Since the mid 1980s, organization theorists have highlighted the emergence of the networked model of organization as a response to global competition and pressures for increased market flexibility. Cultural industries have not been immune from this development. In this paper, we examine the shift from hierarchy to network in the U.K. television industry. We argue that an important result of this disaggregation is the emergence of latent organization, groupings of individuals and teams of individuals that persist through time and are periodically drawn together for recurrent projects by network brokers who either buy in programmes for publisher-broadcasters or who draw together those artists and technicians who actually produce them. In conclusion, we note how latent organizations may become increasingly important for effective cultural industry production, and in particular how they may provide stable points of reference and recurring work projects for those many individuals now working outside of large, vertically integrated producer-broadcasters.

As the user‐base of the Internet expands, on‐line “virtual communities” may have the potential to become the key customer‐infomediaries, social forums, and trading arenas, of the early twenty‐first century. In parallel, new delivery channels and new means of fostering long‐term customer relationships may prove critical for success in the financial services industry. As these two developments intertwine, many organizations in the sector may therefore need to consider desktop icons as an emerging customer interface. Reviews the economic argument for virtual communities as the first viable Internet value‐creation model to combine content and communication. Drawing from practical experience with pioneering virtual community developments, and a consideration of direct and indirect financial service delivery channels, the conclusion is reached that many companies in the sector now face an important, strategic choice in the development of their on‐line presence. For most, this will be between deciding to act rapidly to build their own virtual community, or instead opting for a more effective third party, virtual community “inhabitation strategy”.

Forthcoming changing demographics and the introduction of the relatively recent UK age discrimination legislation make it timely to consider some of the debates around the relevance of age to work. Issues surrounding ageing have been considered from within a number of disciplines and research perspectives which have led to some questioning of the dominant economic model that pivots on chronological age as a convenient, bureaucratic, measure that proxies for ability. The role of the HR practitioner in being able to redefine expectations throughout the lifespan of employees is considered while constraints to managing for the longer term are acknowledged. It is proposed that although the legislation will affect some age‐related practices positively, there are likely to be unintended consequences that single out particular age groups as special cases and therefore make age more relevant to the work relationship.

SUMMARY ‘Flexibility’ became a management buzz word in the mid‐to‐late 1980s. Environmental pressures drove firms in many industries towards more flexible structures – away from internal, classical hierarchies towards agent networks brought together on individual project‐task grounds. The goal of many organizations, according to proponents of this trend, became that of seeking ‘flexible specialization’– integrating specialist resources in a dynamic, flexible fashion. Critics of the drive towards flexibility argue that the phenomenon has been overemphasized, and that large‐scale bureaucracies geared for mass production are still the dominant structural form. This paper overviews the arguments concerning flexibility and related arguments concerning the emergence of networked forms of organization. Flexibility trends within the UK television industry are then explored to illustrate the emergence of ‘flexible specialization’ and a ‘dynamic network’ form of organization. Television thus serves as an important counter‐factual to the dismissive claims of the critics of flexibility.

No abstract