Companies, irrespective of size or sector, often use ISO 9000 and TQM as a route to world class status. The aim of this paper is to show if this has had any impact on or contributed to raising their competitiveness. This paper gives brief details of a large‐scale UK benchmarking study on the adoption of best practice which provides the data for this research. Then the distinguishing features of some best practices and performance within both ISO and non‐ISO companies are presented for the manufacturing sector. The significance of any correlations between practice and performance are also put forward for further consideration. Finally, the lessons to be learnt from this empirical evidence are drawn out.

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Maintenance and plant engineering are considered to be important parts of the strategy underlying successful manufacturing. The aim of this paper is to investigate the deployment level of good practice in these areas compared to other manufacturing processes and what impact they have on an organisation’s performance. It draws empirical results out of the data provided from a large‐scale benchmarking study carried out in a specific region of the UK and tests part of these with case research. The findings are discussed, highlighting any variations between company size, sector and world‐class status and the significance of any correlation found between practice and performance.

This article examines the events within a small manufacturing organisation during a period of `adoption' by a larger customer organisation. The focus of the study concerns the nature and level of adaptation to Japanese manufacturing methods through the customer's influence. The particular circumstances of the two companies at the outset was an ideal scenario for what just-in-time lIT) and Total Quality Management (TQM) protagonists have termed `supplier adoption' and what others have defined as `emulation' within a process of `Japanisation'. The findings indicate that while there are pressures in working for a JIT customer, the outcome is not the mere reciprocation of JIT methodology within a supplier. Reasons for this lack of adaptation are proposed and implications for the debate on Japanisation and the supply-chain labour process are discussed.

Over the past decade, the public sector in the UK has made great effort in adopting business excellence thinking. To what extent have such practices taken root and what has been their impact? Presents some of the key results from a recent empirical study of 119 public sector organisations in North-East England. They show considerable strengths in some of the related HR practices, leadership issues, service delivery and quality matters. Equally, many of them face major challenges in adopting appropriate performance measurement systems, in eliminating waste and reducing costs, and in being innovative in service design.