The orientation towards the value of quality is a new trend of modern quality management sciences. The quality value orientations (national, social, religious, government bodies, market participants, and consumers) and quality culture are rather important in the global economical collaboration and trade, as well as in the international communication on the business, scientific or personal level. The orientations towards the value of quality are manifested in different aspects, such as customer preferences, the use of different management methods and systems, product and service consumption, assortment of goods, business lunch traditions, etc.The sphere where the relationship between the religion and quality is more than obviousit is religious-ethnical quality, hygiene, ethical and certification control regulation of the Muslim halal products and Jewish kosher products. Unfortunately, the majority of European quality sciences textbooks and scientific articles do not baselessly include religious-ethnical products, quality and certification aspects. Quality sciences and quality academics must always be pioneers in innovations of management measures for business practice and society. Today this quality field is very important for business development of all European countries. This sort of certification can be directed to both products and their manufacturers.The article analyzes particularly one of the fastest growing products certificationhalal certification. The main purpose of this study is to analyze the requirements for products manufactured for religious markets and also to prepare a working system to help manufacturers fit the requirements of halal certification. Methods. Analysis and comparison of halal certification requirements and quality assurance guidelines from different countries and institutions; analysis of scientific literature surveying the field of halal certification; the investigation; survey of halal certificated Lithuanian companies and questioning of the consumers.Author's analysis shows that religious-ethnical requirements considering hygiene and product safety are mostly compatible with corresponding "elite" requirements. The importance of the halal product business is proved by the well-known international organization of quality and ethics of agricultural products and food standardization "Codex Alimentarius", which belongs to World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) since 1997, it dedicates part of its developments to Muslim and Jewish products mentioned above. Unfortunately, the specific quality and certification requirements of halal and kosher products are little known by the majority of European businessmen. This fact, in our opinion, has a negative impact on the development and competitiveness of this business niche. Several Lithuanian companies already manufacture and export kosher products (veal, strong alcohol drinks, and flour products) and halal products (milk powder, starch, flour products, pharmaceutical herbs, etc.). The system of the hala...

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The main motives for implementing standards are external and internal. External motives are related with aims to enter new markets, export new goods, meet customer requirements, achieve better corporate image, gain market share, or increase customer satisfaction. Internal motives occur when the organization itself wants to improve the internal system and when processes and benefits depend on the internal motives of the organization. In order to disclose the benefits of quality standards, an empirical study was conducted with quality representatives from organizations in different fields of business activity in Lithuania. The research aimed to investigate what quality management systems prevail in organizations and to reveal the motives and benefits of implementation. The empirical study found that after the implementation of quality management standards (QMS), the quality level improved; the number of incidents and defects (complaints) decreased; employee involvement and perception of quality increased; company profits increased; customer satisfaction increased; and company management was improved.

The aim of this paper is to discuss existing consumption culture approaches and to analyse various consumption patterns determined by national, ethnic and religious differences. The current consumer culture is usually approached from two major positions: consumption homogeneity and consumption heterogeneity. Although globalisation has penetrated a number of areas in the modern world, one can see that consumption patterns have not become universal. The differences exist not just among the countries, but in some cases even within countries. The migration and population trends make these differences even higher. Even though the tendency of using the same products could be noticed all over the world, the reasons for consumption are different due to various national, religious or ethnical values. Paper type: general review.

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This article analyses the concepts of the Business Process Management lifecycle and maturity. Depending on the author, a different level of detail and structure is distinguished within the cycle, but one that maintains the optimal structure size and has been developed by practitioners in the Business Process Management field is the Association of Business Process Management Professionals model. Numerous Business Process Management maturity models that evaluate one or more factors' dimensions are created, as the Rosemann and Bruin model has been chosen as a supporting model for this area, which allows not only to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of the current situation, but also to create improvement guidelines and make a comparison with other organizations or processes. In order to identify Business Process Management lifecycle and maturity models' dependability of features, an empirical research was carried out in Lithuania's commercial banks sector by conducting an anonymous survey of owners and participants of the main processes (sales, customer service, risk management, IT and quality control). The article reveals summarised Business Process Management maturity assessment results and an analysis of all participating banks. According to research data, the Business Process Management lifecycle and maturity models have been integrated, and guidelines for application of the models have been prepared using the continuous improvement concept. The article also covers the Business Process Management maturity house model created by the authors.

Straipsnyje analizuojama interneto svetainės kokybė, jos vertinimo kriterijai ir metodai. Remiantis autorių teikiama metodika, atliktas konkrečios mokslo ir studijų institucijos interneto svetainės kokybės tyrimas. Darbe pateikiamas šio virtualaus produkto kokybės suvokimo modelis ir formuojamos tirtos interneto svetainės kokybės pagerinimo rekomendacijos. Straipsnis parengtas remiantis mokslinės ir metodologinės literatūros analize ir šio darbo autorių atlikto tyrimo rezultatais. Interneto svetainės kokybės vertinimas atliktas naudojant ekspertinio vertinimo ir “savęs įvertinimo” metodus, svetainės lankytojų apklausą ir testuojant svetainę Validator, Temesis ir Watchfire mechanizmais.

In this study, the evolution, content, trends and perspective of commodity science as a predecessor of quality management sciences and as an education subject are analyzed. The new models of the interface of commodity science with other disciplines, of the coverage of contemporary quality sciences and of quality management development stages are presented. Also, analysed are the aspects of quality experts' and quality managers' formation at Lithuanian universities, business schools and colleges. The article was written using scientific, normative and legal literature, systemising the good practices of Western universities, commodity and quality related international organisations and the results of author's systematic researches of commodities and services quality problems. The author formulates the insights for the future development of commodity science and quality management as a subject of science and education.