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Tourism is an important part of the Queensland economy, contributing 7.3% to the state’s GDP, and alongside agriculture, resources, and construction, is part of the state’s “four-pillar economy.” Tourism and Events Queensland is the state’s peak tourism organization, a quasi-governmental body with responsibility for destination marketing and management, and more recently, organizing major events including the 2018 Commonwealth Games. This case explores the roles, responsibilities, and governance challenges of Tourism and Events Queensland, providing insights to regional cooperation, destination marketing, and policy and planning.

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.

This paper aims to give a wider understanding of what customers really want from first and subsequent visits to mainstream city centre nightclubs and bars by examining customer attitudes to various aspects of the services arena and service offerings provided by such venues.

Purposive sampling was used to establish two focus groups within the industry's main target market age group. This qualitative data were analysed from a grounded theory approach in order to identify the emerging themes that were then tested by quantitative data gathered by means of a questionnaire in phase 2 of the research. These data were then subjected to a frequency analysis in SPSS in order to identify those elements that were most preferred by the majority of respondents.

Findings point to the relative importance of various elements of the servicescape in influencing customer decisions to enter a venue for the first time, and also to the relative importance of factors which prompt subsequent visits to a venue.

In such a saturated and highly competitive marketplace these findings can assist mainstream venues within the late night economy to improve their competitive position by understanding and then providing what customers really want.

Although there is much services marketing literature on the relevance of the servicescape and the importance of service quality, this paper attempts to ascertain which factors are truly key in customer decision‐making, and in which order each element of the service is rated by the industry's key target market.