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There has been a tremendous decline in the use of the death penalty in the United States. Recent research using county-level data shows that a small minority of locales in the country account for death sentences and even fewer for executions. Drawing on theoretical work that seeks to account for why these locales continue to use capital punishment, we provide in this chapter a thick description of Maricopa County, Arizona, one of the most active death penalty locales in the contemporary United States. In doing so, we demonstrate how capital punishment operates in a field of violently defended racial boundaries. Our chapter shows the roles of various local actors across time in fortifying such racial boundaries through historical white terrorism and more recent reinforcement of zones of racial exclusion that are embodied especially in communicated fears of “illegal immigrant gangs.” We contend that the case of Maricopa County points to the importance of attending to racist localisms as a catalyst for the continued implementation of the death penalty in the United States.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the application of a Six Sigma (SS) methodology as a means of reducing supply chain risk in aerospace maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) functions. In this contribution the LSS method is used to estimate the economic impact on the selection of the most appropriate maintenance strategy pertaining to aircraft display units (DUs) as well as providing a reduction in turn round time (TRT) variation of the DUs.

The paper develops a SS approach which includes the development of the Monte Carlo technique as a mechanism to identify the most cost effective MRO strategy whilst simultaneously reducing variability in TRT servicing of the DUs. This application enabled the authors to obtain further proof of concept and also to apply a number of focused quality improvement techniques to systematically reduce TRT variation.

An effective development of the SS approach is proposed and the effectiveness of the method is subsequently evaluated highlighting the benefits to the host organisation. The SS methodology demonstrates that it is possible to identify the most cost effective MRO strategy and thus suggests a suitable DU replacement policy which in turn allows engineers to develop the appropriate maintenance schedules for the company.

The design, development and implementation of this SS methodology offers an approach to achieving a more cost effective MRO strategy whilst reducing TRT variability which can lead to greater predictability of operations which in turn enables the company to effectively synchronise supply with demand. The paper offers practicing maintenance managers and engineers a practical example for increasing productive efficiency and output.

This SS strategy contributes to the existing knowledge base on maintenance systems and subsequently disseminates this information in order to provide impetus, guidance and support towards increasing the development companies in an attempt to move the UK manufacturing sector towards world class manufacturing performance.

With the current global downturn, companies must develop new and innovative approaches to ensure that economic sustainability is achieved. The purpose of this paper is to propose a Fit Manufacturing Framework (FMF), the adoption of which can help manufacturing companies to become economically sustainable and operate effectively in a global competitive market. This contribution extends the previous work by the authors and provides an evolution on the initial work through enhancing the development of Fit manufacture through developing a more robust framework and a more comprehensive functional testing of the framework.

The proposed FMF provides a new manufacturing management perspective and a new manufacturing management strategy for creating economically sustainable manufacturing organisations. It builds upon the principles of existing manufacturing paradigms, along with innovative management concepts, to set up the conditions necessary for sustainability. A pilot application of the framework in three SMEs shows positive initial results when assessed against four Measures of Performance.

Manufacturing strategies such as Lean and Agility allow companies to deliver bottom‐line savings in production terms, although their effectiveness depends upon the volume and demand profile of their products. The trend towards mass customisation requires companies to provide personalised products and services at mass production prices. This now places a further burden on companies and therefore a holistic manufacturing framework must be developed in order to ensure that the factory of the future is able to meet this new demand. This paper proposes a Fit manufacturing paradigm which integrates the manufacturing efficiencies achieved through Lean and Agility with the need to break into new markets through effective marketing and product innovation strategies to achieve long term economic sustainability. The small‐scale application of the approach in a case company shows the initial results to be positive when measured against key MOPs developed within this paper.

The development of a Fit paradigm aimed at tackling directly the issues of economic sustainability is proposed and is considered by the authors as one of a kind. Fit will also provide a framework for the implementation of sustainable manufacturing operations within organisations.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the migratory nature of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) implementation and adoption in manufacturing-based SMEs in the UK. The companies were surveyed at two points over a five-year period. These periods were before and after the 2008 recession point. This being done in order to identify the level of LSS adoption as a result of the tougher economic climate that has prevailed since 2008.

Analysis is carried out on a sample of 96 manufacturing SMEs from a range of manufacturing sectors in the UK. Data were gathered from company CEOs via a triangulated method of questionnaire, direct observation and interviews.

The paper provides research information into the characterisation, compatibility and innovativeness of SMEs towards LSS implementation and goes on to provide an implementation classification system and characterises the dynamical nature of LSS development in manufacturing SMEs.

The findings analyse the dynamic nature of LSS implementation in SMEs. Further work will include extending the LSS categorisation system to provide a wider category set that further defines the dynamical nature of LSS implementation. Also, more focused studies in to specific manufacturing sectors will yield greater understanding of the effects of LSS on those sectors.

The paper provides practical research information into the characterisation, compatibility and innovativeness of SMEs towards LSS implementation. It will be of use to practitioners seeking to implement or develop LSS further in their organisations.

This study compares at depth the LSS implementation issues within SMEs. It not only analyses the survey data but characterises their attitudes towards implementing LSS and as such this work makes a contribution to this under researched area.

