Global markets are continuously changing and demanding customised, low cost, and high quality products and services; organisations that offer these products and services are dealing with these issues on a daily basis to stay competitive. Among the quality tools used to achieve competitive advantage, the 5S practice plays an important role facilitating the introduction and development of other quality and continuous improvement methods and techniques. We present results of an empirical study applied to some Mexican organisations with the aim of understanding their implementation experience, empirical relationships, and ongoing challenges associated with the 5S practice.

The objective of this paper is to estimate the operational efficiency of Mexican water utilities and identify the context variables that impact their efficiency. In particular, a bootstrap data envelopment analysis (DEA) and a bootstrap truncated regression analysis are combined in a two-stage research method. In the first stage, an input-oriented DEA model is used to determine bootstrap efficiency scores. Then, the corrected distribution function of the efficiency scores is used to estimate a truncated regression which is aimed to identify the significant influential context variables. Three categorical and two continuous context variables are considered in the analysis. Results show that only one context variable has a significant impact on the water utilities efficiency scores. Managerial recommendations are drawn from the analysis. It is suggested that water utilities continue or implement wastewater treatment, persist in decreasing and controlling leakage across the distribution network, and maximizing sewer coverage.

This article examines the impact of occupational stress among academic staff, administrative staff, and students in a well-established US university environment. The results show that there are different correlations associated with stress such as organisational demand, health issues, and stress management. Findings suggest that occupational stress levels differed between academic staff, administrative staff, and students. However, at the aggregate level, stress levels were similar by either gender or age. Different stress factors, such as work overload, feeling overwhelmed, and interrelated relationships were analysed. Students reported significant outcomes from stress: having sleep problems, depression, and irritability.