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THE article which we publish from the pen of Mr. L. Stanley Jast is the first of many which we hope will come from his pen, now that he has release from regular library duties. Anything that Mr. Jast has to say is said with originality even if the subject is not original; his quality has always been to give an independent and novel twist to almost everything he touches. We think our readers will find this to be so when he touches the important question of “The Library and Leisure.”

The linkage between diversification and performance has puzzled scholars for decades. A vast amount of empirical studies, together with the help of meta-analyses condensing diverse results, established a widely shared understanding that related diversification leads to superior firm performance. The main rationale for this finding is that relatedness within a company’s portfolio of businesses allows the company to achieve synergies by sharing or transferring resources. Although the predominant importance of related diversification seems generally accepted, scholars raise severe concerns about our ability to precisely define and measure relatedness. In most studies, traditional measures of diversification such as the Berry index are used, which assess relatedness from a product/market perspective. However, these measures face strong criticisms for their low degree of content validity. So if we doubt our understanding of relatedness, how can we agree on the performance effect of related diversification? To reassure our understanding of the diversification-performance linkage, this study critically reflects upon the underlying phenomenon of relatedness. By compiling and evaluating the different perspectives of relatedness with their heterogeneous conceptualizations and measures, this study supports the view that the multi-facetted nature of relatedness can only be captured inadequately so far. Moreover, most prior work mainly focuses on synergy potential rather than on the realization of synergies, thereby neglecting a mechanism that may have an important bearing on the performance effects of diversification.

Sustainable development in support of cultural heritage has become one of the major issues on UNESCO’s agenda. As policy documents are issued, heritage environmental sustainability, local stakeholders’ development and participation and heritage in cases of interregional conflict are the situations they analyze. As such, policy documents will be employed as guidelines for past and future UNESCO World Heritage site registrations. They have been used for the present study of sustainable development within mostly Thai cultural heritage context, with a few cases relating to Cambodia due the lack of research on this topic in the region. Employing qualitative method analysis, most of the heritage sites studied here suffer from a lack of protection against encroachment, natural elements and, more rarely, overuse. Furthermore, the implementation of heritage management plans sees local stakeholders excluded from any participation in the heritage they live in, which may cause conflicts in Southeast Asia.

Uses the Business Development Consultancy as a case study to demonstrate how a training and development function responded to the working for patient reforms in the NHS. Offers an example of how change can be managed effectively when moving from a bureaucratic to enterprise culture. Emphasizes dealing with the human side (including the casualties of the change) and obtaining ownership of the change and focuses on how the mind set needs to shift. Highlights that change is more than implementation of a new organizational structure or set of rules. Reinforces that change is continuous and requires continual monitoring and review. Ends by stating that change from bureaucracy to enterprise may be difficult but can be achieved successfully.

Moving beyond the question of whether large corporations are truly addressing sustainability, some scholars have explored the degree to which CSR activities are purely symbolic or substantive in nature. Most of the studies have focused on external stakeholder pressures. The aim of this chapter is to extend this line of inquiry by theorizing that the dynamics among internal stakeholders also shapes CSR conduct.

This theoretical contribution borrows from research on socially responsible indices, behavioral corporate governance theory in CSR and from recent research that has leveraged attribution theory to better understand reactions to corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR).

Our chapter proposes that firms adhering to substantive CSR practice are less likely to be punished by external stakeholders than otherwise. From an internal stakeholder viewpoint, it suggests there is a positive relationship between the number of board ties to reputable universities/nonprofit organizations and substantive CSR practices; and a negative relationship between managerial discretion and substantive CSR practices.

This chapter can have social applicability as it deals with stakeholders’ role in pressuring the modern organization to engage in substantive CSR.

As aforementioned, most studies explore the relationship between CSR compliance and external stakeholder pressures. In contrast, the relationship between internal stakeholder dynamics and CSR compliances is still not well understood. Hence, the incorporating of these dynamics provides theoretical insights for the CSR, sustainability, and corporate governance arenas.

For most people, especially those with fixed incomes, household budgets have to be balanced and sometimes the balance is precarious. With price rises of foods, there is a switch to a cheaper substitute within the group, or if it is a food for which there is no real substitute, reduced purchases follow. The annual and quarterly reviews of the National Food Survey over the years have shown this to be so; with carcase meat, where one meat is highly priced, housewives switch to a cheaper joint, and this is mainly the reason for the great increase in consumption of poultry; when recently the price of butter rose sharply, there was a switch to margarine. NFS statistics did not show any lessening of consumer preference for butter, but in most households, with budgets on a tight string, margarine had to be used for many purposes for which butter had previously been used. With those foods which have no substitute, and bread (also milk) is a classic example, to keep the sum spent on the food each week about the same, the amount purchased is correspondingly reduced. Again, NFS statistics show this to be the case, a practice which has been responsible for the small annual reductions in the amount of bread consumed per person per week over the last fifteen years or so; very small, a matter of an ounce or two, but adequate to maintain the balance of price/quantity since price rises have been relatively small, if fairly frequent. This artifice to absorb small price rises will not work, however, when price rises follow on one another rapidly and together are large. Bread is a case in point.

Reports exploratory research which examines the relationship between the extent to which executives have a positive attitude towards a foreign culture and the level of competence they have achieved in that language. Suggests that this was a weak correlation but a much stronger one existed between these two factors within the Spanish market. Cites that cultural liking may be a positive factor in foreign language acquisition but only in some circumstances or cultures and ecnourages further research in this area.

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for merging the strategic management process, the managerial decision‐making process and the six‐sigma process into a single, unified decision model.

The methodology involves each of the three decision‐making processes, noting their similarities and differences, and arguing from the similarities that a single unified model will result in superior decisions.

The findings were that a single, unified model is possible and the resulting model is presented in the paper.

Since this research results in a conceptual model only, it remains to be tested in actual practice. This testing is intended for a later paper.

If the testing of the model in practice results in superior decisions, the practical implications of the paper would be use of the Friday‐Stroud/Sutterfield model in practice for better management decisions.

The paper presents an original model, which results from merging the three‐decision‐making process.