Abstract Innovation is widely accepted as a crucial competitive weapon in today's global market place. Yet the levels of innovation achieved by different firms, even within the same industry, can vary widely. The key question raised by this observation is why. Why are some firms more innovative than others? What are the factors that determine a firm's capacity to innovate and how can these be managed to enhance the firm's innovative potential? This paper sets out to address these and related issues. It reports the results of a study of competitiveness and innovation of firms in the East of England. In the paper it is argued that the innovative capacity of a firm is a function of the firm's culture, resources, competences and networks. Justification for this framework is provided by a review of the relevant literature and a series of case studies examining the capacity to innovate of a sample of firms in the East of England.

Abstract This paper addresses the needs of SMEs manufacturing companies which due to their limited resources are often unable to introduce radical changes in their strategies. The main focus is on analyzing the principles of lean manufacturing and management regarding their potential contribution to building a company's competitive advantage. The paper analyses lean from a strategic management viewpoint while combining its implementation with achieving a competitive advantage. The ultimate result is a framework for lean implementation aimed at building a competitive advantage for companies. The proposed framework focuses on the idea of a closed loop with embedded sustainability.

Abstract Historically, the study of the world's economy was classified into Micro-economics and Macroeconomics. Perhaps, contemporary economists should learn from the 'astronomists' about the universe which we are part of. We shall name this 'Uni-economics'. Many scientists have found that sunspots affect human behaviour. Some research findings even relate the 11 year periodic cycle to war and peace of mankind. It is also widely-known in the medical profession that sunspot radiation actually affects the physiology of our human body. With all these evidence in mind, the aim of this exploratory research paper is to investigate how sunspot activities can affect the investors' sentiment in the financial world since 1970 when the first post-war financial crisis was built up resulting from the oil crisis in the early '1970s. Time series techniques were deployed to track down the changes of Sunspot Counts over the last 44 years and their impact on the world's 4 main financial indices, i.e., S&P, FTSE, Nikkei & HSI. It was pretty astonishing to find out that, whilst there are insignificant correlations amongst the 4 financial indices over the period under investigation, the impact of the Sunspot Counts on them are highly significant, even on a day-to-day time series analysis. As a corrolary of the finding, the HK Property Market is used as a test case for the research output. It was interesting to find out that, apart from the Solar Minima, the Change-of-Slope from positive to negative also has a significant impact on the HK property prices. Hence, it was evident that there are 2 property clashes during the 11 year sunspot cycle, and their timing can be predicted pretty accurately (2014 & 2019) within +/- one year.

Abstract Based on the 'Best Paper-2010' by the TQM Journal, the author has a chance to test out the model in a number of firms in Malaysia through SIRIM. Furthermore, riding on the success, SIRIM has named it as the SIRIM Green 5-S Model. As a result, the aim of this paper is to share the experience of the “SIRIM Green 5-S Model for Sustainable Development”. Since 1993, the author used the proprietary 5-S Checklist for training and consultancy in no less than 10 countries with over 50,000 persons from around 2,000 organisatioins world-wide. On the other hand, HKSAR takes the lead in the global oil energy consumption/GPD. The experience will be shared in this article.

Abstract CSR is good for business in two broad ways: the generation of revenues and investment through the creation of a positive image; and the avoidance of loss, through the avoidance of a negative image. We look in particular from a marketing and quality assurance position in taking this view of CSR as value creator and loss avoider. Specifically, how CSR relates to trust, and can be a driver of trust. Trust is a crucial area of business, not particularly well-explored in the literature. Trust relates to how an organization relates to its investors, its employees, its recruits, its customers, and even its regulators. Trust is a key factor in facilitating transactions and building sustainable relationships.

Abstract In the environment of continuous change today, trust is needed more in most organizations but is enacted less. This paper discusses trust in leadership. Trust is the essence of leadership forming a foundation for functioning relationships and co-operation. Trust is intangible asset, a managerial skill, and an influencing power for leaders. Leadership by trust emphasizes trustful behavior towards employees. It can be defined as an interactive way of leading organizations for effectiveness and profitability. In this paper, we suggest that, it is trustworthiness in leader behavior that matters. Showing trustworthiness by competence, integrity, benevolence, and credibility makes a difference in daily leadership work and sustaining innovations. This paper focuses on how leaders enact on trust by showing trustworthiness to subordinates. Real life case examples are presented and their implications are discussed. In conclusion, leadership by trust matters in building innovative work environment. As to untrustworthy leader behavior, it is worth noting that building and sustaining trust is reciprocal in nature. A practical implication for leaders is that the development of an awareness of trustworthiness and skills for demonstrating it should be a top priority in the current business environment, which demands strong interaction, cooperation, and communication abilities.

Abstract It has been widely investigated that the application of operations management techniques is not only based on technical factors, but it is mainly associated with organisational factors such as culture, previous polices and procedures, etc. A prime example of promisng operations practices is Lean Six Sigma (L6σ). The main research question for L6σ is related to its liabilities and constrains regarding its implementation. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the critical factors related to the application L6σ. The context of the analysis is service industry since it seems that it has been neglected from the literature that mainly focuses on manufacturing. The methodology was based on the qualitative exploration of three case studies from the service industry. Secondary data were collected through an analysis of companies' documents, written procedures and quality assurance policies and primary data were collected through a number of in-depth face-to-face interviews with managers and quality experts. The findings show that there are ten (10) particular factors that influence the implementation of L6σ in service organizations.

Abstract People emphasize on their own health and wish to know more about their conditions. Chronic diseases now take up to 50 percent of top 10 causes of death. As a result, the health-care industry has emerged and kept thriving. This work adopts a customer-oriented business model since most clients are proactive and spontaneous in taking the “distinguished” health examination programs. We adopt the soft system dynamics methodology (SSDM) to develop and to evaluate the steps of introducing customer relationship management model into a case health examination organization. Quantitative results are also presented for a case physical examination center and to assess the improved efficiency. The case study shows that the procedures developed here could provide a better service.

Abstract Through appreciating the expectations and needs of the students and staff and the changing needs of such group of stakeholders in view of educational reforms and organizational changes, we shall examine the expected changes in structure and organizational framework for the implementation of counseling services under the widely adapted Australian approach of Comprehensive Counselling Programme (Aluede, 2006). The key questions to be raised are as follows: 1. What will be the expectations of students and teaching staff in such programmes? How will expectations be satisfied in the programme objectives? 2. What should be the innovative structure for the delivery of Counselling services and related services? 3. Will the services provided by the new counseling centre be adequate, appropriate and suitable for the development of healthy lifestyle, and provide a balanced education for life?

Abstract People emphasize on their own health and wish to know more about their conditions. Chronic diseases now take up to 50 percent of top 10 causes of death. As a result, the health-care industry has emerged and kept thriving. This work adopts an innovative customer-oriented business model since most clients are proactive and spontaneous in taking the “distinguished” health examination programs. We adopt the soft system dynamics methodology (SSDM) to develop and to evaluate the steps of introducing customer relationship management model into a case health examination organization. Quantitative results are also presented for a case physical examination center and to assess the improved efficiency. The case study shows that the procedures developed here could provide a better service.