The purpose of this paper is to recognise the key manufacturing challenges currently facing UK manufacturing industry and to further identify the Key Developmental Areas (KDAs) (which includes technologies, systems and paradigms) which need to be developed and employed in order to ensure manufacturing firms in the UK become economically sustainable and are able to operate effectively in a global competitive market. The aim of the paper is to provide a benchmark for UK manufacturing industry to work from, after which future measuring instruments could be employed to track whether companies are meeting these challenges.

A survey into 100 UK manufacturing companies provides the basis for the identification of the challenges and KDAs. The findings from the survey are analysed against information obtained from existing strategy reports and foresight papers/studies to reach a point where the authors identify a balanced set of challenges and developmental areas obtained from this mixed research approach.

Through a comprehensive academic and industrial study, the authors identify and propose nine key manufacturing challenges for UK manufacturing industry to consider. Furthermore, the authors also identify a number of the KDAs which could be used to assist companies in meeting these challenges. The KDAs are not meant to be exhaustive but aimed to provide the underpinning support to the challenges proposed.

The paper proposes a set of key manufacturing challenges for UK manufacturing businesses to consider and apply appropriate technologies and systems to achieve business resilience. This paper will therefore be of benefit to the academic community in that it distils a wide range of academic theory and industrial practice in order to create a coherent body of knowledge. As with any survey work, the accuracy of information depends largely on the size of the survey. Whilst 100 companies were surveyed, a further extension to this number would always help to strengthen future research.

The identification of these key manufacturing challenges and their corresponding technologies, systems and paradigms is aimed at providing a new manufacturing perspective to both academics and industrialists. The challenges and developmental areas proposed provide the basis for a new and advanced manufacturing strategy to be developed for UK companies which aims to create economically sustainable manufacturing organisations.

This paper follows previous economic studies on bodyweight by looking at bodyweight as individuals’ choices in response to changes in income and food prices. However, it goes one step further to add another relevant choice under individual control: food quality. It shows that the upward trend of bodyweight caused by economic growth and technological innovations may well be self-limiting in the sense that the bodyweight growth in the future is likely to be slower or reversed. In particular, it finds that much of further income growth will be used for improving food quality rather than increasing caloric intake. Moreover, further technological innovations that focus on lowering the price of high-quality (healthy) food relative to that of low-quality food would encourage substituting food quality for food quantity (calories).

The purpose of this paper is to assess the value of the media rankings of business schools from the perspective of students, business schools and the media.

The paper analyses the rankings given to various schools by various publications.

The media rankings give the perception that there are more significant differences between similar MBA programs than actually exist. Indeed, many times it is the arbitrary weighting assigned by the media to the variables in the ranking rather than the quality of the school that accounts for differences across similar programs. A more accurate description of quality would be obtained by rating schools in groups of programs of similar quality.

Business school applicants can utilize media rankings to identify the top 100 MBA programs but should not base their decision between different programs on a specific ranking of one school relative to another. Rather, the applicant should examine the raw data behind the ranking, along with many other non‐quantitative factors, in assessing which is the program best matches their particular interests and aspirations.

Our econometric research allows for a possible response of a person's hours worked to hours typically worked by members of a multidimensional labor market reference group that considers demographics and geographic location. Instrumental variables estimates of the canonical labor supply model expanded to permit social interactions pass a battery of specification checks and indicate positive and economically important spillovers for adult men. Ignoring or incorrectly considering social interactions in male labor supply can misestimate the response to tax reform by as much as 60%.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and understand the differences that exist between educational institutions in the methods and practices employed in the development and implementation of Lean projects. Whilst many Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are now starting their journey towards effectively implementing Lean, Further Education Institutions (FEIs) have treaded this well worn path many years previously and so the aim of this paper is to find what key features and issues FEIs have put in place to assist them in implementing Lean projects and whether HEIs can learn from such institutions.

The paper applies two research methods in an attempt to understand the differences between the institutions and hence understand the key features that can be used to better implement Lean initiatives. First, through a series of focus groups, the authors employ a low-level form of Group Consensus Theory in an attempt to understand the organisational dynamics surrounding the adoption of Lean. This is used to understand whether Lean improvement teams within FEIs implement such initiatives with the autonomy and support from senior management. Second, the same group members, detailed interviews were held in order to identify further and more specific information around the tools and techniques employed in the implementation of Lean initiatives in both HEI and FEIs.

The study found that although FEIs had much more experience in the design, development and implementation of Lean initiatives, the organisational infrastructure and dynamics towards driving Lean in FEIs was less well embedded in to the culture of the respective institutions than first thought and, that Lean had been developed and driven initially by a consultancy-based approach and around a tool-driven mentality. It was seen that whilst HEIs were generally slower in getting off the mark, there seemed to be more enthusiasm and willingness to drive such initiatives forward and in a more systematic and holistic manner even though some of the projects were in their very early stages of implementation.

Whilst this work provides key information on how Lean initiatives are implemented across different institution types, the work has only looked at a very small sample of two teaching focused HEI and two FEIs. The work will need to be extended much more widely to incorporate a larger set of HEIs (both research and teaching focused) in order to provide a more complete map of Lean development in HEIs.

The aim of the paper is to provide Lean project leaders in HEIs with some additional key insights towards the cultural and organisation dynamics that exist in educational institutions other than HEIs in order to assist them in developing further and more comprehensive Lean programmes.

This paper is the first of its kind to study the organisational and cultural dynamics that exist between differing educational institutions in their approaches towards the implementation of Lean and business improvement programmes. The key features highlighted in this work raise important issues regarding the need and importance of developing team dynamics around project implementation.