International Journal for Quality Research

12

Authors: Luis Miguel Fonseca, William Esteves, Valentina Mihaela Ghinea, Ramona Elena Cantaragiu

Researchers have focused on the influence of organizational models in the actions, and subsequent outcomes of organizations and the results support the view that there is indeed an association between certain features of organizational models and organizational performance outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to map the organizational models used by Portuguese companies to identify possible dominant patterns and search for differences across several dimensions (sector, size, number of customers; internal/external market). The results show a level of organizational hybridism with several models applied simultaneously and with smaller firms showing a higher emphasis on dialogue, flexibility, and response capability. There is also a general preference among Portuguese companies for the bureaucratic organizational model. The results also indicate that organizations that adopt the bureaucratic model seem to be able to implement systematic processes innovation making compatible the rules and procedures with the ability to learn and adapt.

12

Authors: António Pires, Paulo Ávila, Goran Putnik, Leonilde Varela, Maria Manuela Cruz-Cunha, Rita Caldeira

Value analysis methodology uses a structured and methodical job plan contemplating several steps to ensure success in its application. This paper intends to perspective the potential of value analysis application, namely in the furniture industry. To draw conclusions of this potential a case study was developed at an IKEA factory in Portugal. To characterize the customer needs in a clear language and to quantify the value of a product (a bookcase) produced in this factory, a value analysis study was developed. Functional analysis is the most known and distinctive phase of value analysis and is, nowadays, an autonomous tool. With this functional analysis, the authors intend to describe the functions that the product performs, to provide a better knowledge of the product, to evaluate the degree of satisfaction of the product through its functional performance and to facilitate the search for alternative solutions. The results obtained allowed us to reach some important conclusions about the application of value analysis in this type of industry and can be an initial step to promote the use of this tool in this kind of industry.

14

Authors: José Luís Pereira, Marco Costa

We are living a time in which the data generated by humans and machines has reached levels never seen before - the so-called era of Big Data. Everyday, vast amounts of data, coming from different sources and with different formats, are created and made available to organizations. First, with the rise of the social networks and, more recently, with the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT), data with enormous potential for organizations is being continuously generated. In order to be more competitive, organizations need to explore all the richness that is present in those data. Indeed, data is only as valuable as the insights organizations gather from it to make better decisions, which is the main goal of Business Intelligence (BI). In this paper, we describe the development of a decision support system in which data obtained from a NoSQL database is used to feed a BI solution.

14

Authors: Júlio C. Magalhães, Anabela C. Alves, Nélson Costa, Ana Rita Rodrigues

This paper reports the administrative processes improvement based on Lean Office tools in an office environment of a University department. Lean tools such as electronic standardization were applied on the six educational projects of the department. Also, some were used to organize the computer desktop and network drives to improve the supporting educational projects information. Additionally, due to the absence of Key Performance Indicators (KPI), some were defined and implemented on the department. The main results were the electronic standardization successful implementation, reorganization of the drives and the desktop. The impacts were a reduction of 84% on the files search time, improvements on the development of forms for student registration and projects managing, a 69% reduction of time searching for student information or data, a reduction of the input times and information handling in an estimated total of 12 hours/year, identification of KPI and development of a dashboard for visual analysis and monitoring of these.

14

Authors: Teresa Pereira, Elisabete Dias, Dalila B. M. M. Fontes

This work proposes a multi-criteria decision-making approach to select suppliers in the olive oil sector. Besides several performance criteria required to the supplier, olive oil characteristics such as colour, smell, and density, as well as organoleptic tests are used. Hence, the assessment and selection of suppliers assumes a major importance and needs to be done yearly. The process of finding a set of suppliers to choose from involves two sequential stages, namely identification and elimination. The identification stage consists of finding a set of potential suppliers. Then, in the elimination stage, suppliers that are not able to meet the thresholds associated with some technical indicators are disregarded. Thus, only a small set of very promising suppliers need to be assessed. The assessment was performed by resorting to the Macbeth approach, resulting in a ranking. The results obtained were validated through sensitivity and robustness analyses.

