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On 15 December 2000, the International Organisation for Standardisation published a new series of ISO 9000 standards. There are significant changes in this third edition standard. Several specific surveys and analysis revealed the key concerned areas of the certified companies and the significant changes in the new standard are on the key system areas. Develops a new model explicatory to assist those certified organisations to link their concerned areas with that of the new standard. In this model, management activity is the key element. The information can be used in the analysis to determine the areas for continual improvement. Reveals that top management are still weak in the adoption of quality management systems, establishment and implementation of the quality policy and objectives. Recommends use of SMART approach. At the same time, certified organisations spend a lot of effort for the compliance with the process approach management. Discusses the benefits of using process approach management. Besides the plan‐do‐check‐act approach in continuous improvement, introduces the Xerox Management Model. Finally, introduces the consideration of improving quality management systems in areas of effectiveness, efficiency, productivity, flexibility and adaptability, rather than product.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

Uncertainties caused by political risks can drastically affect global supply chains. However, the supply chain management literature has thus far developed rather limited knowledge on firms' perception of and reactions to increased political risks. This study has two main purposes: to explore the relationship between extant risk exposure and perceived firm-specific political risk and to understand the impact of firm-specific political risk on firms' vertical integration and diversification strategies.

The authors developed a unique dataset for testing our hypotheses. Specifically, the authors sampled manufacturers (SIC20-39) listed in the United States from 2002 to 2019. The authors collected financial and diversification data from Compustat, vertical integration data from the Frésard-Hoberg-Phillips Vertical Relatedness Data Library and political risk data from the Economic Policy Uncertainty database. This data collection process yielded 1,287 firms (8,329 observations) with available data for analysis.

A two-way fixed-effect regression analysis of panel data revealed that firms tend to be more sensitive to political risk when faced with income stream uncertainty or strategic risk. By contrast, exposure to stock returns uncertainty does not significantly influence firms' sensitivity toward political risk. Moreover, firm-specific political risk is positively associated with vertical integration and product diversification. However, firm-specific political risk does not result in higher levels of geographical diversification.

This study joins the literature that systematically explores the antecedents and implications of firm-specific political risk, thus broadening the scope of supply chain risk management.

The purpose of this paper is to comparatively analyse the best human resource management (HRM) practices in the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga.

This study examined best HRM practices used by the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga by using self-administered questionnaires. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 73 hotels in Samoa and 66 hotels in Tonga. Out of the 73 self-administered questionnaires that were distributed in Samoa, 58 usable questionnaires were returned resulting in a response rate of 79 per cent. In the case of Tonga, out of the 66 self-administered questionnaires were distributed, 51 usable questionnaires were returned resulting in a response rate of 77 per cent.

The findings of this study show that there are 28 best HRM practices in Samoa and 15 best HRM practices in Tonga. This study also found that best HRM practices differ based on differences in internal and external environmental factors present in different geographical areas. The findings of this paper support the assumptions of the Contextual Paradigm of HRM and strategic human resource management.

This study is based on a single sector of Samoa and Tonga. A single sector study limits the generalisations that can be made across different sectors in Samoa and Tonga.

Human resource managers should incorporate cultural, political, legal, economic and social factors in HRM practices.

None of the existing studies have examined best HRM practices used by the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga. This study is a pioneering study that comparatively analyses the best HRM practices used by the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate two audit committee characteristics – independence and expertise of the audit committee – and the property‐liability insurers' financial reporting quality, which is proxied by loss reserve error.

The authors' hypotheses are tested using multivariate analysis where the loss reserve error is the dependent variable, and audit committee independence, and four types of audit committee financial expertise (accounting, finance, supervisory, and insurance expertise) are the testing variables.

It is found that accounting, finance, and insurance financial expertise are associated with more accurate loss reserve estimate. In contrast, a supervisory financial expertise and an independence audit committee are not found to be associated with better loss reserve quality.

The sample includes publicly‐held property‐liability insurers. Although the results from publicly‐held insurers could provide a good laboratory for such investigation in all insurers, they might be limited due to different organization structures of public vs private insurers.

The implications of the study are important for the SEC and NAIC. The results suggest that the requirements on the audit committee financial expertise would be necessary, even in highly regulated industry, such as property‐casualty insurance.

The paper contributes to the extant literature by studying audit committee characteristics in the insurance industry. It also contributes to the extant literature on audit committee effectiveness by decomposing the financial expertise into four types of financial expertise (accounting, finance, supervisory, or insurance expertise) and investigates which (if any) of these four types of expertise really drives the improvement of loss reserve quality.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are a key player in the food services and restaurants sector; thus, the aim of this work consists in studying the previous research on ICTs in food services and restaurants in the context of tourism and hospitality through a systematic literature review.

