategy for a company that might increase stakeholder value, make it a stronger competitor, or find a competitive arena it can dominate can be done only through strategic thinking.

Whether a company has one person, a group, or everyone doing strategic thinking, the important things are that it is being done continuously and that the opportunities, alternative strategies, or different business models are periodically shared with other key people in the company. Only then is the company in a position to take appropriate action and only then can it reap the immense benefits of strategic thinking.

A case study of a strategic thinking initiative, its pitfalls, and its affect on corporate results would be valuable.

Shows how managers can stretch company thinking about different and better ways of competing, delivering customer value, and growing, top managers by exploring five approaches: Being successfully different; Emulating entrepreneurs; Finding new opportunities; Being future‐oriented; Being collaborative

Up‐to‐date overview for top managers who want to encourage their direct reports to practice strategic thinking.

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.

Interagency collaboration is an effective strategy for supporting students and families with resources and support to prepare students for life after high school. The Communicating Interagency Relationships and Collaborative Linkages for Exceptional Students (CIRCLES) is the only interagency collaboration model identified as a research-based practice, which means the CIRCLES model has the most and highest quality of evidence for its use among interagency collaboration models. Within this chapter, we overview the CIRCLES model and its history. School districts from multiple states have implemented CIRCLES, and, within this chapter, we overview stakeholder experiences with CIRCLES. When implementing any practice, evaluation and implementation fidelity are critical, so we provide suggestions for both. Finally, we discuss barriers and strategies to effective interagency collaboration, in addition to implications for policy and practice.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

In a world in which “England's green and pleasant land” sets the standard for garden excellence, gardeners in much of the United States will struggle in vain to adapt the British style to their own volatile climates. American regional gardening literature offers a new vision to help gardeners throughout the United States select plants suited to their climates (especially native plants) and use techniques to prevent losses to cold, heat, humidity, or drought. The resulting gardens may not always resemble the traditional English her baceous border, but their beauty and vigor will enhance the often monotonous American suburban landscape.

The study aims to contribute to the debate on how to identify and manage an organization’s sustainability-related resources and processes by understanding the impact of business activities on the environment and evaluating actions to ameliorate their impacts. Within this debate, and specifically taking into consideration the opportunity to support circular economy actions and initiatives, the study focuses on integrated reporting (IR) practices. In detail, this study advocates the joint use of IR principles with the dynamic resource-based view (DRBV) of the firm, adopting their representation of resources and impact of the business activities to identify environmental friendly “hot spots” in organizations. The framework is illustrated through two exploratory case studies.

Purpose – To explore certain aspects of women's experience of their reproductive lives, in different cultural contexts, especially their views on sexuality and sexual practices. It is based on transnational comparative research, and compares the experiences and meanings about motherhood and mother/daughter relationships, especially referring to sexuality and reproductive health. The two contexts we have chosen for this chapter are drawn from our data on Indonesian and Canadian women. While these women come from culturally diverse situations, we find continuities between their experiences as well as contrasts in the contexts in which they live their reproductive lives.

Methodology – Our study was based on collecting participant driven narratives focused on their experience of their reproductive lives. We interviewed women from three generations in the same families to secure a longitudinal perspective and to examine the relationships between generations in the same family. Our overall purpose was to examine the role of local culture in the social reproduction of women's lives in the family.

Findings – The findings we discuss in this chapter focus on the continuities and contrasts we found in women's experience as lived in very different cultural, religious, and political contexts. Indonesian and Canadian women are struggling to live healthy and meaningful lives in a world that is changing ideologically, culturally, politically, and economically. We identify some key problems faced by women, especially as they negotiate the difficult terrain of sexuality, and suggest some points of entry in solving them.

Originality/value – The originality of the article lies in the close examination of in-depth, qualitative data on family relationships, especially in contrasting cultural situations. We also think that our approach, which focuses on generations of women in the same families, provides us with a unique perspective on how relationships and especially women's experience of their reproductive and sexual lives are closely related to the way in which culture is mediated in families.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

Despite widespread interest in the resources and people of Alaska, few libraries outside of the state maintain extensive collections on these subjects. In this article, David A. Hales reviews a multifarious sample of informative materials.