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Sustainable growth indicates how rapidly sales can increase when new assets required to support higher sales levels are financed solely through additions to retained earnings and new debt. The sustainable growth model provides a way for public policy makers to assess the need of any particular sector of an economy for government‐sponsored export development assistance. These assessments are the macro equivalent of product portfolio analysis. The sustainable growth approach, however, is less subjective and requires far less data input than the directional policy matrix approach recommended by others. The two approaches should be viewed as complementing one another. Selection of export development programmes can be improved by assessing the impact of any given programme on the components of an industry′s sustainable growth level. This should help to avoid initiatives that would impair the global or regional competitiveness of industries with long‐term comparative advantages.

Points out that numerous studies have attempted to understand the behavior of television viewers. Gone are the days when the entire family gathered around the television, paying rapt attention to the programming. Suggests that the television as “family hearth” has been replaced, as viewers are more aptly characterized as “nomadic”, wandering from channel to channel, from room to room, and from activity to activity. Reports on an in‐depth study of the activities, patterns of behavior, locations of viewing, and attitudes of everyday consumers toward television in the 1990s. Multiple observational methods were used, ranging from unobtrusive observation of viewing, sketches made by viewers of their television viewing location, and focus group interviews. Findings suggest that advertising not only competes with other television shows for the consumer′s attention, but also competes with a multitude of activities, interruptions, and even other televisions within the same or adjacent rooms. Such findings pose a much more complex picture of “cutting the clutter” than that which is traditionally assumed; suggests managerial implications and recommendations for further understanding the complexities of viewer behaviors.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

IT is fitting that a new series of this magazine should be introduced by some reflections on the whole question of book selection, both for the general public and libraries.

The purpose of this paper is to show the way in which State Transportation Agencies throughout the USA are under increasing pressure to preserve and expand the nation's roadway infrastructure in the shortest possible time with only a finite pool of resources with which to meet a state's transportation needs. With this in mind, a rapid construction methods decision‐making system was developed, to be used during the preliminary and conceptual design stage of a roadway project.

The research completed an extensive literature review and examined case studies to identify rapid construction methods and summarize valuable lessons learned. Designed for use by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, the research developed a series of conceptual road user cost (RUC) tables that reflect different socioeconomic conditions by varying the value of time based on average hourly per capita income and wages for different counties in Kentucky.

The case studies identified that the most effective mean for State Transportation Agencies to accelerate construction is through their construction contracts. Furthermore, determining RUC as outlined in the research way simplifies the method of calculating RUC by using fewer variables than would typically be available during the preliminary and conceptual design stage.

The proposed decision‐making model is designed for State Transportation Agencies who are involved in the scenarios of determining the value of accelerating construction in both an urban and rural environments.

The project's intent in determining conceptual road user costs is to support a decision‐making process to identify the need and type of rapid construction methods for any given project.

A specific decision‐making process is proposed, and it uses the ratios of the Conceptual Road User Cost to the Maximum Allowable Road User Cost and a set of additional criteria based on project features to recommend a selection of rapid construction methods for a given highway project.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.