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Today, more and more companies tend to position themselves with public statements on socio-political issues such as racism or discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community represented through popular movements like Black Lives Matter or the Pride Month. According to surveys, most consumers expect companies to take a stand on such polarizing topics. Despite this apparent relevance in society, there is only little research on companies taking public stances, yet. Moreover, the existing studies addressing the topic predominantly focus on the influence of corporate positioning on customer attitudes and only a few studies examine the impact of companies speaking out on socio-political issues, their communication and decision-making processes, and their attitudes. In order to close this research gap, 19 semistructured interviews with communicators of internationally operating German B2C companies were conducted. As the results show, the interviewed companies are all perceiving societal pressure, but up to different degrees. Equally different is the associated impact of positioning on external communications and strategic planning. In general, three initial patterns can be identified on how companies deal with positioning pressure: The skeptics, who do none or almost no positioning, the adapters, who speak out on specific issues and closely observe the current debates, and the pioneers, who feel less pressure and are the first companies to speak out and even initiate debates themselves. It remains to be seen if these patterns will be established in future research and if uniform strategies in corporate communications will develop when it comes to the topic of socio-political positioning.

Color is omnipresent, but organizational research features no systematic theory or established method for analyzing it. We develop a relational approach to color, conceptualizing it as a means of positioning relative to a reference group or style and validating it through a computational method for processing digital images. The research context is Norwegian black metal—a genre of extreme metal music that achieved notoriety in the early 1990s through band members' criminal activity. Our analysis of 5,125 album covers between 1989 and 2019 confirms the alignment of aesthetic and music features and articulates the role of color in the construction of a relational identity based on forces of association and disassociation. Black metal bands associated with past color choices of non-black metal bands up to a point, after which they started to disassociate from them. The positioning is dynamic, pursuing adaptation to external events. Black metal bands reacted to their stigmatization in Norwegian society by increasing colorfulness and later returning to a darker aesthetic in defiance of the genre's commercialization. Our analysis attests to color's ability to organize producers' exchange of information and attention, illustrating the interweaving of aesthetic features and relational processes in markets.

This article divides China watching by the two dimensions of position and purpose. By position, the article asks if a narrator looks at China from an external or an internal perspective. By purpose, it asks if the narrative is to critically provide an evaluative perspective, to objectively represent an authentic China, or to practically discuss a life and identity strategy of Chinese people. Specifically, the complex sensibilities towards China among Taiwanese migrant scholars reify the genuine and yet often-unnoticed agency required to proceed with writing on China. With initially both the Chinese Civil War and later pro-independence politics in Taiwan poisoning relationships with China, the politically divided Taiwanese scholars enter a different environment in Hong Kong, which urges neither total confrontation nor complete loyalty in approaching China. How the Hong Kong circumstances have impacted upon the choices of these Taiwanese intellectuals in their presentation of the subject matter of China, in comparison with their other colleagues in Hong Kong, is the primary goal of the following discussion.

The purpose of this article is to explore positioning and rebranding as tools for state security in global space, using the methodology of constructivism in international relations. The author hypothesizes that positioning the country as safe will be attractive only if there is a unifying factor based on the principles of consocial democracy. To achieve this purpose, the authors used several scientific approaches and methods: constructivism as a scientific paradigm; dialectical method; content analysis, and comparison. The article covers the following issues: Positioning and rebranding in modern conditions; Level of branding effectiveness in Ukraine; National identity as the basis for rebranding and state security; Rebranding states in the face of new challenges and threats. The essence of the conclusions is as follows: States will choose a partner for economic cooperation under difficult conditions in terms of political risks, benefits, and costs. This trend is about renewed positioning and rebranding to facilitate decisions on cooperation. The effectiveness of the existing state brand depends not only on creating an attractive external picture of the country's positioning. Without a genuine alignment of the declared brand with the internal situation of the state, the political system as a whole, the congruent of the mental construct of the main political structures and the social environment, the brand will not be attractive to investors and the country will remain in an unstable environment.

In the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market much of the customer loyalty operations are carried out with a short-term perspective, which often result in weak customer loyalty. Besides this, the one-sided view of customer loyalty and how to work with customer relationships, further adds to the challenges and there is a need to promote new insights and practices into customer loyalty in FMCG markets. In an attempt to broaden the view of customer loyalty, the authors take an organizational human resource perspective and present a conceptual framework and model built on human resource literature. Many companies face the exact challenge with high employee turnover, as it is associated with costs of recruiting and training, suggesting that customer loyalty becomes a question of organizing the customer as an external human resource. A practical contribution with the conceptual model is the suggestion to learn from the experiences of successful employee recruitment, and employee motivation, when viewing and working with customer loyalty.

