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Business leaders, in increasing numbers, are looking to the creative power of the arts in their efforts to manage strategic change, to enhance innovation, or to strengthen corporate cultures. In this case study, we focus attention on what is widely regarded as one of the world's most extensive corporate arts‐based learning initiatives, the Catalyst program at Unilever.

In a wide‐ranging interview with James Hill, now a group vice‐president and Catalyst's leading executive sponsor, this paper explores the origins, operations, and outcomes of this innovative program.

Finds that Catalyst came about as a result of savvy leadership and a corporate willingness to take risks in developing an “enterprise culture;” it now flourishes in three divisions due to ownership at multiple levels of the organization as well as its ability to stimulate new product development, attract and retain creative people, and boost the company's marketing efforts; and it persists because its starting points are always actual business problems, the solutions to which improve financial performance and shareholder returns.

To management scholars, this case provides an additional data point in the ongoing study of strategy implementation and organizational change. To corporate executives seeking fresh ideas, the Unilever/Catalyst story offers a novel and intuitively appealing approach to the vexing challenges of leading strategic change, told from the perspective of an experienced executive.

This article aims to depict the pivotal role Octavia Hill, Jane Addams and Mary Parker Follett played in the field of social entrepreneurship. The article aims to examine the contributions made by these remarkable women who made valuable theoretical and practical contributions to the emerging field of social entrepreneurship.

Synthesizing articles from history journals, writings about the figures of interest, published works by the figures themselves and other resources, this paper illustrates how Hill, Addams and Follett made valuable contributions to social entrepreneurship and questioned the rectitude of unadulterated capitalism.

This paper concludes that Hill, Addams and Follett refuted the viewpoint that self-interest and single-minded self-survival were the best ways to live and to conduct business. By their actions, the women showed that they did indeed bring “capitalism in question”, by recognizing the importance of seeking others’ interests.

This article highlights the contributions made by Hill, Addams and Follett, who made valuable contributions in the field of social entrepreneurship which is made evident by their work with housing settlements, community center development, etc.

Existing supply chain literature provides examples of countermeasures that firms can adopt to mitigate abnormal or catastrophic supply chain disruptions. However, none address reducing interactive complexity prior to adopting countermeasures to mitigate everyday or normal supply chain disruptions. Most mitigation strategies focus on adding capabilities or resources to protect an organization. Here, the authors aim to consider an alternative strategy of examining current processes to determine whether processes can be simplified by using the normal accident theory and its constructs of interactive complexity and coupling as a theoretical basis.

The authors develop a model based on the normal accident theory and use logistic regression to test their propositions in the context of a steel processing plant and its customers.

The findings show the importance of reducing interactive complexity to mitigate supply chain disruptions. However, high inventory is not considered a significant countermeasure, and high inventory levels may increase the likelihood of causing a disruption downstream. These findings support the lean management approach of operating under low inventory levels while eliminating complexity to make problems more visible, causing fewer disruptions.

While others have examined the impact of mitigation strategies conceptually, no study has captured information from actual supply chain disruptions to assess how interactive complexity and inventory levels affect disruption potential at downstream customers' facilities. Capturing information from supply chain disruptions enables managers to assess the situation as the disruption is occurring. The authors suggest a strategy in which countermeasures that increase slack in the system should be considered only after the system is sufficiently simplified to mitigate disruptions.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the role of information sharing as a deterrent to unethical behavior in a buyer‐supplier relationship. The authors investigate the broader supplier network, examining information sharing as it occurs through both the buyer‐supplier structure as well as supplier‐supplier structures. The authors propose that buyer‐supplier and supplier‐supplier information sharing serve to reduce perceived buying firm unethical behavior while at the same time fostering increased commitment and satisfaction in long‐term buyer‐supplier relationships.

The relational model presented is grounded in the theory of social contract. The authors' hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling with survey data collected from supplier firms from a wide range of industries and that have been involved long‐term (minimum of five years) in the provision of goods and/or services with their buying firm.

The authors demonstrate that perceived buying firm unethical behavior goes beyond the nature of the dyadic buyer‐supplier relationship; the supplier's entire structure of contacts facilitates the flow of information regarding a buying firm.

This research contributes to the operations and supply chain management literatures by adopting a more comprehensive view of the networks involved in relationship management efforts than what has typically been evaluated in these literatures.

