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This article traces the approach of moderate southern Senators toward domestic hunger and welfare in the late 1960s and the 1970s. Often overlooked in scholarly accounts, these Senators formed a significant minority of the southern delegation. Their behavior demonstrates both the continued possibilities of a more inclusive southern politics after the mid-1960s and the importance of moderate southerners to the Food Stamp Program's major expansion in the years after 1964. At the same time, however, these politicians opposed guaranteed-income schemes and endorsed “workfare” measures promoted by more conservative southerners that conditioned aid on participation in low-wage employment.

The outpouring of radiation during an X-ray burst can affect the properties of accretion discs around neutron stars: the corona can cool and collapse, the inner regions can be bled away due to enhanced accretion, and the additional heating will lead to changes in the disc height. In this paper, we investigate whether radiation from bursts can cause the disc to distort through a warping instability. Working in the limit of isotropic viscosity and linear growth, we find that bursts are more likely to drive disc warps when they have larger luminosities and longer durations. Therefore, warps will be most probable during intermediate duration bursts (IMDBs) and superbursts with evidence for photospheric radius expansion. Further, the development of warps depends on the disc viscosity with larger values of $\alpha$ increasing the likelihood of warp growth. We perform time-dependent evolution calculations of the development of warps during Type I bursts and IMDBs. Depending on the initial warp prior to the burst, we find the burst produces warps at $r$, Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures, accepted by MNRAS. Movies of calculations available at this https://www.ballantyne.physics.gatech.edu/movies-from-radiation-driven-warping-of-accretion-discs-due-to-x-ray-bursts/

The concept of ‘terroir’ has roots steeped in French history of wine and evocative stories of the land. Today terroir is important as a quality marker in brand management for upmarket wines. French wines have benefited from their historical connotation with terroir but other wine growing countries have also adopted the term to mean characteristics in wine attributable to place of origin. However there is no universally accepted definition of terroir except to say it refers to a particular place. This paper addresses this ambiguity by seeking the practice-based views of three experienced non-French winemakers. This reveals a social dimension to terroir that in various degrees supports and extends both the technical/scientific progress and brand value for premium wines in both Old and New World regions. This article contributes to the growing body of research that seeks to understand the practicality of terroir as a marketing and brand value indicator.

Purpose The emergence of new social media is shifting the market place for business towards virtual market space. In the light of the emerging digital space for new forms of marketing, the traditional servicescape concept is critically examined. This paper aims to show why servicescape concepts and attitudes need to be adapted for digital media. Design/methodology/approach First, the authors explain how the traditional servicescape concept adds meaning to a service provider’s value-proposition by modifying customer expectations and customer experience. Second, recognising that the environment for service is no longer bound to a physical place, the authors discuss the implications of the epistemic shift involved. Findings The authors’ examination shows that digital service space challenges traditional concepts about what constitutes a customer experience and derived value. The authors conceptually “zoom out” into a virtual service eco-system and show with exemplar examples why the servicescape in digital space is more socially embedded and necessarily more fluid in its time-space design. In the more advanced sites, interactions between various artificial bodies (avatars) are co-created by controlling off-line participant-actors; yet, these participant-actors remain strangers to each other at an off-line level. This is entirely a new and radical development of old times. Research limitations/implications The research findings are based on scholarly research of the relevant literature, from practitioner reports, and evidence emerging from the examination of many digital web-sites. It has not been the authors’ intention to objectively represent current servicescape functionalities but more to indicate the major directions of change with exemplar examples. The future cannot be predicted, but their interpretive conclusions suggest major challenges in service marketing and management logic ahead. New forms of digital servicescape are still being created as technology and service imagination enables, so further research interest in virtual atmospherics can be expected. Practical implications Social media platforms are enabling organisations to learn more about their customers and also to engage them more. In these changing times, bricks and mortar stores would be well advised to review their servicescape presence to allow and encourage engagement with the more involved consumers. And, by integrating their digital space into their physical place, bricks and mortar stores might take on more relationship oriented process-like characteristics, both in the digital space and in their physical places, with developments on one platform leading to possible service innovations on the other. Social implications The digital era is changing consumer behaviour. Service managers need to take into account that many customers are already equally as engaged with digital-space social networks as they once were with bricks and mortar stores. The more time consumers as participant-actors spend in social networks, the decision on what and where to buy is decided by interactions with friends and other influencers. Originality/value New forms of digital servicescape are being created as technology and service imagination enables. Further scholarly research interest in virtual atmospherics can be expected, impacting on the authors’ sense of place, and self-identity.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to extend understanding of the sense of place captured by the servicescape concept, as a means by which customers clarify their service expectations and their satisfaction with service experiences. Design/methodology/approach – The design is conceptual. This article critically examines and extends the servicescape concept in the light of insights from the service-dominant (S-D) logic. Findings – First, we explain how servicescape adds meaning to a service provider’s value proposition, part of a pattern of customer expectations which are later confirmed or disconfirmed as value-in-use. Second, the servicescape is a more socially imbued context than has previously been recognized, because the service experience is co-created by customer and service provider. Third, the context for service is not restricted to the traditional physical servicescape, as other more fluid and web-based settings are now common. Practical implications – Extending the understanding of place as a context for value determination in new ways. Originality/value – The literature on servicescape is extensive, but it is anchored to the physicality of the service environment. Given the rise of the Internet and, more recently, digital social media as a virtual “place” of business, the relevance of servicescape is due for critical review. Our critical examination adds to the experience value of service and also extends the S-D logic understanding of value-in-use.

