encouraging and acknowledging excellence in international business and management research. Congratulations to Matthias Ehrgott for his great achievement and the recognition of his excellent Ph.D. thesis on social and environmental sustainability in supplier management. The calibre of this research and its credit by the Emerald Group and EFMD greatly reflects WHU's strong efforts to promote leading academic research." Professor Michael Frenkel Dean, WHU -- Otto Beisheim School of Management, Germany "I would like to thank Emerald/EFMD and the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management for sponsoring the 2008 Outstanding Doctoral Research Award for Hospitality Management. Receiving the Highly Commended award for my PhD dissertation served as a powerful affirmation, encouraging me to further pursue this line of research in my field. I hope this award program continues to inspire young researchers like myself for years to come. This award certainly was a great honor, not only for me, but also for my mentors. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Carol Shanklin and Dr. Ki-Joon Back for their guidance and immeasurable support in the process." Dr. Amelia Adora Asperin Applied Research Division, NFSMI, The University of Southern Mississippi, USA "I am really excited to have won a Highly Commended Award in the 2008 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards competition. I would like to thank the people at the Emerald Group and the European Foundation for Management Development for their kind recognition of the quality of my doctoral research. I would also like to thank the editors of