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Today there are a number of different types of procurement routes available for clients to choose from. Each different type of procurement (traditional, design and build, management, etc.) has its own proponents and inherent strengths and weaknesses. Selection of optimal procurement systems is difficult, because even experienced clients cannot know all the potential benefits or risks for each system. Procurement is, therefore, a succession of ‘calculated risks’. Industry and academia have focussed research on reducing procurement risk through better procurement‐system selection methods. Current research considers procurement as a set of rationalistic decisions within a closed environment, aiming to produce generic, prescriptive rules for clients and advisers to use to select the ‘best’ procurement route for their project. This paper seeks to identify whether prescriptive procurement guidance was adhered to on a set of case study projects. It was found that clients usually selected appropriate procurement systems, and where an inappropriate system was selected, alterations were made in contract form to incorporate aspects of the ‘best’ procurement route.

Life‐cycle analysis (LCA) provides a general framework for assessing and summarizing all of the information important to a decision. LCA has been used to analyze the desirability of replacing lead (Pb) with a composite of tungsten (W) and tin (Sn) in projectile slugs used in small arms ammunition at US Department of Energy (DOE) training facilities for security personnel. The analysis includes consideration of costs, performance, environmental and human health impacts, availability of raw materials, and stakeholder acceptance. Projectiles developed by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) using a composite of tungsten and tin are shown to perform as well as, or better than, those fabricated using lead. A cost analysis shows that tungsten‐tin is less costly to use than lead, since, for the current number of rounds used annually, the higher tungsten‐tin purchase price is small compared with higher maintenance costs associated with lead. The tungsten‐tin composite presents a much smaller potential for adverse human health and environmental impacts than lead. Only a small fraction of the world’s tungsten production occurs in the USA, however, and market‐economy countries account for only around 15 per cent of world tungsten production. Concludes that stakeholders would prefer tungsten‐tin on the basis of total cost, performance, reduced environmental impact and lower human toxicity. However, lead is preferable on the basis of material availability. Life cycle analysis clearly shows that advantages outweigh disadvantages in replacing lead with tungsten‐tin in small‐caliber projectiles at DOE training facilities. Concerns about the availability of raw tungsten are mitigated by the ease of converting back to lead (if necessary) and the recyclability of tungsten‐tin rounds.

Looks at the contemporary debate on US immigration, focusing particularly on the increasing articulation of eugenics. Notes that, at times of economic and moral crisis, biological generalizations tend to resurface to provide support for the existing system of privilege and rights, and that the information superhighway provides the perfect vehicle for rapidly spreading beliefs and information. Addresses three specific issues – the genetically determined traits and behaviours of specific racial groups, culture as an expression of biological characteristics, and immigration destroying the racial purity of American society. Outlines briefly US history of immigration. Airs the current concerns on US immigration – pinpointing that concern lies not in immigration per se., which has declined in the last decade, but in the changing national origin of new immigrants, that is immigrants are now mainly Latin American or Asian, which is seen as a threat to Anglo‐Saxon hegemony. Refers to the work of the Pioneer Fund, exploring human variation through the racial basis of intelligence and propensity to violence and/or crime. Claims that scientific language has been adapted to reinforce worries about immigration reducing the supremacy of America’s culture.

This chapter uncovers the destabilizing and transformative dimensions of a legal process commonly described as assimilation. Lawyers working on behalf of a marginalized group often argue that the group merits inclusion in dominant institutions, and they do so by casting the group as like the majority. Scholars have criticized claims of this kind for affirming the status quo and muting significant differences of the excluded group. Yet, this chapter shows how these claims may also disrupt the status quo, transform dominant institutions, and convert distinctive features of the excluded group into more widely shared legal norms. This dynamic is observed in the context of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights, and specifically through attention to three phases of LGBT advocacy: (1) claims to parental recognition of unmarried same-sex parents, (2) claims to marriage, and (3) claims regarding the consequences of marriage for same-sex parents. The analysis shows how claims that appeared assimilationist – demanding inclusion in marriage and parenthood by arguing that same-sex couples are similarly situated to their different-sex counterparts – subtly challenged and reshaped legal norms governing parenthood, including marital parenthood. While this chapter focuses on LGBT claims, it uncovers a dynamic that may exist in other settings.

Based on the Oktoberfest context and memory-dominant logic (MDL), the purpose of the study included assessing drivers of the perceptions of experience uniqueness; if these drivers and experience uniqueness perceptions transformed in memorable experiences; and if memorable experiences translated into enhanced life satisfaction. Based on these relationships, a typology and theory extension is provided integrating practical examples.

A five-factor model was tested using exploratory structural equation modeling and structural equation modeling; the factors included food and beverage quality; connectedness; experience uniqueness; meaningfulness and memorability; and life satisfaction.

Guests connectedness impacted life satisfaction perceptions. Positive perceptions of the experience uniqueness resulted in higher memorability. Food and beverage quality impacted both memorability and life satisfaction. Higher memorability resulted in higher life satisfaction. Attendee nationality impacted the relationship among several of the study’s factors.

Progress was made on assessing the MDL concepts and translating them into quantitative values. Study results supported the impact of connectedness and product quality on perceptions of Oktoberfest experience uniqueness along with the impact of meaningfulness of the experience on life satisfaction perceptions. The authors acknowledged limitations because of one Oktoberfest beer tent focus and the weaknesses of survey methodology, limiting pre- and post-activity reporting and future investigation of moderating effects.

The consideration of higher order impacts (i.e. life satisfaction) is needed when delivering experiences and to entice loyalty and social media apostles. Consumers’ experience connectedness with high-quality perceptions and unique service design are likely to translate to memorable experiences, leading to life satisfaction perceptions. The concept of creating the experience “with” the customer appears to be a key aspect of memorability.

These results tested aspects of MDL and a typology emerged of ideal types as a modified MDL framework driven by two continua: transactional vs experiential quality and experiences designed “to” vs “with” customers.

This chapter in honor of Bernard N. Meltzer briefly reflects on what are the basic assumptions, foundational issues, and seminal concepts of symbolic interactionism (SI), a topic that Bernie and I discussed for nearly two decades. It reviews those concerns, but makes no attempt to survey the many varieties of SI. I center the rise of SI as one response to the nature-nurture controversy between 1870 and 1940. SI's response to that controversy emphasized the interaction of structure and agency through which humans are constructed by society as they are in the process of constructing it. A number of concerns defines the essentials of SI: behaviorism versus minded behavior; antideterminism, structure, and agency; chance and emergence: ontological and methodological implications; selves, language, and role-taking; and symbols, meaning, and transformation. I conclude with a comment on Meltzer's role in developing Central Michigan University as a regional center of SI.

In the aftermath of the Enron scandal, the critics of free enterprise have blamed this system for inflated and out of control executive salaries, particularly those of the chief executive officer (CEO). The present paper defends the marketplace against these charges. In section I we argue that the market has passed the Enron test with flying colors. Section II gives the background of the financial situation relating to CEO salaries. Sections III and IV are devoted to, respectively, the tax court and the appellate court; section V looks at the reaction of the former to the latter; and in section VI we defend the “independent investor” test. We look at this issue from a political economic perspective in section VII and conclude in section VIII.