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To understand better how professional services firms (PSFs) use networks to gain entry into newly emerging markets (NEMs), to analyze how such firms are assisted in this process by prior networks and to provide a framework of this process.

The methodology utilised in this study is qualitative and exploratory. Ten interviews across three large firms (legal, finance and media consulting) were used for the data gathering. Analysis incorporated open, axial and selective coding.

Prior networks provide impetus to the foreign entry aspirations of PSFs and are critical to the process. The specific functions of network actors in the entry process are to influence the firm and to provide intelligence‐gathering, arising from their participatory role in the foreign market. A framework is presented, supporting network theory as a key theoretical underpinning of strategy formulation, decision‐making and implementation by PSFs entering NEMs.

The framework presented in this paper could be tested most appropriately by analysing an extended number of cases, still within a qualitative approach, prior to survey‐testing the extent of the phenomena. Within the scope of the current study, however, the framework is supported by these preliminary findings.

Networks are perceived by PSFs as a medium for capturing market knowledge and as a basis for strategic decision‐making in NEMs.

Network theory is posited as a key theoretical underpinning of core strategy formulation, decision‐making and implementation by professional services entering NEMs.

The purpose of this paper is to identify key barriers to internationalisation in emerging markets (EMs) for professional service firms (PSFs) from developed markets and to explain how PSFs use social networks to participate within EMs of Asia and overcome these barriers. The paper aims to provide a framework of this process.

A case‐based research design is used to explore key professional service industries (legal, media consulting and financial), providing three case studies, in a developed market (Australia) that are expanding rapidly into EMs (Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam) of Asia.

The elements of orientating, positioning and timing were identified as critical in the context of foreign entry, with the network perspective providing a useful theoretical explanation of this process and underpinning the conceptual framework. Key barriers to internationalisation in EMs for PSFs from developed markets are identified: face‐to‐face communication, language, cultural, work practices and government regulations. How PSFs use social networks to participate within EMs of Asia to overcome these barriers reveal that social network elements are critical to FME specifically into EMs: orientation, positioning and time.

While the conceptual framework of key barriers and how PSF overcame them is theoretically supported by the findings, the framework could be tested more appropriately through an extended number of cases prior to a survey to provide generalizability.

Social networks were used by managers of PSFs to secure market knowledge and to act as a basis for strategic decision making, with foreign network actors a key influence in the foreign market entry process.

The paper provides a framework for identifying key barriers to internationalisation in EMs for PSFs.

The purpose of this article is to review the emerging literature of services business markets (SBMs) from 1974 to 2007 and analyse main themes that indicate the development of the literature. It also aims to provide an introduction to the special issue on services business‐to‐business markets by examining the context.

The literature of SBMs from 1974 through 2007 was searched in relevant databases. The articles were analysed using Glaser's grounded theory. The constant comparison method was used with in vivo coding to reveal themes in the literature. These themes were then analysed contextually.

The literature revealed seven themes which followed a trajectory from implicit to explicit consideration of SBMs, as well as to multi‐ and cross‐disciplinary focus with integration of variables from consumer services marketing. The landscape for SBMs has become blurred due to deregulation, globalisation and information technology, particularly the internet and e‐commerce. The complexity and diversity of the literature reflects this new, blurred reality.

This research is limited to indicative literature about SBMs as an introduction to the special issue on services business‐to‐business markets. The literature would benefit from a full critical review and research agenda.

The integration of theories coupled with the focus on specific service sectors and contexts, provide useful, applicable and transferable concepts which may be helpful to managers who are working in new contexts.

This article surveys the emergence of the literature on SBMs and defines its trajectory, themes and characteristics. It provides a useful background for academics and practitioners who would find a guide to the fissiparous literature on SBMs useful.

The purpose of this paper is to examine a case study for increasing supply of, and demand for, healthier food in the metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, UK. Sandwell has a declining and ageing population. Levels of cancer, coronary heart disease, diabetes and obesity are all high. These diseases should not just be regarded as medical problems with medical solutions. By considering both the built environment and the population's health the paper aims to demonstrate how local action is driving strategic food policy.

Food mapping and children's food/obesity prevalence research provided the evidence base for a locally appropriate approach. From ongoing work generated by this evidence base, Sandwell's food policy has been developed to provide a focus and framework for action. This strategic approach has led to the development of neighbourhood renewal funded work “Eatwell in Sandwell”.