14

Authors: Bruno Cretú, Dalila B. M. M. Fontes, Seyed Mahdi Homayouni

This paper addresses a distribution problem involving a set of different products that need to be distributed among a set of geographically disperse retailers and transported from the single warehouse to the aforementioned retailers. The distribution and transportation are made in order to satisfy retailers' demand while satisfying storage limits at both the warehouse and the retailers, transportation limits between the warehouse and the retailers, and other operational constraints. This problem is combinatorial in nature as it involves the assignment of a discrete finite set of objects, while satisfying a given set of conditions. Hence, we propose a genetic algorithm that is capable of finding good quality solutions. The genetic algorithm proposed is used to a real case study involving the distribution of eight products among 108 retailers from a single warehouse. The results obtained improve on those of company's current practice by achieving a cost reduction of about 13%.

16

Authors: Abdilbaet A. Mamasydykov, Murat Z. Abdiev, Gulumkan M. Attokurova, Oyenbek E. Abrakhmanov

The purpose of the article is to study the scientific and methodological aspects of increasing the export potential of processing companies on the cluster basis with the help of quality management, by the example of cotton cultivation of Kyrgyzstan, and to develop practical recommendations. The research subject is organizational and economic mechanisms of increasing the export potential of processing companies on the cluster basis with the help of quality management. The research object is cotton companies of Kyrgyzstan. Based on studying the state of the sphere of cotton production and cotton processing production of Kyrgyzstan, competitiveness of products of the sphere on the basis of development of integration, procesision of deep processing, cluster organization, government support, and stimulation of development of export-oriented spheres of the AIC, the authors determine the problems of the sphere and develop organizational and economic mechanisms of organization and functioning of the cotton micro-cluster. The authors use systemic analysis and economic & statistical, monograph, and comparative methods.

16

Authors: Marcelo Oliveira, Samuel Batista, Dércio Reis, Gabriela Veroneze, Raíssa Maciel

The objective of this paper is to analyze the excess of failures in a mobile phone line production in order to make process improvements in a factory of the industrial pole of Manaus (PIM) by using FMEA methodology (Failure Mode, effect analysis). The excess of failures was an extremely influential aggravating factor by its customer, since the increase of the productive capacity in the company would be determined by the reduction of the percentage of failures or increase of YIELD from the conception of the product until the final phase of its life. Tracing the root causes is an important step in improving manufacturing processes for reducing failures. The impact of this is the reduction in industrial costs and an increase in the quality index of the product, ensuring customer satisfaction in having to produce its product in a factory that operates under condition the EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services).

18

Authors: Leonilde Varela, Gabriela Amaral, Sofia Pereira, Diogo Machado, António Falcão, Rita A. Ribeiro, Emanuel Sousa, Jorge A. Santos, Alfredo F. Pereira, Goran D. Putnik, Luís Ferreira, Cátia Alves

Decision support visualization tools provide insights for solving problems by displaying data in an interactive, graphical format. Such tools can be effective for supporting decision-makers in finding new opportunities and in measuring decision outcomes. In this study, was used a visualization tool capable of handling multivariate time series for studying a problem of operational control in a textile manufacturing plant; the main goal was to identify sources of inefficiency in the daily production data of three machines. A concise rule-based model of the inefficiency measures (i.e. quantitative measures were transformed into categorical variables) was developed and then performed an in-depth visual analysis using a particular technique, the categorical time series plots stacked vertically. With this approach were identified a wide array of production inefficiency patterns, which were difficult to identify using standard quantitative reporting - temporal pattern of best and worst performing machines - and critically, along with most important sources of inefficiency and some interactions between them were revealed. The case study underlying this work was further contextualized within the state of the art, and demonstrates the effectiveness of adequate visual analysis as a decision support tool for operational control in manufacturing.

