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Total quality management is a new management philosophy that is concerned with sustained ongoing improvement to organisational processes and the outcomes of those processes. It challenges the status quo and insists that everything an enterprise does and how it does it, can be done better – to the greater satisfaction of customers. The history of TQM is outlined and the distinguishing features and fundamental principles behind this paradigm shift in management culture are introduced. The major dimensions and basic approaches to quality are defined and the nature of processes and process variation explained. The article concludes with a description of integrated process management – the TQM model for the future.

Very few Australian organisations have been able to effectively integrate and sustain the principles of quality management. A number of factors have contributed to this situation but by far the most significant has been the disinterest exhibited in the relevance of organisational culture; especially as this is shaped by existing and imminent technologies. The steps that can and should be taken prior to embarking upon the strategic implementation of cultural change are explored and means of identifying and evaluating the key cultural dimensions and diagnosing specific factors that might impede the pace and scale of cultural transformation are proposed. Implementing a “quality‐appreciative” culture ultimately requires the remodelling of each cultural attribute. Thus an intimate understanding of culture is an imperative for those organisations wishing to make the transition to quality a natural and lasting reality.

Sports sponsorship is increasingly perceived as a powerful way for brands to connect and resonate with target markets yet, despite the proven success of worldwide viewing figures, professional boxing remains all but ignored. Brands have shied away from the sport due to its inherent violence and often-controversial image, but boxing can deliver a media-savvy young male demographic in a less cluttered marketing environment. So have sponsors overlooked a prime opportunity?

This chapter discusses the use of an extended stage model for the evaluation of the adoption of e-business in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Empirical studies of e-business adoption are rare in Middle Eastern and developing countries and the chapter provides valuable insight into this region, by presenting an account of the use of the extended stage model to explore the level of e-business adoption among Yemeni SMEs.

In making this examination, the challenges and opportunities that accompany e-business adoption are revealed. The internal drivers and barriers, such as finance and skills, are recognised along with the external factors that include infrastructure and legislation. It also provides valuable insight into the macro-level sociopolitical determinants of e-business adoption that have not previously been appreciated; the study was undertaken during the Yemen Civil War in 2016.

Current adoption models imply that organisations adopt technologies in a linear fashion, gradually increasing complexity and capability. This study makes an important contribution by recognising that there are multiple points at which SMEs may ‘enter’ the technology-adoption ladder.

In this research, the main purpose is to use a suitable structure to predict the trading signals of the stock market with high accuracy. For this purpose, two models for the analysis of technical adaptation were used in this study.

It can be seen that support vector machine (SVM) is used with particle swarm optimization (PSO) where PSO is used as a fast and accurate classification to search the problem-solving space and finally the results are compared with the neural network performance.

Based on the result, the authors can say that both new models are trustworthy in 6 days, however, SVM-PSO is better than basic research. The hit rate of SVM-PSO is 77.5%, but the hit rate of neural networks (basic research) is 74.2.

In this research, two approaches (raw-based and signal-based) have been developed to generate input data for the model: raw-based and signal-based. For comparison, the hit rate is considered the percentage of correct predictions for 16 days.

This study investigates determinant factors (influence of the third party (ITP), credit policy (CP) and follow-up process (FP)) of micro, small and medium enterprises' (MSMEs) accounting processes (APs) and strategic debtors' management.

The study employed a sequential mixed-method approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methods for comprehensive data analysis. Phase I involved purposively selecting and interviewing 10 MSME owners or accountants to gain insights into debtors' management. In Phase II, a quantitative approach was used for collecting survey data from 72 MSME owners or accountants. Structural equation modeling-partial least squares (SEM-PLS) are the statistical tools that validated the study's proposed hypotheses.

The findings indicate that determinant factors (ITP, CP and FP) positively affect MSMEs' AP, significantly influencing strategic debtors' management. As a result, sole proprietors can use this study's findings to create value through systematic management of their debtors, guaranteeing sustainable firm growth and profitability.

The sample has restricted to MSMEs in Oman, where the findings may not be generalized to other companies. Overall, the findings suggest that it requires considering the proposed determinant factor of MSMEs' AP to manage their debtors or accounts receivable (AR) to be more profitable.

MSMEs play an essential role in the growth of any country's economy. However, the dearth of comprehensive research on influential factors of MSMEs' debtors’ management studies justifies the significance of the current study.

This study aims to examine the signalling hypothesis of dividends by testing empirically the market reaction to dividends announcements. Furthermore, this study aims to examine the information content of dividends announcements with respect to future earnings changes for a sample of Jordanian industrial firms over the period 2009 to 2015.