Instruments of conduct of European external relations --. - European geopolitical discourse and the EU as a "model" in times of crisis --. - External dimensions of europeanisation and regulated spaces of interaction --. - An institutional ethnography of the sites of diplomatic conduct in Nairobi --. - Positioning collective Europe abroad : operating EU diplomacy --. - Perceiving collective Europe abroad : interaction with the "partners" --. - What should the EU do? : expectations of the EU as a geopolitical actor --. - The EU's global role : what happened to the model? --. - Conclusion : a less global and a more European Union?

'Rising China' is a term that has come to refer to China's march to being number one, the speed of its economic growth, and its investment around the world during last two decades. In Finland, government agencies have been established to promote investment, trade, and co-operation with China, while regional and local governments are also actively involved. Meanwhile, much of the world is now competing for the attention of China, so the power dynamic is tending to shift in favour of the Chinese. This developing context has been examined in previous studies primarily from the perspectives of politics, economics, and management studies. The overarching aim of this study is to investigate emerging power relations between Finns as sellers of investment opportunities and products and Chinese as investors, buyers, and partners. The study predominantly builds on Positioning Theory (Harré, 1991). It uses methodological tools of ethnographically framed in terviewing and observation. The study comprises five articles - empirical research reports exploring the major themes in data collected – adjustment of Finns to the Chinese, search of common ground with Chinese representatives, guest-host positioning during delegation visits, humor in negotiations, and the language aspect in co-operation. Five styles of positioning regarding power and common ground were found – adjustment, use of existing common ground, autonomy, 'soft' power, and pressure / hedging; the character this typology was found to correspond to phases of the five Chinese elements (Wu Xing). While the data suggest that both Finnish and Chinese representatives use all of these strategies, Finnish representatives tended to rely on active responses such as adjustment and pressure/hedging, while Chinese representatives more often resorted to a stance of autonomy. The dynamic among these phases is illustrated using the model of a rope, which suggests the integral nature of change from one style into another, as well as the ways power, common ground, and culture are all intertwined. A variety of external and internal factors that influence the positioning of Finnish and Chinese representatives could also be traced from the articles, such as organizational roles, meeting places, discourses about national characteristics, and considerations of 'face'. This further reveals the complexity of positioning regarding power and common ground.

Although injuries related to postural stability are prevalent, ergonomic job analyses traditionally have not addressed stability issues. In this research functional stability limits are quantified for persons standing in extreme postures under various external load and foot positioning conditions. Participants were asked to lean and displace their center of gravity (COG) as far as possible in eight directions to the sides and front of the body. Stability measures based on these COG displacements were calculated. All controlled variables significantly affected the stability measures. When standing unladen, participants extended their COG to within 99% of their theoretical maximum. Movement was much more restricted when handling a load (89%), especially when holding it with one hand on the shoulder (84%). On average, increased separation of the feet in a particular direction resulted in larger COG displacements in that direction. The results are discussed relative to their effects on balance and stability modeling.

AbstractThe global influence of the European Union (EU) has been debated in overlapping strands of literature as 'normative', 'regulatory' and 'market power'. They identify the diffusion of its rules and standards as a vehicle of European power. We argue that European power extends beyond its regulatory capacities and includes new 'catalytic' capacities in the realm of financing and network building. We analyse blended finance as an instrument of 'catalytic power', defined as the mobilisation of partners and their resources to pursue external objectives. The analysis reveals that financial leverage, the original motivation behind the tool's creation, has declined in importance. Instead, blended finance is designed to facilitate and structure cooperation with other European and multilateral financial institutions, positioning the European Commission as a central node in international cooperation and increasing its influence in this sphere. The article closes with a discussion of blended finance as a tool of catalytic power and related trade‐offs.

