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This paper investigates how Australian universities are being disciplined to behave as commercial enterprises by the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA). The manual produced by AUQA, for the purpose of conducting audits of Australian universities, is analysed. I use an analytical framework that provides a means by which a text from the "manual" genre can be analysed with respect to social and political contexts, using Critical Discourse Analysis. I analyse changes in the language used in subsequent editions of the manual, drawing inferences about how the AUQA manual constructs universities to behave as particular kinds of business entities. Depictions of the globalised and virtualised university are silenced in the texts. Contrary to the rhetoric of the university being a flexible, globalised enterprise, I find that universities are constructed as localised businesses appearing to be independent of direct government control but nevertheless constrained in the scope of their operation. (Contains 1 figure.)

To meet the challenges of the 21st century B-schools are revising curriculum, delivery and outcome assessment modalities. Today, the proportion of electives and other specialty offerings in many MBA programs now constitutes more than 50% of the total curriculum. However, this focus on customization, integration and flexibility is not without its own challenges including quality assurance and implementation. Benchmarking, which involves the assessment of a variety of inputs including student satisfaction, the business community and the accreditation process represents, one approach for meeting these challenges. The purpose of this paper is twofold: 1) to benchmark trends and challenges in MBA programs geared towards the working adult and 2) to outline a process for implementing more flexibility and customization in MBA curriculums. The results of a student satisfaction survey of MBA graduates revealed that a customized curriculum yielded greater insights and enhanced job related capabilities than a generalized curriculum. (Contains 5 tables and 3 figures.)

Objective: The authors describe the complexity of social processes for implementing technological change. Once a new technology is available, information about its availability and benefits must be made available to the community of users, with opportunities to try the innovations and find them worthwhile, despite organizational resistances. Method: The authors reviewed the literature from psychiatry, psychology, sociology, business, and technology to distill common denominators for success and failure related to implementing technology. Results: Beneficial technological innovations that are simple to use and obviously save everyone time and effort are easy to inaugurate. However, innovations that primarily serve management rather than subordinates or front-line utilizers may fail, despite considerable institutional effort. This article reviews and outlines several of the more prominent theoretical models governing successful institutional change. Conclusions: Successful implementation of difficult technological changes requires visionary leadership that has carefully considered the benefits, consulted with influence leaders at all organizational levels to spot unintended consequences and sources of resistance, and developed a detailed plan and continuous quality assurance process to foster implementation over time.

Inherent within emerging new food supply chains (FSCs) in the UK in recent years, and in particular those based upon direct marketing, is the (re)connection of production--consumption processes and concomitantly producers and consumers. New forms of connection are apparent, as food produce is differentiated on the basis of quality constructs which are often linked both to the place and nature of its production, but also to the exchange context. As a result, quality evaluation has become increasingly complex and heterogeneous, necessitating context-specific examinations of its mediation. This paper seeks to do this through its examination of producers and consumers at farmers' markets (FMs). Utilising the framework of Conventions Theory, it assesses how producers and consumers coordinate their mutual expectations in order to circumvent the uniform standards of "conventionally" produced food and create new production--consumption spaces. In so doing, the notion of a "Regard" Convention is suggested as a means of acknowledging the non-economic benefits of FSCs that are underpinned by direct marketing and, in particular, those that involve face-to-face interaction between the participants concerned.

Export education in New Zealand has grown rapidly since 1990, earning significant foreign exchange and underwriting the finance of domestic education. As principal owner of education institutions, the national state is the primary investor. Previous governments treated the "industry" as both windfall and cash-cow as they advanced the neo-liberal project of disentangling state from economy and making education providers self-regulating. The current "Third Way" inspired government has adopted a more prominent management interest in the making of this globalising industry. A new Code of Practice enacts multiple technologies of control from quality control to standard setting, benchmarking, certification and audit. Legitimated by a discourse of concern for the pastoral care of school-aged students, it requires institutions to provide detailed information. The Code makes "the industry" visible, makes a market, controls brand NZ education, regulates through consumer assurance, and imposes direct disciplinary controls on institutions. The Code of Practice makes apparent the ambitions and governmental technologies of the "augmented" neo-liberal state, and is a pivotal structure in the constitution of the industry and of the globalising processes that define it. The paper uses governmentality analysis to uncover these technologies of control and to consider their part in the constitution of both industry and globalisation. (Contains 2 figures, 2 tables and 5 notes.)

Purpose: Because of the ever-expanding commercialization and marketing of higher education, a need now exists to apply the concepts of business process improvement to colleges and universities. Aims to explore this issue. Design/methodology/approach: An open-ended qualitative questionnaire was developed, administered to 18 public and private university representatives and analyzed. Findings: The participants at these surveyed universities shared with the interviewers the institutional lean "best practices" that they feel will contribute to the sustainability of their universities. Research limitations/implications: This is a preliminary study with a sample size of 18 universities in the Northeastern USA. Future research should include more universities in the USA, as well as in other countries. Practical implications: Other institutions of higher education may learn from the successful implementation of the lean sustainability efforts at the institutions in this study. Originality/value: Very little past research, except in the area of green marketing, has focused on lean sustainability concepts in higher education. In a recent article by the same authors, a quantitative approach was taken in assessing lean sustainability practices in higher education. This current study explores the application of lean sustainability practices using a more in-depth qualitative approach. (Contains 1 note.)

A fundamental challenge within business organizations (whether manufacturing or service, large or small) is posed by the difficulties associated with managing knowledge to integrate the long-term vision and strategic goals with daily working processes and with people. The traditional Western approach of "Management by Objectives" (MbO) is problematic because of its tendency to focus on business tangibles (such as profits and cost) in a top-down hierarchical manner with no real consensus from the employees who are required to deliver them. Hoshin Kanri (interpreted as "Policy Deployment" in the West) has been described as one of the core aspects of Japan's management system--for integrating quality within an organization's business strategy through managing employees' knowledge--yet applications in Western businesses have been few. This paper describes a practical method for managing knowledge through Hoshin Kanri, and discusses the associated business benefits and opportunities. (Contains 3 tables and 6 figures.)

The success of corporate instructional design projects depends on how well the practitioner performs in the field under specific circumstances. Benchmarking is one of the major business strategies for continuous improvement. A thorough inquiry into how exceptional corporate instructional designers function lends insights into the instructional design processes for business contexts. (AEF)

Describes the special library's role in implementing ISO 9000 (i.e., a series of international quality-assurance standards developed by the International Organization of Standards). Topics discussed include document and data control, keeping the standards current, documentation of procedures, the ISO 9000 audit, and benefits for the library. (MES)

Defines statistical quality control (SQC) as a method used to analyze people, materials, machines, or processes by statistical methods. Explains why a technology educator would include SQC in some courses and describes elements of an SQC system. (JOW)

Discussed are the major features of a Model Licensing Agreement to be used by museums in any commercial reproduction venture. They include rights and obligations of the respective parties, maintenance of quality control, payment of royalties, arbitration, and termination provisions. The Model Licensing Agreement is appended. (JMD)

Economic concerns dominate hospital planning and policy decisions as hospitals seek to become more productive, competitive, and profitable. Quality care and public service may conflict with the profit-motivated business model. Nurse administrators will have to be politically astute to promote the integration of a professional model of service. (Author/MLW)

The author argues that, in a team-based business culture where good service is a minimum and professionalism is a given, information experts need to move beyond the service era and distinguish themselves by creating an "information experience." Describes how corporate information experts can adapt to what John Naisbitt has called the "experience era." (PEN)