Describes the methodology and findings of four industrial case studies conducted on the implementation of TQM in automotive small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Interviews were conducted to answer key issues which were felt to be crucial to this study. In addition, the case studies also...

TQM is a philosophy mainly dominated by large companies. Small businesses are lagging behind larger ones when it comes to introducing and adopting new managerial philosophies and advanced technology. Many small companies have stopped at quality system certification, such as ISO 9000, in their...

The proposed framework for TQM implementation in SMEs described in this paper centres on three main elements: the “quality toolbox”, “general methodology” and the “central co‐ordinating body”. It is believed that the adoption of TQM in SMEs must not be a fully blown approach but a...