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This paper aims to examine empirically the relationships among industry environment, diversification motivations and corporate performance for a sample of Taiwanese automobile enterprises.

A 55‐item survey questionnaire was developed to obtain the responses from companies in the automobile industry in Taiwan. Independent sample t‐test and χ² tests were employed to confirm the homogeneity between the respondents and non‐respondents by firm's characteristics, including by industry, number of employees, and capital.

The results suggest that industry environment has positive and significant impact on diversification motivations, and has positive but not significant impact on corporate performance. Diversification motivations has positive and significant impact on corporate performance. The results also indicate that firms of higher capital amounts have greater influence on diversification motivations and corporate performance, firms of publicly listed have greater influence on industry environment, diversification motivations and corporate performance and firms of higher degree of diversification have greater influence on diversification motivations only.

Several limitations exist in this study. This study adopts the cross‐sectional research design and examines firms at one point time and because of the constraints of time and data availability, longitudinal research was not viable in this study. Also the amount of variation for some regression models is low.

The paper's results not only provide researchers with a theoretical basis for further research, but also provide top management teams with important data when engaging in diversification.

There are numerous studies concerning the key success factors for technology transfer performance, but little empirical research has been conducted on technology absorptive capacity. In the real world, firms cannot successfully assimilate and apply external knowledge without greater absorptive capacity. It is worthwhile exploring the critical factors of absorptive capacity through its impact on transfer performance. Results reveal significant associations between technology absorptive capacity and the critical factors – technology diffusion channels, interaction mechanisms, and R&D resources. Organizational cultures impact on interaction mechanisms, R&D resources, absorptive capacity and transfer performance. Different organizations will experience different technology transfer performance. Focuses explicitly on technology absorptive capacity within the field of empirical technology transfer research. The findings are important for management practice, especially for firms carrying out technology transfer in developing countries.

The 1994 versions of the ISO 9000 family were revised by ISO’s technical committee TC 176 in the end of year 2000. This new ISO 9001:2000 repositions the 20 elements of the old ISO 9001:1994 into four main chapters. Meanwhile, electronic commerce (e‐commerce) has been recognized as a source of fundamental change to the conduct of business. Innovative applications of information and communication technologies are constantly reshaping the organizational landscape. Examines the quality information needed under the requirements of ISO 9001:2000, proposes a quality information system structure within WWW‐based intranet infrastructure and discusses the role of quality information system (QIS) in the e‐commerce integrated environment. Four main functions are constructed via six basic modules. Each function is described with IDEF0 diagrams. Under this QIS, organizations will be better able to manage their quality related knowledge.

The objective of the research is to characterize various key factors affecting apparel design and product quality.

In the fulfillment of the objective, the Delphi method and a survey questionnaire were used to collect related materials. This was followed by descriptive statistics, reliability, and factor analysis in order to set up the “house of quality” using the method of quality function deployment.

The factors that were found to affect the quality of apparel design were fashion sensitivity, ability of material application, colour sensitivity, fashion trend, fashion market positioning, and management. Fashion style, cloth quality, cutting quality, discount, and personal favourites were the key factors affecting consumers when choosing apparel. Keen observation ability, marketing analysis, and market development were very important for designing and producing high value‐added products.

The survey was conducted in Taiwan, which perhaps limits the usefulness of the findings elsewhere.

The article may assist apparel designers to understand the requirements of consumers of fashion products.

Apparel design rules have been formulated in Taiwan using the method of quality function development to assist apparel designers to improve design quality and production performance.

We construct a new consumer price index for Canada covering the period from 1870 to 1900. Unlike previous indexes, it includes prices of clothing and household furnishings. This is important because these previously neglected components accounted for roughly 20% of consumers' expenditures. Moreover, the price of cotton goods, the most important textile product used for clothing and household furnishings, fell by half between 1870 and 1900 (much faster than other components of the price level). This has ramifications for both the level and trend of Canadian GDP. Because the largest changes in estimation concern the 1870s, we show that the country grew substantially faster than generally believed. It outpaced the United States so much that it entered the twentieth century with an improved economic standing relative to its southern neighbor.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the learning from a historical NHS vocational service development that focused on: mental health, employment and social inclusion – in an inner city area – involving service users, staff and commissioners.

It is a descriptive case study. A range of historical documents was content analysed and described through a first-person narrative: service user consultations, service specifications, audit records, outcome frameworks, internal service evaluations and published literature.

When vocational NHS service developments are grounded in what service users say helps them (person-centred, networked and co-ordinated approaches) the evidence indicates people can achieve their vocational goals.

The range of documents described is factual, although the learning insights from some of the service developments are based on personal judgements. The author was the responsible manager – personal bias is high. There is not enough robust evidence to warrant generalisation.

When employment and social inclusion are prioritised, as core business in NHS, outcomes and health impact can increase. Greater detail is needed from healthcare policy makers – focusing on who exactly should undertake this work and what the key commissioning social inclusion performance indicators are.

The bulk of literature on employment support focuses on promoting evidence from one model: individual placement and support. Evidence here indicates a broader range of activity (education, training and volunteering) can have value and health impact.

In this paper, I synthesize the prior psychology literature on ego depletion and apply this literature to an auditing setting. Ego depletion refers to a reduced desire or ability to use self-control in task performance due to using self-control on prior tasks. I focus on the likely causes and consequences of depletion in an auditing setting, as well as means of mitigating depletion and recovering self-control resources. While ego depletion theory is prevalent in the psychology literature, little is known about whether or how ego depletion affects professionals on meaningful task performance. As a result, this synthesis is aimed at stimulating future ego depletion research in accounting, and specifically auditing, by surveying existing literature and applying this literature to an auditing setting. Further, I develop 13 questions for future research to investigate. My synthesis reveals that ego depletion likely has a pervasive effect in an auditing setting, and can hinder auditors’ judgment and decision-making (JDM) quality. Therefore, this synthesis helps to provide a greater understanding of the impact of auditing tasks on individuals, and refines both auditor JDM and ego depletion theories.