The impact of quality management systems on construction performance in the North West of England

As the total construction output in the North West of England (NWE) is forecast to rise by an average of 2.5% over the next five years. It is imperative for organizations in the region to improve their overall construction performance, particularly if they are to hit the targets presented by UK Government in the construction 2025 report. Despite the known benefits of quality management systems (QMS) its implementation in relation to construction performance is very limited, particularly in the UK. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether QMS can affect construction performance in the NWE. A pragmatic mixed method approach of sequential explanatory strategy was adopted to conduct this research. This initially involved a quantitative approach of questionnaire surveys to gain opinions and views of a representative sample of industry professionals based in the NWE. The quantitative results were analyzed to discover relationships in the data and further formulate the questions for the qualitative interviews. Three interviews with leading industry professionals were then conducted and the data was analyzed using a thematic approach. The themes identified in the interviews were then cross-referenced with the data discovered in the questionnaire survey and literature review. The findings provide a clear indication that the implementation of a QMS has a positive effect on construction performance in the NWE. Immediate improvements in efficiency of a construction organization when implementing a QMS were discovered, including greater managerial control and the recording and reduction in defects. Long term effects of changing company attitude by setting out company requirements and responsibilities through highlighting the significance of quality, and furthermore encouraging a culture of co-operation and teamwork, were also proven to increase construction performance as time progresses. To further enhance this research the focus could be on the whole of the UK. However, a greater amount of time would be required to gain the required representative sample. Furthermore, although the questionnaire survey was distributed equally within the selected sample, a greater number of respondents working for contractors responded. Therefore, the respondents of the questionnaire survey were not equal in terms of organization (client, contractor, sub-contractor, project manager). According to the best knowledge of the authors and through searching many sources, there are no specific studies examining QMS and their effect on construction performance in the UK and particularly in the NWE. Therefore, it is believed the study is the first of its kind. The study discovered many findings that can be considered as a contribution to practice and theory. Moreover, it can be considered as a fundamental base for future studies in this research area. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Music Records’ E-Commerce Model

Straipsnyje nagrinėjama elektroninės muzikos įrašų parduotuvės veiklos tobulinimo problema, atsižvelgiant į informacinių ir vartotojų poreikių pokyčius. Tuo tikslu straipsnyje analizuojami teoriniai elektroninių paslaugų kokybės vertinimo metodai, elektroninės prekybos bei socialinių tinklų integracija; pateikiami daugiakriterio elektroninės parduotuvės "Muzikos bomba" vertinimo, lyginamosios analizės bei vartotojų apklausos rezultatai. lyginamosios analizės rezultatai parodo nedidelius kokybės skirtumus tarp žinomiausių elektroninių parduotuvių: iTunes, Discogs, Juno, Beatport, AmazonMP3 ir muzikos bomba. lt. Vartotojų apklausos rezultatai atskleidė aukštą elektroninės prekybos muzikos įrašais socialumo poreikį. Tuo remiantis siūlomas naujasis elektroninės prekybos muzikos įrašais modelis, kurio esminis skirtumas – socialinio bloko įdiegimas į svetainę ir kiek pakitę informacijos srautai. Svarbiausia šio modelio ypatybė ta, kad elektroninė komercija sujungiama su socialumu ir priartinama prie vartotojo

The Growth of competitiveness as a result of the changes of wage and employment

The concept of competitiveness is a multidimensional and is closely related to the country‘s ability to adapt to a constantly changing environment. The growth of competitiveness depends on the main aspects of wage and employment, which is influenced by micro and macro factors. The objective of this article is to assess the link between the wage, employment and competitiveness. The following tasks have been implemented: to analyse the scientific literature about competitiveness and its factors; to reveal the changes of wages and employment; to assess the impact of main factors on competitiveness. In the article, the following methods of analysis are used: an analysis and summarize of the scientific literature, analysis of the statistical data, correlation-regression analysis