Today energy is directly related with progress or growth of any country and every event requires a huge amount of energy. In today’s global competitiveness, demand for energy is very high and India is facing a problem of very poor energy supply. So, researchers and planners are worried about very poor productivity of thermal power plant and the most critical cause for this problem is high capacity waste at these plants. This paper focuses on causes of capacity waste and for this, DMAIC approach is adopted. The study also clears some myths of Six Sigma compatibility at process industries (thermal power plant) for performance improvement. After implementation of the first phase i.e. “Define”, the study confirms the competence of Six Sigma in defining the issue of capacity waste.

During the previous decades, policy makers have formulated policies for developing entrepreneurship in different countries in order to decrease unemployment and poverty toward sustainable development. Some of these policies include encouraging people to be an entrepreneur, opportunity creation, educating new skills to entrepreneurs and so on. In recent years an appropriate context has been formed for entrepreneurship development in Iran and some programs have been executed. Therefore, formulating appropriate frameworks to guide Iranian government in this way is a necessity. This paper evaluates the impact of entrepreneurship policies on opportunity to startup in Iran. The results of path analysis indicate that supportive financial and non-financial actions influence positively on opportunity to startup. In addition, education and culture also influence positively on opportunity to startup. Finally, legislation also positively influences on opportunity to startup.

The aim of this paper is to propose a combined approach for studying entrepreneurial opportuni-ties based on effectual variables. The proposed mixed approach is carried out in three phases. First, entrepreneur’s effectuation variables are selected via a cognitive map and MICMAC meth-od. Second, a Neural Network (ANN)-based model is performed to highlight the emergence of potential entrepreneur’s conception which rely on effectuation key variables with survival and performance. Finally, ANN model is applied based on effectuation variables. Indeed, many con-firmations and interesting findings have been concluded. The results of the proposed approach are essential to understand Tunisian entrepreneur’s thinking and acting in entrepreneurship pro-cess. We make enrichments to the way of theorizing and practicing entrepreneurship, avoiding the idea of mythic entrepreneur.

This paper presents a new approach for design concept selection by using an integrated Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and an Interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy modified TOP-SIS (IVIF-modified TOPSIS) model. The integrated model which uses the improved score func-tion and a weighted normalized Euclidean distance method for the calculation of the separation measures of alternatives from the positive and negative intuitionistic ideal solutions provides a new approach for the computation of intuitionistic fuzzy ideal solutions. The results of the two approaches are integrated using a reflection defuzzification integration formula. To ensure the feasibility and the rationality of the integrated model, the method is successfully applied for eval-uating and selecting some design related problems including a real-life case study for the selec-tion of the best concept design for a new printed-circuit-board (PCB) and for a hypothetical ex-ample. The model which provides a novel alternative, has been compared with similar computa-tional methods in the literature.

Small-Scale and Individual Entrepreneurs (SIEs) play a key role in economic growth of develop-ing countries. The principal objective of this study is to investigate M-money and M-commerce contribution to business growth in Ghana. A cross-sectional survey is used to collect the neces-sary data and a total of 480 SIEs respondents participated in the study. The data is collected from three different locations in the capital city Accra where the activities of SIEs are predominate (Lapaz=230, Kaneshie=150, and Kasoa= 170). The researchers used Stata in analyzing the quan-titative data. The findings reveal that M-money and M-commerce facilitate the growth of business among SIEs. However, few people reported of savings (3.5%) and make merchandise payments (4.8%), due to perceived risk issues. The study used cross-sectional survey design and conven-ience sampling which makes it difficult to generalize the findings.

This study examines the impact of psychological characteristics, materialism, unity, uniqueness, hedonism, and perfectionism, and demographic characteristics including gender, age and income as well as the costing behavior (price) on the views towards the luxury restaurant. The results show that perfectionism and uniqueness had a direct impact on the consumer's views towards luxury restaurant. On the other hand, the demographic characteristics such as age, income and education had a positive relationship with the consumer's views towards the luxury restaurant. Finally, a new hypothesis as the relationship between price and service quality and customer atti-tudes was examined in this study and it was concluded that there was a significant positive rela-tionship between price and customer’s views. The results of the research data also confirmed the relationship between price and service quality.

Six-Sigma is a statistical attitude – not judgment or sentiment. It is about statistical facts that as-sist the authorities to spotlight their concentration on the progression arrangement rather than on individuals and get assessments based on reality and unbiased information but not on impracti-cable prospects. Six-Sigma is an integrated approach to involve everything within the organiza-tion for reducing defects and variation. It is a combination of all efforts in an association for quality enhancement, quality progress and quality protection to reach the optimum clients satis-faction. The primary objective of Six-Sigma methodology is always directed towards the perfec-tion at any level whether financial or non-financial. Putting efforts rightly and maintaining con-sistency are the basic concepts behind successful implementation of Six-Sigma. The present work provides a way to examine the Six-Sigma practice in a manufacturing firm with the use of statistical thinking in getting high quality products by reducing the variation and ultimately in-creasing profit.

Both organizational agility and learning capability are prerequisites for organizational survival and success. This study explores the contribution of agility practices to organizational learning capabilities at the commercial banks in Jordan. To examine the proposed model, a sample of 158 employees within top and middle managements was used. Structural Equation Modeling was conducted for assessing validity and reliability of measurement instrument, evaluating model fit, and testing hypotheses. This study recognizes agility as a key element of learning facilitators. Findings affirm the strategic value of agility and conclude that administrators working within ag-ile organizations would be able to acquire conditions that foster learning.

The theory of lean manufacturing provides the quality of the products in minimum cost and pro-vides customer satisfaction. Today, the competition level is very high and every industry tries to supply high quality products in nominal cost, so lean is the latest tool to achieve. The objective of this paper is to study different lean concepts under various lean strategies. This study helps to find out the status of lean manufacturing and its ways of implementation. Also in this paper, there is a discussion about lean manufacturing concept, lean waste, lean strategies, lean barriers and cycle of lean implementation. This paper presents a literature review to clear the status of lean manufacturing and their strategies with help of collection of relevant papers.

Lean product development is a major innovative business strategy that employs sets of practices to achieve an efficient, innovative and a sustainable product development. Despite the many benefits and high hopes in the lean strategy, many companies are still struggling, and unable to either achieve or sustain substantial positive results with their lean implementation efforts. However, as the first step towards addressing this issue, this paper seeks to propose a systematic model that considers the administrative and implementation limitations of lean thinking practices in the product development process. The model which is based on the integration of fuzzy Shannon’s entropy and Modified Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (M-TOPSIS) model for the lean product development practices implementation with respective to different criteria including management and leadership, financial capabilities, skills and expertise and organization culture, provides a guide or roadmap for product development managers on the lean implementation route.