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An intelligent supplier relationship management system (ISRMS) integrating a company’s customer relationship management (CRM) system, supplier rating system (SRS) and product coding system (PCS) by the case based reasoning (CBR) technique to select preferred suppliers during the new product development (NPD) process is discussed. By using ISRMS in Honeywell Consumer Product (Hong Kong) Limited, it is found that the outsource cycle time from the searching of potential suppliers to the allocation of order, as well as the delay in delivery of goods of suppliers after order allocation, are greatly reduced. In addition, performance of suppliers can be monitored effectively.

Considers TQM from a cultural perspective using the influence of Confucian work dynamism and Chinese cultural beliefs on Hong Kong companies. Asks if these cultural beliefs conflict with modern quality management philosophy and presents the findings of research covering Chinese literature, experts in Chinese philosophy and Hong Kong TQM experts. Outlines research methods and concludes that there are relevant principles which can be used when implementing TQM.

A survey instrument based on the fundamental concepts of TQM in BS 7850 was developed to measure employees’ motivation and behaviour towards practising TQM in Hong Kong. Principle‐component factor analysis was employed to analyse the data. Three factors were found, namely the technology, the system and the philosophy, with emphasis on different aspects of TQM. Factor scores were then computed and empirical results showed that there exist three dimensions of quality and that Hong Kong employees are more motivated by the technical aspects of TQM, such as reducing quality losses and continuous improvement. On the other hand, the philosophy aspect of quality has not been emphasized.

Operations management literature prescribes various practices in supply quality management (SQM). However, few studies have described the SQM practices being conducted in Asian countries, especially in Hong Kong. The purpose of this study is to identify the critical SQM practices that conducted in Hong Kong.

We used in‐depth industrial interviews and extensive literature review to identify some critical items for evaluating SQM practices. Accordingly, an instrument was developed. We validated this instrument with 90 leading manufacturing related companies in Hong Kong by using SPSS 9.0.

Finally, we extracted ten critical factors for describing a SQM system. These factors could be clustered into three major groups namely supplier selection, supplier development and supplier integration.

This paper has not discussed the relationships among SQM practices, supplier quality and organisational quality. For future study, it will be worthwhile to consider these interrelations.

The newly developed instrument could be used to measure the practices of supply quality management in Hong Kong.

In this paper, a server‐based enterprise collaborative management system using enterprise application integration technology is developed for trial implementation at Honeywell Consumer Products (Hong Kong) Limited, in the area of supplier relationship management. The system facilitates supplier selection using an integrative case‐based supplier selection and help desk approach to select the most appropriate suppliers, based on their past performance records from a case‐based warehouse. Discusses a case study to integrate Honeywell's supplier rating system and product coding system by case‐based reasoning technique to select preferred suppliers during the new product development process. Finds that the outsource cycle time from the searching of potential suppliers to the allocation of orders is greatly reduced while performance of suppliers can be monitored simultaneously.

In increasingly competitive markets, customer satisfaction is a vital corporate objective. Key elements to increasing customer satisfaction include producing consistently high‐quality products and providing high‐quality customer service. Also, supplier relationship management (SRM) contributes to the supplier selection and increases the competitive advantage of manufacturers. SRM can enhance customer satisfaction and increase market share. Thus the development of a customer‐SRM system in the areas of outsourcing is essential for a company to remain competitive. Discusses an intelligent customer‐SRM system (ISRMS), using case‐based reasoning to help solve problems such as supplier selection and the help desk problem‐solving approach. By using ISRMS, companies can select the most suitable suppliers from the supplier list, as well as establishing a good customer‐supplier relationship between parties.

This paper proposes a framework that describes the boundary spanning supply chain management (SCM) initiatives taken by leading companies. Supported by existing literature and interviews with managers from large companies reflecting a cross section of businesses, the framework suggests four motivating domains or factors that could support SCM initiatives. They are supply chain understanding, design, improvement, and coordination. Based on the sand cone model, the framework also suggests four levels of SCM integration over which these motivating factors are relevant to the firm and/or supply chain. They range from no integration outside the functional silos of a single firm to a fully integrated multi‐tier supply chain. Unlike existing frameworks that are based upon the flow of material and information through the supply chain, our framework is derived by combining the concept of integration with the motivating domains that characterize SCM initiatives. It captures the combined and overlapping impact of supply chain initiatives from a more strategic perspective and is a useful additional resource for practitioners who seek to chart potential improvements to their supply chain from a competitive standpoint.

Assesses the evolution of retail brands within British grocery retailing over the past 25 years. Highlights key issues in defining retail brands which contribute to our understanding of their role and impact upon company strategy, and then explores how British retailers have managed the evolution of these product ranges. Identifies key factors as the changing basis and use of retail power in the distribution channel, the centralisation of management activities, and the appreciation of what constitutes retail image. Argues that British grocery retailers have successfully managed these factors to create a retail brand which is now regarded by customers as being at least equal to, if not better than, the established manufacturer brands.

Both the total quality management (TQM) and learning organization (LO) appear to be promising approaches for organizational transformation towards a more effective, efficient, and responsive organization in the past. The evolutionary development and theory supports for these two fields are distinct but they appear to have more in common than they have in distinctiveness. However, there is little synergy developed between these two fields both in academic research and industrial applications. It is possibly due to the facxt that both the academia and industry are taking a limiting polarized view of TQM and LO and hence not getting the benefits of linking the two. This paper tries to establish a link between the organizational learning capability and the quality culture for TQM implementation based on a case study on the largest vocational education institution, the Vocational Training Council, of Hong Kong. The study reveals that there is a strong positive correlation between organizational learning capability and quality culture. The exploratory explanations for the links between the organizational learning capability constructs and the quality culture constructs are also discussed in this paper. The findings of the study support other literatures that TQM should be embedded in LO and serves as an enabler for organizational learning (OL) in transforming and creating organizations which continuously expand their abilities to change and shape their future.

This paper aims to show the results obtained from the data mining techniques application to learning objects (LO) metadata.

A general review of the literature was carried out. The authors gathered and pre‐processed the data, and then analyzed the results of data mining techniques applied upon the LO metadata.

It is possible to extract new knowledge based on learning objects stored in repositories. For example it is possible to identify distinctive features and group learning objects according to them. Semantic relationships can also be found among the attributes that describe learning objects.

In the first section, four test repositories are included for case study. In the second section, the analysis is focused on the most complete repository from the pedagogical point of view.

Many publications report results of analysis on repositories mainly focused on the number, evolution and growth of the learning objects. But, there is a shortage of research using data mining techniques oriented to extract new semantic knowledge based on learning objects metadata.