Background Insertion of a frontal external ventricular drain (EVD) is a common emergency procedure in neurosurgery. Malpositioning of the EVD and/or triggering a new intracerebral or intraventricular hemorrhage (nICVH) are typical complications. The standard procedure (SP) uses a tape measure to identify the Kocher's point for placement of a frontal burr hole. A faster alternative to determine the correct position is the freehand technique (FHT). This study compared both techniques with regard to the correct positioning of the EVD tip and the induction catheter-induced nICVH.
Methods We performed a retrospective analysis of patients who required an EVD for acute or chronic hydrocephalus between January 2013 and March 2014. The study consisted of two groups. In the first group, EVDs were placed with the FHT. In the second group the SP was used. Postoperative computed tomography scans were analyzed regarding correct positioning of the ventricular catheter, malpositioning of the tip of the EVD using a 4-point-scale, and evidence for catheter-induced nICVH.
Results A total of 95 patients could be included. The FHT was performed in 43 cases and the SP in 52 cases. No significant differences between the two groups were found regarding the correct position of the EVD tip (p = 0.38) and nICVH (p = 0.12). There was no significant difference in malpositioning of the EVD tip between the groups (p = 0.34).
Conclusion Our results show no significant differences between the two methods with regard to correct position, malpositioning, and nICVH. Thus we conclude that the FHT is a fast, safe, and effective alternative to the SP.

"Despite being ambitious, the solidarity expressed by Malaysia toward the global ummah has almost always remained tied to the strategic priorities of the country and been subject to non-religious factors. In this light, the changes throughout history in the Federation of Malaysia's policies regarding Muslim minorities in Asian countries illustrate the variable external use of Islamic themes by Malaysian officials. In order for Malaysian governments to reconcile opposing positions whose configurations emphasize the ambiguities inherent to their actions, throughout history these governments have been obliged to continually re-evaluate their positions according to the relevant contingencies. For example, they have occasionally delegated to third parties the mission of conducting, under their close monitoring, projects that they had taken on with reservations. In addition, the strongly promoted claim by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO, the leading Malay party of the governing coalition) - that it could offer a universal development model for Islamic society - has never really been convincing. This model has never been able to go beyond its initial local origins, which has greatly limited its ability to be replicated in other countries. However, beyond their opportunistic dimension (even if they are not without ideological aspects), Malaysia's diplomatic positions toward the Muslim world are marked by different inspirations. They have also been guided by an underlying search for the legitimation and international recognition of the country's broad domestic socio-political model, thereby appealing to a 'mirror effect' to foster the reshaping of a postcolonial Malay identity within the framework of globalisation." (author's abstract)

Despite being ambitious, the solidarity expressed by Malaysia toward the global ummah has almost always remained tied to the strategic priorities of the country and been subject to non-religious factors. In this light, the changes throughout history in the Federation of Malaysia's policies regarding Muslim minorities in Asian countries illustrate the variable external use of Islamic themes by Malaysian officials. In order for Malaysian governments to reconcile opposing positions whose configurations emphasize the ambiguities inherent to their actions, throughout history these governments have been obliged to continually re-evaluate their positions according to the relevant contingencies. For example, they have occasionally delegated to third parties the mission of conducting, under their close monitoring, projects that they had taken on with reservations. In addition, the strongly promoted claim by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO, the leading Malay party of the governing coalition) – that it could offer a universal development model for Islamic society -has never really been convincing. This model has never been able to go beyond its initial local origins, which has greatly limited its ability to be replicated in other countries. However, beyond their opportunistic dimension (even if they are not without ideological aspects), Malaysia's diplomatic positions toward the Muslim world are marked by different inspirations. They have also been guided by an underlying search for the legitimation and international recognition of the country's broad domestic socio-political model, thereby appealing to a "mirror effect" to foster the reshaping of a postcolonial Malay identity within the framework of globalisation.

Despite being ambitious, the solidarity expressed by Malaysia toward the global ummah has almost always remained tied to the strategic priorities of the country and been subject to non-religious factors. In this light, the changes throughout history in the Federation of Malaysia's policies regarding Muslim minorities in Asian countries illustrate the variable external use of Islamic themes by Malaysian officials. In order for Malaysian governments to reconcile opposing positions whose configurations emphasize the ambiguities inherent to their actions, throughout history these governments have been obliged to continually re-evaluate their positions according to the relevant contingencies. For example, they have occasionally delegated to third parties the mission of conducting, under their close monitoring, projects that they had taken on with reservations. In addition, the strongly promoted claim by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO, the leading Malay party of the governing coalition) - that it could offer a universal development model for Islamic society - has never really been convincing. This model has never been able to go beyond its initial local origins, which has greatly limited its ability to be replicated in other countries. However, beyond their opportunistic dimension (even if they are not without ideological aspects), Malaysia's diplomatic positions toward the Muslim world are marked by different inspirations. They have also been guided by an underlying search for the legitimation and international recognition of the country's broad domestic socio-political model, thereby appealing to a "mirror effect" to foster the reshaping of a postcolonial Malay identity within the frame¬work of globalisation. (JCSA/GIGA)