The aim of this study is to explore how relational gatekeepers facilitate the development of relationships between out-group members and in-group members in an intercultural business environment, and to bring to the surface the inter-cultural and inter-networked nuances of guanxi. Based on interviews with managers from China and New Zealand, the workings of Chinese–Western business relationships and the roles of relational gatekeepers are explored. Empirical findings reveal three key gatekeeping roles, namely reciprocal, adaptive and symbolic, used for enabling the development of intercultural business relationships. We offer a structural hole explanation of intercultural gatekeeping in a seemingly contradictory and irreconcilable inter-networked environment. Our study also provides strategic implications of intercultural gatekeeping for foreign outsiders and recommends practical approaches for reaching the decision makers and resource integrators in jealously protected local business networks.

PurposeThis article aims to identify critical aspects of Chinese‐Western intercultural guanxi relationships that have largely been ignored as a domain for study in international business and industrial marketing, and to suggest a way forward.Design/methodology/approachA theme analysis across a range of academic and business journal articles is undertaken to capture major themes involving China‐focused research that relates to international business and industrial marketing, and also to locate critical themes that may have been overlooked.FindingsIntercultural interaction at a personal level is both unavoidable and critical for successfully doing business with China. This study introduces the term guanxi gateway ties to highlight a special class of facilitating relationships that can emerge through interactions between guanxi insiders and guanxi outsiders. Insiders and outsiders can meet and work together in this middle‐cultural territory for the instrumental purpose of obtaining passage through the “gateway”.Research limitations/implicationsInevitably some journal articles of interest may have been missed in the review due to the chosen scanning boundary. Nevertheless the search method provides a sufficient base to reveal recurrent research themes, and also overlooked themes of potential significance.Practical implicationsGuanxi gateway ties assist companies and individual business actors to find a path through the cumbersome Chinese bureaucracy and hierarchical levels by activating personal relationships.Originality/valueThis study reveals a commonly overlooked perspective of guanxi, that is, as a facilitator of culture‐bridging ties. The conventional business perspective of guanxi can be viewed as evolving from a gated community into an intercultural facilitating mechanism.

