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In the food, drink, and pharmaceutical industries, ultrasonic sensors have advantages over many existing devices. They are capable of rapid, precise measurements and can be fully automated. Also, they can be used online, applied to optically opaque systems, and, moreover, are very cost‐effective.

Liverpool Conference was amongst the largest, as it was amongst the most successful, of recent years. In all but the weather it excelled, and there were fine intervals even in that. We publish the “Letters on our Affairs” by our well known correspondent, Callimachus, so far as it covers the first three days; the conclusion will follow next month, with what futcher comments seem to be necessary. The Annual Business Meeting was a little less rowdy than that at Scarborough, but one thing emerged from it and that was the determination of the A.A.L. to survive independently. There is more in this than meets the eye, and discussion on it may be postponed until a calmer mood prevails on all sides.

The aim of this study was to assess how post‐16 students in Wales conceptualized health and healthy eating.

A health survey questionnaire was completed by 297 post‐16 students who were pursuing Biology at A level in year 12. The questionnaire was issued towards the end of the summer term in year 12 which ensured that at that stage in their A level studies, all students had received teaching on the nutritional and biochemical component of the syllabus they were taking.

For the majority of respondents, and particularly males, being healthy was seen as the absence of illness and having the capacity to function as expected whereas female students significantly reported the importance of positive health behaviours, such as the need for exercising regularly and eating a balanced diet. Of concern, only a small percentage of the respondents reported the importance of eating fruit and vegetables as part of a healthy diet. Despite an increased emphasis on health issues within the school curriculum, it was apparent that female students possessed a more positive view of health as well as demonstrating a better understanding of what healthy eating means.

It is recommended that greater attention needs to be devoted to how health and nutritional education is taught in secondary schools.

Discusses how many TQM initiatives fail due to lack of commitment by management. Suggests using an assessment framework so that every “benefit” becomes visible and, therefore, encourages even more effort. Contends that TQM programmes that have succeeded, have concentrated on behaviour first, tools second. Looks at organizational environment and the development of frameworks to encourage the use of appropriate tools and techniques. Contends that within the framework provided by a regular structured assessment based on a world‐class model, the use of the tools and techniques will be appropriate and focused on achieving world‐class performance and wealth generation.

Our South African correspondent writes:—Considerable damage has been done to the University Library of the Witwatersrand as the result of an extensive fire which destroyed a large part of the collection and the building. The Library was, in the course of the past year, in process of reorganisation….. A plea for closer co‐operation between the libraries of South Africa was made by Mr. Percy Freer of Johannesburg at a meeting of the Witwatersrand and Victoria Branch of the South African Library Association. Mr. Freer said that most of the libraries were concentrating on particular subjects, and it was desirable that all libraries should be able to draw on the resources of each other. He suggested that the following libraries should function as regional centres with a view to relieving pressure on the National Central Library: the South African Public Library (Cape Town), Bloemfontein (operating with Kimberley), Maritzburg (with Durban), Johannesburg, Bulawayo and Port Elizabeth. The headquarters of the National Central Library itself should be attached to the State Library at Pretoria. A union catalogue and other bibliographical aids were desirable…. Dr. Gie (Secretary for Education) has been urging teachers to have a greater regard for books. He had been astonished to learn from recent investigations that many teachers not only did not read current books and periodicals regularly, but did not keep in touch with current topics through the newspapers. He advised teachers to assist in setting up libraries and centres where they did not exist.

This paper aims to contribute to the debate on business excellence by comparing the business excellence models of Malcolm Baldrige, European Foundation for Quality Management and Swedish Institute for Quality. By assessing these in relation to today’s new business landscape, the authors suggest that emphasising issues such as stakeholder co-creation of value, stakeholder dialogue, service innovation, service logic, business ethics and different views on resource integration can alter the view of quality improvement from economic, social and environmental perspectives, in turn, leading to Business Excellence 2.0.

This study examines three business excellence models and compares their adoption of the concepts of today’s new business landscape. The study focuses on whether the models’ fundamental principles and concepts are aligned with the views on sustainability, stakeholder co-creation and service innovation.

The examined business excellence models do not fully respond to the requirements of today’s business landscape. To gain relevance in the private sector, the fundamental ideas of the models in terms of concepts, criteria and evaluation processes must be rethought. Such an opportunity enables the quality movement and service logic research to come together to develop new business excellence models that incorporate the challenges of today’s business landscape.

This paper illustrates the need to develop business excellence models to address the perspectives of today’s new business landscape.

By incorporating strategies in sustainability, stakeholder co-creation and service innovation in business excellence models, organisations can deliver sustainable business growth.

The paper sheds new light on how business excellence models can incorporate aspects of the new business landscape. It also shows how the quality movement and the ongoing service logic research can come together to develop a new business excellence model that addresses the challenges in the new business landscape.

The performance of self‐assessment and the various tools for conducting self‐assessment have been frequently debated in the literature. This paper discusses the complete process of self‐assessment and how organisations use the EFQM excellence model in real‐life situations. The research, reflected in this paper, comprises experiences from nine large organisations. There is no universal method for self‐assessment. On the contrary, findings indicate that several approaches to self‐assessment are successful as long as they fit the organisation, are used continuously, and foster participation. Organisations sometimes overlook the need to establish structured ways of prioritising actions for improvement, creating possibilities for sharing experiences, collecting feedback, and developing work procedures. It is also crucial to understand that self‐assessment has no end in itself as a separate activity. We claim that self‐assessment must be considered from a holistic perspective in order to realise its full potential.

For the survival and growth of an organization, it is important to understand the transition phases of different market scenarios. During the transition from one market scenario to another, effective strategic planning is needed to manage the performance of the organizations. The paper models different market scenarios leading to excellent and poor performance of the organizations. Policy experimentations have been conducted using system dynamics methodology. The results indicate that there is no quick fix to achieve the TQM maturity level. To sustain TQM maturity level, it is extremely important to handle the transition phases of different market scenarios effectively.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between the belief-based factors (attitude, subjective norm (SN) and perceived behavioural control (PBC)) and environmental management accounting (EMA) practices.

Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the study develops a structural model and uses partial least squares (PLS) technique to analyse data collected based on a survey of the Australian cotton farmers.

The findings indicate that while attitude and PBC significantly influence farmers’ intention to adopt EMA practices, SN has a significant indirect influence on EMA practices through farmers’ attitude and PBC. Further, the study reveals that while the intention of more environmentally friendly farmers is largely influenced by attitude and SN, the intention of less environmentally friendly farmers is primarily driven by PBC.

The study provides important insights into the role of attitude, SN and PBC in motivating farmers towards adopting EMA practices. Such insights could also help farmers in designing effective EMA practices.

This study contributes to very limited EMA literature on TPB by integrating three belief-based factors namely attitude, SN and PBC.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and illustrate an application of a structured approach to assess and improve an organization's performance measurement review process.

This approach was implemented within an ongoing action research project in a large telecommunications organization. Assessment elements were defined based on literature review, and the assessment approach was designed based on performance excellence frameworks such as Baldrige and EFQM. Data collection included interviews, observations, and document review, and an external assessment team was used.

The approach can be used to generate useful and actionable feedback for leadership to increase the effectiveness of the performance measurement review process and can also be used as a reference framework for establishing an effective performance review process initially.

This paper provides a comprehensive yet detailed methodology for assessing the performance review process. This methodology is more targeted in scope than measurement system assessment tools emerging in the literature. Practitioners can gain specific feedback to improve the performance review process. Researchers benefit by having a more standard, structured approach for collecting and codifying detailed observations and artifacts when studying the performance review process.