Although research has been carried out linking Total Quality Management and Innovation, it was found that there is a dearth of literature exploring the relationship between Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and Innovation. The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between LSS and Process/Product/Service Innovation. A number of interviews were carried out with 10 UK-based companies to explore how LSS and Process/Product/Service Innovation are linked. The interviewees (Six Sigma Black Belts and Master Black Belts) were carefully chosen to ensure that sound and valid conclusions could be derived from the investigation. Due to constraints of limited time, the number of people who participated in the study was relatively small. However, the authors argue that this study can provide a good foundation to various researchers and practitioners to further explore the nature of the relationship between one of the most popular business process improvement methodologies (LSS) and Process/Product/Service Innovation. Based on the interviews of 10 companies in the UK engaging with LSS initiatives, the authors found that LSS is commonly viewed as fostering Process/Product/Service Innovation, Incremental Innovation, or Innovation Capability. The authors also identify seven features specific to LSS that are likely to have significant influence on the above types of Innovation.

Quality management (QM) has been popular and widely used in Taiwan since the 1960s. However, it has been found that a review of its development is lacking. Hence, this paper aims to examine the history and the evolution of QM in Taiwan, and to take a step further to look for cues for shaping its future development. The research purpose of this paper is more specifically to review the development of QM during the period from 1970 to 2012. Quality Magazine, the most popular reading material on QM in Taiwan, has been selected as the search database. The overall review result shows that the development of QM in Taiwan has three developmental phases: (1) the quality technologies and tools focus period (1970-1985); (2) the QM system integration period (1986-2000) and (3) the quality in service industry development period (2001-2012). In light of the overall as well as the detailed review results, senior quality experts were invited for consultation, discussion and prediction of the needs and the future development of QM in Taiwan.

n/a

n/a

This study explores how service quality in hospitals is perceived and measured among different groups of patients from four major continents (i.e. Asia, Europe, Australia and North America) who came to receive medical services in Thailand. Using stratified random sampling, data were collected from 2189 patients from 80 countries and four continents at six hospitals which provide healthcare services to international patients in Thailand. Four different models of measuring service quality based on different continents were developed with different numbers of quality dimensions and also a variation in the number of quality attributes. Asian patients provided a four-dimension model with 20 items; while a two-dimension model with 16 items was identified for European patients. Australian patients also revealed a two-dimension model but with 22 items, while patients from America provided a three-dimension model, also with 17 items. The study reveals that the development of service quality measurement models should not only consider context-specific items such as size and location, but should also include the nationality and demographic of the patient population. The findings also support that service quality has a significant impact on service satisfaction and the retention level of customers at the hospital. The concluded frameworks may guide healthcare providers to deliver better quality healthcare services and to sustain competitiveness.

This study examines the relationship between export involvement/performance and domestic market performance of pharmaceutical enterprises in Iran, an area which has remained largely unresearched. The study seeks to address the following three research objectives: first, to assess the export performance of Iranian pharmaceutical companies; second, to assess the performance of Iranian pharmaceutical companies in the domestic market; and third, to examine the relationship between export involvement/performance and domestic market performance. Although existing literature claims that local performance (rivalry) leads to export performance, this study reveals that in the Iranian pharmaceutical industry, export involvement and performance enhance local market performance. The study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between export performance and domestic market performance, and adds depth to the understanding of the reasons why the traditional views did not explain the situation. A comprehensive literature review was used to build our conceptual and analytical framework upon the Export Performance (EXPERF) model for export performance evaluation. The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model and assessment indicators of Innovativeness, Learning and Lean indices were used for measuring domestic performance. By using clustering, six clusters of similar companies were identified and the centroids of the six clusters chosen to verify the relationship between export performance and domestic performance. Correlation analyses confirmed that there was a significant positive relation between export performance and domestic performance. This means that export performance results in better domestic performance, and vice versa.