20

Authors: Julia V. Ragulina

The article seeks the goal of studying the modern experience of quality management in the AIC in view of the distinguished categories of countries and approaches and developing a scientific concept of quality management in the AIC according to the regulation approach, which allows for high level of national food security. For studying the modern experience of quality management in the AIC the author uses the method of regression analysis, and the resulting variable is the index "Quality and safety", which is calculated within the Global Food Security Index. Also, analysis of variation and correlation and scenario analysis are performed. It is determined that countries that do not specialize in the AIC (e.g., Singapore, Ireland, the UK, and the USA) use the deregulation approach to managing the quality of products in the AIC. Though in 2018 there was high quality of the AIC products in these countries, the deregulation approach does not allow guaranteeing preservation of the achieved quality in the long-term. In countries that specialize in the AIC (e.g., Albania, Republic of Moldova, North Macedonia, and Montenegro) use the regulation approach, which ensures high manageability of quality of products in the AIC. However, the level of quality of these products in 2018 was low. It is substantiated that the optimal scenario is the one envisaging the systemic quality management in the AIC on the basis of the territorial-sectoral placement and scientific & technical development. For the most effective practical implementation of the regulation approach in the countries of the both categories, a scientific concept of quality management in the AIC on the basis of territorial-sectoral placement and scientific & technical development, which allows ensuring high level of national food security, was developed.

8

Authors: Alina-Andreea Dragoescu Urlica, Laura-Ioana Coroama-Dorneanu, Lulzime Kamberi, Natalia Malenko

The paper presents the follow-up of a case study investigation with students of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) on a tertiary level (1st and 4th year students), consisting of collaborative learner-teacher activities, including concept mapping and content-based learning. The results of our project in progress are considered for an optimal adaptation of an ESP textbook which is intended for students in several areas related to the Life Sciences (Agriculture, Biotechnologies, Biology, Genetic Engineering, Horticulture, etc.). The framework of the course support we propose, as well as our methodology and tool kit are provided by ecolinguistics and the aim is achieving ecological learning and meaningful communication in the language class and beyond. The object of this exploratory study is to highlight the potential of collaborative learning environments, to enable students to employ conceptual mapping and find relations between significant concepts in the Life Sciences. The feedback was collected from ESP learners as materials were collaboratively selected and designed together with students, based on the construction of conceptual maps. The question raised in our preliminary study draws on a review of the literature pertinent to meaningful conceptual learning. Some of the key concepts addressed in the ecologically-designed English courses are analysed, focusing on feedback from the students and constantly adapting our findings to better serve their needs.

14

Authors: Iman Adeinat

Many Instruments that are developed and used to measure and evaluate the service quality do not provide a metric for firms to reference in order to adjust their resources to improve service quality. To address this deficit, this study aims at measuring the relative service-quality efficiency of fast food restaurants in a franchise system using data envelopment analysis (DEA). According to the results of the DEA model, efficient and inefficient outlets in the franchise system are identified even though there are no statistically significant differences between the restaurants in regard to their respective service quality scores. The findings open up a new discussion on how would service provider view service quality while taking into consideration efficiency of their business since the results suggest that when firms focus strongly on service quality, a decline in efficiency may result.

14

Authors: Anna V. Shokhnekh

The articles studies the main notions, principles, and procedures of strategic quality management of small business in the system of digital economy in view of risks of drift from the position of the cognitive approach; directions of strategic quality management of small business are given, which allow creating a mechanism of timely classification of risks, for the purpose of forming the algorithm of leveling the strategic drift; the developed procedures of strategic quality management of small business for adaptation in the system of making of managerial decisions are presented. Negative barriers of development of small business in digital economy, which form in the conditions of weak information capacity that hinders identification of substantial changes in external environment are determined. Rejection of very important information that goes along the routes of information and digital communications due to organizational, political, and cultural motives put small business into strategic drift, causing bankruptcy.

16

Authors: Chukwunonso Emmanuel Ozoemena, Philip Hackney, Martin Birkett, David Bell

In the design of statistical experiments, situations may arise when resource constraints hinder the use of factorial designs for process improvement. This paper explores how 9, 18 and 27-run orthogonal arrays compare against each other and against a proposed experimental plan referred to as a 'Segmented Fractional Plan' when used to fractionate 33 and 34 factorial experiments. Based on the analysis of 8 responses from 6 factorial experiments, it was observed that to identify the process setting that produces the desired product quality, with a reduced number of experimental runs, the segmented fractional plan can perform as well or better than some orthogonal arrays thus, providing an option for fractionating 33 and 34 factorial experiments.

