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The necessity to assess television programming as programming (rather than merely as a vehicle to deliver advertising audiences) is discussed against the background of commercial television's rapidly changing technology, a principal effect of which has been to fragment formerly “mass” audiences. Traditional ratings data (because they lack adequate quantitative detail, contain no qualitative information, and measure programs only after they are aired) are becoming an insufficient basis for making either programming or advertising decisions. As audiences become increasingly segmented, the necessity to understand them (exactly who they are and why they watch particular programs) becomes apparent‐whether for purposes of developing programs, scheduling them, or ascertaining whether they constitute an efficient vehicle within which to place advertising messages. Audience understanding can come only from a considerably expanded base of systematic research.

Analyses successful international ads for alcoholic drinks, cigarettes and corporate identity to determine the core meanings for each product. Argues that these meanings constitute “cultural definitions” of the products, and that they represent a significant aspect of marketing information. Concludes that the meaning exemplars discerned in each category define parameters for advertising appeals, but still leave a lot of decision latitude about how to target within the market.

EVEN the most retarded observer is aware that computers “have arrived” in advertising. It is a rare conversation currently that is not peppered with acronyms representing one or another computerized scheme for getting the advertising job done. Such a state of the art is encouraging, but perplexing to many people. Unless one's training happens to include notions of “32K storage”, “random access devices”, “matrix eigenvector programs”, and the like, it is relatively easy to become intimidated (or nauseated) by the pace of technology. In perhaps a shy, but nevertheless quite sincere spirit, one feels compelled to wonder just what computers have to do with making advertising decisions. Put another way, one wishes to know the nature and extent of the man‐machine relationship as regards advertising decision making. Does the machine supplant or complement man? To what extent and in what ways? What does the computer leave to the human's judgment? Is the time‐honoured notion of creativity in advertising losing currency?

Sub‐heads and sub‐subheads, minor clauses, finance, bureaucracy and the political pendulum are to‐day's worries for tomorrow's successes in the quiet corridors of Government buildings. John Garrett asks if it is possible for the Civil Service to plan ahead and if so can definite objectives be set?

Argues that the general area of commercial sponsorship activity, while attracting increasing interest from marketing practitioners as an important strategic option in marketing communications, has not been the subject of sufficiently rigorous and comprehensive investigation by theoreticians. States the purpose is to establish and consolidate the available body of knowledge combining an overview of the standard conceptual approaches to marketing communication with an examination of the recent academic research in sponsorship, while maintaining a focus on current marketplace practice. Argues for a coherent and structured approach to the management of sponsorship expenditure through the application of a ‘management by objectives’ approach. Parameters are established in terms of a working definition of sponsorship, a review of its commercial development and an overview of current activity. Develops a commercially ration framework within which sponsorship activity may be undertaken. Views objective‐setting as the cornerstone of sponsorship management and outlines a classification of sponsorship objectives that subsumes current practice clarifies the range of potential benefits. Examines the criteria that govern rational sponsorship selection and proposes an evaluation strategy based on stated criteria. Methods of evaluating effects of marketing communications (sponsorship particularly) are examined and new evaluation techniques are advanced to facilitate the implementation of this rigorous scientific approach.

Highlights the need for professionals who refer customers among themselves to acquire up‐to‐date information on specialists available in the area and their performance. Develops a model to assist with the understanding of this process. Discusses several managerial implications related to marketing referrals. Concludes that further investigations of the model are needed in other service markets.

Levitt's theory of globalisation has attracted a great deal of attention among both academics and practitioners. The view that a single product can be offered worldwide offers significant benefits for international marketers, whatever their size or industry. A review of empirical findings in the literature, however, suggests that this theory should be adopted with caution. The author has studied a specific group of three products manufactured by UK companies and exported to other countries in Europe. Despite the often cited term, European market, which implies a likeness between all European countries and, hence, an opportunity for product standardisation, the findings suggest that modifications in many product aspects are necessary for export success. Further, the degree of modification required varies from market to market.

Most of us believe that entrepreneurs are special. We do this because both scholars and practitioners tell us so.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possibility of curvilinear patterns of relationships between workplace affective commitment and in‐role performance, organizational citizenship behaviors and burnout. As most commitment theories assume strictly linear relations with these outcomes, demonstrating that these positive associations do not hold above some ceiling point in the commitment continuum is potentially important for research and practice.

The possibility of nonlinear relations was examined in a sample of 273 hospital employees.

The results yielded strong support for the authors' hypotheses. Indeed, most of the relations observed (ten of 15) between affective commitment foci and work outcomes were curvilinear, revealing a ceiling to the positive association between commitment and outcomes. Although these results vary in strength across work outcomes and commitment targets, they reveal that affective commitment has negative associations with employee productivity and psychological health at extreme levels.

Methodologically, these results illustrate the need to systematically explore the true nature of relations among constructs, even in areas where it is assumed to be well known. Practically, these results suggest that, ultimately, moderate levels of commitment may be more beneficial than extremely high levels.