This article will argue that, despite customer-centric intent, marketing theory remains trapped in a firm-centric paradigm. How this apparent contradiction has endured is discussed critically with reference to what we see as four influential marketing perspectives. These perspectives are the 4Ps marketing mix, market-based assets, relationship marketing, and customer equity. Apart from the 4Ps mix, these marketing perspectives are seldom recognized as problematic. We argue that the firm-centric approach to value creation embedded in these four influential frameworks overwhelms marketing’s customer-centric intent. We also address the question, ‘can (or indeed should) marketing management be customer-centric?’ Our conclusion is that new directions of inquiry are needed, and we offer suggestions that might allow marketing the means to break free from its enduring, firm-centric paradigmatic trap

The aim of this article is to examine the concept and functioning of value propositions, seen through a service-dominant logic (S-D) lens. The variety of perspectives used to understand value propositions are examined, from unidirectional communication of value to reciprocal promises of value. The concept of reciprocal value propositions is examined in the light of S-D logic's fundamental premises. Examples are included to show how reciprocal value propositions can be used to initiate and guide resource integration activities between initiators and participants across a range of stakeholders of the firm. Some ‘taken for granted’ assumptions about market exchange are examined which act as a constraint on innovation in developing reciprocal value propositions, and more generally, stand in the way of innovative marketing practice. We also argue that reciprocal value propositions reveal opportunities for focal firm engagement with suppliers, customers, and other beneficiaries beyond sale/purchase transactions, as part of a platform for communicative interaction. In summary, we position reciprocal value propositions as a communication practice that brings exchange activities, relationship development, and knowledge renewal closer together.

The 3rd Suzaku international Conference "Energetic Cosmos : from Suzaku to ASTRO-H" (June 29-July 2, 2009. Grand Park Otaru Hotel), Otaru, Hokkaido Japan, Over recent years, Suzaku and XMM-Newton observations of neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries have uncovered broad, asymmetric Fe K emission lines in these sources. It is believed that the lines arise from irradiation of the innermost accretion disk. Thus, the line profile is skewed by relativistic effects present there, leading to a measure of the inner disk radius. We summarize our comprehensive analysis of the spectra from 10 neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries here. We not only fit simple phenomenological models to the spectra, but also a more self-consistent approach using a reflection model wherein a blackbody provides the irradiating flux. Such a model is appropriate for these sources where a blackbody dominates the spectrum from around 8 - 20 keV. A realistic geometry for this reflection would involve the boundary layer (the assumed source of blackbody-like emission) irradiating the inner disk. From our modeling, we only find a small range in inner disk radius (6 - 15 GM/c(exp 2) in the majority of cases), and find no obvious trend with luminosity. One particularly interesting source is the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658. The Fe K emission line in this source allows us to estimate the magnetic field strength in this system to be approximately 3 x 10(exp 8) G, broadly consistent with previous independent estimates., Meeting sponsors: The University of Tokyo, The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 資料番号: AA0064574092, レポート番号: JAXA-SP-09-008E

Three paradoxes have been revealed in the study of business networks by Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) researchers. These are: seeking opportunities and then facing limitations, influencing others and yet being influenced in turn, and controlling and yet being out of control in network situations. These paradoxes have previously received little critical evaluation. This article investigates these paradoxes through in depth interviews with twenty-two business managers in Chinese–Western intercultural relationships. Three specific dilemmas relating to the fundamental Chinese cultural principle of guanxi are revealed. These dilemmas are: dilemmas between strong personal ties (guanxi) and weak personal ties, dilemmas between previous understandings and new learning of guanxi ties, and conflicting obligations between inner and outer circles of guanxi networks. These guanxi dilemmas occur in emerging Chinese–Western intercultural networks, irrespective of the specific cultural variations, contractual constraints, or corporate policies applying. This paper identifies a need for more acute study of guanxi cultural norms and their behavioral consequences in emerging Chinese–Western intercultural relationships, given the rise of China in the global economy.

