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The marketization of the Swedish school system in the early 1990's has led to an increased social segregation and organizational and pedagogical diversification, in terms of profiling, of Swedish schools. These differences are growing more visible and important for the teachers' labour market since the teachers synchronise and incorporate professional dispositions and skills of only local validity and therefore only work in limited sectors of the school market. Thus, what seems like an extension of possibilities, through more diverse options, has transformed into a narrower and possibly more segregated labour market.

PurposeIt is widely acknowledged that aspects of sustainable development (SD) should be integrated into higher level operations management (OM) education. The aim of the paper is to outline the experiences gained at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden from integrating aspects of SD into OM courses.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on the authors' experiences from teaching at Chalmers University of Technology, and the integration of SD into OM courses. The paper thus relies on an action research approach, similar in many ways to other papers in the field.FindingsThe paper outlines several similarities between the fields of SD and OM. Although the results show that several challenges must be overcome when integrating the fields in courses. The challenges – that are scrutinized through the use of existing literature – relate to the scope differences between the fields, lack of SD aspects in OM text books, and misfit between needs and teacher competence, support, and course structures.Originality/valueThe paper adds understanding by specifically addressing the integration of SD into OM courses. Universities and teachers within the field can consider the challenges outlined when integrating the two fields in courses.

Youssef Chatani, Dissension among Allies: Ernest Bevin's Palestine Policy between Whitehall and the White House, 1945–1947 (London: Saqi Books, 2002), 156 pp., £25.00 (hb), ISBN 0–86356–999.Moshe Gat, Britain and the Conflict in the Middle East, 1964–1967: The Coming of the Six-Day War (London: Praeger, 2003), 216 pp., £39.99 (hb), ISBN 0–27597–514–2.Keith Kyle, Suez: Britain's End of Empire in the Middle East, 2nd edn (London: I. B. Tauris, 2003), 684 pp., £19.95 (pb), ISBN 1–86064–811–8.Robert McNamara, Britain, Nasser and the Balance of Power in the Middle East 1952–1967: From the Egyptian Revolution to the Six Day War (London: Frank Cass, 2003), 308 pp., £65.00 (hb), ISBN 0–71465–397–7.Jonathan Pearson, Sir Anthony Eden and the Suez Crisis: Reluctant Gamble (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), 252 pp., £52.50 (hb), ISBN 0–33398–451–X.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate effects of platforms on new product development (NPD) projects. Emphasis has been put on the following effect categories: project performance, process changes, and the use of performance measurements.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on data collected in a survey of Swedish manufacturing firms. The survey collected data on platform characteristics and NPD characteristics. This paper reports correlations and regression analyses of the different variables.FindingsThe application of a platform strategy leads to a significant increase of component commonality on the product program level. However, it was observed that firms still have problems with sticking to project budgets in terms of cost and lead‐time restrictions. Moreover, platform implementation often involves significant process adaptations. Finally, it showed that firms are hardly applying measurements to follow up on their platform‐related activities.Research limitations/implicationsIt appears that predictions made in current literature regarding platform effects are not generally valid for all firms. Therefore, this study indicates that there may be contingencies affecting the applicability of a platform strategy for specific firms.Practical implicationsOwing to potential contingencies affecting the applicability of platforms, firms have to carefully consider if a platform strategy is promising in their specific situation. Moreover, product platform implementation does not only demand an adaptation of product structures but also involves significant process adaptations.Originality/valueBy statistically testing effects of platforms on product development performance, the tendency of the current literature towards case‐based research is overcome. Hereby, the findings of current literature are challenged in terms of their generalizability.