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ABSTRACTThe recent 2017–18 “dash for gas” captured global attention, but also exposed critical failings in China’s gas market. The 2019 lull imposed by the Government reflects the need to address local challenges. This paper analyzes the prospects for demand growth and assesses the various ways in which that demand can be met. There is considerable uncertainty surrounding demand growth, with cost competitiveness being the determining factor. Equally, although China has significant natural gas reserves, they are largely unconventional and present significant geological and technical challenges; with domestic production growth failing to keep pace as demand import dependence increases. China’s gas imports are met by pipeline gas from Central Asia and Myanmar and Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) from avariety of countries. The Power of Siberia pipeline started deliveries of Russian in late 2019. However, plans to expand Central Asian imports have disappointed and China may agree to asecond pipeline from Russia or increase its LNG imports. Asimple “gas balance model” is used in the final discussion and conclusions to explore future developments and their consequences for global gas security.

In the last 50 years, the nature of business has changed, with a shift firstly from manufacturing towards service sector industries, and again more recently towards e-commerce. Traditional quality management techniques, such as failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), although developed in manufacturing, have since proved effective and popular in measuring quality in the physical delivery of a service. There is, however, little research into the application of such techniques in e-commerce. Parasuraman et al. (2005) highlighted the differences between physical service delivery and online service delivery, resulting in the e-SERVQUAL scale of customer requirements. This study has developed this research further into a practical tool for organisations to measure quality and guide improvement efforts in an e-commerce environment.

As the nature of business has changed over the last 50 years, with a shift away from manufacturing towards service sector industries, quality management has changed with it. Traditional quality management tools, such as quality function deployment (QFD), which were originally developed within manufacturing, have since become popular in assessing quality in the delivery of a service. Although recent research has highlighted the difference between physical service delivery and service delivery in e-commerce (Parasuraman et al., 2005; Barnes and Vigden, 2002, 2005), there is little documented evidence of these techniques being applied to e-commerce. This study has developed this research further, ultimately demonstrating how organisations can adapt traditional quality management tools to measure quality and guide improvement efforts in an e-commerce environment.