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Describes work done to research Russian needs in quality management education and to begin the process of creating an infrastructure to meet them. Needs were determined through a questionnaire, interviews and feedback from key actors at specially organised seminars. Knowledge of quality management ideas and the provision of education and training in the quality field were found to be low. Syllabuses and course structures for quality management were devised consistent with EU norms but harmonised as far as possible with existing practice and traditions. A Centre of Excellence to deliver quality management education was founded called the European Quality Centre. It received its first students in September 1998 and it will be the first node in a regional network of such institutions. The creation of an educational infrastructure will facilitate the building of a cadre of trained quality professionals, ultimately enabling Russian quality management practice to rise to world levels.

This paper assesses the current knowledge and perceived needs of the key actors in quality management in Russia and examines various strategies for change, in the context of both present Western thinking and the local economic situation and cultural traditions. Three quality management approaches already tested in Russia, namely, third party certification, self‐assessment and a Russian/Western hybrid model, all have significant drawbacks. The priority must be for the creation of an educational and institutional infrastructure for quality management. The conclusions in this paper are also relevant to the other republics of the former Soviet Union and East European countries.

The introduction of new industrial legislation in 1987, in the former Soviet Union, followed a policy of decentralization in which factories were given increased authority to seek their own customers and suppliers, agree prices, and to engage directly in foreign trade. Additionally, from 1987, various forms of co‐operative enterprise and leasing were established, State price controls began to be lifted from many products, and the groundwork was established for a wide range of industrial assets to be converted from public to private ownership. Discusses the major features of technological change and management behaviour likely to occur in the Commonwealth of Independent States, as enterprises continue to operate in an environment of decentralization in which authority and responsibility is being transferred to them from the previous State committees and industrial ministries. Specific attention is paid to the likely effects of this decentralization on markets, innovation and quality within the Commonwealth of Independent States. Details possible changes in supplies, workforce management, and management development as the effects of decentralization are diffused throughout these areas of industrial activity.

Compared to the rest of the world, quality management in Russia is still in its infancy. Unless an appropriate quality culture is developed to support and sustain quality management practices, it would be ineffective to introduce quality management systems into Russia. In this article, several critical success factors are identified to promote the effectiveness of quality training and management in Russian organizations.

In view of the importance of finite element (FE) techniques in the design, analysis and validation of many engineering products, the National Agency for Finite Element Methods and Standards (NAFEMS) was established in 1983 to take an overview of the FE scene in the United Kingdom. NAFEMS is currently funded by the Department of Trade and Industry, but it is expected that it will eventually be self‐funding. Its headquarters is located at the National Engineering Laboratory, East Kilbride, Glasgow.

The paper aims to present a review and comparison of the Russian Federation Government Quality Award (RFGQA) with the three major business excellence models, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA), European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Award and Deming Prize.

The paper briefly reviews the RFGQA through a desk-top research method. Then, it adapts the comparative approach used in a similar study by Vokurka et al. (2000). Thus, the comparative analysis consisted in contrasting two characteristics of the RFGQA with those of the MBNQA, EFQM Award and Deming Prize, namely, award descriptors (i.e. objectives and criteria) and emphasis placed on excellence criteria (i.e. weighting). The study also includes a mapping assessment to explore up to what extent the RFGQA addresses the criteria of the major models.

Although the RFGQA was designed based on the concept and structure of the EFQM model, the results of the study indicate that there are still differences among them, especially in terms of internal business processes. RFGQA finds more differences with the MBNQA and Deming Prize excellence models than with the EFQM.

This research would benefit organisations and managers in Russia, as they will be able to acquire a deeper knowledge on the RFGQA. This may facilitate its awareness and implementation.

The paper expands the current knowledge in the area of quality management and models for business excellence, as it is among the very first investigations to have studied the RFGQA model.