The metabolism of the apolipoproteins of very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) was studied in three subjects with primary type V hyperlipoproteinaemia (HLP) after injection of autologous 125I-labelled VLDL of Sf 100–400. The fractional disappearance rate of total radioactivity was stable during the two-week period of study. Transfer of apolipoprotein C (apo-C) from VLDL to high density lipoprotein (HDL) occurred both in vivo and in vitro upon mixing the labelled VLDL preparation with serum and significant amounts of 125I-labelled apoli-poprotein B (apo-B) and apo-C were recovered in the chylomicron fraction (Sf >400) in both situations. The time-courses of the disappearance of specific activity from VLDL (Sf 20–400) and its appearance in low density lipoprotein (LDL) are consistent with apo-B in VLDL (VLDL-B) being the precursor of that in LDL. In comparison to studies in which the whole VLDL class (Sf 20–400) was labelled, the rate of synthesis of VLDL-B was slightly decreased and the fractional rates of catabolism (FCRs) of apo-B in VLDL and in the whole spectrum of VLDL+chylomicrons were markedly depressed. In turn, the rate of formation of LDL was low, and its FCR was probably slightly decreased. The findings are consistent with the belief that in these three subjects the type V HLP is to a great extent due to impaired rates of formation and breakdown of apo-B in VLDL. They do not exclude the possibility that the disorder is also caused by an increased rate of formation of chylomicrons.

The marketing significance of consumer and business relationships was reclaimed in the 1990s when relationship marketing came into its own as a field of marketing inquiry. This article contributes to the current debate about the scope of relationship marketing and especially the meaning of network relationships. This question is discussed in a business to business context, using the network approach of the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) group as a lens. We critique three relationship ‘paradoxes’ (Håkansson and Ford, 2002) which appear to place limits on managerial action in networks. These paradoxes are considered from alternative viewpoints in order to attempt a resolution to the logical conundrum they present. We conclude that Håkansson and Ford's paradoxes indeed signal a range of constraints on managerial independence but the situation is far from paradoxical. We offer suggestions for cognitive mapping of relationships within the knowable network at the level of the firm and call for an ontological shift in understanding firm-level strategies in the network context.

According to Vargo and Lusch (Journal of Marketing, 68:1–17, 2004a, Journal of Service Research, 6:324–335, b), service is the appropriate logic for marketing. For them, service is an interactive process of “doing something for someone” that is valued. More radically, goods also render service and have value-in-use. In this context service becomes the unifying purpose of any business relationship. This marketing world-view involves broadening and reframing what by convention counts as service and stands in opposition to 200 years of mainstream economic logic in explaining productive capacity. In our view they have succeeded in applying their scholarly thinking to old themes with synergistic results. Their thesis challenges marketing orthodoxy, and will in our view support much future innovation in both theoretical and practical terms.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore how the service‐dominant (S‐D) logic of marketing proposed by Vargo and Lusch impacts on business‐to‐business branding concepts and practice.Design/methodology/approachVargo and Lusch argue that service interaction comes from goods‐in‐use as well as from interactions between a buyer and a supplier. Their key concepts are examined and the branding literature critically compared.FindingsGoods become service appliances. Buyer judgments about the value‐in‐use of goods extends the time‐logic of marketing. The exchange concept is no longer transaction bound. Service‐ability (the capability to serve) becomes the essence of a firm's value propositions. Service experience becomes paramount in developing and sustaining the life of a brand.Research limitations/implicationsS‐D logic highlights the need for rigour and clarity in the use of the term “brand”. It also opens up for consideration a variety of previously unexplored contact points in the customer service cycle, expanded to include customer assessments of value‐in‐use.Practical implicationsS‐D logic encourages extending brand strategies into a wider variety of communicative interaction modes.Originality/valueSome of the issues raised are not new but currently compete for attention in the shadow of media‐dominant approaches to branding.

This article elaborates and extends the Vargo and Lusch (2004a) service-dominant (S-D) logic thesis. Three linked exchange-enablers and their potential for improving value-in-use are discussed: first, relationships to give structural support for the creation and application of knowledge resources (relating); second, communicative interaction to develop these relationships (communicating); and third, the knowledge needed to improve the customer's service experience (knowing). These activities are integrated within an augmented S-D exchange model, and the implications for co-creating value are discussed. Finally, the argument is put that a customer's value-in-use begins with the enactment of value propositions, and the development of reciprocal value propositions is discussed in the context of the notion of sustainable betterment.

