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This paper investigates the pattern or trajectory of implementing ISO 9000 standards versus TQM in Western Europe from a longitudinal perspective, using empirical data. The research is based on three large‐scale surveys conducted in 1992‐1993, 1996‐1997 and 2001‐2002 respectively, in 13 Western European countries. The results of the surveys show that European companies have put considerable effort into ISO 9000 certification. However, the results also reveal that, around 1996‐1997, European companies had also planned to implement TQM. However, the result of the planned “go beyond ISO to TQM” fell short of the anticipated extent, indicating that the adoption of TQM in Europe was slower than expected. Early in the twenty‐first century, European companies are still very keen on implementing TQM, indicating an obvious intention to shift from ISO 9000 to TQM. To ensure that the shift will occur this time however, the two approaches must be integrated properly. Although both ISO 9000 standards and the TQM/EFQM model have been recently updated or modified, how to best incorporate the two systems remains one of the major tasks of quality management in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for understanding how problem formulation, information search and division of work in new product development (NPD) activities is shaped by mind sets vested in organizations with diverging positions in the value chain and correspondingly situated knowledge contexts. The authors aim to focus on how this influences the marketability of new product ideas.

The empirical data are derived from exploratory observation studies of NPD meetings and interviews of involved managers and specialists in three business dyads. The cases involve ingredient and meat suppliers, retail chains and marketing agencies located in Denmark.

The authors show that the scope and organization of NPD activities indeed are shaped by the combinations of situated knowledge contexts involved. An important intervening variable however concerns the atmosphere of the relationship, involving emotions and attitudes of the actors involved from foregone exchange situations.

For managers of NPD activities, the relationship between the knowledge contexts involved, the concept development outcomes and the marketability of new product ideas are important factors to take into consideration in organizing supplier or buyer involvement in NPD.

The value of the paper is primarily related to its empirical contexts and the findings.

Attempts to consider how a founder has reduced equivocality in relation to support networks and reducing risks, especially in an international environment. Presents the case studies of five Danish and Australian born global companies. Considers different global models and their limitations. Presents the findings of recent surveys in this area. Concludes that internationalization has not been the primary objective in the founding process and gives direction for further research.

As the result of a major local government reform in 1970, most welfare functions in Denmark are dealt with at the local level of government, effectively turning the extensive Danish "welfare state" into "welfare communes" as municipalities are called in the Scandinavian languages. With more than half of the country's total public expenditure being spent by local authorities, regulation of local govenment budgets has become a major concern in the economic policy of the Danish central government. Since the early 1980s the realization of the goal of limited growth in Danish local government spending has been quite successful. One explanation for this comparatively successful regulation of local government spending in Denmark can be foundin the combined effects of two factors: 1) Danish local authorities have the independent right to levy taxes, and 2) the regulation of local budgets is the result of a negotiated agreement between central and local government actors, known in Danish as "budgetary cooperation."