Discusses the hot topic of anti‐brand activity, in particular the dangers of treating children as mini‐adults in marketing, and the issue of anti‐fast food campaigns; the article is based on a speech of Malcolm Earnshaw, Director General of the ISBA. Summarises some current press coverage which is critical of the advertising industry given the growing problem of child obesity, and the resulting adverse impact of this hostile coverage on companies like McDonalds; the campaigns link up with the anti‐globalisation movement. Urges corporations to consider fully the social as well as the financial effects of their activities.

There's been a flurry of CEO dismissals in recent times. What can top managers do to predict and prevent the failures that lead to such ousters? Greater emphasis on strategic decision making may be the answer.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

In 2015, Idris Elba declared ‘I’m probably the most famous Bond actor in the world … and I’ve not even played the role’. Speculation about Elba taking on the role of the world’s most famous spy has circulated for over a decade, fuelled by current Bond Daniel Craig’s assertion that the role has ruined his life. This chapter will examine the role of fans in driving hype about the future of Bond, focusing on the case study of alt-right outrage at the potential casting of Elba. The anti-Elba camp have framed their outrage as informed by authorial intent, and the desire to maintain canon, with claims that Ian Fleming’s Bond was, and should always be white and Scottish. Bond’s expansive narrative universe has remained constant since its inception, enabling fans of the series to form an emotional connection and sense of ownership over the text as a cohesive brand, a form of ‘affective economics’ (Hills, 2015; Jenkins, 2006a). By situating the debate over Elba’s suitability within the timeline of the Bond franchise, the author will posit that the rigid casting and structure of the film series to date enables feelings of fan ownership to flourish. Whilst the influence of vocal fan groups has altered the future direction of numerous popular texts, this chapter will suggest that the sameness of Bond-as-brand provides the justification for fan backlash towards potential change. In sum, this chapter will highlight the Elba-as-Bond rumours as a reflection of the contemporary political moment which seeks to flatten out difference under the auspice of protecting the canon and tradition of ‘brand Bond’.

For well over forty years, academics have debated the effectiveness of the standardization/adaptation of international advertising, with practitioners beginning four decades earlier. As the debate has progressed, a critical distinction in the literature has developed related to this issue, that of process and program standardization. In this study, we examine the association of process and program standardization, inclusive of consumer market and environmental similarity, within a sample of U.S. multinationals operating in India. Results indicate a positive association between process and program advertising standardization of U.S. multinationals operating in India. Implications for academics and practitioners are presented.

In its passage through the Grand Committee the Food Bill is being amended in a number of important particulars, and it is in the highest degree satisfactory that so much interest has been taken in the measure by members on both sides of the House as to lead to full and free discussion. Sir Charles Cameron, Mr. Kearley, Mr. Strachey, and other members have rendered excellent service by the introduction of various amendments; and Sir Charles Cameron is especially to be congratulated upon the success which has attended his efforts to induce the Committee to accept a number of alterations the wisdom of which cannot be doubted. The provision whereby local authorities will be compelled to appoint Public Analysts, and compelled to put the Acts in force in a proper manner, and the requirement that analysts shall furnish proofs of competence of a satisfactory character to the Local Government Board, will, it cannot be doubted, be productive of good results. The fact that the Local Government Board is to be given joint authority with the Board of Agriculture in insuring that the Acts are enforced is also an amendment of considerable importance, while other amendments upon what may perhaps be regarded as secondary points unquestionably trend in the right direction. It is, however, a matter for regret that the Government have not seen their way to introduce a decisive provision with regard to the use of preservatives, or to accept an effective amendment on this point. Under existing circumstances it should be plain that the right course to follow in regard to preservatives is to insist on full and adequate disclosure of their presence and of the amounts in which they are present. It is also a matter for regret that the Government have declined to give effect to the recommendation of the Food Products Committee as to the formation of an independent and representative Court of Reference. It is true that the Board of Agriculture are to make regulations in reference to standards, after consultation with experts or such inquiry as they think fit, and that such inquiries as the Board may make will be in the nature of consultations of some kind with a committee to be appointed by the Board. There is little doubt, however, that such a committee would probably be controlled by the Somerset House Department; and as we have already pointed out, however conscientious the personnel of this Department may be—and its conscientiousness cannot be doubted—it is not desirable in the public interest that any single purely analytical institution should exercise a controlling influence in the administration of the Acts. What is required is a Court of Reference which shall be so constituted as to command the confidence of the traders who are affected by the law as well as of all those who are concerned in its application. Further comment upon the proposed legislation must be reserved until the amended Bill is laid before the House.