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AbstractTimes of major change can pose extra‐ordinary challenges to any organisation. Case studies investigating how companies had faced the challenges of a major change in the previous four or five years, and especially how they attempted to prepare their managers for their new roles, revealed that many were ill‐equipped to face the task. One particular result suggested that firms that had relied only on their existing management team and/or on internal promotions had not fared as well as those for whom circumstances permitted the recruitment of new managers to key posts. This observation seems to run counter to the management dictum that firms should always endeavour to hold onto their experienced staff. A simple system dynamics model of a firm's "skills inventory" sheds light on this apparent paradox. The model indicates that in times of stability or slow/incremental change, retaining existing staff is indeed very important. However, in times of major change, as the obsolescence rate of the firm's existing skill base increases rapidly, importing critical skills with new recruits may be the only realistic way of boosting the skill‐base to the necessary levels. This situation is likely to have important competitiveness consequences for firms with traditionally low staff attrition rates, where growth is not creating new post opportunities, or in areas where the external recruitment market offers only limited access to new appointees with advanced skills. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An exploratory study of industrial buyers and sellers in Australia reveals some discrepancies between what buyers prefer salespeople to know and do and what salespeople believe buyers prefer. Individual, in-depth personal interviews were conducted with 53 buyers and 42 sales representatives. Three aspects of salespersons' on-the-job behaviour were investigated: knowledge, behaviour and competence. Results are reported for three categories of industrial selling situations: selling to supermarkets, selling to the trade (excluding supermarkets), and new business and technical selling situations. The research suggests that salespeople may have some inaccurate beliefs about buyers' preferences. Sales representatives who sell to in-store supermarket buyers seem especially to suffer from this problem. On the other hand, salespeople engaged in new business and technical selling seem to have correct beliefs about buyers' preferences.

AbstractThis article examines the role that building and using a system dynamics model plays in developing consensus within management teams facing key strategic decisions: A shared view emerges within the team as individual views of the company, its industry, and the socioeconomic climate are articulated and compared. Examples are given based on two actual consulting assignments in which differing views concerning the competitive environment and the general business outlook initially pointed to quite different strategies. The emergence of consensus was considered a major benefit in addition to the forecasts and quantitative evaluations the model provided. In its analysis and examples, this article emphasizes both the "hard" benefits of forecasts and an objective framework for quantitative evaluations and the "soft" benefits of building consensus within management teams.

A couple of generations ago the historical process known as "the expansion of Europe" was regarded as a blessing for the whole human race. This, at least, was the majority view. Nationalists in the colonies held contrary opinions, hut what they said carried little weight in Europe. For four hundred years, the historians of the age of classical imperialism believed, Europe had been the giver, the colonial world the receiver. The mother-lands had "wrestled with the task of sharing their own civilization with the backward races of the globe". A good start had been made, but there was much still to be done, and the duty of the colonized peoples was plain: they must continue to serve their apprenticeship until such time as they were ready to join the family of nations. Europe alone held the keys to law and order, advanced technology, efficiency in government, and the potential for progress. In its hand lay the future of the world. In the imperial age, few European historians, even those opposed to imperialism, doubted that the colonies would be ruled for a long time, perhaps indefinitely, by Europe.

In the fall of 1972, the federal government enacted significant, landmark legislation providing for the automatic sharing of a portion of national income taxes with state and local governments throughout the country. Gen eral revenue sharing represents a very different approach to federal financial assistance. There are no applications re quired ; all units of general government automatically re ceive funds based on a known formula; and funds are utilized in accordance with local needs and priorities without the requirement of complex and expensive adminis tration at any level of government. The program is adminis tered by the Treasury Department's Office of Revenue Sharing.