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In many industries (e.g. cars and clothing) manufacturing complexity and unpredictability have increased over the last couple of years because of an increasing variety of products and shortening product life cycles. At the same time the manufacturers in these industries appear to have more problems with maintaining high quality levels. This paper aims to develop a methodology to study the effects of these developments on quality management systems.

At three European automotive manufacturers the two trends have been studied by means of a case study approach. Simons' four levers of control model is utilised to categorise and interpret the results of the case studies.

The application of a management control model in the field of quality management is found to be useful in explaining what changes are necessary to maintain high quality levels. From the case studies in the automotive sector it is concluded that there is a shift in quality management systems from a diagnostic towards a more interactive approach. This is in line with what can be expected as a result of the increasing uncertainty in the automotive sector, caused by shortening life cycles of car models and smaller batch sizes.

This research presents a novel application of Simons' four levers of control model to the field of quality management. Based on the experience with three case studies at European automotive manufacturers, this approach seems to have potential.

This paper seeks to develop insights into the charity selection criteria used by individual donors, and the information that charities provide to individual donors.

Charities are defined as organizations involved in health, international aid, wellbeing, and nature and environment. In this paper the main focus is on one type of charity stakeholder; the individual donor. The research is undertaken through an internet survey among Dutch donors and through interviews at eight case studies of Dutch charities.

Based on the internet survey it can be concluded that effectiveness is seen as important, but not as the major criterion in the selection of a charity. The case studies show that charities do not have standardized reporting systems in order to inform their donors on their performances

Based on this research it can be concluded that there is a need for management of charities to develop both measures of internal efficiency and of external effectiveness.

The literature review identified a lack of empirical data available on the charity sector; this paper tries to fill that gap.

To measure service quality perceptions among spectators of a sports event.

This paper reports the main findings of a 290 respondent questionnaire survey carried out “live” among home spectators at a sports fixture. This methodology of distributing and collecting questionnaires to and from home spectators is novel and can be used by other researchers. Also reported in the paper are follow‐up discussions at a shopping precinct with lapsed fans.

The paper identifies the main factors that influence attendance and the initiatives to attract new or lapsed supporters. Amongst the main findings is that those spectators who make regular contributions to the club through a range of schemes and are members of its independent supporters Association rate club and players public profiles higher and perceive season tickets and ground entrance prices better value than non‐members, and are also more likely to visit the club shop to purchase merchandise.

This paper reports a project carried out by a supporters forum of a Rugby League Club into the means of increasing attendance at home games. There are sparse details in the literature of similar projects of its type and scale being undertaken in sports arenas. Therefore, the methodology adopted, the questionnaire details and the findings can be useful in other sports environments.

The purpose of this paper is to develop understanding about the quality of user generated content (UGC) on web sites from the point of view of the customer. This is an area not yet explored, while the use of UGC is expanding on many web sites and its importance is rapidly growing.

The research undertaken is a pilot amongst a small number of interviewees who have been asked to judge the quality of UGC on hotel web sites.

The findings of the research show that three types of information are needed by the person using UGC on hotel web sites: objective information about the hotel; information about the reviewer's qualifications; and information about the reviewer's beliefs and expectations.

Because of the small number of interviewees this research is limited and can be defined as explorative. The outcomes can be used to develop a survey instrument in relation to further research on user generated content.

This research is original because there has not been any other initiative in this area and it will certainly stimulate more research because of the importance UGC has in a world of expanding internet usage. The outcomes of the small‐scale pilot will make it possible to develop broader quantitative research on UGC on web sites.

The aim of this paper is to analyse how critical incidents or organisational crises can be used to check and legitimise quality management change efforts in relation to the fundamental principles of quality.

Multiple case studies analyse critical incidents that demonstrate the importance of legitimisation, normative evaluation and conflict constructs in this process. A theoretical framework composed of these constructs is used to guide the analysis.

The cases show that the critical incidents leading to the legitimisation of continuous improvement (CI) were diverse. However all resulted in the need for significant ongoing cost reduction to achieve or retain competitiveness. In addition, attempts at legitimising CI were coupled with attempts at destabilising the existing normative practice. This destabilisation process, in some cases, advocated supplementing the existing approaches and in others replacing them. In all cases, significant conflict arose in these legitimising and normative evaluation processes.

It is suggested that further research could involve a critical analysis of existing quality models, tools and techniques in relation to how they incorporate, and are built upon, fundamental quality management principles. Furthermore, such studies could probe the dangers of quality curriculum becoming divorced from business and market reality and thus creating a parallel existence.

As demonstrated by the case studies, models, tools and techniques are not valued for their intrinsic value but rather for what they will contribute to addressing the business needs. Thus, in addition to being an opportunity for quality management, critical incidents present a challenge to the field. Quality management must be shown to make a contribution in these circumstances.

This paper is of value to both academics and practitioners.

This paper aims to explore the application of management control systems (MCS) to business processes when an organisation is operating in an uncertain environment. The limitations of conventional process control in this context are described, and the opportunities to exploit current MCS ideas are considered.

One such model, Simons' levers of control, is used for case study research in a European high technology start-up company.

The findings suggest that the organisation responded to its uncertain environment with a package of formal and informal control systems for its strategically important business processes. The relative importance of individual business processes was observed to positively influence the rigour of control systems' implementation. Also, the inherent uncertainty or unpredictability of an individual business process was observed to influence the type of control systems employed. The use of guiding or enabling systems, particularly interactive control systems, was more pronounced in those business processes which were inherently unpredictable.

These findings illustrate that adopting a MCS perspective to address business process control issues can yield new useful insights for managers when dealing with uncertainty.

To assess the relative value of the 2000 version of the ISO 9000 series of quality management system standards in comparison with the 1994 version.

A total of 773 organisations in The Netherlands which have all been certified to the ISO 9000 standard were surveyed (a response rate of 21.4 per cent) and of these only 22 had not yet converted to the 2000 version of the standard.

Amongst the major findings is an overall positive perception of the value of the ISO 9000 (2000) quality system standard and a consistently higher appreciation of the 2000 version compared with the 1994 version.

Adds to the body of knowledge concerning the ISO 9000 series with particular focus on The Netherlands and the 2000 version of the standard.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how Agria Animal Insurance Sweden (Agria) has organised its quality‐related work through a sustained and systematic focus on basic elements of quality management such as value focused leadership, employee involvement, process management and control, customer focus, and continuous improvement.

The study has been based on interviews, document studies and action research. It is a single case study design with limited intentions of generalisation.

The analysis shows that the top management at Agria has been a strong driving force that has effectively united leaders at all levels as agents of change. Additional success factors have been the deployment of basic values, the “five always”, and the value focused leadership. Further on the company has succeeded in creating a cultural basis and structures for systematic work with improvements.

A way to address corporate culture in order to open up for a climate of micro improvements of practice within present routines is illustrated in this paper.

Agria could be considered an example for others to study and get inspired by when working with quality‐related issues.