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Management Decision was originally founded to publish the latest developments in all areas of management science and practice, for the benefit of serious professional managers and students of management. Even in my introduction to the first issue in Spring 1967, however, I noted and warned against a potentially dangerous tendency for managers—and especially contributors to and readers of Management Decision—to confuse the ends of management with the means of management. I felt then that there was some danger that professional managers could become so beguiled with some of the fascinating new techniques of management that they would lose sight of the basic results that these techniques are supposed to achieve—namely, improved profitability for their companies as expressed in such down‐to‐earth ratios and measures as return on capital employed, and (in the case of public companies) earnings per share and the market value of their companies' shares.

This first issue of Management Decision introduces a new contribution to the literature of management. The editorial policy of this quarterly will be to publish articles on management subjects that will be of interest and value to the growing class of managers in this country who consider themselves to be true professionals—i.e., who have deliberately chosen the field of management as a challenging career, and who take it seriously enough to master the techniques and skills that are as essential to success in management as they are in any other profession. It may therefore be timely, in this first issue, to comment briefly on the present state of the management profession in the U.K., and the literature currently available to it.

“…More important is the quality of planning that goes into ensuring their success. This planning always takes more time and effort than most managements realize, but it is skimped at great peril. It is part of the total price of every worthwhile merger, and—as has been shrewdly observed—this price is always lowest if paid in advance.”

Evolving production technologies are altering the cost structures on which many supporting inventory ordering systems are based; for example, fixed costs compared with variable costs are increasing significantly. Unfortunately, many inventory ordering formulations consider only the variable portions of inventory ordering costs and inventory holding costs. To address this deficiency, departs from traditional categorizations and offers an inventory classification schema based on the functional roles served by the inventory items. Functional roles of inventory include transition, buffer, investment, maintenance, supplies and dead stock. Extending the schema, assesses the implications each functional role has for inventory cost containment, emphasizing the impact of evolving production technologies on inventory ordering policies and their relevance to functional roles.

Explores, within the framework of international research, product, distribution and price. Investigates the behaviour of large US firms with a view to identifying and difference in growth rates to their counterparts. Examines the relationship between fast growth of the corporate entity as a whole and its international marketing orientation.

Management consultant and author, Barry Maude, looks at some of the ways individual companies have set about improving management communication. As one chief executive comments: “Providing the heads of key functions work together as a team, the company to a large extent manages itself.”