16

Authors: Natalia V. Bannikova, Tatyana N. Kostyuchenko, Natalia N. Telnova, Svetlana S. Vaytsekhovskaya

The article deals with the analysis of the status and trends of the development of the dairy business in Russia, particularly through the example of the Stavropol Territory. The analysis is indicative of the relocation of milk production in the sector of small and medium agribusiness due to the cow population decline: on the one hand, in the sector of large agricultural enterprises, and on the other hand - in the sector of household plots. A dependence of economic efficiency of the dairy business on the increase in the size of cow population has been found, but the scale effect is underused because of inadequate investment attractiveness of this type of business. Quality management should be used for increasing it. The article presents the evaluation of possible changes of status of dairy breeding based on the forecast of the key performance indicators of the industry broken down by categories of households in the region through analytical graduation and trend extrapolation. The scenario forecasting of the development of the industry in the agricultural enterprises of the Stavropol Territory served as a basis for the identification of the focus areas of the state support of the of the dairy business development on the basis of quality management. Recommendations for increasing the efficiency of dairy business (with the help of increasing the productiveness of milk cows by means of increasing the breed structure of cattle, improvement of farms, implementation of the innovational technologies of cattle-breeding management, and improvement of feeding) and for increasing the quality and milk and milk products through refusal from using mixtures and through production of "eco-milk", its branding and certification are offered. Guaranteeing high quality of "eco-milk" (high nutrition, high fat level, and rich vitamin structure) will allow reducing elasticity of demand for it and will stimulate successful development of entrepreneurship.

16

Authors: Badr Dakkak, El Hassan Irhirane, Ahmed Bounit

Industrial maintenance occupies a predominant place in manufacturing companies and it effectively contributes to the improvement and the development of the production tool. However, the major concern of industrialists is to carry out efficient interventions in optimal time without penalizing production. Faced with this challenge, maintenance actors often find it difficult to choose the right skills to assign to the different tasks, depending on the complexity and the rapidity required of each task. In this article, we present a tool that helps manufacturers to choose the right actors for maintenance interventions. It is based on the practice of the experimental design and the estimation of the levels of competences of each actor in each maintenance level. Such a tool highlights and takes into account two important responses being the rapidity and quality of interventions. The results obtained were simulated on simulation software and examples of treatment of the results were also presented.

18

Authors: Pawan Kumar Chand, Ashwin Sadasiva Kumar, Amit Mittal

The purpose of this research paper is to understand the role of employability skills and emotional intelligence toward employer satisfaction in recruiting fresh information technology engineering graduates from institutions of higher learning in India. Using a structured questionnaire, the study surveyed 507 employers from the information technology sector companies in India, who as recruiters conduct campus placement drives across various engineering schools in the country. An application of structured equation modeling to the data revealed emotional Intelligence partially mediates in the relationship between employability skills and employer satisfaction while recruiting these fresh engineering IT graduates. The finding of the study will be supportive for the students, academicians and practitioners in recognizing the need of soft skills for making young engineering graduates employable.

20

Authors: Dragana Rejman Petrović, Predrag Mimović

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to, based on the model developed to improve supplier performance and models for supplier evaluation and ranking in different types of supply chains, contribute to the expansion of existing conceptual frameworks for measuring supplier performance, indicating that some key performance indicators used to evaluate and rank suppliers have a different relative importance in different types of supply chains. Design/methodology/approach - The research includes evaluation, ranking, and comparison of six suppliers belonging to an efficient type of supply chain and an agile type of supply chain. For the evaluation and ranking of suppliers by types of supply chains, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the data envelopment analysis (DEA) are combined. Novelty - Research in this field has dealt with supplier evaluation and ranking without taking into account the characteristics of different types of supply chains. The contribution of this paper lies in the development of a new model for supplier evaluation and ranking, taking into account the priorities of key performance indicators in different types of supply chains, providing management support in decision-making through simulation and finding the optimal solution for a particular supply chain. Practical implications - Developed and proposed models provide company management with the opportunity to apply a multiple-criteria decision-making model as a support in evaluating and ranking suppliers in different types of e-supply chains.

