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With the emergence of relationship marketing there has been an increased focus on the use of inter‐firm relationships or strategic alliances in delivering a total service package to the consumer. Despite a number of studies, there is still much to be learned about why alliances form and why they take the form they do. Based upon case based methodology this research argues that the formation of strategic alliances is a due to firms seeking out new market opportunities under conditions of increased uncertainty and competition. We integrate resource dependence views of alliance formation with those of Austrian economics and argue that alliances are a means of reducing the uncertainty that surrounds the undertaking of new market opportunities.

The wine industry of New Zealand has rapidly developed and matured in the last decade to produce an international product that is highly desired by key global markets, and has become a major contributor to the economy. However, limited productive capacity, and macroeconomic forces have contrived to constrain the global marketing opportunities, essentially forcing New Zealand wines into niche markets. These forces include: global market forces, technological forces, global cost forces, and socio‐political macro‐economic forces. The impact of these forces are analysed in this article. Several analytical tools borrowed from ‘lean manufacturing’ are used to construct a conceptual value chain map of the generic industry. A key concept for success that will be a challenge to industry participants is to create and deliver ‘value’ in the minds of the final consumer. This can be achieved by mapping/measuring the value generated in different parts of the supply chain while still allowing for the synergies generated by the whole system.

An appeal under the Food and Drugs Acts, reported in the present number of the BRITISH FOOD JOURNAL, is an apt illustration of the old saying, that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. In commenting upon the case in question, the Pall Mall Gazette says: “The impression among the great unlearned that the watering of the morning's milk is a great joke is ineradicable; and there is also a common opinion among the Justice Shallows of the provincial bench that the grocer who tricks his customers into buying coffee which is 97 per cent. chicory is a clever practitioner, who ought to be allowed to make his way in the world untrammelled by legal obstructions. But the Queen's Bench have rapped the East Ham magistrates over the knuckles for convicting without fining a milkman who was prosecuted by the local authority, and the case has been sent back in order that these easygoing gentlemen may give logical effect to their convictions.”

The purpose of this paper is to fill important gaps by using the attachment theory and examining the effects of supervisors’ early family environment on their behaviors toward subordinates and subordinates’ responses.

The authors used samples of 334 supervisor–subordinate pairs from a manufacturing company.

The study finds that supervisors’ harmonious family environment has a positive influence on subordinates’ responses (job satisfaction, work-to-family enrichment and task performance) through the effect of supervisors’ positive working model and caregiving behavior. On the contrast, supervisors’ conflicting family environment has a negative influence on subordinates’ responses through the effect of supervisors’ negative working model and aggressive behavior.

Existing studies mainly explore the influence of organizational environment on supervisors’ treatment of their subordinates. However, few have examined the relationship between supervisors’ early family environment and their treatment of their subordinates.

Climate change during the next century is likely to significantly influence forest ecosystems in the western United States, including indirect effects on forest and shrubland fire regimes. Further exacerbation of fire hazards by the warmer, drier summers projected for much of the western U.S. by climate models would compound already elevated fire risks caused by 20th century fire suppression. This has potentially grave consequences for the urban–wildland interface in drier regions, where residential expansion increasingly places people and property in the midst of fire-prone vegetation. Understanding linkages between climate variability and change, therefore, are central to our ability to forecast future risks and adapt land management, allocation of fire management resources, and suburban planning accordingly. To establish these linkages we review previous research and draw inferences from our own retrospective work focused on 20th century climate–fire relationships in the U.S. Pacific Northwest (PNW). We investigated relationships between the two dominant modes of climate variability affecting the PNW, which are Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and historic fire activity at multiple spatial scales. We used historic fire data spanning most of the 20th century for USDA Forest Service Region 6, individual states (Idaho, Oregon, and Washington), and 20 national forests representative of the region's physiographic diversity. Forest fires showed significant correlations with warm/dry phases of PDO at regional and state scales; relationships were variable at the scale of individual national forests. Warm/dry phases of PDO were especially influential in terms of the occurrence of very large fire events throughout the PNW. No direct statistical relationships were found between ENSO and forest fires at regional scales, although relationships may exist at smaller spatial scales. However, both ENSO and PDO were correlated with summer drought, as estimated by the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), and PDSI was correlated with fire activity at all scales. Even moderate (±0.3°C decadal mean) fluctuations in PNW climate over the 20th century have influenced wildfire activity based on our analysis. Similar trends have been reported for other regions of the western U.S. Thus, forest fire activity has been sensitive to past climate variability, even in the face of altered dynamics due to fire suppression, as in the case of our analysis. It is likely that fire activity will increase in response to future temperature increases, at the same or greater magnitude as experienced during past climate variability. If extreme drought conditions become more prevalent we can expect a greater frequency of large, high-intensity forest fires. Increased vulnerability to forest fires may worsen the current fire management problem in the urban–wildland interface. Adaptation of fire management and restoration planning will be essential to address fire hazards in areas of intermingled exurban development and fire-prone vegetation. We recommend: (1) landscape-level strategic planning of fire restoration and containment projects; (2) better use of climatic forecasts, including PDO and ENSO related predictions; and (3) community-based efforts to limit further residential expansion into fire-prone forested and shrubland areas.

