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Managers of contemporary organizations are continually examining modern management techniques with a view to adopting best management practices and thus gain competitive advantage. The danger is that managers will adopt a functional stance and consider only narrowly defined management techniques contained within a functional specialism, for example finance or operations management, considering the inter‐functional implications of developing a particular technique. Describes activity‐based costing/management, total quality management and quality costing and considers the extent to which these techniques are interdependent and appropriate for a total quality organization.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the response in the UK, the USA and China to the need to provide effective protection in law to disgruntled minority shareholders.

The study draws upon official comment and case law across the three jurisdictions in order to assess the scope and availability of minority actions.

The importance of shareholder rights through alternative actions is an important aspect of controlling the behaviour and actions of the Board of Directors and an important part of corporate governance. This paper seeks to compare the development and scope of derivative rights in the UK, the USA and in China and provides an assessment and insight into the differences in approach and in the political and legal structures with the consequent likely impact on the role and contribution of derivative claims in the control and governance of Boards in the different jurisdictions.

The study should prove of interest to scholars of comparative corporate law.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the practical and legal challenges and barriers to the development of a private action in antitrust controls and to project those onto a consideration of the development of such rights of action through a case study of Brazil.

The paper provides a critical review of both the theoretical and practical barriers to the development of private rights of action, drawing upon the history of development in both the USA and in Europe and the regular considerations of policy and law making, through debate at the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development. This comparative and historical analysis is projected into models of design and delivery for consideration by law makers.

Despite the different legal traditions and policy considerations of the different jurisdictions, the fundamental design of a common action pan‐jurisdictions and outwith conflict of law principles might be possible. The paper proposes a design framework to facilitate and achieve this. The case‐study of Brazil presents an interesting and recent context, and illustration, of this process.

The paper provides an historical and comparative account of the development of private rights actions in this area and provides, to the law maker, a framework and set of legal principles and practical enforcement and design guidelines. This framework and its guidelines should assist those countries seeking to introduce such rights of action in the policy area of antitrust control.

The historical and comparative approach draws together in one paper a contemporary global position in this area of law development.

A key to economic success is that a company should be clear about its purpose. Existing methods of reporting company performance have proved inadequate. The missing link could be incorporating mission statements to share the mission/purpose of the organization with the end‐users. Describes the essential features of mission statements using 13 variables. Reports on research into about 200 UK‐based European companies. Analyses their scores in terms of the 13 variables, and finds they leave much to be desired. Concludes that, for company reporting to be improved, a TQM approach needs to be adopted.

For many, quality circles have been a struggle, total quality management has been something to “get around to one day” and continuous improvement has just been another expression meaning total quality management, which, of course is something that we will “get around to one day”. Worse, the acronyms used ‐ QC, TQM, CI ‐ have joined such exotic practices as JIT (Just‐in‐Time inventory), CAD‐CAM (computer‐aided development and manufacturing) and more recently BPR (business process re‐engineering) in an alphabet soup of consultant‐led packages, available to the discerning manager ‐ at a price.

That someone can make you feel good is a quality in itself. There has been much talk within British government circles, for example, about “the feel‐good factor”, which is constantly reminding us that it is just around the corner! Whether or not we can believe in this is another matter, but it certainly displays an awareness that making other people feel good can have positive benefits for you also. How this can be achieved will differ depending on your particular line of business. Having a good quality product does not in itself guarantee success as service quality must also be taken into account. This is where the feel‐good factor comes into play. It is all very well, for example, going to a restaurant to have a top‐class meal (in that the food was good), only to have it thrown at you. Quality, therefore, must not be seen as a separate entity, but more as a package deal.

Recent years have highlighted the emphasis placed on quality. It is a word often heard around many an organization, but can mean different things to different people.The Japanese have certainly jumped on the bandwagon with vigour, and have tried to include total quality in almost everything they do, looking increasingly to improve their processes at every conceivable stage. Recent emphasis has been heavily placed on product reliability, thus ensuring that the final product does not let the customer down. Quality in this instance quite simply refers to the processes leading up to the end product itself. This can throw up even more tantalizing questions, such as trying to decide what your actual product is. Am I, for example, selling you, the reader, the actual journal or the information contained within? Does quality mean to you, therefore, the quality of the cover, the paper, and the print, or is it the quality of the information, or indeed both. This issue of IJHCQA, will hopefully go some way towards answering these types of questions, and take a closer look at a number of “strategies for service quality”.

That someone can make you feel good is a quality in itself. There has been much talk within British government circles for example, about the feel‐good factor, which is constantly reminding us that it is just around the corner! Whether or not we can believe in this is another matter, but it certainly displays an awareness that making other people feel good can also have positive benefits for you. How this can be achieved will differ depending on your particular line of business. Having a good quality product does not in itself guarantee success as service quality must also be taken into account. This is where the feel‐good factor comes into play. It is all very well, for example, going to a restaurant to have a top class meal, in that the food was good, only to have it thrown at you. Quality, therefore, must not be seen as a separate entity, but more as a package deal.