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The objective of this work consists of highlighting some benchmarking practices in management by presenting a case study conducted in a company in Brazil. The company was awarded with the Brazilian National Award some years back and it still can be considered as a benchmark of manufacturing enterprises. This paper focuses on the criteria of the National Foundation for Quality Award in Brazil by outlining the award process and presenting the core values and performance excellence criteria. Then, some current management practices in the studied company are presented. Finally, it is expected that the company is going to apply for the prize once again, expecting to be successful.

The paper reports case studies conducted in services organizations that apply Six Sigma in an emerging economy. Aspects of human resources and full-time specialist, infra-structure, top management leadership, customer requirements, focus on financial and non-financial results, structured method and strategic project selection are investigated. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Case-based research is employed as methodological approach. Data were mostly gathered through semi-structured interviews with managers involved with Six Sigma implementation. When available, archival data were also used to achieve more evidence towards triangulation. Then, the aggregation of the results was done a posteriori.

It was verified that Six Sigma was successfully implemented in those companies, however with some drawbacks. The studied companies adopt Six Sigma in association with other quality management approaches, mainly ISO 9000: 2008 and lean production.

The study was limited to three service companies. Therefore, the study findings are not subject to generalisation for other similar firms.

The research shows the importance of Six Sigma implementation in service companies in addition to its contribution to practical application by identifying the relevant aspects of its introduction. It enables practitioners to use the findings on factors that should be taken into consideration when applying Six Sigma.

It is one of the few studies on Six Sigma analysis in emerging economies. In addition, the empirical results found support in existing theory to some extent.

Effectively managing risk is an essential element of successful project management. In this sense, the present study seeks to propose a systematisation of technical risk management through the use of FMEA to optimise the decision making process in new product development (NPD).

The methodological approach adopted in this paper is a case study at an automaker in Brazil. Data were gathered from various sources, mostly participant observation and document analysis of two important NPD programmes. The risk management system was described and its influence on programs development analysed.

Results included a reduction in the number of project and test planning loopings as well as a reduced number of prototypes needed to approve product components. In addition, there was a positive influence on the product development decision‐making process, evidenced by better allocation of resources among projects at the programme.

The study is limited to a single case study which considers two major NPD programmes. Replications among other units of analysis are needed to further validate current findings.

This paper is one of the few published studies that report and discuss the FMEA within a broad context of risk analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to report case studies conducted in a company in Italy that produces packaging systems, in comparison with a Brazilian company within a similar industrial sector. The paper compares those two cases in terms of quality function deployment (QFD) usage and discusses the lessons learned from the cases.

Case‐based research was employed. Data were mostly gathered through semi‐structured interviews with engineers and managers involved with product development. Direct observation and archival data were also used to extract more evidence towards triangulation. Then, the aggregation of results was done a posteriori.

QFD implementation process was found to be similar in both companies but with some differences in terms of managerial aspects of product development, e.g. gathering the voice of customer and a more extensive use of other matrices besides the “house of quality”.

The study was limited in two companies. Although one of the purposes was to analyse if there are contextual differences between those two cases, this study was unable of verifying the context of QFD application. In addition, the study findings are not generalisable to other similar plants.

The research shows the importance of QFD implementation and similarities between the cases, in addition to contributing to application by identifying relevant aspects of its introduction. It enables practitioners to use the findings on factors that should be taken into consideration when applying QFD.

Besides the comparison between two companies, the paper discusses the innovation on QFD projects in one of the companies. In addition, the empirical results found grounding in existing theory to some extent.

This paper continues the analysis of the data collected in a survey of quality function deployment (QFD) carried out in Brazil, and deepens the study by carrying out interviews at some of the companies which participated in the survey to identify best practices on QFD application.

To analyze the data collected in a survey of QFD and interviews, eight exemplary criteria based on the QFD literature were considered. The paper then presents and discusses best practices in QFD application.

The results of analyzing the interviews showed that there were exemplary aspects in the use of the method and the key points in the QFD implementation that should be considered were related to: support from upper management, carrying out training, creating the team, frequency and length of meetings, and creating a conceptual model, among other aspects.

It is important to stress that the importance of some of these exemplary aspects varies with the type of company and the product developed with QFD, and could be less important for other products and industries.

The results showed that there were key points in the QFD implementation that should be considered depending on type of company and the product.

