The supply chain management philosophy stresses that maximizing service to customers of choice at the lowest total cost requires a strong commitment to close relationships among trading partners. The philosophy requires a movement away from arms-length interactions toward longer term, partnership-type arrangements to create highly competitive supply chains. It is generally believed that increased collaboration among supply chain participants leads to lower total cost and enhanced service performance.1 Ideally, collaboration begins with customers and extends back through the firm from finished goods distribution to manufacturing and raw material procurement, as well as to material and service suppliers. Thus, integration is needed both internally (intraorganizationally) and externally (interorganizationally).2 Although cost savings from reduced operational duplication and redundancy are important, the focus of this research is the relationship between collaboration and service improvement.Both the popular press and academic research focus on the importance and frequency of collaborative action, and the role of collaboration in overall business performance.3 Much of this work is prescriptive, whereas our study develops and tests measures to examine empirically the relationships between internal and external supply chain collaboration and logistical performance. Post hoc analyses offer further insights. BACKGROUND

Coaching has received considerable attention in recent years as the responsibility for employees' learning and development has been increasingly devolved to line managers. Yet there exists little published empirical research that measures specific coaching behaviors of line managers or examines the linkages between line managers' coaching behavior and employee performance. This survey study integrates the perceptions of supervisors and their respective employees to examine supervisory coaching behavior in an industrial context and to assess its association with employee job satisfaction and performance. Findings suggest that supervisory coaching behavior is positively associated with employees' job satisfaction and performance. Implications for research and practice are presented.Recently, scholars have acknowledged that many human resource practices that have traditionally been performed by human resource professionals are being devolved to supervisors and line managers (de

In a laboratory experiment using a between-subjects design, the authors examine the effects on nutrition and product evaluations of nutrition claims made (e.g., "99% fat free; " "low in calories") on a product package, product nutrition value levels, and enduring motivation to process nutrition information. Enduring motivation is shown to moderate the effects of product nutrition value on consumer evaluations. Also, nutrition claims interact with product nutrition value in affecting consumer perceptions of manufacturer credibility. Given the availability of nutrient levels in the Nutrition Facts panel on the back of the mock package, nutrition claims on the front of the package generally did not affect positively consumers' overall product and purchase intention evaluations. The authors discuss some implications of these findings, suggestions for further research, and study limitations. I Regulations stemming from the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) of 1990 have resulted in major changes in nutrition information on food packages. Specifically, recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA)/U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations resulting from the NLEA have produced standardized Nutrition Facts panels, as well as specific stipulations regarding use of nutrient content claims on packages (Food and Drug Administration 1993). Given these important changes, we examine effects of nutrition claims on the front of packages, nutrition value information presented in the Nutrition Facts panel, and consumers' motivation to process nutrition information on consumers' product-related judgments in a between-subjects experiment. Although some exceptions exist, Nutrition Facts panels have been included on most food products since August, 1994, and are required to be of uniform design, typographic style, color scheme, and standard placement of information. The Nutrition Facts panel lists serving size and servings per container, plus total calories and calories from fat. Also listed are amounts per serving and the percentage of daily values (DV) of total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, dietary fiber, Vitamins A and C, calcium, and iron, based on a 2000-calorie daily diet (Food and Drug Administration 1993). Food labeling regulations also indicate which specific nutrient claims can be made on packages and under what specific conditions these claims can be made. For example, the term "low in fat" requires that the product have three grams of fat or less (per 100 grams of food content for a meal/main dish) and 30% or fewer calories from fat. Other claims, such as "99% fat free" and "low in calories" (i.e., 120 calories or fewer per 100 grams of food content for a meal/main dish), also are regulated according to actual food content (Food and Drug Administration 1993, 2415-19). Research Objectives Various parties interested in nutrition, such as federal agencies, citizen groups, and marketers, have sought to evaluate the effects of the NLEA-based food labeling regulations (cf. Levy 1995; M...