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This is an initial attempt to classify natural roofing slate quality using the new European Standard BS EN 12326 and suggest how such classification may be employed to predict in‐service performance and identify potentially problematic materials.

A wide range of natural roofing slates has been subjected to the new standard testing regime and additional tests carried out. Experience of known in‐service performance and previous test results have also been taken into consideration.

An initial classification of natural roofing slate quality has been proposed with the flexural strength, water absorption, potential for oxidation and carbonate content considered to be the key components.

There is considerable scope for refinement of the proposed classification by investigating the performance of the wide range of other natural roofing slates available and taking the results into consideration. Predicted in‐service performance is based on practical experience and can be considered only a general guide.

By classifying natural roofing slate quality users will be able to make better informed purchasing decisions based on cost versus quality. Slate producers, especially those with higher quality slates, will also be able to market their materials accordingly with less chance of losing out to lower quality, potentially problematic materials that still conform to the new standard.

The concept of a quality classification for natural roofing slate is not new, but this has been omitted during the creation of the new standard. The proposed classification is broader and probably better defined than those in existence elsewhere or previously used within the European Union member states.

Describes a number of ways in which fluorescent dyes have been used to investigate different construction problems, highlighting in particular the areas of stone cladding cracking, moisture prevention in cavity walls and microscopical and reconstructed stone testing. Concludes that good observation, coupled with careful consideration of the problems in hand, is essential to ensure that the appropriate methods are used and the right conclusions drawn.

We also hope to develop “action learning sets” for managers with high potential, drawn from different Divisions and functions within the Group. We envisage this as a “Winning Managers Programme”, in which small groups of managers will meet together under the guidance of a skilled consultant, several times a year to assist each other in developing their competence and improving their strategic performance.

This study investigates the antecedents and outcomes of cognitive trust during the expansion phase in buyer–supplier relationships. It takes a global approach and examines cultural nuances between developed nation and emerging market firms by including participants from the United States, China, and Brazil. The results demonstrate the importance of trust in building social capital and the central role which trust plays in shaping business relationships in all studied cultural contexts. There are similarities and differences across countries. Results support relationship marketing theory by demonstrating the importance of conflict resolution, communication frequency, and social bond in building buyer–supplier relationships in the United States, which in turn increase cooperation between partners. Results also indicate that in China, social bond plays a much greater role in building trust, which in turn increases cooperation only to the extent that it serves as a mechanism to secure committed relationships. In Brazil, results show that conflict resolution is the most important factor in building trust. It also mediates the relationship between communication frequency and trust, as well as drives cooperation positively. Overall, trust is found to influence exchange of confidential communication and increases commitment between partners in all three countries.

This paper reports the results of two studies that examined the impact of framing negotiations in affective terms. Pursuant to the recommendations made by Clyman and Tripp (2000) for reducing risks associated with discrepant values, the objective of the first study was to determine the optimal way of representing potential outcomes in affective terms in a negotiation payoff table. Results demonstrated the superiority of happy and unhappy face icons over other representations; it also revealed a slight advantage to varying the quantity of icons, rather than size, to reflect differences in the relative values of these outcomes. In the second study, the focus was on determining to what extent, if any, framing negotiations in affective terms would differentially affect negotiators' thoughts and feelings prior to engaging in a two‐party negotiation. Results indicated that when negotiations are affectively framed, negotiators report higher levels of negotiation involvement and positive emotion and lower levels of trust, as well as a decreased likelihood of employing cooperative negotiation tactics. The implications of the findings for future research are discussed.

This paper aims to explore the effects of institutional environments across developed and emerging markets on buyer–supplier cooperation. It empirically examines a Business-to-Business relational exchange model of trust-building, commitment and cooperative behaviors within firms in the USA and countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC).

A conceptual model and accompanying research hypotheses are tested on a sample of buyers from the USA (n = 169), Brazil (n = 110), China (n = 100), Russia (n = 100) and India (n = 100). Structural equation modeling is used to test the relationships in the model.

Findings suggest that approaches to achieve successful cooperation vary across countries and depend on the interaction between formal and informal institutions present in each country. Results show that buyers from India and China place relatively greater emphasis on conflict resolution and commitment, whereas buyers from Brazil and Russia rely more on trust in their efforts to create cooperative relationships. For US buyers, formality and quality of communication and functional benefits are key factors in fostering trust, commitment and cooperation.

A conceptual framework is advanced that extends traditional westernized and China-only perspectives of relational exchanges to a more universal context. Results suggest that suppliers understand how their buyers’ country-level institutional environment shapes their partnership legitimacy and relational motivations at the transaction level.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine buyer–supplier relational exchanges through the lenses of transaction cost, social exchange and institutional theories using the USA and BRIC nations as proxies for examination of institutional effects.

The present study extends recently‐acquired knowledge about the affective aspects of negotiations by examining the effects of defining negotiation outcomes in affective terms rather than numeric terms. Using a 2 x 2 experimental design, the researchers represented the negotiation outcomes in four different ways: happy faces, unhappy faces, positive numbers, and negative numbers. The results indicate that representing outcomes in affective terms leads to longer negotiation times and higher impasse rates. In addition, participants whose outcomes were represented as happy faces reported the highest levels of emotional involvement, the lowest levels of cooperation and trust, and most frequently experienced negative emotions. Emotional involvement and negative emotions also helped explain differences in negotiation time and individual outcomes over and above the effects of the experimental manipulations. The implications of these results for negotiation research are discussed.