Introduction As in any past period, companies are under a number of pressures, both internal and external, which call for changes in management style, management functions, etc. What tends to make the present period distinct, and in some ways sets it apart from previous periods, is that these pressures are more acute and are demanding that rapid and quite radical changes be made. This article is not directly concerned with either the source or the cause of these pressures, but more with their implications for a company's personnel policy as it relates to its managerial and professional staffs. For the purposes of our discussion it is more important to know the severity and speed of the impact of the pressures rather than to be fully acquainted with the nature of the pressures themselves. For example, the impact technological change will have upon both production and office work methods will be profound. There is no need to know in detail how a new technological system operates, such as a word processor, all that needs to be known at this stage is that it has the capability of reducing manning levels in the office, of increasing office productivity, and of changing personnel organisation alongside other changes. In short, it is important to be aware that this or that pressure, technology in this case, will have a series of broad implications for present work practices. It is probably sensible to keep the discussion at this more general level as the mix of pressures will have different implications for each company.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how decision making and learning are related to marketing planning among owner/managers with lifestyle in comparison to growth-oriented objectives in the New Zealand wine industry.

The study reports on 12 interviews with owner/managers of New Zealand vineyards. The vineyards were small to medium sized and independently owned to avoid bias from parent company decision making within larger scale corporate wine producers.

Different degrees of causation and effectuation-based decision making were found to exist among owner/managers starting from the nascent stage in their respective marketing planning processes. Learning to different degrees was evident in order to remain competitive in a climate of uncertainty and not least of which due to problematic exchange rates. An important issue influencing decision making was whether owner/managers were running the vineyard to maintain a lifestyle or a growth strategy; an issue affecting perceptions of risks and rewards.

The originality of the study is that it employs an effectuation lens in respect of the marketing planning process; specifically, decision making among owner/managers with differing objectives, experience and perceptions of risks and rewards.

Empathy is part of what makes us human and humane, and it has become a core component of the Social Awareness competency of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) (CASEL, 2019). SEL fosters the understanding of others’ emotions, is the basis of Theory of Mind skills and frames the development of empathy. The purpose of this paper is to trace the links between empathy development and social and emotional learning when using real versus virtual environments. Empathy is a uniquely human emotion facilitated by abstract thinking and language. Virtual play is a teaching tool for acquiring prosocial behaviors. And finally, human-mediated (traditional and virtual) play is most favorable for SEL growth. Recognition of emotions such as empathy and other socio-communication skills have been taught to children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Therefore, technology can be a venue for acquiring empathy.

This paper uses a qualitative interpretive methodology to advocate for the use of technology with human mediation to teach Social and Emotional Learning skills, based on the premise that cognitive and social-emotional development occurs synergistically and mediated by speech and interaction with the environment.

Technology is best seen as an instrument of assessing and teaching socio-emotional skills, but not as the only means to an end, because what makes us human can only be taught within an ecology of human interaction in real-life situations.

This paper reviews previous research works (both empirical and theoretical) that bring to light the connection between socio-emotional development, specifically empathy development, and virtual environments.

The purpose of this article is to challenge the applicability of the traditional micro‐economic framework for analysing marketing situations and actions in the contemporary marketing environment. To assess the validity and value of relationship marketing as an alternative paradigm. To identify fruitful directions for further research.

The literature of relationships and relationship marketing was systematically reviewed and thoroughly analysed, and a conceptual framework built from the findings.

Three key schools of thought are identified, examined and discussed, and their main components explained and examined. Various perspectives on exchange relationships are discussed. Two specific tools for implementation of relationship marketing are evaluated. With a clear conceptual frame of reference thus established, the second part proposes a number of fruitful directions for further research. These include a bibliometric study to assess whether or not a consistent theory of relationship marketing exists, and a rigorous identification of contextual factors determining different marketing styles.

The second part of the paper explicitly discusses research directions to take the new paradigm forward, in theory and in practice.

The combination of a more rigorous conceptual framework and a clear research agenda holds the promise of significant progress in the practical implementation of a young sub‐discipline.

The paper presents a distinctively wide‐ranging and thorough overview of the subject of value to both academic researchers and marketing practitioners.