Radical reformulation of marketing thought is not new and arguably is part of the dynamic tension just under the surface calm of any discipline. However, not since the ‘breaking free’ of services marketing from goods marketing (Shostack, 1977) has a new reconfiguration of service logic attracted so much interest so quickly. The catalyst for this interest has been the publication of an award-winning article by Stephen Vargo and Robert Lusch in the Journal of Marketing (2004a) entitled ‘Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing’. This was followed soon after by an article by the same authors in the Journal of Service Research (2004b), directly challenging the validity of the characteristic differentiators between services and goods (intangibility, heterogeneity, inseparability and perishability). Of particular note is that these differentiators have been a matter of common agreement within the services marketing discipline since the early 1980s (Fisk et al., 1993). Concurrent with these publications, a special interest panel session on the service-dominant logic of marketing (S-D logic) was held at the American Marketing Association (AMA) Summer Conference in 2004. In Europe, a panel

SUMMARY Our aim in this article is to challenge relationship marketing's hidden monological assumptions, and as a redress, position dialogical interaction at its core. First, we reflect on the common sense of ‘marketing communication’. Next, we clarify the concept of ‘dialogue’. We then comment on the concept of dialogue in markets, building on Karl Popper's idea of an open society, followed by scrutiny of general marketing practice to show that such dialogue is absent. We then consider the potential for marketing to be dialogical in nature. To do this we will make a necessary distinction between informational interaction, communicational interaction, and dialogical interaction. Finally, we draw the conclusion that dialogue is not so much a method of communication but an orientation to it, and consider some implications for marketing theory and practice.

PurposeTo locate the underlying service logic of each of three leading texts and to examine points of variance.Design/methodology/approachA critical review and comparative analysis of the main tenets of each text.FindingsEach text combines a service perspective and a relationship perspective to marketing management. Each author seems to favour a service perspective on some issues but at other times a relationship perspective. This apparent epistemological pluralism is resolvable and a pathway to synthesis suggested.Practical implicationsWhat stands out in a critical reading of these texts is the provocation offered to readers to go beyond the limits of services marketing orthodoxy. In this there are implications for pedagogical development.Originality/valueGives insights into the current debate on development of a more broadly based service‐dominant logic of marketing.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the development, extension and use of the “six markets” model and to outline a framework for analysing stakeholder relationships and planning stakeholder strategy.Design/methodology/approachThe “six markets” stakeholder model is examined. Refinement of the model and improved understanding as a result of field‐based research is described. A stakeholder relationship planning framework is proposed.FindingsThe paper examines the use of the “six markets” model in a wide range of organisational contexts utilizing a range of research approaches. A stakeholder relationship planning model is developed consisting of four inter‐related elements, i.e. stakeholder value propositions, value delivery design, stakeholder relationship marketing plans, and measurement and feedback.Research limitations/implicationsThe article suggests a number of areas for future research, including the development of planning approaches for different classes of stakeholders and more detailed testing of the stakeholder model and planning framework in specific market sectors.Practical implicationsThe research suggests that managers find that the development and implementation of relationship plans for the key stakeholder markets generates valuable new knowledge and insights into stakeholder conditions, constraints and opportunities.Originality/valueThis article contributes to knowledge in the relationship marketing and stakeholder theory areas through the development, refinement and use of a planning model that addresses the complexity of stakeholder relationships and networks. The stakeholder planning approach that is developed represents a means by which managers can achieve greater transparency of stakeholders' interests and improved rigour in planning relationships with stakeholders.

The purpose of this article is to provide an understanding of the methodology of action research, especially its use in a marketing context. A retrospective account of a market‐oriented action research project in which the author was involved is provided in the form of a summative evaluation of the methodology used. The status of research claims for action research in scholarly publications is discussed and found to be problematic. A hermeneutic case research pathway is recommended as a solution. Links between action research as methodology and internal marketing as strategy are made. A conclusion is reached that the basis of market‐oriented action research is “knowledge renewal”. This is achieved through an iterative process of action and learning, facilitated by the relationships formed between those involved.

