Acknowledgements Any book is the outcome of the work of a number of people,not solely the author.This one is no different,so I would like to thank those col leagues who have played an important hand in helping me produce it. First I'm grateful to Ros Doig,my former research assistant,and to Fiona Lennon for her assistance in preparing the review questions and other material for the book.I would like to thank Edinburgh Business School at Heriot Watt University for giving me permission to use the material in this book,which was initially written for their distance learning course programme.Alex Scott,the Deputy Director,was a particularly helpful and insightful critical reader,and good supporter of this project,whilst Charlie Ritchie was an excellent proofreader. along with the staff at CapDM.I would also like to thank the team at Butterworth-Heinemann for championing this book so efficiently and pleasantly,especially Maggie Smith,who has been an excellent com- missioning editor,and Claire Hutchins. You will see numerous references in the book to research conducted with close colleagues at the University of Glasgow,particularly Phil Beaumont and ludy Pate.i owe these friends an enormous debt I'm also extremely grateful to my other,close international friends-Thomas Clarke in Sydney,Herman Aguinas in Denver,Anna Commachio in Venice,Hong Zhang in Beijing,and Lesley Appelgren and Anders Nilsson in Ronneby,Sweden-for their extremely helpful comments endorsement of the book and for allowing me to use some of the mate- rial with their graduate students.Finally,I want to dedicate this book to my family,Vanessa,Rhiannon,Alayna,Chris and Roz,for their support and patience;also my mother-in-law-yes,my mother-in-law-Christine Smith for her critical reading and endless child-minding. xi带Acknowledgements Any book is the outcome of the work of a number of people, not solely the author. This one is no different, so I would like to thank those col￾leagues who have played an important hand in helping me produce it. First I’m grateful to Ros Doig, my former research assistant, and to Fiona Lennon for her assistance in preparing the review questions and other material for the book. I would like to thank Edinburgh Business School at Heriot Watt University for giving me permission to use the material in this book, which was initially written for their distance learning course programme. Alex Scott, the Deputy Director, was a particularly helpful and insightful critical reader, and good supporter of this project, whilst Charlie Ritchie was an excellent proofreader, along with the staff at CapDM. I would also like to thank the team at Butterworth-Heinemann for championing this book so efficiently and pleasantly, especially Maggie Smith, who has been an excellent com￾missioning editor, and Claire Hutchins. You will see numerous references in the book to research conducted with close colleagues at the University of Glasgow, particularly Phil Beaumont and Judy Pate. I owe these friends an enormous debt. I’m also extremely grateful to my other, close international friends – Thomas Clarke in Sydney, Herman Aguinas in Denver, Anna Commachio in Venice, Hong Zhang in Beijing, and Lesley Appelgren and Anders Nilsson in Ronneby, Sweden – for their extremely helpful comments, endorsement of the book and for allowing me to use some of the mate￾rial with their graduate students. Finally, I want to dedicate this book to my family, Vanessa, Rhiannon, Alayna, Chris and Roz, for their support and patience; also my mother-in-law – yes, my mother-in-law – Christine Smith for her critical reading and endless child-minding. xiii