12

Authors: Mehdi Shojaei, Ardeshir Ahmadi Parisa Shojaei

The aim of this study is Implementation of productivity Management Cycle with Operational Kaizen Approach to Improve Production Performance in Pars Khodro Car Corporation. In this intervention study, all 120 employees of the Pars Khodro Company's Brilliance Body Production Unit were involved. After implementation of 9 steps of Kaizen, Kaizen questionnaire was completed by the staff. The questionnaire of employee performance evaluation was completed by direct supervisor before and after implementation of Kaizen. Finally, the collected data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics using SPSS22. The significance level was considered 0.05. In According to the findings, Kaizen has a significant effect on all functional areas of the staff (Pvalue <0.05). Without much financial investment and new technologies, using the existing facilities and relying on the capabilities and creativity of the organization's staff can be achieved more efficiency.

14

Authors: Albari Antunes Júnior, Evandro Eduardo Broday

This study presented a case study about the application of the PDCA Cycle to analyze and solve the problem of excessive losses of sauce in a process that produces frozen meals in a food industry in Southern Brazil. Through a quantitative and qualitative approach, it was demonstrated the way of implantation of PDCA in the process and its performance as a tool for continuous improvement. The amount of lost sauce was weighed for the calculation of losses as well as a survey of the status of the process indicators prior to the application of the PDCA. Through the use of quality tools, the causes of the problem and their respective solutions were defined through a plan of action. The adoption of the PDCA Cycle reduced losses of sauce by 86.75% due to improvements in the design and operation of the sauce dispensing equipment, leading to an overall improvement of the process as well as evolution in the results of all process indicators.

16

Authors: Inna V. Mitrofanova, Dmitry A. Sheikin, Nikolay P. Ivanov, Oksana Y. Trilitskaya

Analysis of the global practice shows versatile innovative tools of the regional cluster institutional development: in the field of functional institutions it's introduction of the cluster ambassador function into its functional framework, development of training programs for cluster managers and facilitators, elaboration of cluster cooperation patterns with the consumer community; in the field of framework institutions it's introduction of the regional open-government pattern, establishment of specialized body system, encouragement of cluster members' integration into business and social networks; in the field of regulatory strategic institutions it's introduction of the practice of collecting relevant data on clusters beyond industrial and statistical data, development of a special strategy for regional cluster development, promotion of intersectoral and interregional cluster initiatives; in the field of mental institutions it's a shifting focus of strategic developments from competitive advantages to collaborative ones of the region, including marketing, branding and cluster identity establishment.

16

Authors: Jolly Sahni

The value that Quality of work life (QWL) brings to the workplace has long been established by several scholars, however, the impact of QWL on engagement and commitment levels of employees remains under investigated. The present empirical study is devoted to explore the quality of work life in telecom industry and examine its association with employee engagement and organization commitment. The data collected from a random sample of 312 employee working in Telecom industry of Saudi Arabia, was analysed through Descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Evidence supports the significant relationship of quality of work life and organizational commitment, however, there is a weak link of quality of work life with employee engagement. This is the first study to explore the relationship among three important constructs of workplace; quality of work life, organizational commitment and employee engagement. Therefore, the study significantly contributes to the extant literature on Quality of work life.

16

Authors: Elena Piskun, Vladimir Khokhlov, Natalia Simchenko

An indispensable condition for setting strategy and programs of regional development, which stimulate solution of the tasks for increase of population's life quality, is a retrospective research of socio-economic performances for the purpose of determining the problem aspects and points of economic growth. Therewith, an assessment of economic development should be carried out within interrelation and interdependence of performances. In order to monitor modern economic state of Sevastopol and reveal its growth spurts, we need to uncover the current trends. The most true-to-life results were obtained using a system of simultaneous equations, which allows investigating the influence of external (exogenous) variables on endogenous ones that are integral and describing an economic state of the region. In the course of this study, we modelled economic processes depending on different levels of exogenous variables, which made it possible to reveal latent trends in the dynamic pattern of economic development of Sevastopol subject to irregular results of statistical conclusions.

