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A performance management system has been implemented by Cancer Care Ontario (CCO). This system allows for the monitoring and management of 11 integrated cancer programs (ICPs) across the Province of Ontario. The system comprises of four elements: reporting frequency, reporting requirements, review meetings and accountability and continuous improvement activities. CCO and the ICPs have recently completed quarterly performance review exercises for the last two quarters of the fiscal year 2004‐2005. The purpose of this paper is to address some of the key lessons learned.

The paper provides an outline of the CCO performance management system.

These lessons included: data must be valid and reliable; performance management requires commitments from both parties in the performance review exercises; streamlining performance reporting is beneficial; technology infrastructure which allows for cohesive management of data is vital for a sustainable performance management system; performance indicators need to stand up to scrutiny by both parties; and providing comparative data across the province is valuable. Critical success factors which would help to ensure a successful performance management system include: corporate engagement from various parts of an organization in the review exercises; desire to focus on performance improvement and avoidance of blaming; and strong data management systems.

The performance management system is a practical and sustainable system that allows for performance improvement of cancer care services. It can be a vital tool to enhance accountability within the health care system.

The paper demonstrates that the performance management system supports accountability in the cancer care system for Ontario, and reflects the principles of the provincial governments commitment to continuous improvement of healthcare.

Low cost carriers (LCC) in the Asia Pacific are pursuing a strategy of marketing the aesthetic qualities of their cabin crew in order to differentiate their “value proposition”. This strategy concentrates on the physical dispositions of employees, thus mobilising the concepts of aesthetic and sexualised labour for commercial purposes. This paper aims to investigate some of the practical and ethical issues of such a strategy. In addition, the paper seeks to explore the boundary between the theoretical concepts of aesthetic and sexualised labour.

Presents two vignettes from the emerging LCC industry in the Asia Pacific. The first vignettes is of Virgin Blue, a LCC operating in the Australian domestic airline industry; the second vignette is of Air Asia, first established as a domestic LCC in Malaysia, but has now expanded to international short‐haul routes within the region.

The strategic deployment of aesthetic and sexualised labour in LCCs is ethically problematic on a number of levels. Concomitantly, this strategy is potentially undermined by the contradictory focus on cost minimisation, essential for LCC survival. Thus, the use of aesthetic and sexualised labour as a commercial strategy has the potential to become unstable over time because of the competitive dynamics and the somewhat paradoxical need to reduce costs while improving service standards.

The conceptual boundary between aesthetic and sexualised labour is explored in the new LCC industry in the Asia Pacific. The ethical and practical consequences, and the sustainability of such a strategy in this new environment are considered.