IT is very appropriate that this number of THE LIBRARY WORLD should be devoted to the subject of cataloguing. This has become current in a special degree owing to the activity of…
Abstract
IT is very appropriate that this number of THE LIBRARY WORLD should be devoted to the subject of cataloguing. This has become current in a special degree owing to the activity of the A.L.A. and the L.A. committees on both sides of the Atlantic, who are engaged in reviewing the Anglo‐American Code of Cataloguing Rules. Cataloguing is a subject that figures more in the minds of candidates for examinations than it does in the average conversations of librarians, but there is no more important subject in the librarian's life and no more significant activity. Our readers may not accept the implications of the somewhat vigorous “Letters on Our Affairs” which appear in this number, but it could be urged that there are many things to consider in cataloguing which have immediate importance. The matter was a simple one in former days. Forty years ago every library in this country of any size found it possible to issue a printed catalogue of some sort or other. The objections to these printed catalogues are commonplace to‐day; they were expensive, their cost was not recovered by sales, and they were incomplete from the beginning. The point is that libraries somehow managed to publish them, and those libraries were, as our correspondent suggests, of as good service to literature in its best sense as are present libraries.
Investigates the importance of English language sources ofFriedrich Theodor Althoff (1839‐1908), a German of great influence bothin his own country and, indirectly, in the United…
Abstract
Investigates the importance of English language sources of Friedrich Theodor Althoff (1839‐1908), a German of great influence both in his own country and, indirectly, in the United States. Explores some measures of his influence in education and international understanding. Examines a wide variety of sources. Explains how it could happen that an influential person would end up in intellectual history with almost no recognition. Challenges several conventional assessments. Althoff′s most important contributions are in print and more almost certainly exist in university archives, but the material is scattered and unorganized. Because we do not yet have the full story of this remarkable and complex man, firm conclusions about his influence are not yet possible.
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Bernardo Bátiz‐Lazo, Kristine Müller and Robert R. Locke
The purpose of this paper is to look at the past development and potential of the Rhenish capitalist governance “model”. The origins and nature of the model are to be discussed…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look at the past development and potential of the Rhenish capitalist governance “model”. The origins and nature of the model are to be discussed. The aim is to focus on its specific role within the transformation processes of Central‐Eastern European economies. East‐Central Europe is where, it is contended, Rhineland capitalism's future will be decided.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a survey questionnaire, customers' perceptions of bank governance and practice in the Polish‐German city of Zgorzelec‐Görlitz are explored. The experience of Dresdner Bank is stressed and the fact that the local people not long before lived under a Socialist regime. A control group in London is used to ascertain the presence of German management traditions as opposed to Anglo‐American approaches to management in the context of retail bank markets. In total there were 210 participants in the survey (all equally divided between the three cities).
Findings
German and Polish respondents mostly rejected co‐determination and favored top‐down management. Germans seem to make trust and loyalty a major factor in their retail banking decisions while Polish seemed more open to American style marketing. The findings support the hypothesis about the long‐term viability of Rhinish capitalism.
Originality/value
The paper ascertains that the presence of German management traditions as opposed to Anglo‐American approaches to management in the context of retail bank markets in a border region is dominant.
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Bernardo Bátiz‐Lazo, Robert R. Locke and Kristine Müller
This paper aims to look at the past development and potential of the Rhenish capitalist governance “model”. The paper aims to discuss the origins and nature of the model. The main…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to look at the past development and potential of the Rhenish capitalist governance “model”. The paper aims to discuss the origins and nature of the model. The main focus is on the model's in crisis and its specific role within the transformation processes of Central‐Eastern European economies. East‐Central Europe is where, it is contended, Rhineland capitalism's future will be decided.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on archival research (including current writings) the paper draws out two salient features of the Rhenish capitalist model which would be relevant to explore bank customers perceptions of bank governance and practice in the Polish‐German city of Zgorzelec‐Görlitz. The experience of Dresdner Bank is stressed and the fact that the local people not long before lived under a Socialist regime.
Findings
The paper contends that the abandonment of the social harmony structured into the Rhineland model would be a great pity, since the 100 years of effort it took to create it would go down the drain.
Originality/value
The paper ascertains the presence of German management traditions as opposed to Anglo‐American approaches to management in the context of retail bank markets in a border region.