The key points in the QFD implementation identified in this paper may be useful to QFD users and academics.

Over recent the past decades, integrated management systems (IMS) have emerged as one of the major tasks for practising managers and the academic community. In this context, this paper aims at identifying relevant practices related to an IMS in an organisation that belongs to the sugar cane and ethanol agricultural industrial sector in Brazil.

A review of mainstream literature on IMS is conducted followed by case‐based research used as the methodological approach. Data were gathered through a questionnaire as well as face‐to‐face semi‐structured interviews. The analysis was done a posteriori to construct the case description and perform the analysis.

Issues that motivated the IMS implementation were identified. The paper also highlights the difficulties experienced and benefits accrued during implementation. The existence of a previous quality management system facilitated the implementation of the IMS. Nevertheless, a longitudinal study is desirable to assess further results in the long term.

This work is limited to a single unit of analysis. Therefore, empirical replications in other samples are needed to validate current findings.

This is one of the first known studies to investigate the implementation of an IMS in a manufacturing unit that produces sugar and ethanol.

The purpose of this paper is to present part of the results from a survey on Six Sigma, more specifically to identify the best practices in the use of the Six Sigma methodology.

Data were collected in an exploratory‐descriptive survey on Six Sigma adoption in companies operating in Brazil. Then, the paper presents and discusses best practices in Six Sigma application.

The results point out relevant aspects related to the professionals involved with the program, the number of projects developed per year, as well as the return on investments made by companies. It is concluded that a good proportion of respondents adopt best practices according to the literature, but the subject needs a more detailed investigation of the financial benefits achieved with its application.

It is important to stress that the importance of some of these exemplary aspects vary with the type of company but, overall, they might be generalised within the sample.

The results show that there are relevant points when applying Six Sigma that should be considered by companies interested in adopting it.

As the application of Six Sigma is relatively recent and there is little data published about its utilisation in a developing country, it is important to expand knowledge on this subject. The best practices identified in this paper may be useful to Six Sigma users and academics.

Measuring quality costs is an essential step for achieving competitiveness because these costs are strongly related to the company's annual revenue. One of the most important categories of quality costs is that of external failure costs. The consequences of these failures are not only related to the costs incurred to the failure in the field, but also to customer appeasement Within this quality cost category there are the claims against warrant. The warranty, which is a contract between a manufacturer and the consumer, specifies that the manufacturer agrees to repair or replace the failed product within the predetermined warranty period. This paper deals with the assessment of external failures by presenting a case study on warranty costs. The findings demonstrated that warranty costs can be significant and their reduction very important. In the studied case, the assessment of warranty costs has proved to be feasible and effective.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and systematize journal articles that relate to new product development (NPD) within a circular economy (CE) and to present an integrative framework.

It was conducted a qualitative research based on a systematic review of the literature.

As results, it is presented the identification of the main practices and actions of CE applied to NPD, as well as the drivers, barriers and the stakeholders involved in the integration between CE and NPD.

The main contributions of this research are: mapping the state-of-the-art on the topic and systematizing the existing knowledge; providing useful insights for product development professionals considering adopting CE practices and tools in their NPD processes; and presenting a unique, integrative framework to guide organizations’ actions.

The utilisation of Six Sigma and its associated techniques has yielded results that deserve a more detailed evaluation, since there is relatively little information published on the application of Six Sigma in developing countries. The objective of this work is to present the results of an exploratory‐descriptive field study, which was done to survey a series of practices related to Six Sigma programmes at companies that have adopted them.

The paper presents a descriptive survey. More than 100 Six Sigma users were identified and contacted by telephone to respond a questionnaire. Two remembering letters were sent to companies that did not answer the survey resulting in a response rate of approximately 65 per cent, which can be considered suitable by the literature for a descriptive survey.

The results obtained from the survey revealed that the application of Six Sigma in Brazil is a reality. However, it concluded that the programme was adopted by large‐size companies that invest in infrastructure and training of their personnel, making it possible to obtain the financial benefits desired.

This is not a probabilistic study and, therefore, the external validity is limited. The paper also considers perspectives for future research on the use of techniques and tools associated to the application of the programme as well as factors of failure in its utilisation.

This paper is one of the few published studies that report and discuss Six Sigma programmes in developing countries.