The development of market oriented strategies and marketing programs in the Czech Republic has been hampered by a lackof understanding by managers of what these concepts mean. A study of “old state enterprises” clearly suggests that until dramatic changes are made in transforming organizations, it will be some time before these firms will develop appropriate marketing practices. One of the most critical roadblocks to change is the current managerial cadre. Their experiences under the socialist system form the way they approach marketing. Even those at the top level of organizations have a limited understanding about marketing. Given their age and position, we should not expect to see dramatic changes in the near future. Also, the slow movement toward economic transformation and the general turbulence in the Czech economy thwart movement toward marketing practices.

There has been a plethora of published research related to total quality management (TQM) in the last few decades. However, very few studies focused on cataloging critical factors of TQM. One of the objectives of this literature review was to investigate the state of TQM by examining and listing various TQM factors identified based on survey studies conducted in different countries and published in a variety of journals over the past decade. An examination of 76 survey studies that used an integrated approach to TQM showed that the TQM factors could be grouped under 25 categories. An analysis of the 347 survey based research articles published between 1989 and 2000 using these 25 factors as a framework revealed the most frequently covered TQM factors in the literature. Another goal of the paper was to analyse the objectives of these articles by year and type of journal they were published in to determine the trends in TQM survey based studies and recommend future direction for research. The analysis showed that the objectives of the 347 studies could be grouped under six categories.

Whereas the foreign direct investment role in privatised enterprises is a new phenomenon, our purpose here is to discuss the changing strategies of foreign manufacturing firms in view of the new conditions that they are facing and the consequences on labour market and economic sectors. With regard to this, the main issue to shed light on is to what extent foreign owned firms operating in the manufacturing sector of Lithuania have been contributing to increasing the competitiveness of the country, through efficiency seeking and eventually through resource enhancing investments. And to what extent might such investments lead to a deeper integration into the international production networks.

