Much literature suggests a positive relationship between winning a quality award and subsequent firm performance. However, for the vast majority of the large Japanese manufacturing firms that have won the Deming Prize results in this study indicate a negative association. Results also show that...

Most “quality management models” to date have been largely “experience‐based”. For example, Deming’s famous chain reaction model and Juran’s trilogy model are validated by the gurus’ own observations and experience in the industry. Such “experience‐based” models have laid...

Telecommunication companies must effectively master information to remain competitive in an increasingly global market. Tremendous business opportunities have been created because of the recent rapid global communications’ liberalization. Following this trend, the telecommunication industry in...

Strategic ambitions can function as drivers of improvement in organizations. Continuous improvement is driven by strategic ambitions to: design quality into the structure of the organization; plan and control improvements; assure improvements; set and realize improvement goals; position the...

The attached paper describes the keys to success for Southwest Airlines, including its approach to quality management. Southwest did not implement a formalized “quality management program.” Numerous companies in the USA have implemented formalized “quality management programs” and they...

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the broad issues related to business excellence and the application of such programs. Design/methodology/approach – In brief, this study investigated the use of business excellence programs including the use of the ISO 9000:2000 series of...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to construct a basic profit model of quality so as to highlight the economic implications of process quality in an accessible way. Design/methodology/approach – Economic evaluation of the four profit parameters (price, unit costs, sales, fixed costs)...

Purpose – A quality management system based‐ISO 9001 focuses on confirming process conformance from the initial development of a product through production, test, installation and servicing. Information management has been a key factor affecting the effective implementation of the standard....

Purpose – The primary purpose of the research was to determine whether automotive manufacturers integrate multiple manufacturing initiatives and whether performance measures were impacted directly by these initiatives. Design/methodology/approach – A mail survey questionnaire was used to...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to validate the applicability of Strategic Quality Management (SQM) methods at a UK based manufacturing Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) for changing the organisational culture and improving the business performance results. Design/methodology/approach...