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Brand trackers have lost their credibility — they lack relevance, do not provide actionable insights, and can be problematic in terms of governance. The reason for this is simple: they are being used to the wrong ends. Brand trackers are tools for management, not for conducting research studies. They should function as a radar to detect competitive action in the marketplace so that executives can identify and solve issues before they become a problem. This paper proposes five measures to address this issue: (1) aligning the tracker with brand strategy; (2) measuring the content of topical creatives and events; (3) assessing the composition, effectiveness and efficiency of marketing mix touch points; (4) making the tracker adaptive and modular; and (5) mashing it up with the voice of the customer.

Achieving nature conservation goals require grappling with ‘wicked’ problems. These intractable problems arise from the complexity and dynamism of the social–ecological systems in which they are embedded. To enhance their ability to address these problems, conservation professionals are increasingly looking to the transdisciplines of systems thinking and evaluation, which provide philosophies, theories, methods, tools and approaches that show promise for addressing intractable problems in a variety of other sectors. These transdisciplines come together especially around praxis, i.e., the process by which a theory or idea is enacted, embodied or realized. We present a review and synthesis of the learnings about praxis that have emerged from The Silwood Group, a consortium of conservation professionals, professional evaluators, and complexity and systems thinkers. The Silwood Group believes that for conservation activities to achieve ambitious goals, we should benefit nature without compromising the well-being of people, and that framing a praxis for conservation in the context of social–ecological systems will provide the greatest potential for positive impact. The learnings are presented as four key principles of a ‘praxis for effective conservation’. The four principles are: (1) attend to the whole with humility; (2) engage constructively with the values, cultures, politics, and histories of stakeholders; (3) learn through evaluative, systemic enquiry, and (4) exercise wisdom in judgement and action. We also provide descriptions and references for tools and methods to support such praxis and discuss how the thinking and approaches used by conservation professionals can be transformed to achieve greater effectiveness.

In the recent methodological literature, various models have been proposed to account for the phenomenon that reversed items (defined as items for which respondents' scores have to be recoded in order to make the direction of keying consistent across all items) tend to lead to problematic responses. In this article we propose an integrative conceptualization of three important sources of reversed item method bias (acquiescence, careless responding, and confirmation bias) and specify a multisample confirmatory factor analysis model with 2 method factors to empirically test the hypothesized mechanisms, using explicit measures of acquiescence and carelessness and experimentally manipulated versions of a questionnaire that varies 3 item arrangements and the keying direction of the first item measuring the focal construct. We explain the mechanisms, review prior attempts to model reversed item bias, present our new model, and apply it to responses to a 4-item self-esteem scale (N = 306) and the 6-item Revised Life Orientation Test (N = 595). Based on the literature review and the empirical results, we formulate recommendations on how to use reversed items in questionnaires.

Integrating or infusing topics across a teacher preparation program is often seen as being desirable. This article describes an evaluation process that was used to assess the degree to which all core courses in an initial teacher preparation program integrated special education, technology, and issues of cultural diversity into a general education curriculum. The participatory utilization-focused evaluation process is described in detail. This process allowed the faculty to become more focused and purposeful about their work, safely examine their instructional content and practices, clarify the program across multiple sections of courses, and use the evaluation as a springboard for conversations about program foundations and philosophical debates.

Mergers and other change events dramatically transform organizational life, often altering an organization’s essential nature—its identity. In an effort to more effectively manage the change process, it is important to understand the impact of change and those aspects that, ifchanged, put the organization’s identity at greatest peril. This study qualitatively explored these issues by examining the content of identity and the effects of change in a commercial aviation company that was undergoing a merger. Drawing upon Albert and Whetten’s definition of organizational identity, a model of organizational attributes emerged that consisted of core attributes and application attributes. The data illustrate that the organization’s core attributes—its central purpose and distinctive philosophy—constitute organizational identity. The second category of application attributes—priorities, practices, and projections—have varying degrees of fluidity and may be altered without losing the central, distinctive, and enduring essence of the organization. The article concludes with propositions for future research.

Both cost and storage capacity breakthroughs are achieved by combining optical servo with magnetic data-recording techniques. The technology, allowing increased capacity, is commercially practical due to the use of low-cost components similar to those developed for compact-disk (CD) technology combined with existing flexible-disk drive technologies and hardware. This combination in a flexible disk drive has been called Floptical and results in a drive capable of storing over ten times the data now stored on a standard high density floppy disk. >