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Past research has shown that consumers believe there is a strong relationship between price and quality; they also believe there is a strong relationship between brand and quality. Therefore, when comparing similar pieces of apparel, items with a designer brand or a higher price are perceived, by most customers, to be of higher quality. The purpose of this study was to compare the pricing and quality of identical designer merchandise sold in department stores and manufacturers’ outlet stores. The researchers found no significant differences in the quality of apparel sold in the two retail formats; however, there was a significant difference in the price. The department store merchandise was 31 per cent higher in price than the outlet store merchandise.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

Because organisational management systems tend to grow organically over time, they are often at cross‐purposes with overall objectives, systems and cultures. This phenomenon is examined with particular attention paid to personnel management, motivation and reward systems.

Provides a re‐examination of the role of the “trainer” in relation to the importance of using delegate experiences as a vital part of the learning process. Using a number of personal experiences charts the author′s progress from being a presenter/supplier of information and theory to becoming a facilitator of learning and, at the same time, identifies five essentials to being effective in the role. Concludes by showing how facilitation can be of immense value in the OD role, particularly in the process of formulating policies, procedures and working practices.

Traditionally, training is seen as simply an activity to be undertaken when all other priorities have been satisfied. The process, still viewed by a majority as imparting knowledge and skills, has progressed slowly from being trainer‐centred to student‐centred. Now, in the 1990s, training must become self‐financing with its costs being recoverable by an identifiable increase in efficiency and quality. The means of achieving this objective is to use the problem‐centred approach in which pressing, company‐specific problems are resolved in a training context ready for immediate application in the workplace, and the necessary learning is achieved during the process.

In 1978 a review of the Management Training Programme being run by the Civil Aviation Authority revealed a need to change our method of approach in order to get the best out of the programme. Having clarified the course objectives, it involved writing new case study exercises and, above all, changing the style of teaching. At the end of the day an evaluation exercise indicated that not only had the participants gained new skills and effectiveness as line managers but many had also increased their self‐confidence to manage. In short we had achieved “a semi‐permanent change in behaviour”.

Presents a composite case study covering four years’ work with a variety of companies across the industrial spectrum although mainly within the health‐care sector. Provides working definitions of both empowerment and corporate culture and sets down key essentials to success. Shows the relationship of annual strategic plan and the annual individual performance‐related appraisal processes in the achievement of company objectives. Establishes the importance of top to bottom involvement in empowerment and the outcomes to be attained.

Traditionally, the Communist and Capitalist Systems have been worlds apart. But a startling change has been taking place in the bastions of the two cultures, with Russia welcoming and publicly acknowledging American industrial help, and the US embarking on a social programme which probably rivals anything launched in the Soviet Union. Report by Jack McCarthy.

Classifying and evaluating the central ideas of strategic management (the basic tools for managers) is an ambitious project. Judging them by their impact, utility, and longevity, this study selected ten big ideas.

The author, who has 40 years of experience with large US, Canadian and Puerto Rican firms, reviewed the literature and interviewed a number of senior practitioners to collect current opinions.

The article should spur discussions among researchers and practitioners about alternative big ideas that belong on their own most‐significant list.

This list is valuable to practitioners who want to become familiar with and use a full range of strategic management tools and analytic options.

The evaluations of the strategic management tools and techniques are up to date and are based on practical experience.

The latest buzz word heard in boardrooms, business schools, seminars, executive conferences, lectures, and in management consultants' proposals is “technology management.” In this context, technology is not simply science applied, nor is it simply research and development activity. Technology has become a synthetic term for a number of techno‐socioeconomic forces at play in our material world. And in technology management we have yet a higher level of abstraction. Its seductive appeal consists of the implicit promise that technology can be managed by the corporation just like any of its other resources such as people, capital, and materials. The term suggests that companies can pick and choose between good technologies that lead to growth and profits, and bad technologies that lead to sterility and decay. It also implies that companies can defend themselves against technological surprises.