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Conventional economic measures are cited to show a declining demand for meat. Numerous surveys are quoted to show attitudinal factors influencing such decline. Within this decline, however, examples are given where significant market segments are available for exploitation. The report concludes that demand trends will be erratic depending on nutritional fashion; with regularisation likely to depend on emergence of channel domination by retail chains.

Frequent concern has been expressed by researchers over the adequacy of organisational buyer behaviour models. Despite this, academics have for long ignored one ready test‐bed provided by their own product; namely, students. In the UK each year, several thousands of students are put on to the employment market, as either a finished product with a degree or diploma, or for a sandwich training period in work. This neglect contrasts strongly with the heavy use made of students as experimental subjects for enquiry into other difficult behavioural areas. Their use in gaming simulations of business bargaining strategy provides numerous good examples of such use.

Service quality and the service encounter/experience have been identified by Fisk et.al., as two of the most prominent areas in the services marketing literature. They also go on to suggest that future research will focus on longer term service experiences and on the relationships between service experience issues and quality. This paper focuses upon these issues in reporting the initial results of an exploratory study of customer perceptions of service experience and quality among Association Football spectators in the UK.

Examines food distribution in Hungary as a case study for changes occurring in Eastern European food markets. The analysis is based on models of evolution of food distribution structures. Data for the study was assembled from a wide range of Western and Eastern publications. This information is supplemented by means of extensive interviews with both state and private experts in Hungary. The outcome is a comprehensive statement of the structure of food distribution at retail, wholesale, processing, and farm levels. The estimates presented here are believed to be considerably more accurate than in earlier reports. This is employed to locate both food manufacturing and food distribution within the evolutionary model; and to forecast its likely evolution. Concludes that Hungary will develop in the direction of Western food distribution patterns, and that while it is estimated to be currently approximately 25 years behind the West, will rapidly catch up. The country still needs to restructure agricultural production but will also have to change its product mix to include foods that appeal to the Western world, increase the quality and range of foods currently offered, and develop high‐value niche markets.

This paper addresses the mediating effect of structural infrastructure capability on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and SMEs performance in emerging economies, focusing on Nigeria. It addresses the need to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are able to overcome the inherent challenges in their external environment actively and, thus, contribute to economic growth through internal management variables.

The study adopted a survey design, utilising a sample of 377 SMEs covering the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. A questionnaire was used for data collection, and data analysis was conducted using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) with the aid of SmartPLSv3.

The study found that innovativeness and proactiveness, as dimensions of EO, have a significant effect on SMEs' performance. Risking-taking, however, showed no significant effect on performance. The study found that structural infrastructure capability significantly mediates the EO–performance relationship.

The paper provides practical implications for society, as managers and SMEs' support agencies in emerging markets can be encouraged to focus more on internal management activities to support knowledge sharing within the organisation, given its relevance to improving performance, rather than focusing only on EO.

The study further strengthens and validates the resource-based view (RBV) theory and contributes to expanding knowledge on the relevance of internal management variables (knowledge sharing) in managing small and medium-scale enterprises. The study further advances theories regarding knowledge management's role, as a function of internal management system in the EO–performance relationship, thus helping to close the research gap related to these relationships from an emerging-economy perspective.

During discussions at the ASC 2013 Conference, the authors were stimulated to consider acting, learning and understanding in the context of organizational change, and in particular the relationship between organizational actors and external analysts. The purpose of this paper is to review from a cybernetic perspective how a socio-technical toolbox can help to facilitate organizational change, and to examine issues involved in use of such a toolbox by organizational actors supported by expert analysts.

The paper is conceptual and adopts a critical stance, i.e. to provide support for emancipation of individuals through ownership and control of their own analyses.

Drawing on work by e.g. Bateson, the authors consider organizations as dynamic and complex human activity systems, and how actors can be helped to develop a productive learning “spiral” of acting and reflecting by means of a proposed socio-technical toolbox. Acting and reflecting upon action can be seen to form a “double helix” of learning, leading to richer understandings of contextual dependencies. Engaged actors need support to surface their contextually dependent understandings, individual and collectively and engage in a “dance of change”.

Change is endemic in organizational life. When engaging with change activity that attempts to address complexity (as opposed to complicatedness), contextual experts need to be the key decision takers. This means a redistribution not only of responsibility and action but also decision-taking power.

The paper suggests augmentation of traditional socio-technical methods to address dynamic complexity.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate that text message mobile coupons are marketing communications that are becoming more service‐like in nature. As such, mobile coupons will benefit from firm‐generated service customization strategies.

An experiment compared a mobile coupon with a customized versus non‐customized delivery time. A sample of 244 undergraduate students from a large southeastern US university completed an online questionnaire. The between‐subject design randomly assigned participants to the custom or non‐custom condition. Results were assessed with MANCOVA.

Customizing the delivery time of a mobile coupon improved attitude toward and intention to use the coupon, as well as attitude toward and purchase intent with the firm.

The paper focuses on only one mobile coupon campaign in one product category, while measuring attitudes and intentions, not actual purchase behavior. The sample is also limited by having student participants. Future research should examine these limitations.

The paper provides practitioners with an alternative view of mobile coupons. Whereas traditional paper coupons are mass marketing communications, mobile coupons should be viewed similar to an important service to consumers. Allowing consumers to customize these communications, similar to how consumers customize important service offerings, will enhance the coupon and image of the firm.

This study is the first to suggest that mobile coupons be guided by services marketing theory. This is also the first study to suggest and empirically assess the customization of marketing communications as a firm‐generated strategy designed to enhance mobile coupons. Customization in this context is a co‐production activity.

ABERDEEN, the “Granite City,” the “Silver City by the Sea,” the great headquarters of the grey granite trade, and one of the busiest and most influential mercantile cities in Scotland, has a name which is known throughout the civilized world, and a fame which has penetrated to nearly every quarter of the habitable globe. The writing of all that might legitimately be written concerning this remarkable, and in many cases unique, community of “ hard‐headed Aberdonians ” (as they are usually styled), would fill many large volumes, and as we have neither the time nor the space for the compilation of such a work of history and description as this would imply, our readers must be content with an unpretentious historical survey of what is of more immediate interest to them, viz. : the chief libraries belonging to the city of Aberdeen. These are two in number—the Library of the University and the Public Library.

Although the overall impacts of innovation and innovative practices have been emphasized in recent years, the effect on the growth of firms in Nigeria have not been proven. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of innovative practices on the growth of quantity surveying firms (QSFs) in Nigeria.

The study adopted the quantitative correlational research design in which a well-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from QSFs in South-West, Nigeria. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis to investigate the effect of innovative practices on the growth of QSFs.

The study reveals that there is a significant increase in the growth indices used for assessing QSFs, while all the innovation variables were found to be reliable. Based on the result of multiple regression analysis, the relationships were identified as follows: quantity surveying (QS) software influenced the size growth of QSFs; QS software and services affected client growth and profit growth; and all innovation practices impacted asset growth of QSFs.

Although the use of software tools has been found to negatively affect the size of QSFs and other growth indices, there is need for them to embrace innovative software applications for more quality service delivery. In addition, QSFs should formulate strategic objectives that will guide them in taking informed decisions for diversification.

The outcome of this study provides information and direction for innovation practices required to bring about the growth of QSFs.