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The purpose of this study is to examine procurement professionals’ perceptions of public-private partnerships in contract arrangements and to explore decision-making that takes place in the contracting process.

A grounded theory approach is applied to Simon’s (1947) model of decision-making to better understand the perceptions of procurement professionals, especially because it pertains to public vs private sector contexts. The researchers collected data by conducting interviews and observing a compliance webinar of federal contracting employees.

The results show that in the decision-making process, Simon’s illustration of a means-end hierarchy is applicable for procurement decision-making because it is driven by activities that are evaluated using aims established by the organization.

The implications are that, in the procurement decision-making process, a means-end hierarchy is driven by the activities that are evaluated using aims established by the organization. Essentially, the activities are associated to a mean, a mean is associated to a sub-goal and the sub-goal supports the main aim of the organization.

This study supports the notion that training, information and procedures are a way for organizations to control behaviors and promote consistent results from their subordinates.

This study contributes by examining the drivers of procurement decision-making. Despite previous literature that focuses on practitioner discretion or emphasizes on socio-economic factors, this study highlights the linkages between practitioner decision-making and organizational aims and objectives. As such, the paper serves to illustrate the vital connection between procurement activities and outputs.

Considers the response of US firms to the recent decline in productivity, growth etc and the subsequent adoption of just in time manufacturing pioneered by Japanese industry. Examines the concentration on the reduction in time and costs of the early stages of the product life cycle and the flexibility this allows the subsequent pricing strategies. Highlights the emphasis placed on distribution scheduling and the consolidation of transportation services. Concludes that US firms have accepted that JIT and cost and time reduction programs have been necessary in order to compete in the 1990s.

The aim of the research, in the East and Southeast Asia context, is to explore the advantages and problems of Buslish (business facilitation English) for managers and to generate suggestions for maximising the use of Buslish as a critical resource in organisational effectiveness, including potential educational support and its required technology.

Data aimed to explore the issue were collected from a multi-country sample of 31 non-native English speakers, using a semi-structured questionnaire, plus in-depth interviews (10) with some respondents. Data were analysed using a mixture of descriptive statistics and logical argumentation.

The authors found a strong agreement that Buslish is important in the chosen setting, but there are problems in practice. Views on the importance of style and precision of the language actually used varied considerably. A key practical implication is that there is a role for English continuing professional development (CPD) courses.

Firms should support the development of English language skills of employees, certainly at management level and perhaps also at shop floor level. Suitable courses could be offered in firms' CPD programmes. Employees who are native speakers should be encouraged to enunciate clearly for non-native speaker colleagues, not to use slang and not to speak too quickly. While the authors encourage the use of contemporary communication technologies (e.g. virtual classrooms), they maintain that these should be supplementary in nature, supporting, rather than replacing, face-to-face learning formats.

A key aspect of the originality of the work is derived from the specific location, primary data collected and the creative nexus of the initial issue and its educational requirements, including technologies.

This paper aims to study parental expectations of and satisfaction with overall services of preschool centres and to determine the factors which affect parents’ satisfaction in a part of one of Thailand’s southern provinces.

Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from parents of children attending 29 day-care or preschool centres in Songkhla Province, South Thailand, over a two-month period in the Spring 2014. The data were analysed mainly using descriptive statistics and some correlation analyses with subsequent logical interpretation.

Given the location and non-compulsory nature of the childcare provision being assessed, it would seem fair to say that the answer to the overarching objective was fairly positive. Expectations were non-trivial; parents looked for more than “baby-minding” and expected there to be some appropriately qualified staff. The perceived satisfaction levels indicate that there is nevertheless scope for improvement.

The sample studied is from a limited geographical region of Thailand; hence, there must be some caution in making recommendations for the whole country.

As the outcomes being delivered are seen to be mainly positive by parents and guardians, the policy implication for the Thai Government is that they should continue to promote, and ideally enhance, this kind of early years provision. Results suggest that Thai parents would be well advised to make use of childcare centres to promote the socialisation and development of their children.

The originality of the work derives from the lack of similar systematic studies in Thailand and, in particular, for the rural southern provinces.

The data for this case were obtained primarily through a series of in-person interviews in Penang between the authors and Pete Browning (a pseudonym) from 2017 to early 2019. The authors also consulted secondary data sources, including publicly available material on BMax and “Company B”.

This case examines a key decision, or set of decisions, in the life of a small- to medium-sized management consultancy group, namely, whether they might expand their operations in Southeast Asia, and if so, where. These key decisions came in the wake of their having already established a very modest scale presence there, with an operating base on the island of Penang just off the north western coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The initial establishment of a Southeast Asian branch had been somewhat spontaneous in nature – a former colleague of one of the two managing partners in the USA was on the ground in Malaysia and available: he became the local partner in the firm. But the firm had now been eyeing expansion within the region, with three markets under particular consideration (Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand) and a further two (Vietnam and China) also seen as possible targets, though at a more peripheral level. The questions facing the decision makers were “was it time they expand beyond Malaysia?” and “if so, where?”

This case could be used effectively in undergraduate courses in international business. The key concepts on which the case focuses are the factors affecting market entry, particularly the choice of market and the assessment of potential attractiveness such markets offer.

Emphasizes the need for customer care to be a part of an ongoing business strategy rather than a short‐term training need. Shows that if customer care is treated as strategic, it moves into the realm of top management and, hence, becomes a leadership issue. Stresses the role of the internal customer and the impact top management can have on customer care by addressing internal hygiene issues.

What is likely to happen to management development in the seventies? I believe that it will become closely linked with a newly evolving branch of management— development management. Development management is concerned with building new forms of organisation that will enable the enterprise to cope effectively with change. This contrasts with operations management, which is concerned with the efficient use of existing resources to make the goods and services currently required, and with the rapid restoration of a steady state whenever a breakdown occurs. In some enterprises, it is possible to relate the two aspects of management very closely in day‐to‐day working. In others, the two need to be sharply separated if they are to be mutually effective. In either case, the co‐ordination of operations and development is a vital function of general management. With the growth of development management, general management will need more careful study, as its tasks will become more complex and demanding.

Starts from the premiss that, although initiatives such as Investors in People and total quality management link with the concept of the learning organization and attempt to inspire change to structural, cultural and ethical aspects of work organization, our understanding of organizations must aspire to a higher level of intellectual analysis if they are to be recognized as complex learning organisms within a turbulent environment. Beginning with a systems approach, explores ways in which organizations may learn and positively influence their environments. Suggests further insight, using biological, cybernetic, dialectical and chaos analyses to connect with the concept of the learning organization. Discusses implications for the position and perception of organizations in society if learning organizations are to evolve, and concludes that, while the concept presents a viable and, indeed, essential ideology to match current and future uncertainty, managers may find the transition problematic, with little guidance to effect such ground‐breaking change.