By working in partnership with the private sector, i.e. retail businesses and specialist consultants, it is shown that bridges can be built between public health and the private sector to the benefit of both. For some people living in neighbourhoods with poor or non‐existent fresh produce provision, the Eatwell shops have brought about the regeneration of not just the shops, but also of the shopping habits that were previously difficult or impossible. It is suggested that food must regain its centrality to people's daily lives, not only to improve health, but also to ensure sustainable communities for the next generation.

This paper is a useful source for researchers/students with interests in the topics of food poverty, public health and food retail access

As part of the selection process for a computer system for Sandwell Libraries, we invited the three suppliers we had shortlisted to demonstrate their systems to staff. The demonstrations were meant to have various purposes:

The aim of this paper is to explore the inward internationalization process of consumer services. It also aims to conduct a review of the service internationalization literature and use the resource‐based view of the firm as a theoretical approach.

Case study methodology is used to explore the internationalization process of five different consumer service sectors: tourism, education, accommodation, transport and entertainment. The main data collection method was interviews conducted with top managers of 12 Australian consumer service firms from these sectors.

Findings of this study show that inward internationalizing services confront most of their barriers, such as immigration policies, exchange rate fluctuations, and cultural differences, in the domestic market where the service is provided. The findings also suggest that superior intentional performance for consumer service firms combines firm‐specific resources and capabilities, such as market orientation, service quality, cultural sensitivity, international communicational activities, partnerships and networks, with country‐specific resources and capabilities, such as country‐of‐origin image and government support.

This is one of the few studies in the academic literature that directly addresses the issue of inward internationalization of consumer services. Limitations derive from the qualitative nature of this study.

The process of inward internationalization applies to a broad range of service industries and can assist firms to develop more effective international marketing strategies.

This study contributes to the international services literature by identifying the main barriers and drivers of international performance for inward internationalizing consumer service firms, which is a topic that has been neglected in the literature.

Another Christmas month is upon us, following it seems quickly on others that have been. Such is the relativity of Time, it is not yesteryear, but could be yester‐month or even yester‐week. The seasons pass like youth, all too soon. Our minds return to other Christmas months of yore — “Memories are like Christmas roses!”, the old saying goes. The children, singing much‐loved hymns and carols, happy family settings, a birth, christening, so much to look forward to in the new year. There are not always such happy memories, but memories just the same — Christmas in war‐time, Earth's joys growing dimmer each year, change and decay, life drawing to a close for many a soul; old folk tend to see Christmas as a time of passing, of leaving the world behind.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of Fayol's ideas on both British management thought and practice.

The paper presents a schematic which seeks to illustrate the links between the various strands of scientific management theory, especially that of Fayol, in Britain between the 1920s and the 1960s/1970s and, for the same period, the links between the theory and practice of scientific management. The links indicated in the schematic are assessed first through an examination of the development of British management thought, in particular the exemplification of Fayol's ideas by Lyndall Fownes Urwick and the British neoclassical school. Using archival evidence from a small number of engineering companies, the impact on practice of the ideas of Fayol and other aspects of scientific management is then examined.

The paper concludes that, while Fayol's theoretical influence has stood the test of time, his impact on practice was much more limited.

By focusing on the historical impact on practice of management theory, this paper not only provides a basis for future research by business and management historians, but also throws light on the relevance for practice of theory, an issue of relevance for all theoreticians and management practitioners.

In years past, when life seemed simpler and the Law much less complicated, jurists were fond of quoting the age‐old saying: “All men are equal before the Law.” It was never completely true; there were important exemptions when strict legal enforcement would have been against the public interests. A classic example was Crown immunity, evolved from the historical principle that “The King can do no wrong”. With the growth of government, the multiplicity of government agencies and the enormous amount of secondary legislation, the statutes being merely enabling Acts, this immunity revealed itself as being used largely against public interests. Statutory instruments were being drafted within Ministerial departments largely by as many as 300 officers of those departments authorized to sign such measures, affecting the rights of the people without any real Parliamentary control. Those who suffered and lost in their enforcement had no remedy; Crown immunity protected all those acting as servants of the Crown and the principle came to be an officials' charter with no connection whatever with the Crown. Parliament, custodian of the national conscience, removed much of this socially unacceptable privilege in the Crown Proceedings Act, 1947, which enabled injured parties within limit to sue central departments and their officers. The more recent system of Commissioners—Parliamentary, Local Authority, Health Service—with power to enquire into allegations of injustice, maladministration, malpractice to individuals extra‐legally, has extended the rights of the suffering citizen.