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The incidence of US corporate marketing research departments peaked in the early 1970s; marketing research is increasingly involved in marketing planning and the two functions are sometimes merged, while the establishment of computerised marketing information systems is increasing. Questionnaire survey results of Fortune 500 companies are compared for 1965, 1975 and 1985, and the implications for the organisation of the marketing research function findings discussed.

This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.

218 brand names of microfilm/microfiche readers, computerized information retrieval systems and on‐line databases were subjected to an analysis of their characteristics. They acre analysed for the product information they conveyed and for the characteristics of the words employed. It was found that brand names tend to employ meaningless concocted words and that the favoured words begin and end with a consonant. Other features of the words used and differences between the groups of products were noted.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

The paper introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and audiovisual material examining library instruction and information literacy.

The findings provide information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

The purpose of this paper is to report findings of audit quality differences amongst audit firms in a developing country. Specifically, the authors examine the assumption of marked audit quality differences amongst large audit firms (Big 4s) and the small and medium practices (SMPs).

First, the authors develop scales for assessing perceived audit quality in the financial services sector based on qualitative data obtained from 106 audit practitioners, 31 credit analysts and 13 board members. The authors use NVivo© to analyse the 13 transcribed interviews and follow “cross-case analysis” to visualize dimensions and scales of audit quality. Then the authors use measurement scales developed and obtain quantitative data from 183 board members and top executives in the financial services sector and test for perceived audit quality differences amongst audit firms using a Mann-Whitney U test.

The findings suggest that audit quality is a multi-dimensional construct comprising of levels of discretionary accruals; compliance of audited accounts to accounting standards, law and regulations; and audit fees. Based on these measures, the authors find that Big 4 audit firms ensure more compliance with accounting standards, law and other regulatory requirements than SMPs. However, taking all the three audit quality dimensions together reveals no significant differences in audit quality levels between Big 4 and SMPs.

In terms of auditor selection and retention, it is important that audit firms are assessed based on their ability to constrain discretionary accruals, to produce audited accounts that comply with requirements of accounting standards, the law and regulations; and to examine the fees they charge in relation to quality of service, than on their size. Also, as the results of this study suggest that Big 4 audit firms might be needed for compliance with accounting standards, law and other regulatory requirements, their audit ties in with the most basic level of auditing requiring probity and legality which, in practice, requires a low level of judgement to be exercised by those performing the audit. It might be useful for Big 4 and other audit firms to embark also on higher level of auditing requiring higher level of judgement. Future research may wish to examine auditing firms’ proclivity to higher level judgment audit.

Previous research reveals no consistent way of measuring audit quality and has been inconclusive on the subject of audit quality differential amongst audit firms. The authors create audit quality scales which can be used in assessing perceived audit quality in a developing country context and provide initial evidence of no significant differences between large audit firms and the SMPs regarding audit quality in Uganda.

This research critically investigates product development in the context of fast fashion online retailers who are developing “own label” fashion clothing. With a focus upon inputs, outputs, planning and management in order to comprehensively map the interplay of people, processes and the procedures of the product development process adopted.

Qualitative research method was employed. Face-to-face semi structured in depth interviews were conducted with key informants from market leading fast fashion online retailers in the UK.

The major findings of this research demonstrate the disruptions in the product development process in contemporary and challenging fashion retailing and a new “circular process” model more appropriate and specific to online fast fashion businesses is presented.

The research has implications for the emerging body of theory relating to fashion product development. The research is limited to UK online fashion retailers, although their operations are global.

The findings from this study may be useful for apparel product development for retailers considering an online and fast fashion business model.

The emergent process model in this study may be used as a baseline for further studies to compare product development processes.

Despite the advancement of the assumptions of agency and institutional theories whereby monitoring structures and controls form the basis of management, inadequate public finance regulatory compliance among public entities has continued to be a challenge. The purpose of this paper is to examine how to break out of the apparent cycle of failures to comply with public finance regulations.

A cross-sectional study that integrates two approaches (cooperative and coercive models) drawing from the view that in central government agencies, there may be stewards and also agents motivated by self-interest, suggesting that the most promising framework is that which renders the traditional ways of achieving regulatory compliance to be supplemented with the stewardship model. Thus, the authors focus on four variables: management mechanisms, ethical climate, deterrence measures and public finance regulatory compliance all drawn from agency, institutional and stewardship theories. The authors collect data from 67 central government agencies in Uganda using a structured questionnaire.

The authors find that management mechanisms dimensions of leadership support and organisational commitment significantly associate with public finance regulatory compliance and so too are deterrence measures particularly oversight organs, penalties and procedural justices.

Public finance regulatory compliance can be improved through management mechanisms and deterrence measures.

The study generates empirical evidence on the applicability of stewardship theory in the management of public entities for regulatory compliance

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the combined (multiplicative) effect of board governance and intellectual capital (IC) on firm performance.

This study is cross-sectional and follows a positivist view of testing pre-specified hypotheses. The study uses a respondent sample of 128 service firms operating in Kampala, directors or managers are the unit of enquiry. Structural equation modelling with analysis of moment structures is used for statistical modelling.

Board governance and IC make significant contributions to firm performance. However, their interaction is a significant booster to services sector firms’ performance in Uganda.

Although an attempt is made at controlling for common method variance in particular by proactive instrument design and testing, and usage of the Harman single factor analytical technique, its influence may not have been dealt away completely owing to failure to obtain a plausible common marker variable. Well, it is meaningful to identify the significant positive multiplicative effects of board governance and IC so as uncover what is needed in service firms to improve their performance.

Studies explaining firm performance via board governance only and which ignored the synergistic effects of board governance and IC have often missed the reality that the performance of the firm can significantly be improved by means of leveraging IC while simultaneously calling for effective board governance.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the connections between the regulatory governance, human capital, stakeholder orientation, management control systems (MCSs) and sustainable performance (SP) of power companies. The authors especially looked at how much regulatory governance, human capital, stakeholder orientation and MCSs affect the SP across power companies in Uganda.

This is a cross-sectional and correlational study. Data were collected from 105 power companies using a questionnaire and analysed using SPSS.

Stakeholder orientation, MCSs, human capital and regulatory governance significantly predict variances in the SP of power providers in Uganda. Stakeholder orientation is the most important predictor of SP of power companies.

The absence of validation from important stakeholders and the major reliance on company-provided data in existing research on SP raises the possibility of self-desirability bias. To evaluate and verify the information supplied by firms with external stakeholders, further studies might consider using an explanatory mixed methods technique, in which quantitative data are initially gathered from the managers of power companies and analysed and then validated by interviews with important stakeholders.

Using stakeholder, legitimacy and resource-based theories has provided a better explanation for SP which is a multi-dimensional notion. Moreover, the study adds to the body of perception-based research that offers direct management incentives for SP. The perspectives of managers have been gathered through the use of self-administered questionnaires to gather impressions of managers of businesses, which has helped to tap into all aspects of SP. The study’s results offer, probably for the first time to the best of the authors’ knowledge, evidence of the contextual elements that affect SP in African nations like Uganda particularly in the power sector.