18

Authors: Ľuboš Elexa, Lenka Hvolková, Ladislav Klement, Vladimíra Klementová, Marcela Kovaľová, Ľudmila Elexová

The article analyzes selected success factors of crowdfunding campaigns in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. As these countries are small in size with limited absorption capacity of crowdfunding markets, we assume that regional projects might be different as to the type, budget and area of implementation than those on international portals. The basic hypotheses are proposed, coming out from existing theories and previous results of research, tested by parametric tests. The methodology combines utilization of several methods - term frequency, trend analysis, quantitative and causal analysis. The results indicate that many projects are not providing important information about their idea (also in form of video spot, connection with social networks and own website), however, still quite large part of them is successful. The analysis also testifies that the most successful crowdfunding campaigns are those oriented on the blogs, travel, community, education and science.

20

Authors: Muthiah Muthukannan, Aruna Sankar Chithambar Ganesh

The manufacturing processes of the ceramic tiles from the raw materials to finished product generate various environmental hazards to the earth and human being. The available literature on the environmental hazards caused by the ceramic industries and assessment methodologies are limited. In this paper, various environmental impacts, the severity of the impacts and various tools used for the assessment of the environmental impacts while manufacturing the ceramic tiles are presented. The details of the ceramic tiles manufacturing process were collected and compiled based on manufacturing process, environmental impacts and assessment methodologies. The results of the study were discussed based on the environmental impact caused by the ceramic industries and the effectiveness of various assessment methodologies. From the literature, it has been identified that manufacturing of the ceramic tiles produces its own amount of harmful and hazardous gases to the environment. It has been observed that an individual ceramic plant produces (15.89 kg CO2-eq) per square meter of the ceramic tiles, which lead to (1.14 x10-5kg CFC 11-eq) ozone layer depletion. Besides, ultrafine and nanosized airborne particles are generated by the production units those particles affect the people. Therefore, it is identified that the ceramic industries provide significant environmental hazards. The literature presented in this paper can be considered significantly for the environmental effects and to have the current status of the environmental impact due to the ceramic industries.

20

Authors: Olatunji Fadeyi, Kehinde Oladele, David Imhonopi, Chijioke Nwachukwu

Qualitative data analysis methods are becoming more and more useful in management sciences. In this paper, an attempt is made to qualitatively ascertain the extent to which effective management succession influences organizational survival. An open-ended interview schedule with 15 questions was administered on 15 randomly selected individuals belonging to top, mid and low level management cadre across 5 money deposit banks in Nigeria. Qualitative content analysis was used to carry out coding of the responses. Cohen Kappa (?) inter-coder reliability test of trustworthiness gave a coding consistency value of 0.86, showing a near-perfect agreement. The final themes generated include; succession ingredients; succession results, and succession checks. It was found that for succession to truly drive an organization towards survival, certain key inputs, otherwise known as ingredients must be in place. Furthermore, the many short-comings in the process of succession must be checked and corrected. If rightly corrected, succession checks could help gain positive results, however, if not carefully monitored, results could be negative.

10

Authors: Ana Globočnik Žunac, Krešimir Buntak, Petra Tišler

Motivation encourages creativity, innovation, professional development of employees and is the key for high business standards. Starting point for this research is that motivation for work will be greater if a person can fulfil several diversified needs. System of rewarding concentrates on design, implementation and maintenance of different forms. For this research intangible factors of motivation were defined. Aim of the research was to determine the differences in perception of intangible factors considering the size of the company they work in. The total of 536 respondents presented that without regard of the size of company they work for they consider intangible factors and strategies as very important.

14

Authors: Iva Bulatović, Ana Stranjančević

Contemporary tourists are highly demanding, they look for new experiences and unique sensations, while their satisfaction is an indicator of destination quality. Awareness of the factors of tourist satisfaction is of crucial importance for destination management. This paper examines the satisfaction of tourists on the example of Montenegro. In Montenegro, the tourist satisfaction was not much studied which reflects the originality of this research. Factors of tourist satisfaction represent an indicator of the destination management quality. When critical points of tourist offer are known, it is easier for destination management to create strategic plans and to focus on quality improvements. Research results confirm that the existing resources of Montenegro as a tourist destination are not well designed nor properly exploited and that the tourist offer is incomplete. Authors give recommendations on how to increase the level of tourist satisfaction and how tourist satisfaction can help destination management to ensure quality.