In this article, dialogue is explored as an interactive process of learning together. This process is often spontaneous and unruly but bounded by a serious intent to reach mutual understanding. Also, the concept of relationship specific knowledge is introduced to explain how trust between business counterparts develops through dialogue in iterative cycles of learning. Dialogue also brings opportunities for generating new business knowledge, within the firm and between firms, in the form of creative solutions to marketing and supply problems. In this way, mutual value in buyer‐supplier exchanges is enhanced.

This article explores the structural relationships through which internal marketing can create value for an organisation, its customers and its employees. It is argued that internal marketing requires a relationship‐mediated approach, where planned phases of learning activity in volunteer groups generate new internally valid knowledge critical to the improvement of external market performance. Thus internal marketing is defined as a relationship development strategy for the purpose of knowledge renewal. First, the author presents a typology of knowledge exchange patterns within organisations on which internal marketing is based. Second, a four‐phase internal marketing process grounded in case research is presented. Next, the structure of relationship development for internal marketing is described, one which mediates knowledge transfer between the individuals involved and to their organisation as a whole. Finally, the paper offers five propositional statements in support of a relationship‐mediated theory of internal marketing.

Relationship marketing has taken off over the past 10 years with a burst of vigour. Were relationships staring marketers in the face and were we too preoccupied to see them? We begin with a short historical perspective on the origins of relationship marketing. A discussion on future directions and theory development based around the concept of value exchange follows. A `view from the edge' of chaos is then offered. We conclude that marketing as a discipline is forever changed.

A retail banking case study published in this journal ten years ago described a method for inviting staff involvement in customer service improvement. In this article, the author has reinterpreted the case as an archetypal example of internal marketing for generating and circulating staff knowledge through a network of voluntary internal relationships. First, a typology for making sense of conflicting concepts in the internal marketing literature is provided. Second, the author returns to the case data to suggest an integrated theoretical framework for internal marketing that links the parallel but distinctive traditions of relationship marketing and the markets‐as‐networks approach of the International Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) Group. Third, internal marketing is defined as a relationship development strategy for the purpose of knowledge renewal. Finally, the implications for management are examined.

This paper is a report on a longitudinal case study of internal marketing as a relationship development process. The activity is observed and interpreted as a relationship development process in a large retail bank. Dominant modes emerge which are described as energising, code breaking and border crossing. These activities are seen to be facilitated by the sharing of knowledge through a network of voluntary internal staff relationships. The characteristics of internal networks for internal marketing are then examined. This shows both the strength and the vulnerability of internal network organisation to other legitimate agendas within the host organisation.

In recent years we have seen a radical shift in management thinking. Interest in service quality improvement, which had some early and superficial expression as customer care, is being refuelled by a number of problem‐solving techniques (with origins in total quality management) and broad‐based staff involvement with those techniques (with origins in participative management). These practices are not new but they are now often fused together in one integrated service quality programme. Every industry is now potentially a “service” industry. Every company has the opportunity to design and market its own unique set of service quality solutions to meet customer requirements. This demands practical approaches to monitoring service quality and diagnostic approaches to problem‐solving on an on‐going relationship marketing basis. This article puts a new emphasis on the meaning of internal marketing and brings to the fore and examines the linkages between services marketing and quality management, especially serv...

The meaning of quality is changing. The traditional production based concept of 'conformance to specifications' is at last giving way to the services marketing concept of customer perceived quality. Furthermore, a new view of service quality management is emerging, as a cross-functional issue, which impacts on internal marketing activities across a broad range of a company's endeavours, as well as the total relationship between the firm, its staff and its customers, suppliers and other key markets, on an ongoing basis. Unless management bring these activities together with new forms of collaboration and coordination, there can in our view be no market-orientated quality improvement and therefore no sustainable competitive advantage. This paper describes what goes wrong in company-wide service quality initiatives and why some apparently positive and logical actions turn out to be prescriptions for failure.

