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A brand is made up of three things: what a company sells, what a company does, and what a company is. A brand represents a set of promises. It implies trust, consistency, and a defined set of expectations. The strongest brands own a positioning in the consumer’s mind that is unique to that brand. To maximize the customer‐brand relationship, a company must understand how customers think, act, perceive, and make purchase decisions. This holistic analysis is called “crafting a customer model.” This article offers the steps for creating such a model.

Argues that to innovate is the only sure‐fire way to ensure long‐term stability, satisfy shareholder growth goals, maximize employee happiness, and stay at the forefront of industry. Identifies the contrarian views and guiding principles which are embraced by successfully innovative companies. Devises a process, involving five clearly‐defined stages, to assist in new product development.

Many barriers to health and emotional well‐being for children are prevalent within inner‐city communities, and often result in negative consequences for education. Health promotion strategies have previously cited mentoring schemes as interventions through which targeted pastoral support can be effectively provided to children. This paper draws on detailed focus group interviews in order to evaluate SHINE ‐ Make Every Child Count, a student‐led charity operating five mentoring programmes across the London boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth. Following content analysis, this paper identifies six themes associated with mentor support: rapport; emotional well‐being and development; social behaviour; enabling; emerging ambition; and attitudinal development. Results show participant children have gained considerable enjoyment from mentor support. Successful friendships are built and emotional well‐being supported, with children actively including mentors as part of their support network. Children recognise the impact of a mentor on relationships with peers, behaviour within the classroom and social responsibility, in addition to direct educational support. Children also show an increased interest in learning, and evidence of considering ‐ often for the first time ‐ their own future aspirations. Findings demonstrate the impact of the mentoring programmes, as perceived by participant children. Evaluation can be used to inform future development of the programmes, as well as expansion to further schools, with the organisation working towards achieving long‐term sustainability.

This paper develops an argument about how contentious changes unfold in organizational fields, focusing on the role of uncertainty – and the networks people use to address uncertainty. We propose that as controversial practice gains traction and spreads, the nature of uncertainty facing organizational decision makers also evolves. This dynamic has important implications for how different actors and networks can influence change. We illustrate our argument with a mixed-methods case study on the diffusion of domestic partner benefits across US Fortune 500 companies. Our findings shed light on how – and when – social activists, corporate elites, and middle managers can influence the corporate decision-making process.

Undoubtedly, digital transformation is permeating all domains of business and society. We envisage this volume as an opportunity to explore how manifestations of digital transformation require rethinking of our understanding and theorization of institutional processes. To achieve this goal, a collaborative forum of organization and management theory scholars and information systems researchers was developed to enrich and advance institutional theory approaches in understanding digital transformation. This volume’s contributions advance the three institutional perspectives. The first perspective, institutional logics, technological affordances and digital transformation, seeks to deepen our understanding of the pervasive and increasingly important relationship between technology and institutions. The second perspective, digital transformation, professional projects and new institutional agents, explores how existing professions respond to the introduction of digital technologies as well as the emergence of new professional projects and institutional agents in the wake of digital transformation. The third perspective, institutional infrastructure, field governance and digital transformation, inquires how new digital organizational forms, such as platforms, affect institutional fields, their infrastructure and thus their governance. For each of these perspectives, we outline an agenda for future research, complemented by a brief discussion of new research frontiers (i.e., digital work and sites of technological (re-)production; artificial intelligence (AI) and actorhood; digital transformation and grand challenges) and methodological reflections.

Most of my work focusing on educational systems – including universities, public elementary schools, private schools, and training programs in organizations – was supported by Stanford University centers and grants separate from the Training Program, for example, the Stanford Center for Research and Development in Teaching (1968–1977) and the Institute for Research on Educational Finance and Governance (1979–1986). Faculty collaborators in these studies included Elizabeth Cohen and Terrence Deal in the School of Education, and John W. Meyer, my colleague in Sociology. A number of NIMH trainees participated in these studies, including Andrew Creighton, Margaret Davis, and Brian Rowan. Other doctoral students involved in this research included Sally Cole, Joanne Intili, Suzanne E. Monahan, E. Anne Stackhouse, and Marc Ventresca.

Sociology promotes and describes public health, helping to explain macro-social dynamics of mental health care through studies of organizations, networks, and systems of care.

This chapter summarizes sociological research on mental health care organizations and systems, illustrating a macro-social perspective by examining the problem of transitions in care for young adults. Summary findings from a regional mental health services research project describe a system of care that includes 100 organizations. This system helps young adults with mental health needs.

The scope and management of care involves a focus on modes of treatment supported by research evidence and delivered effectively by people with cultural competencies. Care and continuity of care are delivered through coordinated systems of inter-organizational networks, linking organizations and providers. Active inter-organizational linkages are needed to support mental health for young adults during challenging and sometimes difficult transitions.

This research summarizes original and regional data on mental health care organizations within a regional system of care. Practical implications include support for the importance of coordination, transition planning, and cultural competence within and among organizations. Sociological and original research on organizations and systems should continue to elaborate the needs and values of mental health services for regional planning and public health.