For many years culture has been claimed as an important component of organizational success in general and TQM and quality improvement in particular. This study examined management culture and quality performance in a sample of New Zealand manufacturing organizations. The culture was measured...

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to develop and empirically test an extension to the three‐column format SERVQUAL instrument to evaluate passenger rail service quality. Design/methodology/approach – This article combines the literatures of service quality and rail transport quality...

Considers the approaches to quality improvement undertaken by organizations in Korea, New Zealand and the United States of America. Relates alternative quality improvement approaches to actual operating and financial performance. Productivity improvement approaches were also investigated and...

This paper considers the links between quality management systems and environmental management systems. In particular, how firms use their experience with the former to develop the latter. Case studies of seven plastic manufacturers in New Zealand found a high degree of applicability of TQM...

Over the last few years, several international studies have independently shown a significant correlation between the number and intensity of manufacturing practices in use and the performance of a firm. The conclusion is an unsettling: “the more the better.” This paper uses the Global...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the progression of business excellence (BX) in 13 repeat applicants for the New Zealand Business Excellence award over the period 1993‐2007. Design/methodology/approach – A multiple case approach analyses quantitative scoring data along with...

Investigates what approaches to quality lead to best quality and financial performance across different regions of the world. Reports a survey of 977 firms in Asia/South Pacific, Europe, and North America. Fifty‐two items that suggest how a firm might improve quality were factor analysed and...