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Service quality and customer satisfaction influence the financial performance of service organizations. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the path relationship of service quality to customer satisfaction to financial sustainability in the water service sector, which is vital to the sustainable future of mankind. Further, these three interrelated constructs and their dimensions are clearly articulated.

SERVQUAL questionnaire responses were collected from 635 household families, and the financial sustainability indicators of 56 water providers were gathered as well. Cronbach's alpha and factor analysis were conducted to measure the internal consistency and convergent validity. Path analysis was utilized to evaluate the causal diagram by examining the relationships among service quality, customer satisfaction and financial sustainability using the AMOS software package.

The results showed that the five dimensions of service quality explain 58% of the customer satisfaction variation. The responsiveness, empathy, assurance and reliability have significant impact on the customer satisfaction where p < 0.05, while the tangible dimension has an insignificant effect. The results also revealed that customer satisfaction has a significant impact on the financial sustainability indicators of the water providers, where p = 0.000 for the debt collection ratio indicator, and p = 0.003 for the financial efficiency ratio indicator.

This research on financial sustainability is based on evidence about service quality and customer satisfaction in the Palestinian water sector. Future research on financial sustainability of the water sector may focus on the pricing mechanism and debt collection of water service.

The findings suggest that water providers should recognize the importance of service quality dimensions, which strengthen the customer satisfaction, which, in turn, is a significant driver for their financial sustainability. It is, therefore, sound to draw action-oriented managerial implications from these results.

The study adds to the literature of water service sector and is based on empirical evidence from primary data of household families and secondary data of water service providers from developing countries. This paper also contributes toward the strengthening of sustainability of the water service sector in Palestine – a worthy humanitarian cause. The study provides evidence useful for policy makers toward carving out policies aimed at strengthening the financial sustainability of the water service sector.

In 1997, Gamma Health Care Systems embarked on a redesign project for their Human Resource Information System (HRIS). Redesign involved major changes to the existing system to guarantee a very high level of service. This case describes the efforts of the Human Resource Department (HRD) to redesign its HRIS to better meet enterprise‐wide goals of cost effectiveness and efficiency. The reengineering project transformed the HRD from a historic role of transaction processing to one of a strategic partner.

client/server(C/S) systems have revolutionized the systems development approach. Among the drivers of the C/S systems is the lower price/performance ratio compared to the mainframe‐based transaction processing systems. Data mining is a process of identifying patterns in corporate transactional and operational databases (also called data warehouses). As most Fortune 500 companies are moving quickly towards the client server systems, it is increasingly becoming important that a data mining approaches should be adapted for C/S systems. In the current paper, we describe different data mining approaches that are used in the C/S systems.

The purpose of the research is to explore the role of creativity (in business process improvement paradigms) among Japanese organizations and US organizations. Although US and Japanese organizations may use differently terminology, the general idea of process improvement (to add value to products and/or services that exceed customer expectations) is embraced by both. What is not clear is the way in which organizations in the two countries implement change. Eight organizations participated in the study: four organizations from Japan and four from the US. Results of the study revealed that US organizations tend to desire faster change to improve performance. They want to adopt state‐of‐the‐art methodologies and invest heavily in technology to transform their organizations quickly. In contrast, Japanese organizations prefer incremental change as it conforms to their culture and way of life. However, US organizations are beginning to realize that process improvement is greatly enhanced by changing the culture of the work place. Moreover, Japanese organizations are realizing that individual creativity is very important for future competitiveness in the world marketplace.

We embarked on a case study to explore one organization’s experiences with radical change for the purpose of uncovering how they achieved success. The organization we examined was Honeywell Inc. in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. From the interview data, we were able to devise a set of ten lessons to help others transform successfully. Two important lessons stand out above the rest. First, execution of a carefully developed change plan separates the high performers from less successful BPR projects. Second, recognition that dealing with change is difficult and complicated is not enough. Top management should make change management a top priority and communicate the change vision across the organization.

As global competition drives organizations towards becoming leaner and more streamlined, many corporations have turned to Business Process Reengineering (BPR) as a means to radically change the way they conduct business. However, in many instances, dramatic improvements have just failed to materialize …

Benchmark problem 5 of the TEAM workshops consists of four aluminium blocks placed in the space between the jaws of an electromagnet. Three dimensional eddy currents are induced by 50 Hz time‐varying flux. Eleven sets of results from nine groups of contributors are compared with experimental measurements. The results from most of the computer codes tend to converge to common limits. These limits are in some places slightly different from some of the measured results. The reason for this discrepancy is thought to be due to the idealised boundary conditions, ignoring any losses in laminated iron, which are assumed in all the computer models.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

The purpose of this paper is to contest Edwards et al.’s (2002) findings that resistance to the introduction of double-entry bookkeeping and the form that it took when implemented by the British Government in the mid-nineteenth century was the result of ideological conflict between the privileged landed aristocracy and the rising merchant middle class.

The study draws upon a collection of documents preserved as part of the Grigg Family Papers located in London and the Thomson Papers held in the Mitchell Library in Sydney. It also draws on evidence contained within the British National Archive, the National Maritime Museum and British Parliamentary Papers which has been overlooked by previous studies of the introduction of DEB.

Conflict and delays in the adoption of double-entry bookkeeping were not primarily the product of “ideological” differences between the influential classes. Instead, this study finds that conflict was the result of a complex amalgam of class interests, ideology, personal antipathy, professional intolerance and ambition. Newly discovered evidence recognises the critical, largely forgotten, work of John Deas Thomson in developing a double-entry bookkeeping system for the Royal Navy and the importance of Sir James Graham’s determination that matters of economy would be emphasised in the Navy’s accounting.

This study establishes that crucial to the ultimate implementation of double-entry bookkeeping was the passionate, determined support of influential champions with strong liberal beliefs, most especially John Deas Thomson and Sir James Graham. Prominence was given to economy in government.