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Economic rationalism is a major driver of the education system in many parts of the world. In the scramble to facilitate economic rationalism, the education needs required at national level to keep nations, like Australia, competitive into the twenty‐first century have not been fully considered. Such countries have ignored the needs of education for the first‐tier requirements of global organisations. First‐tier decision making is that aspect of centralized decision making activities, usually in highly developed countries, undertaken by those who can direct and control organizations, confining the rest of the world to lower levels of activity and income. Income, status, authority and consumption patterns radiate out from this tier along a declining curve. Neglecting the needs of the first tier has relegated education users to a follower, second‐ or third‐tier position. This paper considers this three‐tier system and how it relates to the Australian context that aspires to a first‐tier position.

Machiavellian principles are deemed to be applicable to our modern enterprises and have been said to offer critical advice to, and decisive discourse on, management thought and education. The paper revisits Machiavelli’s original arguments and examines these in the light of modern management theory. In particular, the paper scrutinizes the theory for relevance to today’s enterprise given that it was conceived in an era of competitive fragmentation of the Renaissance. The authors comment on a number of topics on which Machiavelli has offered advice, including takeovers of principalities, change, alliances, governance, and leadership principles for applicability to business. The paper concludes that the best way to manage complex business organizations is not through corrupting best management practice with the ideology of Machiavelli but to foster visionary well communicated business principles and practices.

Purpose – To outline the role of the group supervision model in postgraduate training, especially its advantages in respect of research involving industry sponsors. Design/methodology/approach – The paper considers the various categories of supervision and the pivotal role played by the supervisor. It analyses indicators of supervisor effectiveness in four major categories including supervisory style, the supervisor competence and supervisor characteristics and attitudes. Finally, it discusses how universities have worked on student attitudinal and skill problems through the provision of postgraduate training courses and changes to the supervisory system. A number of group supervisory practice models are described and the role and function of a supervisor are considered. Findings – The quality of postgraduate study is not purely a question of supervision methodology and motivation but hinges also, but not exclusively, on institutional admission procedures and policies, faculty/school administration policies as well as assistance and infra structure that is provided by faculty/school to supervisors and students, including financial assistance, access to child care, pastoral care, computing, library, office space, phone access, access to secretarial support, provision of research seminars and presentations, funding for library searches, conferences, travel, fieldwork, photocopying, and opportunities for casual work within the school. Research limitations/implications – The paper acknowledges that current supervision of postgraduate research students is deficient in many cases, but cannot provide, for ethical reasons, examples of bad practice. It does acknowledge that problems exist manifesting themselves in inadequate supervision, emotional and psychological problems in the student body, communication problems between supervisors and supervisees, knowledge deficiencies in the student body with the ultimate effect of late completions and low retention rates. Practical implications – The paper shows that universities must work towards improved linkages to ensure that they can take advantage of partnership opportunities. Originality/value – The paper has identified approaches to panel supervision and outlines the role of the industry partnership model. It is helpful to both students and supervisors trying should to determine under what research arrangement they conduct their research.

Two pillars of Western culture are the free market doctrine and democracy. The ability of these pillars to generate behavior that converges to a global ethical system is investigated. The market mechanism is no longer as described by Adam Smith, it is oligopolistic. Strategic architecture is outside the resources of many firms, a value free morality prevails, and government intervenes in the market. People believe that they are better off than in the past. However, the gap between the “haves” and “have‐nots” is widening. Market doctrine does not conform to ethical principles. Market freedom requires choice; it benefits corporations giving rise to three diverging classes in society. This type of imperialism potentially contains the seeds of its own destruction.

Depending on the adopted principles of their domestic energy policy, individual countries responded in different ways to the information coming in from Japan. The majority of European countries having atomic power stations recommended inspection of the installations, particularly of those of older types. Discussion concerning the safety of nuclear installations also flared up. Opponents of the atomic power industry and environmentalists, asexpected, pointed to a need to lean energy production toward so-called renewable energy sources. This chapter explores public debate on the planned construction of nuclear power station in Poland in the aftermath of the Chernobyl and Japanese nuclear reactor explosions.