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Victor Meyer, Lucilaine Pascuci and Diórgenes Falcão Mamédio
The aim of this study was to analyse strategic planning practices in complex systems by investigating the experiences of Brazilian non-profit hospitals. Growing pressures have…
Abstract
The aim of this study was to analyse strategic planning practices in complex systems by investigating the experiences of Brazilian non-profit hospitals. Growing pressures have been imposed upon hospitals to improve the quality of their services, to increase access to them by reducing costs and to improve their reliability. In order to respond to these demands, managerial approaches such as strategic planning based on business-sector practices have been adopted by non-profit hospitals. The purpose of this study was to identify the most significant results of the experience with strategic planning in two non-profit hospitals. The study is a qualitative one, and the research was based on the concepts of organizational complexity, strategic planning and managerialism in non-profit hospitals. Data were collected by non-participant observation, from documents and in interviews and were analysed using narrative analysis and document-analysis techniques. Three main factors related to strategic planning in non-profit hospitals were identified: firstly, the unsuitability of strategic planning for hospitals given that they are complex, professional organizations, something that was disregarded by managers; secondly, the significant role played by core operating professionals in strategy making; and thirdly, the representation of strategic planning as fancy management in the eyes of internal and external stakeholders, conferring legitimacy on and generating trust in the hospital. The findings indicate that strategic planning as a traditional managerialist approach applied in a hospital context was dysfunctional and failed to produce a significant contribution to organizational performance.
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Goal theory research has made an important contribution to understanding managers’ behaviour within organisations but most of this research has focused on single goal settings…
Abstract
Goal theory research has made an important contribution to understanding managers’ behaviour within organisations but most of this research has focused on single goal settings. Given the recent popularity of implementing balanced scorecards in organisations, generalising this research to multiple goal settings is important but problematic because multiple goals can complicate a manager's decision making which, in turn, can potentially affect the manager's job‐related tension and performance. Moreover, where multiple goals are pursued, the relative importance of those goals is also likely to affect job‐related tension and performance. These relationships are tested using questionnaire data gathered from interviews with managers. The results suggest that job‐related tension and performance deteriorate as managers pursue multiple goals although the relationship seems to be non‐linear. The relative importance of goals does not appear to be important. Some comments provided by the managers during their interviews offer some insights that help to explain these results.
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The study aims examine the popular master narrative that marketing education in Britain first appeared in the 1960s and understand if its origins can in fact be traced to an…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims examine the popular master narrative that marketing education in Britain first appeared in the 1960s and understand if its origins can in fact be traced to an earlier period. This is undertaken through an examination of the courses taught from 1902 to 1969 at the Faculty of Commerce, University of Birmingham, Great Britain.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws on a number of primary source materials held at the archives at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham, that are related to the Faculty of Commerce.
Findings
The study identifies that marketing courses were being taught in Britain long before the 1960s by the new business schools; we can trace its origins to the beginning of the twentieth century at Birmingham. From 1902 onwards, marketing was consistently part of the syllabus of the undergraduate programme and it became part of the core syllabus of the post-graduate programme.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of the study require marketing education scholars and scholars of the emergence of marketing thought to revise their beliefs concerning the emergence of marketing education in Great Britain and situate this in an earlier period.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates the historical value of studying early commerce syllabi and the manner in which marketing-themed content was delivered to students.
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Given the continued growth in the globalization of production, working conditions in global supply chains have come under increased scrutiny. Although there has been much debate…
Abstract
Given the continued growth in the globalization of production, working conditions in global supply chains have come under increased scrutiny. Although there has been much debate about corporate codes of conduct and monitoring procedures, the question of how buyers influence their suppliers’ working conditions at the factory level remains poorly understood. Using a unique data set based on monitoring by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and original survey data collected in Cambodia's garment sector, this study shows that the main channel linking buyers and supplier compliance performance is the nature of their relationships. Market-based relationships mediated through sourcing agents are systematically associated with poorer compliance performance. In particular, when a reputation-conscious buyer is sourcing from a factory, it has a positive effect on compliance, and their presence appears to condition relationship variables. Deterrence and learning channels are not supported by the evidence. The findings signal the need to pay more attention to the nature of buyer–supplier relationships if we seek to improve labor standard compliance. Market-based relationships motivate neither buyers nor suppliers to invest their time and resources to tackle the root causes of poor working conditions. Rather, the results here indicate the need to develop collaborative relationships marked by open dialogue, trust, and commitment, which in turn help to foster an environment supportive of continuous improvement in working conditions.