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Organizational change seldom occurs as swiftly or as dramatically as one might imagine, the contrasts between old and new organizational paradigms are often just as striking as our most outrageous dreams. Describes two different and contrasting contexts or ways of viewing or thinking about people and life. Recommends breaking out of old models of organizing people to work and creating new paradigms by discovering flexible new ways of “seeing” the world ‐ in the sense of perceiving, understanding, interpreting and organizing with people to achieve a common purpose.

Learning organizations are one of many current buzz words used by persons concerned with the demands faced by all for change ‐ both radical and transformative change and incremental change. At the heart of any change process is the individual. We know from extensive studies in many fields what some of the essential requirements are for creating the conditions for adult learning, and an adult’s subsequent ability to adapt and change. One of the most critical and often overlooked requirements for adult learning is a learning context which is safe and supportive for and of the learned. Trust is also critical along with other essential requirements. Ontogogy is another appeal to examine the context of any learning required related to quality improvement, or any other change of innovation.

When wearable and implantable devices first arose in the 1970s, they were rigid and clashed dramatically with our soft, pliable skin and organs. The past two decades have witnessed a major upheaval in these devices. Traditional electronics are six orders of magnitude stiffer than soft tissue. As a result, when rigid electronics are integrated with the human body, severe challenges in both mechanical and geometrical form mismatch occur. This mismatch creates an uneven contact at the interface of soft-tissue, leading to noisy and unreliable data gathering of the body’s vital signs. This paper aims to predict the role that discreet, seamless medical devices will play in personalized health care by discussing novel solutions for alleviating this interface mismatch and exploring the challenges in developing and commercializing such devices.

Since the form factors of biology cannot be changed to match those of rigid devices, conformable devices that mimic the shape and mechanical properties of soft body tissue must be designed and fabricated. These conformable devices play the role of imperceptible medical interfaces. Such interfaces can help scientists and medical practitioners to gain further insights into the body by providing an accurate and reliable instrument that can conform closely to the target areas of interest for continuous, long-term monitoring of the human body, while improving user experience.

The authors have highlighted current attempts of mechanically adaptive devices for health care, and the authors forecast key aspects for the future of these conformable biomedical devices and the ways in which these devices will revolutionize how health care is administered or obtained.

The authors conclude this paper with the perspective on the challenges of implementing this technology for practical use, including device packaging, environmental life cycle, data privacy, industry partnership and collaboration.

Choosing the right TQM leader is critical to the successful implementation of TQM, since employees need to become excited about change rather than scared of it. This, according to a recent US survey, seems to be the main stumbling block to successful implementation.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the contribution that history can give to marketing strategies aimed at revitalizing fashion brands. It focuses on the revival strategy implemented in recent years by the Pucci fashion company.

The analysis is carried out in four parts. Marketing literature dealing with “brand revival” is reviewed in the first part. The second and the third part deal with the main characteristics featured, respectively, by the original and restored Palio and Vivara collections. In the fourth part, by applying the key concepts provided to us by the marketing literature, we pinpoint the chief values which Pucci’s retro-marketing strategy has emphasized upon and those that instead have been partially, if not completely, neglected. The research is based on a mix of sources including records kept by historical archives, fashion press, economic and financial databases and exhibition catalogues.

The research shows that resorting to the past to revitalize a fashion brand can backfire if the retro-marketing strategy is not supported by an extensive knowledge of the firm’s history, and by a well documented analysis of the historical background in which the brand was originally introduced.

The paper provides an example of interdisciplinary approach to brand revival, a marketing strategy to which an increasing number of firms resort to meet the consumers’ call for nostalgic innovation.