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This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/eb002917. When citing the article, please cite: J.M. Asher, (1988), “Cost of Quality in Service Industries”, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 5 Iss: 5, pp. 38 - 46.

Discussing quality as a series of customer‐supplier relationships, the writer shows the need for cost of quality evaluation in service industries and outlines the differences between cost of quality evaluation in service and other industries. The use of cost of quality as a tool for quality improvement is discussed.

Attempts a contribution to the area of health care quality by presenting a framework for thinking about, and improving our understanding of, measuring quality in health care. To achieve this object, addresses the multidimensionality of quality management in health care. Delineates the dimensions of quality measurements in health care, focusing on both output and process issues. Stresses the need for the measures to relate to patient requirements and shows how these measurements can be driven back into care services as a means of facilitating quality improvement in the health care environment. Concludes by discussing the implications of the framework for managers and by providing direction for future research within the context of the framework.

Crown's parent is of course part of Reed International, itself an industrial as well as consumer‐orientated company. And Crown ‘mirrors’ Reed. It has an industrial arm which is equally vigorous and just as successful in its own markets as Crown's retail arm is in the consumer market. We have been closely identified with many outstanding developments in industrial finishing technology over the years. For instance, in print finishing, the lamination of oriented polypropylene film to board is made possible by adhesives first developed and marketed by Crown which are now the standards by which all other film‐to‐board laminating adhesives are measured. Or take coil coating, the art of prefinishing metal. Crown is a founder member of the European Coil Coating Association and probably supplies more coatings to this industry than any other UK paint supplier. So we are old hands at industrial finishing — and at supplying ‘state‐of‐the‐art’ high technology finishes.

TQM is a philosophy mainly dominated by large companies. Small businesses are lagging behind larger ones when it comes to introducing and adopting new managerial philosophies and advanced technology. Many small companies have stopped at quality system certification, such as ISO 9000, in their quality journey rather than pursuing further continuous improvement efforts through TQM. Small businesses must understand the need to go beyond the quality system stage and work towards a total approach for quality. Only through this total approach will their quality effort be a success. Discusses the various issues confronting small businesses when embarking on TQM. First, reviews the subject of TQM and the quality initiatives undertaken by small businesses (which are treated as small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs)) such as ISO 9000 and TQM. The small business characteristics are also examined. Second, presents a case study conducted in a small manufacturing company. Culminates with conclusions and discussions drawn from both the review and the case study with suggestions for future research directions.

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the transfer of a concept issued in one culture to a different setting, featuring different characteristics from the one in which the concept appeared.

Secondary data have been collected by analysing accounting regulations issued after the fall of communism with respect to true and fair view (TFV). Primary data have been collected by conducting eleven semi-structured interviews with representatives of major actors involved in the process of financial reporting. We have further developed and tested two research propositions.

We find that the perception of TFV in Romania depends firstly on the category of actors. Second, we find that merely including a rule or a concept in the regulations of a certain setting does not automatically mean that they will be applied de facto consistently with their original meaning, issued from a different setting.

We conclude that concept intertranslatability cannot be assumed under the circumstances investigated in our chapter, with immediate implications for other cases presupposing that concept transfer works, such as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

The small number of interviews we have conducted may be viewed as a limitation of our study; however, special care was exercised when choosing interviewees, and they are key persons within their organizations, or representative of all the interested parties in the process of financial reporting in Romania.

We contribute to an increasing literature on accounting harmonization and applicability of global standards and concepts in local contexts.

This chapter reviews some of the cohesive concepts raised in the recent literature regarding normative dialogues between business and society. The purpose is to draw a few meaningful implications toward formulating new guiding philosophies for interaction between large global businesses and society in general. As these concepts tend to counterbalance the preponderance of the pure free market ideology and the traditional understanding of cultural segregation, the chapter's discussion thereof should help synthesize divergent arguments into a unified framework for business–society interface in this globalized environment.

Larostate 520, a cost‐effective antistat providing superior lubricity, humectancy and electrical conductivity is now available from Jordan Chemical Company, here.

The recent expansion in tertiary education in India, an increased student enrollment as well as global competition have created a challenge for the existence of the institutes. It has been realized that a quality of service is associated with customer satisfaction and it is one of the key points for survival for any organization as it minimizes the various risks associated with an organization. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of an empirical study conducted to obtain the impact of various academic systems on student's satisfaction across the institution. Second, it focusses on minimizing various risks by providing an optimum combination of parameters of different academic activities.

This empirical research investigates customer satisfaction on support services of academic process and focus on minimizing various risks by finding an optimum combination of parameters of academic activities.

It identifies the levels of sensitivity of the various factors affecting the academic process of technical education that might influence the management to design the technical curricula to increase student's satisfaction.

The study demonstrates the impact of statistical process control (SPC) and Taguchi parameter design to monitor the academic process of the institution and finding an optimum condition of the various parameters involved with the process, which would maximize customer satisfaction across the institution. The result suggests that this approach may add more value to both academics and practitioners.

It is an original contribution to integrate SPC and Taguchi robust parameter design in assessing customers’ satisfaction in Indian scenario.

The purpose of this study is to explore the antecedents and effects of environmental management (EM) and its related factors on firm performance from the perspective of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Most previous studies have focused on determining the effects of environmental efforts on environmental performance. This study aims to illustrate that effective EM – along with other factors such as customer emphasis, recognition and capabilities – generates positive firm performance for SMEs. Additionally, the stdy aims to show evidence that EM is worth proactively pursuing rather than being viewed as a burden and being subject to reactive task by SMEs.

The authors collected data via a questionnaire from 300 SMEs through a professional research company. They then used the data to assess a model and determine the relationships between the different constructs using structural equation modeling.

The results testify to the optimal structure between the study’s constructs: customer emphasis on EM, recognition and implementation of EM, capabilities and the performance of SMEs that have implemented EM. The main finding is that EM has a positive relationship to firm performance.

This study’s findings could likely persuade SMEs and policymakers to more proactively engage in EM. It also contributes to offer evidence that customer orientation plays an important role in SMEs’ implementation of EM and its impact on firm performance.