The systematic literature review is performed on full papers published in journals included in the Journal Citation Report of the WoS in the category of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism. A total of 165 articles from 28 journals are analyzed, following different criteria, such as the research methods, perspectives, statistical techniques, geographical focus, topics, technologies, authors and universities.

The restaurant sector is more and more based on the creation of experiences and ICTs, through their multiple possibilities, can undoubtedly contribute to adding value to the simple meal and create and recreate experiences to attract and retain customers who are increasingly sophisticated and hooked on ICTs. ICTs are basic for managers taking decision at the highest level in food services and restaurants, so ICTs should not be seen as a technical tool but as an essential element for top management.

This paper examined articles from very well-known tourism and hospitality journals, leaving aside others as well as different publication formats such as books or papers presented at conferences.

A significant contribution made with this paper is the availability of a list of topics in the context of ICTs in food services and restaurants. These topics are classified into three areas (Consumers, Suppliers and Environment and Tendencies) that can serve as a future research framework. The paper also provides useful information to restaurant managers about ICTs, to researchers for their future projects and to academics for their courses.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of chief financial officer (CFO) gender, board gender diversity and the interaction of both factors on financial reporting quality (FRQ) proxied by restatements.

Restatements indicate inaccurate financial reporting. The authors use fixed effects conditional logistic regression models to compare firms with and without restatements matched by size, industry and year. The authors’ unique matched–pair sample consists of 546 listed US firms from the period 2005–2016.

The authors’ results provide evidence that restatements are less likely when the CFO is a woman and when a higher proportion of women serve on the board of directors (BOD). Considering the interaction effects, the authors find evidence that women on the BOD are more effective at reducing restatement likelihood when the CFO is also a woman. And that although female CFOs reduce restatement likelihood generally, they have no statistically significant effect on restatement likelihood when the BOD is all-male.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first that the authors know of to consider how FRQ is affected by the interaction effects of CFO gender and board gender diversity. The findings corroborate upper echelons theory and extend the understanding of the effects of managerial gender diversity at a time when firms face growing pressure to increase gender diversity at the highest levels. The unique sample, methodology and findings provide new insights into the impact of gender on FRQ that has important policy implications.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact that PhD scientists serving on the board of directors of firms conducting hard science have on the R&D-based innovative performance of the firm.

The research hypotheses are built upon extant theory, and they are tested using two-stage least squared regression that control for the endogenous nature of board composition. Results are robust to alternative specifications.

This analysis shows that firms with higher numbers of PhD scientists on the board generate superior innovative output and more efficient monitoring; PhD board members with denser professional networks are more valuable as board members.

This paper provides practical advice to innovative firms on how to create a governance process that simultaneously improves monitoring and boosts the innovative performance.

This study is the first one to suggest that innovative firms can improve R&D monitoring and boost innovative output at the same time, and the first to investigate the role that PhD scientists can serve on the board of firms engaging in hard science.

The purpose of this paper is, first, to identify the relationship, if any, between customers’ perceptions of justice (functional element) and employee effort (symbolic element) and their effects on satisfaction and loyalty in the context of service recovery and, second, to determine the impact of cross-cultural differences on these relationships.

Survey data from actual customers were gathered in three countries (n = 414) and analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results demonstrate the role of the constructs of perceived employee effort and perceived justice in influencing post-recovery satisfaction and loyalty across cultures. While perceived justice is valued across cultures, customers from feminine (masculine) cultures require more (less) employee effort to influence post-recovery satisfaction positively. Customers from low (high) uncertainty cultures are more (less) willing to give the provider another chance after a service recovery.

The study shows that both functional and symbolic elements of service recovery are important determinants of customer satisfaction and loyalty and that their influence can be significant in a cross-cultural context.

International service managers must consider the nature of cultural differences in their markets to develop and implement tailored recovery strategies that can result in satisfied customers.

This study is the first to integrate the functional and symbolic elements of service recovery, their impact on customers’ behavioral responses and the influence of cultural variations.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of job involvement as high-performance work system (HPWS) on the relationship between human resource (HR) practices and employee performance in multinational corporations (MNCs) in developing economies using Ghana as a case study.

Using questionnaires to collect data from 317 employees and ten MNCs in Ghana, structural equation modeling (SEM), multiple regression and bootstrapping analysis were used to analyze the data.

The results showed that an HPWS proxy as job involvement fully mediates the relationship between HR practices and employee performance. The findings also showed that training and development and compensation and reward have a significant and direct positive effect on employee performance.

This paper provides a practical guide to management and corporations on the significance of training and compensation on employee performance in MNCs. The study, therefore, recommends managers of firms and corporations to take a serious look at their HR practices and institute an HPWS, which can positively improve both corporate and employee performance.

This paper enhances our understanding of micro-level HPWS in the form of job involvement as a positive mediator between training and development and employee performance on the one hand, and between compensation and reward and employee performance on the other hand in work organizations in a less-studied context.