The Relationship between TQM Practices and Business Excellence in Small and Medium Sized Manufacturing Enterprises of North Karnataka Region

The purpose of this paper was to explore the relationship between Total Quality Management (TQM) and Business Excellence (B E) in Small and Medium Sized Manufacturing Enterprises (SMMEs) of north Karnataka region. Twelve critical success factors (CSFs) of TQM practices and four factors of dependent variables of business excellence were identified to measure the performance of SMMEs. The investigated independent CSFs of TQM included leadership and top management commitment, vision and plan statement, supplier quality management, system process quality improvement, total employee involvement, education and training, performance appraisal and recognition, customer focus and satisfaction, evaluation, work environment and culture, continuous improvement and communication. Dependent variables of business excellence are satisfaction of employee, quality of product, satisfaction of customer and strategic business performance. A questionnaire was sent to 950 companies of small and medium enterprises in north Karnataka region, which resulted in responses of 315 being returned. 10 of the 315 returned responses were incomplete, resulting in only 295 responses considered for final study, i.e. 31.05% valid response rate. Attempts at finding significant differences between small and medium companies’ quality practices were made and revealed that there is a significant difference between the TQM perceived & practices of small and medium companies. Besides in comparative analysis, performance of ISO-certified SMMEs was found better than non-ISO certified SMMEs