The purpose of this paper is to offer customer relationship insights in what is a fast developing new e-commerce development strategy. We examine the potential synergies between digital social networks (DSN) and e-commerce websites, thus bringing e-commerce and DSN websites into the same relational network orbit. A Delphi dialogical survey among ten DSN experts was arranged (five academics plus five web designers) to draw out from experts the degree of consensus currently existing between them on the strategies, competencies and resources needed for achieving effective DSN-website links. Our literature review allowed us to develop seven key themes, which were presented to our 10 DSN experts. Their evaluations were then obtained on a series of propositions within each of those themes, using a Delphi iterative review process. Convergence of expert opinion (and hence consensus) on each of these propositions emerged across four themes out of the seven presented. Results reveal the importance of firms obtaining good DSN technical expertise. Competencies of an ideal technical expert are defined but opinion diverged on how to find such skilled people in the short term. Thus a necessary but interim step in many firms may be the creation of dual roles for technical expertise and a network community (service) management. We conclude that our findings raise further questions for discussion; nonetheless it is clear that SME organizations can just as easily as large corporate enterprises outsource the development of the technical expertise necessary for the creation of effective DSN-ecommerce relationship links.

We investigate the short-term variability properties and the power spectral density (PSD) of the Broad-Line Radio Galaxy (BLRG) 3C 390.3 using observations made by XMM, RXTE, and Suzaku on several occasions between October 2004 and December 2006. The main aim of this work is to derive model-independent constraints on the origin of the X-ray emission and on the nature of the central engine in 3C 390.3. On timescales of the order of few hours, probed by uninterrupted XMM light curves, the flux of 3C 390.3 is consistent with being constant in all energy bands. On longer timescales, probed by the 2-day RXTE and Suzaku observations, the flux variability becomes significant. The latter observation confirms that the spectral variability behavior of 3C 390.3 is consistent with the spectral evolution observed in radio-quiet Seyfert galaxies: the spectrum softens as the source brightens. The correlated variability between soft and hard X-rays, observed during the Suzaku exposure and between the 2 XMM pointings, taken 1 week apart, argues against scenarios characterized by the presence of two distinct variable components in the 0.5-10 keV X-ray band. A detailed PSD analysis carried out over five decades in frequency suggests the presence of a break at T_br~43 days at a 92% confidence level. This is the second tentative detection of a PSD break in a radio-loud, non-jet dominated AGN, after the BLRG 3C120, and appears to be in general agreement with the relation between T_br, M_BH, and L_bol, followed by Seyfert galaxies. Our results indicate that the X-ray variability properties of 3C 390.3 are broadly consistent with those of radio-quiet AGN, suggesting that the X-ray emission mechanism in 3C 390.3 is similar to that of nearby Seyfert galaxies without any significant contribution from a jet component., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

Outlines, briefly, the history of the ANZ Bank in Australia and the changing nature of banking. Describes the “people oriented” issues which carried the change process forward when, with the support and encouragement of top management, the Bank began its “Customer Care” programme with an intentional focus on “trouble‐shooting”, customer service improvement and influencing changes in management‐staff relations. Asserts that if people become knowledgeable and work within the system, they can contribute to quality improvement by acting on this knowledge and participating in the changes that affect their work life.

Making judgments about marketing opportunities in the 1990s needs a flexible view, with the emphasis on relationship building. Yet few companies really understand their customers. To make matters worse, even when good research is available, many companies are defeated by the task of converting that research into design plans, or diagnostic work on service defects. To do this means coming to grips with service intangibles. Some of the quality management techniques involved, and the implications for “internal marketing”, are outlined.

In the drive for total quality, the interdependence of staff motivation, performance measurement, and rewards will be stressed. Turning the wheel of quality improvement – continuously – involves designing a good fit for these elements within the change processes and, more, reassessing the historic role of managers in the planning, organising and controlling processes.