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Managerial practices and perceptions in the implementation of just‐in‐time (JIT) principles and concepts are significantly different in the United Kingdom compared to the United States. In a study of 99 companies located throughout both countries, several distinct differences between the US and the UK were found. US companies tend to provide a greater range of training and education for their employees than do UK companies. Incentives for employees are more prevalent in the US than the UK. The UK lags behind the US in taking JIT to the shopfloor. Respondents in both countries indicated comparable dissatisfaction with the implementation process. Problems in implementation included: lack of top management commitment and support, poor communication, lack of cross‐functional planning teams, data accuracy, and supplier participation. In conclusion, JIT tends to be viewed more often as a technique by UK managers whereas their US counterparts practise JIT from a philosophical perspective.

The location‐allocation problem involves multiple shipping destinations, with known demands for a given product and known transportation costs from sources to destinations. The problem is to determine the number of facilities and their locations in order to best service the shipping destinations. This paper presents an approach to facility location which allows the analysis of multiple conflicting goals as an extension of previous solution approaches. Specifically, the paper applies the branch and bound integer goal programming approach to the location‐allocation problem.

The concept of a paradigm and the dimensions of a paradigm shift are used to analyze the transition that is currently taking place in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Detailed attention is given to the case of Albania This relatively unknown country has overcome the paradigm effect problem and has gone back to zero. We describe the past and present situation in Albania and offer some specific recommendations for its future. The study of this country as it undergoes a paradigm shift can provide some important lessons for its bigger CEE neighbors that are making a slower transition to a market economy.