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The purpose of this paper is to examine the politicisation of age discrimination in relation to the enactment of anti-discrimination legislation in Finland and Sweden in the early-2000s. By showing how politicians constructed the meaning of age discrimination, it seeks to highlight the drivers of country variation in terms of the implementation of directives from the European Union (EU).

The paper uses a comparative design based on content analyses of parliamentary documents. Theoretically, it uses discursive institutionalism as a starting point but it also builds on previous research/theories on age discrimination.

The findings show that although age was seen as a ground for discrimination in both countries, there was surprisingly little debate about discrimination as societal problem. There was however considerable differences between the countries suggesting that age discrimination was a much more heated subject in Sweden.

Although the analysis focuses on a small part of the policy-making process it highlights drivers (such as political culture) that may cause variation in the ways age discrimination is politicised, even within similar welfare state regimes. It also suggests that more research is needed to fully understand such drivers.

The paper presents examples that can help analysts and the public to deconstruct institutionalised practices of age discrimination and thereby to understand how age discrimination practices may prevail in society.

By analysing the ways in which age discrimination was constructed as a problem within national policy-making frameworks, the paper presents valuable insights as to the sources of country variation in relation to the implementation of EU directives.

If EDI is to succeed to a similar degree as paper‐based systems then international harmonisation and standardisation must be achieved across all functional groups (banking, transport, insurance, customs) and industry sectors on message standard and structures. UN/EDIFACT is now the dominant body producing generic EDI messages for use in international trade. All functional areas have Message Development Groups but the main areas of success to date lie in deep sea transport, forwarding and customs functions. Message development needs to proceed rapidly in all functions before integrated EDI systems can be offered. In recognition of this, UN procedures are now in place to harmonise such message formats across all trade regions (ITIGG/IHG), industry sectors (MIST/IHG) and transport modes (MIST/ITIGG). The negotiability of the electronic Bill of Lading is also an issue which will be tested across industry sectors by Bolero Operations Ltd launch programme early in 1999.

The purpose of this paper is to show that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) elders suffer from particular discrimination when compared to that suffered by elders in general and heterosexual elders in particular, and to argue for specific consideration for those who suffer from discrimination based upon a combination of their age and sexual orientation or gender identity.

The paper is the result of a desk study of US and UK material plus some interviews in the USA with LGBT organisations.

It is found that LGBT elders do suffer from particular discrimination when compared to that suffered by elders in general and heterosexual elders in particular.

This research needs to be placed in a wider context of dealing with discrimination on intersectional grounds and is an example of how such an approach is needed.

This paper is a contribution to the debate around the newly published Equality Bill in the UK.

The paper contains no new empirical data, but existing material is brought together and is subject to analysis.

Explores the business implications for electronic data interchange (EDI) in logistics using techniques highlighted by the Cranfield School of Management′s enterprise model. Develops two fundamental views of a business: a structured view of information and a structured view of logistics operations. Seeks to bring these together for structure and document thoughts about the potential for information exchange and sharing between business partners. Provides a checklist for implementing EDI planning.

States that there is continuing difficulty in achieving success with information systems, particularly in the sense of meeting users’ expectations and offers a fresh examination of those attributes of information systems by which users perceive success and failure, and through which they establish their expectations. Reviews existing research literature and suggests that, in addition to the process and product viewpoint, an important factor in achieving success is the service management perspective. Applies repertory grid techniques to uncover a total of 43 constructs which relate to users’ perceptions of success with information systems in business. Reduces these to 21 attributes which provide the basis of a new assessment and measurement framework, incorporating and augmenting the attributes found in previous work in this area. Illustrates the practical use of these attributes using two case studies: an information service provider and a hospital equipment supplier.

The aim of this paper is to develop an understanding of the adoption and use of EDI in the Portuguese clothing and textile industry. The inherent argument is that although such inter‐organizational systems in small and medium‐sized enterprises facilitate competitiveness through collaboration, the successful deployment of such systems is not solely a function of transaction costs and the resource base of an organization, as has been argued in the literature. In fact the values and attitudes of senior management play a critical role in the adoption of inter‐organizational systems. Various issues are analyzed by critically reviewing the literature, which has traditionally focused either on reducing transaction costs or managing the resource base. The argument of this paper is conducted by evaluating managers’ beliefs and attitudes towards the use of EDI within the Portuguese clothing and textile industry.

Web services promise the ability to reduce the time and cost involved in developing, supporting and integrating the internal information systems within a single organization. They also promise the ability to quickly and effectively integrate information systems with those of customers, suppliers and other business partners, and use these integrated systems as a basis for developing shared business processes. This paper discusses the potential role of third party organizations in facilitation of inter‐organizational Web service adoption and use. An empirical case study of such a third party, E2open is presented. The challenges and future potential for such third parties is considered in light of the evolution of inter‐organizational systems in general and from the ASP and electronic marketplaces sectors, in particular. Since the adoption of Web services is a new phenomenon, the role of third parties in that adoption is highly emergent. This study is therefore exploratory in nature and should be considered as providing a basis for further research in this area.