ABSTRACT
A variety of factors have combined to alter the national and international operating environment of businesses. Arguably, the key factors are the globalization of markets, underpinned by advances in the information and telecommunication technologies and growth of transnational businesses, the successful conclusion to the Uruguay round negotiations and the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) expediting the growing interpenetration of economies, creation of a European Single Market, and the increased interdependence among the economic agents. These fundamental changes have intensified competition, thus prompting far-sighted organizations to re-examine and modify their competitive strategies. Small and medium-sized enterprises are not exempt from these pressures. Drihlon and Estime (1) argue that improving competitiveness is now an imperative for small and large businesses alike. In today’s crowded markets firms cannot afford to stand still, waste resources by adopting a trial-and-error approach to formulating a strategic direction, and deliver poor quality products or services. Survival and prosperity in the 1990s and beyond are critically dependent on the ability of management to establish mechanisms enabling them to exert conscious and sustained effort to improve continuously all facets of their operations. The continuous improvement effort needs to be coupled with an acute awareness of changes in customers’ requirements, competitive factors and broader variations in the business environment. Total quality management (TQM) is considered by many to be the management paradigm capable of facilitating the attainment of continuous improvement and external focus. This accounts for the attention paid to TQM by all sides of commerce and industry, politicians and academics. One manifestation of this interest is the large number of quality-related articles appearing in a wide variety of academic, practitioner and general interest publications. A recent search of relevant databases showed that, in the last three years, more than 900 articles dealing with a facet of TQM have been published.