This study aims to identify key success/failure factors in international strategicalliances (ISAs) in the Iranian pharmaceutical industry, an area which has remainedlargely unexamined. The literature review, and an expert panel’s views, led us tostudy 33 success factors. These factors, based upon their importance in strategic andstructural configuration of the alliance formation process, were grouped as contentand process-oriented. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches wasused for data collection and analysis. The results confirmed that all 33 factors areeffective in alliance success, which is an extension of earlier research. The studyreveals 8 of the most important success factors, and 11 of the most prevalent failurefactors. The findings also showed that six of the eight most important success factorsare process-oriented variables. This confirms that trust, mutual understanding anddeveloping strong inter-organisational relationships are extremely important in thesuccess of alliances in the Iranian Pharmaceutical industry. However, 8 of 11 failurefactors are content-oriented, which means that the failed alliances mainly hadproblems in the alliances’ strategic and structural design. The qualitative studysupports the quantitative results and adds to the high importance of the soft aspect ofthe alliances’ success including: the culture of collaboration, open-mindedness,relationship-building ability, parties’ proper knowledge of each other’s businessculture/working attitudes, and effective communication. Besides, in Iran, the localgovernment and public institutes have significant impact on the success of thealliances. One of the more significant findings that emerged from this study is that‘success’ can mean different things to different people/partners, so success andfailure should be seen from both parties’ perspectives.

Theoretical and empirical research often points to a positive relation between corporate sustainability and organisational performance; however, attempts to conceptualise the multi-dimensional nature of sustainability practices are rare in the current literature. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework to aid in understanding and explaining the relationship between sustainability practices and organisational performance. The concepts of exploitation and exploration are adopted to distinguish between different types of sustainability practices. The research model is then analysed in terms of different outcomes related to sustainability performance, quality performance and business performance. Based on an interdisciplinary perspective, this paper suggests a new approach for the discussion of corporate sustainability and its implications for the organisational context. The results of the research suggest that the organisation may place a stronger focus on developing new sustainability-centred competencies when it is faced with an uncertain and rapidly changing environment. In contrast, efficiency and responsiveness to various stakeholders expectations and demands might dominate in highly competitive environments. The primary conclusion of this paper is that the alternative relationships between sustainability practices (exploitation and exploration) and organisational performance depend on different factors, including environmental uncertainty, competitiveness, long-term orientation and institutional approaches. These arguments indicate that managers in resource-constrained contexts may benefit from focusing on the management of trade-offs between sustainability exploration and sustainability exploitation demands; however, for long-term success, the simultaneous pursuit of exploration and exploitation is both desirable and necessary.

The use of business excellence models (BEM) has become popular in the last two decades, and several companies have learned how to use them and gained from such models. More companies, we assume, have experienced problems when using such models because of various weaknesses such as too-sophisticated assessment criteria, excessive paperwork, cumbersome procedures and a lack of focus, which have limited its use in practice. To respond to some of those problems, a new overall business excellence framework (BEF) has been developed which recommends adaption instead of adoption of existing BEM. The suggested overall BEF helps to integrate BEM with management tools/techniques and the organisational culture/characteristics for guiding an organisation towards business excellence. A document-based empirical case of a world-class company, Boeing Aerospace Support, was investigated to illustrate how the overall BEF may work in practice as a complement to an existing BEM when companies adapt such models to their specific contexts.

The purpose of this article is to create a snapshot of 25 years quality movement. The creation process of the snapshot, as well as the result of the study, aims to help in diagnosing the current status of quality management (QM) and further contribute in understanding and shaping its future direction. For this purpose, all published articles during the last 25 years period (1987-2011) under the subject of Total Quality Management (TQM), Business Excellence (BE), quality tools, techniques as well as core values/principles have been collected through the ABI/INFORM complete periodical database. The collected data were analysed and reflected in order to show the current status, evolution trends of the past, and the predicted future directions. The results show that the total number of articles under the subject of TQM has been decreasing after having reached its peak in 1995. However, papers focusing on techniques and tools within the QM framework in terms of Lean, Just-in-Time/Toyota Production System, Benchmarking, and Six-Sigma Quality have been increasing. In addition, papers focusing on core values/key principles needed to build a quality culture in terms of leadership, people-based management, continuous improvements, management based on facts, and focus on the customer have been slightly increasing during the last decade. The findings indicate that QM is now at a more mature stage where focuses have shifted from being initially on TQM to tools, techniques, and core values which are needed for building a quality and BE culture. Based on its evolution, it is concluded that TQM can be understood as a management innovation, if not a management revolution.