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This article discusses current productivity improvement issues facing organisations in the UK and elsewhere. A brief overview of the UK resource utilisation position in central and local government, industry and commerce is provided. The international perspective is then outlined using examples of successful productivity organisations, productivity campaigns and company productivity improvement programmes taking place outside the UK. The article refocuses on the UK by reporting the findings from a productivity study of 28 private and public sector organisations. In conclusion it is suggested that operations managers and directors, especially in the UK, need to think about productivity improvement as a strategic as well as an operational issue.

‘A MAP OF THE WORLD that does not include Utopia is not worth glancing at’ wrote Oscar Wilde. ‘It leaves out the one country at which humanity is always landing. And when it lands there it looks out and, seeing a better country, sets sail again. Progress is the realization of Utopias’.

Aims to examine the competitive characteristics of Scottish manufacturing industry as perceived by the companies themselves. Reports on an empirical survey of all medium (over 100 employees) to large manufacturing companies located in Scotland. The high response rate reflects the topicality of the subject‐matter at director level. Begins by providing a brief profile of respondents, then focuses on the present situation facing Scottish manufacturing companies. Themes discussed in this section include: marketing practices; current competitive features; buying/purchasing effectiveness; planning, control and appraisal methods and finally the critical factors which are currently providing a competitive edge to companies′ activities. The next section briefly discusses present and future issues relating to exporting and Europe. Finally looks to the future by examining issues such as internal factors of importance to business success, proposed investment in engineering/ manufacturing techniques, future challenges from external sources and lastly, likely strategic directions over the next five years.

THE Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was appointed on April 30, 1909. The twenty‐one years since that date contain nearly the whole history of flight by men. To quote from Sir Walter Raleigh, “At the beginning of the year 1909 the mystery and craft of flying was still known only to the few. In the two years which followed, it was divulged to the many, and became a public spectacle.” In the previous year, in France, Henri Farman, Delagrange, and Blériot had flown their various machines. For some years previously, the Wrights had been at work in America, and in 1903 had flown in a power‐driven machine. In August, 1908, Wilbur Wright had shown, in France, what might be achieved by the application of scientific investigation and research to the art of flying, and had caused Delagrange, who witnessed his manoeuvres in the air at the Hunandières race‐course, to exclaim, “Eh bien. Nous n'existons pas, nous sommes battus.”

The Great Benchmarking Scam? Time was, in management circles, that the term “benchmarking” would induce none‐too‐disguised yawns in recognition of it “being something to do with computers or job evaluation”. Not today; those yawns have been replaced with the excited management‐blabber of a new fad. You can benchmark anything these days; I encountered recently a guide to benchmarking employee attitudes.

The important series of mechanical charging systems known generally as Indicators, have never been fully described, either from the historical or structural standpoint. Papers describing one or other of the individual varieties have been published from time to time during the period of thirty‐six years they have been in use, but except the partial notices of a select few published by Mr. F. J. Burgoyne and myself, nothing of a comprehensive or accurate nature has ever appeared. Before proceeding to describe each separate invention in its order, it may be well to enquire briefly into the reasons for the origin of a device which has called forth not a little ingenuity and inventive talent. When libraries were first established under the provisions of the various Acts of Parliament, two things happened as a matter of course in every district: a building, suitable or otherwise, was provided; and, the readers in a town increased in number to an enormous and unprecedented extent. Straitened means generally led to the provision of a cramped and inconvenient building, in which the space set apart for books was often ridiculously inadequate; with the result that lofty shelves were the rule, which secured economy of storage at the expense of rapidity of service. Previous experience in mechanics' institutes, or similar libraries, was found by the new librarian a useless criterion for public library needs, and especially as a guide to the multitude of readers and the variety of their demands. Delays in service occurred continually and the poor librarian was often abashed or offended at the freely expressed scepticism with which the public received his reports of books being out. From these factors was evolved the idea of the indicator, which by and by took practical shape as a machine for saving the legs of the librarian and his assistants from frequent and fruitless climbs to high shelves, and enabling readers to satisfy themselves that books were actually in use. The original indicators were intended only for showing, by means of numbers, the novels which were out or in, but since then a considerable number of libraries have applied them to all classes.

The UK′s Teaching Company Scheme, established in 1975, has been responsible for setting up almost 1,000 collaborative projects between academics and businesses, all with the primary aim of effecting organizational change. The interest which the scheme has aroused has usually centred on its effectiveness as an investment of government money in industry, and on the effectiveness of academic/business collaborations. The potential of the scheme to act as a “laboratory” in which to study organizational change processes has gone almost unnoticed. By studying projects completed within four different companies, attempts to analyse the effectiveness of Teaching Companies as an organizational change process, and to develop a case for the scheme as a potentially valuable source of future research opportunities.

In an aircraft control system, a balanced four‐way valve comprising a casing, a piston valve arranged to reciprocate within said valve casing, a source of hydraulic fluid under pressure, a conduit from said source to a centrally located port in said valve casing, a servo‐cylinder having a movable piston adapted for the operation of a movable aircraft element, fluid conduits connecting the ends of said servo‐cylinder with feed ports in said valve casing normally covered by said piston valve in its neutral position, fluid spaces within said valve casing between each end and the end faces of said piston valve adapted to contain an initial supply of hydraulic fluid, fluid conduits interconnecting said spaces with the adjacent conduits to the said ports closed by said piston valve, and means for applying manual control forces to said piston for the hydraulic operation of said movable element, such control forces acting to force an initial supply of hydraulic fluid into the servo‐cylinder prior to the uncovering of said feed ports.

The exponential growth of smartphones is complemented by an astronomical development of mobile apps that have been changing ways in which humans interact with each other, as well as how brands and customers interact. This study aims to examine the effect of mobile device and mobile app innovations on user lifestylisation among consumers from developing countries.

Through a qualitative approach, data was collected via focus group interviews from 32 participants from across 15 developing countries who were largely emerging cosmopolitans.

Using the thematic analysis technique, the study finds that consumer lifestylisations, based on consumption and utilisation of mobile devices and mobile apps, hinge on either pre-purchase considerations or post-purchase discoveries that stem from a bouquet of hedonic and/or utilitarian motivations. Two consumer categories are identified, with each category exhibiting unique patterns.

The empirical findings provide valuable theoretical contributions to new knowledge as well as practical implications for mobile gadget manufacturers and mobile app developers domiciled, or those aiming to establish their presence, in developing economies.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the impacts of supplier‐ and customer‐oriented electronic communication technologies (ECTs) (electronic data interchange (EDI) and internet‐based) on supply chain integration and manufacturing competitive capabilities (flexibility and quality).

The research model is based on resource‐based view of technology use, ECTs, and supply chain management literature. Data from 711 international manufacturing firms International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS IV) are analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to test the proposed relationships.

The results suggest: the importance of applying two specific ECTs (EDI and internet‐based) for both supplier and customer integration; and the direct impact of supplier integration and customer integration on manufacturing competitive capabilities.

Except for perceptual biases inherent to survey methodology, this research provides rich implications on ECTs (particularly, EDI and internet‐based) on supply chain integration and manufacturing competitive capabilities.

The findings of this research provide practical management insights on ECTs investment and deployment practices. Creation and delivery of values require effective integration of technologies for key performance outcomes across suppliers, customers and internal business processes.

This paper fills the research gap by presenting a research model and empirically validates how ECTs impact on quality and flexibility based on rich empirical data of 711 firms of manufacturing firms.