14

Authors: un-Cheng Huang, Chien-Chuan Cheng, Yi-An Ding

In the quality inspection practice of the consumer electronics industry, MIL-STD-105E sampling table is viewed as the basis for sampling plans. This traditional quality inspection plan determine the sample size and reject rule based on the size of lot, consumer�s and producer's risk and average quality level (AQL). Traditional sampling plan does not consider internal and external quality costs. However, quality costs were considered in many previous researches, but the comparison between traditional and economical design of single sampling plan is rare from now. This paper discusses the sampling test before the receiving inspection which is vendor simulated buyers. Includes the costs of inspection, rework, replacement, and external failure cost are considered. We compare the quality economical design with traditional single sampling plan under the total quality cost. This paper can be regarded as a reference for future studies and practical applications.

16

Authors: Marta Mas-Machuca, Frederic Marimon

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to (1) identify and classify the main motives that underpin the theoretical and empirical studies of ISO 14000, and (2) to analyze the evolution of these motives regarding time, geographic domain and industry. Design/Methodology/Approach - The analysis was conducted through a literature review, analyzing 66 articles between 1998 and 2017 from Scopus and/or Web of Science databases. Findings - A categorization of motives to implement the ISO 14001 standard is proposed. The main important motivations are external: customer pressure and compliance with legal frameworks. These motivations remain unchanged over time. Asia is the region that pays the most attention to the standard, followed by Europe. Finally, the service sector should be analyzed with more detail, as the manufacturing sector has been the focus of most studies. Originality/Value - Policymakers, management bodies and standardization agencies can benefit from these findings.

20

Authors: Gurhan Aktas, Banu Demirel

The primary purpose of this research is to understand the genuine needs of conference attendees regarding conference participation within a multi-dimensional perspective and to identify the priority of those needs via modern QFD methodology. The findings support the early studies on the fact that academic development and networking are the most important needs towards conferences. Following these two primary need categories, organization-related needs are also given importance by the participants of this research. Offering free time for leisure and recreation activities within conference programs is valued more than pre-arranged social activities by attendees. It is anticipated that the research offers insight into the development and improvement of conference services through the identification of value-adding attributes, which would have practical implications for conference organizers and destination marketers. Unlike most of the extant literature in event management, this research employs the in-depth interviews, focus group, KJ method and AHP within modern QFD methodology.

20

Authors: Joanna Woźniak, Dominik Zimon, Katarzyna Chudy - Laskowska

The principal motivation for undertaking a research process was the fact that, in the literature of the subject, there is still less than sufficient number of studies relevant to the subject of the influence exerted by the selected aspects of the organisation of mass events upon the security and the satisfaction of participants in them. The research process was conducted in two stages, in the years: 2016 and 2017, on the group of 3,820 participants in Rzeszow Juwenalia. In the publication, it was attempted as well to verify the research hypotheses enumerated hereinbelow: a presumption that the gender, the attended year of studies, and also attending a given institution of tertiary education, do not exert influence upon the assessments of Rzeszow Juwenalia in the context of the feeling of security of participants, and also the assessment of the actions of services ensuring the security of the event venue by them is adopted; another presumption, that the assessment of Rzeszow Juwenalia in the context of the feeling of security of participants, and also the assessment of the actions of services ensuring the security of the event venue by them, is not, to a significant degree, different in studied periods of time, was adopted as well. The research process which was conducted made it possible to verify the adopted research hypotheses, and also to determine what factors make it possible to grasp the difference between the perception of the selected aspects of the organisation of an event by participants in it.

28

Authors: Yury Klochkov, Albina Gazizulina, Kunnummal Muralidharan

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) modifies the DMAIC approach by emphasizing speed. Lean focuses on streamlining a process by identifying and removing non-value added steps. A leaned production process eliminates waste. The target metrics, which affect any business include zero wait time, zero inventory, scheduling using customer pull, cutting batch sizes to improve flow, line balancing, and reducing overall process time. Lean Six Sigma�s goal is to produce quality products that meet customer requirements as efficiently and effectively as possible. In this article, we present various Lean performance characteristics that can be effectively used for improving a sustainable business process through a case study.