The Fruit Control Act, 1924, is an important one as it provides for the establishment of a Fruit Control Board, and is described as an “Act to make Provision for Control of the Fruit Trade.” The following definitions are laid down :—Board is the Export Board of Control, or a Local Control Board established under this Act. Fruit: this term is applied to apples and pears only. Fruit Trees are apple trees and pear trees only. Producers are persons carrying on business as producers of fruit for sale and being the occupiers of orchards registered under the Orchard and Garden Diseases Act of 1908. The Export Control Board may give directions as to grading, packing, handling, storage, shipment, sale, insurance against loss, display at exhibitions, and generally all matters relating to handling, distributing and disposal of fruit. It may also appoint overseas agents to act under its directions. To enable the Export. Control Board to control effectively the export of fruit, the Governor‐General may, under the Customs Act, 1913, prohibit the export of any fruit save in accordance with a licence issued by the Minister of Agriculture in terms approved by the Board. Part I. of the Act applies to fruit grown for export, and s. 3, i, states that this part of the Act shall come into operation by Proclamation approved by the Executive Council. It is, however, provided by s. 3, ii, that the Proclamation shall not issue unless a proposal has been carried at a poll of producers by a majority of valid votes recorded, and (sec. 4) if seventy per cent. of the producers in a district wish their district to be excluded from the operations of the Act, then the Minister of Agriculture shall by notice in the “ Gazette ” exclude that district. In this way the important Otago provincial district was excluded by notice on 15th January, 1925. Since it seems that no provision was made in Part I. of the original Act in the event of persons changing their minds, Otago presumably would have excluded itself for ever from the operations of the Act. The Act was designed to aid fruit growers and to further the interests of the apple exporters, for under s.s. 8–14, the Export Control Board has power to assume absolute or limited control over fruit intended for export after service on the owner of the fruit or by notice in the newspapers. It guaranteed, in fact, the quality of the fruit. Otago fruit growers seemed to have thought better of the matter, and an Amending Act (No. 6, 1932) was passed whereby (s. 2) Otago fell into line with the rest of the Dominion. Part II. of the Act applies to fruit for home consumption. It is not at present operative in any part of the Dominion, as the necessary authority under the Act has not been given by poll of fruit growers. Provision in this case, however, has been made for fresh polls to be taken if ten per cent. of the producers petition that this should be done. It is not as far as we know anywhere implied, still less expressly stated, that the Act shall be made to apply to any fruits other than apples or pears. Still, it seems only reasonable to see in this Act a basis for further legislation of the same kind which may in the future be applied to other fruits. It seems to have operated most successfully as far as apples for export are concerned. During the debate in the Legislative Council on the Fruit Preserving Industry Act of 1913, the then member for Nelson, which is perhaps the most successful apple‐growing district in the Dominion, stated that two years before—that is about the year 1911—there was a shipment of apples to England. “Nothing has been done as far as I can gather in following up that experiment.” The Minister for Agriculture was able to assure him that the apple consignment to England had turned out very satisfactorily. The export trade in apples has perhaps turned out to be far more satisfactory that anyone twenty years ago, either in New Zealand or in this country, could have supposed. The experimental shipment of 1911 was followed by the four years of war with its immense disorganisation, so that the industry, as we know it, may be said to have originated with this Act. In a word, the Act ensures uniformity of the consignments of fresh apples and pears exported from the Dominion to this and other countries. The export of fruit from New Zealand has, as everyone knows, been in operation, with varying success, for a number of years. Otago, for example, had established, through the Otago Provincial Fruitgrowers' Council, its own system of shipping and marketing fruit grown in the Province and intended for export—this indeed appears to have been the chief reason for the refusal of Otago to vote itself into control under Part I. of the 1924 Act. Still, we agree with the member for Egmont when he stated in the course of the debate on the Bill that “ the export of fruit is virtually a new business.” It will be readily seen that the control and guarantee of fruit—apples and pears—for export, and the advice and assistance rendered to the fruit growers must in the long run react on the output of the growers of every kind of fruit in the Dominion, it appears to be only a question of time. The time will have come when New Zealand grows more fruit than it can consume. When the Dominion grows the surplus fruit the amount of imported fruit must very materially decrease. Fresh fruit will still be exported, but we venture to predict that canned fruit will form a not inconsiderable proportion of the fruit trade taken as a whole when that time comes. The jam‐making industry already absorbs a considerable quantity of fruit, and if jam can be made fruit can be canned. Thirty‐five years ago a Mr. W. J. Palmer stated “ Nature has in the most unmistakable manner destined New Zealand to be pre‐eminently a fruit‐growing country… . New Zealand can produce, without artificial aid, almost everything that California has to raise by the expensive agency of irrigation.” If New Zealand can do that, then it is in as good a position to supply us with some of our imported canned fruit, as are the Dominions of Canada, Australia and South Africa, and the United States. Indeed, climatically it is on the whole better equipped than are the other countries just mentioned. Still, things seemed to have moved slowly as regards fruit‐canning in New Zealand. In 1910 and in other years the Year Book observes “ a great deal more might be done in bottling fruits … if only for home consumption.” The total amount of apples, peaches, nectarines, apricots and plums gathered in the Dominion amounts to 2,363 thousand bushels in round figures, and the last four named fruits make but 12·5 per cent. of this total. There would therefore seem to be plenty of room for expansion in the growth of these fruits which presumably form no inconsiderable amount of the fruit which is being canned for home consumption at the present time. Otago heads the list for production in all four, and markedly so for nectarines and apricots. It may be remarked that out of a total of 18 thousand acres returned as under fruit, the average size of a holding is about 7½ acres, the number of holdings decreasing rapidly after the 20–30 acre limit has been passed. New Zealand is therefore technically what we should describe as a land of small holdings as far as the fruit industry is concerned. In 1931 canned and bottled fruit valued at over £60,000 was imported into New Zealand—this figure does not include the value of imported pineapples. The country of origin was mainly Australia, and the fruits for the most part consisted of apricots and peaches. In 1931, 20,399 cwt. of fruit of New Zealand origin and valued at £45,691 was canned, and 16,086 cwt. valued at £29,337 was pulped. The Dominion has evidently still a very long way to go before it becomes self‐supporting in the matter of canned fruits, even though it may be able to grow the fruit itself, while an export trade in canned fruits is presumably still a long way below the commercial horizon.