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A well developed manufacturing strategy is becoming increasingly important to many manufacturing organizations. A major feature of such a strategy is the definition of a manufacturing infrastructure that is consistent with how products and services compete in the selected market. The managerial accounting system is a key component of this infrastructure. Reports the results of a survey of 85 manufacturing companies. Finds that many companies use an accounting system that appears to be inappropriate. The systems are often ill suited to their marketplace and inconsistent with an appropriate manufacturing strategy. Discusses recommendations for change for companies currently developing a manufacturing strategy.

Introduces the concept of a manufacturing strategy based on a service orientation. Traditional manufacturing strategies have often been driven by cost minimization decisions and have encouraged the over‐reliance by managers on inventories to satisfy demand. In today′s business environment, a reliance on inventory is often not feasible. Suggests a reliance on capacity available to meet demand, as used by the service industry. Such a strategy is in direct conflict with most cost‐accounting systems because of the absorption of overhead costs based on direct labour. Proposes two alternatives for changing the accounting system, to enhance the move towards the service‐based strategy. Lastly, presents a case study of a US plant to illustrate the results that a company adopting this approach should expect.

Continuous improvement initiatives such as Lean in Higher Education (HE) institutes are an emerging topic for research. Under pressure to do more with less, institutes of HE are increasingly adopting the tools and methods of lean to improve their quality practices. Nevertheless, institutes of HE differ significantly from business organizations. The purpose of this study was to examine the critical success factors (CSFs) of continuous improvement in this homogeneous industry. Two other contextual factors, implementation approach and national culture, are examined.

A mixed methods approach, combining Q-methodology, online surveys and interviews, was used to investigate the CSFs of lean implementation in HE. Participants were recruited from an international network of lean practitioners in HE. Using Q-methodology, three perspectives of CSFs in HE were identified.

Lean implementation at institutes of HE is characterized by a bottom-up approach, involving mostly supporting processes. Contrary to business organizations, the role of management in the implementation of Lean in HE is limited and attention should instead be directed to employee empowerment and customer focus. The findings also showed that, at least for institutes of HE, organizational culture is more influential than national culture.

When management involvement is limited, a bottom-up implementation of lean is recommended, centered on improving university-wide supporting processes, promoting cross-departmental cooperation and overcoming the silo mentality. This approach requires an emphasis on a specific set of CSFs, namely, employee empowerment, sharing success stories and training.

The study findings enrich conceptually based lean implementation frameworks for HE that advocate a top-down implementation approach.

IN the two years since the last Farnborough Air Show was held by the Society of British Aerospace Companies the aircraft industry has achieved an almost complete metamorphosis from the body blows in the form of major programme cancellations that almost felled it in 1965 to the very healthy position that it holds today.

The management of children′s literature is a search for value and suitability. Effective policies in library and educational work are based firmly on knowledge of materials, and on the bibliographical and critical frame within which the materials appear and might best be selected. Boundaries, like those between quality and popular books, and between children′s and adult materials, present important challenges for selection, and implicit in this process are professional acumen and judgement. Yet also there are attitudes and systems of values, which can powerfully influence selection on grounds of morality and good taste. To guard against undue subjectivity, the knowledge frame should acknowledge the relevance of social and experiential context for all reading materials, how readers think as well as how they read, and what explicit and implicit agendas the authors have. The good professional takes all these factors on board.