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Understanding athletes’ attitudes to doping continues to be of interest for its potential to contribute to an international anti-doping system. However, little is known about the relationship between elite athletes’ attitudes to drug use and potential explanatory factors, including achievement goals and the motivational climate. In addition, despite specific World Anti-Doping Agency Code relating to team sport athletes, little is known about whether sport type (team or individual) is a risk or protective factor in relation to doping. Elite athletes from Scotland (N = 177) completed a survey examining attitudes to performance-enhancing drug (PED) use, achievement goal orientations and perceived motivational climate. Athletes were generally against doping for performance enhancement. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that task and ego goals and mastery motivational climate were predictors of attitudes to PED use (F(4, 171) = 15.81,P < .01). Compared with individual athletes, team athletes were significantly lower in attitude to PED use and ego orientation scores and significantly higher in perceptions of a mastery motivational climate (Wilks’ lambda = .76,F = 10.89 (5, 170),P < .01). The study provides insight into how individual and situational factors may act as protective and risk factors in doping in sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We contrast attempts to introduce what were seen as sophisticated Western-style human resource management (HRM) systems into two Russian oil companies – a joint venture with a Western multinational corporation (TNK-BP) and a wholly Russian-owned company (Yukos). The drivers for Western hegemony within the joint venture, heavily influenced by expatriates and the established HRM processes introduced by the Western parent, were counteracted to a significant degree by the Russian spetsifika – the peculiarly Russian way of thinking and doing things. In contrast, developments were absorbed faster in the more authoritarian Russian-owned company. The research adds to the theoretical debate about international knowledge transfer and provides detailed empirical data to support our understanding of the effect of both organizational and cultural context on the knowledge-transfer mechanisms of local and multinational companies. As the analysis is based on the perspective of senior local nationals, we also address a relatively under-researched area in the international HRM literature which mostly relies on empirical data collected from expatriates and those based solely in multinational headquarters. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article uses case research to explore the success and subsequent failure of the Russian oil company Yukos, using the dual lenses of the resource-based view and institutional theory. Yukos' failure resulted from a combination of factors linked to the internal capabilities of the organization, its external environment and the leadership of its Chief Executive Officer. The organization failed to develop the dynamic capabilities to sense and shape opportunities and threats in the changing institutional environment. It lacked political competences and failed to pursue non-market strategies. Ultimately, it failed to co-evolve with its institutional environment, resulting in poor organizational and environmental fit, and lack of legitimacy, due to the non-congruence of its organizational values with its organizational context. Yukos' transformation into the leading Russian oil company in terms of financial and market indicators blinded it to the fact that such criteria were no longer key for survival in a changing institutional environment. Hence, the implication for managers is that to focus purely on what currently represents financial and operational success may be an unwise strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current literature indicates that an in vitro release test (IVRT) can serve as a research tool during the course of developing topical formulations. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate the ability of an IVRT to select the topical semisolid formulations with the most rapid release rate of the model drug ketoprofen from two closely related hydrogels in a simulated product development process. Two glycols with distinct differences in their physical–chemical properties, Transcutol P (ethoxydiglycol) and propylene glycol, were incorporated into Carbopol 980 and Poloxamer 407 formulations. The release rate of ketoprofen was determined utilizing different receptor media and conditions, i.e., phosphate buffer pH 7.4, isopropyl myristate (IPM), and a combination of an IPM soaked membrane and phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) as receptor fluid. The results indicated that the conditions chosen could affect greatly the conclusions concerning the formulations. The only observable trend was that Transcutol P-containing formulations tended to permit a faster ketoprofen release than propylene glycol-containing formulations when utilizing IPM as a receptor component. This was attributed to the mutual miscibility of Transcutol P in IPM. It can be concluded that, for the purpose of formulation screening in the early phases of product development, an IVRT will only be useful for predicting the amount of drug available for absorption if the receptor medium has properties that closely mimic human skin. These results illustrate the importance of selecting suitable receptor components and indicate that it may be necessary to consider alternatives to the commonly used synthetic membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various papers published within the issue including two organizational case studies of firms in Argentina, one on the Russian oil industry and another on the differences in the strategic choices of firms in eastern and western China.