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Examines the current literature on total quality management/continuous quality improvement (TQM/CQI) in the health‐care industry and determines the common threads that exist in the successfully implemented programmes. Based on the review of literature, proposes a comprehensive model on how to implement and maintain a TQM/CQI programme in the health‐care industry.

Few information technology trends have received more attention from the industry than electronic (e‐) commerce – and considering the industry’s predisposition to hyperbole, that is saying a lot. This paper discusses the diffusion of e‐commerce in three wave‐migration phases from current computer communications. From an ontological perspective at the meta level, this paper explains why e‐commerce may have a greater impact on exchanging information and optimizing existing business processes than on generating funds flow. In evaluating the nature of e‐commerce applications, it is proposed that e‐commerce will replace the traditional inventory‐based model with an information‐based model and the basis of competition will shift from companies with strong distribution systems to those with strong information systems. This might help explain the predictions of triple‐digit e‐commerce market growth and stock valuations of Internet companies that defy fundamentals.

Proposes the use of a β, or difference‐from‐nominal, control chart for short‐run industrial processes providing certain conditions are met. While some manufacturers have used delta charts in the past, only recently have delta charts been discussed in the literature –and then under a variety of different names. This has led to a situation where β charts have been inappropriately applied because the conditions for their use were not clearly understood. Explains the β control chart and the conditions appropriate for its use. In addition, presents a case study of the use of the β chart in a short‐run manufacturing process.

Contends that most collections of classic works are the result, primarily, of subjective criteria applied by one editor or a small group of editors. Provides a list of authors and classic works in the field of production and operations management (POM) arrived at by applying more objective criteria. Maintains that this listing was developed, not from the preferences of the researchers, but rather on the basis of results of a survey of those persons most involved in the field: POM educators and scholars.

The authors conduct a structured analysis of the literature on the determinants of economic and financial franchise performance and develop an integrative framework that unifies the literature from franchisor as well as franchisee perspectives.

53 relevant research articles on economic and financial franchise success published between 1976 and 2020 were identified. After providing an overview of the empirical methods and theoretical perspectives found in the literature, an original classification system of franchise success determinants was developed.

More than 50 different variables impacting economic or financial franchise success were identified and grouped into ten distinct categories. The most impactful categories are the franchise relationship, franchisee characteristics and capabilities, franchisor variables and the franchise environment. The study’s integrative framework illustrates not only the impact of these factors on franchise success, but also reveals which areas require more attention.

As the study focused on understanding the determinants of franchise success, any measures related to franchise failure were excluded. Also, the role of venture capital and stock market listing as growth strategies in the franchise sector were excluded.

The study’s framework shows how the management of franchise success is complex and that franchise relationship, franchisee and franchisor variables as well as the franchise context need to be taken into account. It illustrates that there is a hierarchy with which these determinants should be prioritized.

The article proposes the first systematic review of the literature on the determinants of economic and financial franchise success. The contribution offers both, researchers and practitioners, new and useful insights for future knowledge development in the field.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

This monograph contains abstracts from the 2005 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, 6‐7th September 2005

Service use between six and 11 years of age is reported for children adopted from Romania into UK families, and compared with that for children adopted within the UK before six months of age. Between six and 11, there had been only one adoption breakdown, and about one in ten couples experienced a marital breakdown. Apart from continuing concerns over hepatitis B carrier status in a small number of children, physical health problems were not a prominent feature. By contrast, nearly one‐third of the children from Romania placed in UK families after the age of six months received mental health services provision ‐ a rate far higher than the 11 to 15% in the groups adopted before the age of six months. Such provision was strongly related to research assessments of mental health problems and largely concerned syndromes that were relatively specific to institutional deprivation (quasi‐autism, disinhibited attachment and inattention/overactivity). There were similar differences between the UK adoptees and the adoptees from Romania entering the UK after six months of age in major special educational provision and, again, the findings showed that the provision was in accord with research assessments of scholastic achievement. The between group differences for lesser special educational provision were much smaller and there was some tendency for the early adopted groups to receive such provision for lesser degrees of scholastic problems than the children adopted from Romania who entered the UK after six months of age. The policy and practice implications of the findings are briefly discussed.