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This chapter investigates how we have come to know what we know, in the United States, about the terms “ability” and “disability” through the story of Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy. What is the narrative of Helen Keller as told through children’s literature? How might the ways in which her life is presented contribute to stereotypes of what it means to be disabled? What, if any, are the ways in which authors of these books resist writing about her as someone who “overcame” her disabilities? How is Helen Keller’s relationship with her teacher, Anne Sullivan, portrayed and what might this representation contribute to the concepts of dependence and interdependence?

This project provides a sociological analysis of common themes through a content analysis of 20 children’s books on Helen Keller.

The theme of the widely circulating “story of the water pump moment” (when Keller realizes that hand movements signify language) depicts a one-sided relationship of Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy. This informs the narrative representations of Anne Sullivan Macy as “miracle worker” and Helen Keller as “miracle child.” Another theme is the “complexities of resistance,” which shows how these narratives uphold the stereotype that Helen Keller needed to “overcome” her disabilities while also resisting this notion and showing how she also helped Anne Sullivan Macy.

This demonstrates how widely circulating stories such as those about Helen Keller shape what we know about what it means to be abled or disabled, challenges simplistic binary understandings of the disability experience, and points to the power of narratives to shape systems of beliefs.

Within accounts of and frameworks for organisational leadership, especially in the public sector, there is continuing enthusiasm for the distinction between transformational and transactional models, where the latter is typically compared unfavourably with the former. This paper reports on a review of the literature on organisation transition (that is mergers and acquisitions), which found this distinction helpful in ordering the material considered. Unexpectedly, the review found that more of the advice contained within the papers examined focused on interventions that could be broadly categorised as transactional rather than transformational. This seems an important finding in a context where the distinction continues to have salience and when transformational characteristics are often seen as being essential to leadership and transactional attributes are perceived as merely being suggestive of management.

In today's uncertain and turbulent markets, supply chain vulnerability has become an issue of significance for many companies. As supply chains become more complex as a result of global sourcing and the continued trend to “leaning‐down”, supply chain risk increases. The challenge to business today is to manage and mitigate that risk through creating more resilient supply chains.

The fashion industry has been beset by the problems of volatile and difficult to predict demand. Many companies involved in manufacturing and retailing in fashion markets have seen the profitability severely affected by their inability to match supply with demand. Traditionally, it was assumed that the problem lay with inaccurate forecasts and that if only those forecasts could be improved then everything would be fine. In fact, experience seems to suggest that even though forecasting techniques and methodology have continued to develop in their sophistication, they can never deliver the accuracy required for managing logistics in fast moving markets. The answer, we would suggest, lies not in better forecasts but in reducing the dependency on the forecast. The way to bringing this about, it can be argued, is through lead‐time management.

Under the leadership of Gorbachev and his instigation of the concepts of perestroika and glasnost, the USSR has had to admit to its economic problems and difficulties which are reflected in the extremely poor standard of living of the majority of its people. The problems have been exacerbated in the past by rigid ideology and theory which ignored the reality and led to the development of a vigorous illegal market. However, since the “revolutions” of 1989 many political changes have occurred, which in turn have precipitated greater communication between the states of Eastern Europe and those of the West. Some specific areas where there have been moves towards co‐operation between East and West are highlighted and examples given of organisations, which are achieving varying measures of success in expanding trade into Eastern Europe. The future prospects are analysed, particularly with reference to the debt problem, but overall the prevalent view is one of optimism and shared opportunities.

The emergence of the network organization is a phenomenon that has given rise to much comment and analysis. These virtual organizations are characterized by a confederation of specialist skills or capabilities provided by the network members. It is argued that in turbulent environments such collaborative arrangements can provide a more effective means of satisfying customer needs at a profit than the single firm undertaking multiple value‐creating activities. The implications of the network organization for relationship management are considerable. In particular, the challenges to logistics management are profound. The analysis of relationships is clearly linked to competitive strategy in a network context, yet the exploration of the interface between relationships, strategy and supply chain management is far from complete. Therefore, this paper seeks to conceptualize the relationship strategy interface in supply chain contexts. A framework is proposed and its basic principles illustrated through an analysis of the development of relationship strategies between leading market players in the UK brewing industry.

This paper aims to report on findings of a cross‐sector empirical study of the sources and drivers of supply chain vulnerability.

The research was undertaken in accordance with the realist tradition. It begins with a descriptive exploratory stage involving an in‐depth exploratory case study of aerospace industry supply chains, validated through in‐depth interviews with managers representing other “critical sectors” of the UK economy. This is followed by an explanatory theoretical stage. The work is supported throughout with reference to relevant literature sources.

The findings highlight the absence of any widespread understanding of the scope of and dynamic nature of the problem, which should be considered from multiple perspectives and at four levels of analysis: value stream/product or process; asset and infrastructure dependencies; organisations and inter‐organisational networks; and social and natural environment.

The paper is normative rather than positive, so focuses on understanding why supply chains are vulnerable to disruption, rather than presenting itself as a prescription for management. The paper does not investigate academic definitions or existing taxonomies of risk.

The work provides some useful insights for practising managers and policy makers.

The paper reports on empirical research, then draws as appropriate on network theory and complex systems perspectives to produce a conceptual model of a supply chain as in interactive adaptive system.

Fashion markets are synonymous with rapid change and, as a result, commercial success or failure is largely determined by the organisation's flexibility and responsiveness. Responsiveness is characterised by short time‐to‐market, the ability to scale up (or down) quickly and the rapid incorporation of consumer preferences into the design process. In this paper it is argued that conventional organisational structures and forecast‐driven supply chains are not adequate to meet the challenges of volatile and turbulent demand which typify fashion markets. Instead, the requirement is for the creation of an agile organisation embedded within an agile supply chain.

The purpose of this paper is to address the increasingly important question of supply chain design for global operations. With the rise of off‐shore sourcing and the simultaneous need for improved responsiveness to customer demand, the choice of supply chain strategy is critical.

The paper draws its conclusions from case‐based research supported by survey data.

The paper provides evidence that the choice of supply chain strategy should be based upon a careful analysis of the demand/supply characteristics of the various product/markets served by a company. It presents the basis for a taxonomy of appropriate supply chain strategies.

The case studies and empirical research reported in this paper are specific to the clothing manufacturing and fashion industries and there would be benefit in extending the research into other sectors.

Given the increasing trend to out‐sourcing and off‐shore sourcing, the choice of supply chain strategy is of some significance and clearly impacts competitive performance.

Whilst there is a growing recognition of the need to match the supply chain to the market, there is still limited research into what criteria should be utilised to aid the choice of supply chain strategy. This paper attempts to extend our understanding of the issues.