Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: The TQM Journal, Volume 27, Issue 6.
Editorial – 19th International Conference on ISO and TQM (ICIT)
This special issue of The TQM Journal proudly presents selected papers from the 19th ICIT Conference held at the Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya in April 2015.
The annual global event brought together leading academics, practitioners and organizations to reflect on standards and quality in management. The conference was conducted by respected business and organizational leadership institutions under the umbrella of the Asia Pacific Business Excellence Standard (APBEST) Academy who partnered with Kenya Institute of Management (KIM) to run the conference.
The conference was hosted by the KIM in collaboration with the Kenya Bureau of Standards. The conference was chaired by Dr David Muturi, CEO of KIM and Professor Sam Ho, Founder Chair ICIT and APBEST Academy.
The Nairobi conference was the first to be held in Africa since the inception of the ICIT conferences in 1996. The theme of the conference was "TQM for National Development – The African Way".
The conference began with a minute's silence as a mark of respect for the 147 student victims of the Garrisa University College terrorist attack which took place only a few days before the conference began. We respectfully dedicate this issue to the memory of those who lost their lives.
Despite perceived threats from the ebola virus and terrorists the conference welcomed delegates and keynote speakers from inter alia, Kenya, Zambia, Ghana, South Africa, UK, China, Oman, Greece, the Netherlands, Finland, UAE, Singapore and Canada.
The papers published in this issue of The TQM Journal report, for the most part, the use of a range of quality management tools and techniques within an African context. Such tools and techniques include, TQM, Lean Six Sigma, ISO 9001 and Excellence Models. The research covers both the private and public sectors of industry including education, manufacturing, retail, printing, construction and finance.
For a number of researchers this is the first time they have been published in an international journal. The TQM Journal is proud to give these relatively new authors this opportunity to reach a worldwide audience. It is the editorial team's sincere hope that you enjoy reading the selected papers.
For information: The 20th ICIT Conference in 2016 will be at the University of Baraimi in Oman. Check the web site: www.hk5sa.com/icit/ for updates.
Alexander Douglas, David Muturi and Sam Ho