The authors mainly used the event study methodology to examine the market reaction to dividend release announcements. The market model is used to generate the expected returns. Also, the t-test is used to examine the significance of the mean and cumulative abnormal return. Furthermore, a simultaneous-equation model developed by Nissim and Ziv (2001) and Grullon et al. (2005), applying the two-stage least squares (2SLS), is used to examine the relationship between dividends changes and future earnings changes.

The results reveal consistency with the limited extant empirical evidence for developing markets and provide some new insights for Jordanian listed firms that support the signalling hypothesis. In applying the event study methodology, the information content of dividends shows that there is a significant positive market reaction to dividends announcements. The study’s findings also present a strong relationship between dividends announcements and profitability in the year of announcements and the subsequent year, whereas this relationship does not exist in the second year. The findings show that there is value-relevance for dividends, suggest that investors recognize the signalling purpose and discern that dividends announcements are useful in predicting favourable and unfavourable future earnings in the short run (the same year and subsequent year) and also show that managers may use dividends to signal earnings prospects in anticipation of expected future market benefits.

The findings of this study could have significant policy implications. The support of a signalling effect implies an existence of information symmetry, at least theoretically, between management and investors. On the other side, this study could not reflect the levels of inside ownership or the existence of signalling substitutes even though these findings could have implications for Jordan’s existing corporate governance practices and firms’ disclosure environment. The results are specific to Jordan, but they do shed light on the generality of the rival models of dividend policy. Many of the structural characteristics of the capital market in Jordan are, however, also present in other emerging markets. The results from this study may, therefore, help provide the basis for comparative research both in the region and in other emerging markets.

The support of the signalling effect implies the existence of information symmetries, at least theoretically, between management and investors. These findings could have implications for Jordan’s existing corporate governance practices and firms’ disclosure environment.

This paper contributes to the literature by providing a workable test for the dividend signalling hypothesis, applying a simultaneous-equation model that incorporates the market reaction to dividends announcements and future earnings changes. Moreover, this paper uses a recent data set of dividends announcements in Jordan. This study provides additional insight to support the signalling hypothesis in emerging markets. Overall, current and previous studies have focused typically on investigating dividend policy in developed markets, especially the US and European markets, although there has been limited analysis of dividends changes on earnings changes for developing markets.

The question has been recently raised as to how far the operation of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts of 1875, 1879, and 1899, and the Margarine Act, 1887, is affected by the Act 29 Charles II., cap. 7, “for the better observation of the Lord's Day, commonly called Sunday.” At first sight it would seem a palpable absurdity to suppose that a man could escape the penalties of one offence because he has committed another breach of the law at the same time, and in this respect law and common‐sense are, broadly speaking, in agreement; yet there are one or two cases in which at least some show of argument can be brought forward in favour of the opposite contention.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a series of tests designed to highlight changes in the physical characteristics of the yarn resulting from mechanical efforts comparable to that to which they are subjected on the weaving machine. Among the physical properties of the warp yarn, the authors examined changes include: the residual deformation, strength, elongation and elasticity, on the extender repetition effort overtension growing steadily, leading, after some time, to break. Therefore, the yarn treated extender repetition is subject to a more severe test than the actual weaving on the loom.

The initial length of the specimen under constant static load of 20 g, was 50 cm in all tests. The yarns are stored on several coils, the authors collected a quantity of thread on each of them, according to the law of chance, to avoid errors due to long periods of irregularity and the authors estimated that the extensions can be supported by the wire without danger of rupture are interesting practical point of view. Three rate extensions were chosen for the two yarns: 0.5, 1.2 and 1.9 percent. The maximum number of tractions was calculated for each wire by multiplying the maximum thread count practice by the average distance between the warp beam and the weft yarn on the weaving machine.

The fall of the resistance and elongation resulting from repeated extensions which yarn are subjected on the extensometer, corresponds almost exactly to the residual deformation recorded. Increasing the rate of extensions causes relatively large decrease in strength and elongation. The authors also notice that the strength and elongation at break tends to decrease when the number of extensions decreases. The fall of the resistance and the elongation at break is more important for carded yarns then combed yarns increases or when the frequency decreases.

The maximum difference of the resistance is 32 g, 10.3 percent in the case of carded yarns, while in the case of the combed yarns; the same difference is 25 g, or 6.4 percent of the initial strength. Similarly, the maximum fall of the elongation at break for carded yarns is about 2 or 16.1 percent of the initial elongation, while the corresponding drop in the case of the combed yarns is 1.8 or 10.9 percent of the initial elongation. The corresponding values found during the testing wool combed yarns, were, respectively about 4.8 and 6.6 percent.

Global government is on the rise, and with it a devolution of power to the grassroots. Subjugating nature is out of fashion and ecological living is the new imperative. The next generation of leaders will emerge not from the political class but from ordinary communities, bringing with them new modes of learning and new definitions of intelligence.