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This article presents the findings of a comprehensive, exploratory survey concerning transportation quality improvement programs. Various quality improvement program dimensions were compared among two groups of respondents: those who experienced market share increases or cost decreases associated with the quality programs, and those who did not. The survey examined firms’ general focus on quality and customers, the use and design of formal quality improvement programs, and the success and current status of these programs. A number of significant quality program differences were found when comparing the two groups, including differences in top management support, benchmarking practices, customer interaction, and program design elements.

Contrasts idealised versions of quality assurance systems and quality improvement programs. Notes that only powerful customers such as defence procurement agencies can impose quality assurance systems; also points out that individual customers are weak customers whose only power is the ability to move from one supplier to another. Outlines the conditions under which a customer will be able to impose a quality assurance system on the supplier. These conditions include, for example, that there should be an excess of capable suppliers. Points out that quality improvement programs, on the other hand, are initiated and sustained by the supplier’s own top managers. Considers also the role of such factors as industry regulators.

Total quality management does improve organizational performance and remains the most viable long‐term business strategy around. These were the findings of a recent report entitled “TQM: Forging a Need or Falling Behind?”, commissioned by Development Dimensions International of Pittsburgh, the Quality & Productivity Management Association of Schaumburg, Illinois, and Industry Week, which were based on interviews with 6,500 people in 84 organizations. However, on considering the various elements which help or hinder TQM implementation, training emerged as the one successful theme in successful programmes.

Continuous improvement has become an important strategy in improving organizational performance. Unfortunately, product development is often excluded in continuous improvement programs due to the special characteristics of product development activities. The overall purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of continuous improvement in the context of product development.

A central aspect in this context is that many organizations find it difficult to improve and learn if work is carried out in the form of projects. In this paper, a quality perspective on continuous improvement is introduced and its usefulness is tested empirically through three case studies in Swedish organizations. The focus is on the improvement programs used and the quality principles displayed in a product development context.

The results show that the three investigated organizations have multiple improvement programs, but that some configurations of improvement programs seem to be more successful than others. For instance, co‐ordination of multiple improvement programs, scope creep, and separating between product development processes and project management models are important success factors for continuous improvement. In addition, an introduction of an improvement program without adoption of a critical mass of quality principles is doomed to fail.

The research initiative is one of the first to conduct an empirical investigation of how organizations design and work with improvement programs in the context of product development. It provides knowledge to both academics and practitioners on how organizations can design and implement initiatives on quality management, especially in the context of product development.

Total quality management programmes emphasizing continuous improvement have become increasingly popular as companies perceive the importance of quality in maintaining or enhancing their competitive position. Although improvement programmes are extremely valuable, they do not eliminate the need for control. Unfortunately, companies striving for quality improvement may de‐emphasize, or even abandon, the use of process control charts, believing that process control cannot be applied during periods of change. There is a need for a procedure formally linking the methodology of statistical process control – which assumes process stability – to the management of quality improvement programmes – which assumes constant positive change. Provides a procedure to develop and use process goal charts. The procedure uses a straightforward adaptation of the standard process control chart methodology to support and control the planned change of a continuous improvement programme. The procedure is illustrated with a simple example and possible extensions of the procedure are suggested.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the following purposes: first, to identify/analyze the main factors that hinder quality improvement programs’ implementation in SMEs, and second, to test if the level of importance attributed to those factors differ according to firms’ dimension.

A survey was mailed to 600 Portuguese SME randomly selected. Out of the sample, a total of 95 questionnaires were completed and returned, performing a final response rate around 16 per cent.

Findings reached from this research, highlighted seven different factors affecting quality programs: top management's education/training level and priorities, costs and actual performance, lack of support from external agents, human resources’ overload, aversion to change, lack of resources, and culture and training. Furthermore, results suggest that these factors assume greater importance in medium-sized firms, compared to smaller ones.

The research focused specifically on the Portuguese manufacturing sector; thus, particular attention should be paid in attempting to generalize results. Moreover it is recognized that further researches may consider exploring longitudinal research designs in order to gain additional insights into the dynamic nature of problems faced.

Understanding the main problems that hinder quality improvement programs’ implementation in SME may allow practitioners to plan more effectively their quality management system, especially faced with scarce resources.

Quality management issues focus essentially on larger organizations. This paper is the first attempt to systematize the main factors that hinder quality improvement programs’ implementation in small and medium sized firms.

Argues that organizations are in the midst of a competitive revolution and quality improvement is an important factor in the quest to remain competitive. Companies are realizing they need to initiate a quality improvement programme and that training is a critical variable in the success of that programme. Improvement involves change, and training prepares employees for the change by providing the skills needed to work as a team member, communicate effectively, and identify and solve problems. A quality training programme requires certain elements for it to be successful: a change in the company’s culture; support of top management; a strategy to guide the company; communicating to employees the reason for quality improvement and how the change will affect them; providing the proper training and providing it at the proper time; and evaluating the training process.

Examines the literature to identify the essential components of kaizen or continuous improvement programmes. Relying on published sources on the North American experience with continuous improvement, also tries to identify organizational structures and practices likely to lead to successful implementation of such programmes. Distinguishes between kaizen and more radical, “strategic leap” improvement approaches, and describes the North American record of success with continuous improvement programmes. An emergent theme is that success with continuous improvement requires a wide array of systems, processes, and orientations to be congruent within the organization. Argues that the study of when, how, and why kaizen succeeds is by no means complete, and proposes a set of open research questions whose investigation is likely to be useful to both scholars and practitioners. Finally, discusses some of the ways in which the existing literature can be immediately useful for practice in organizations.

The ideals of total quality view contradicts with the traditional prevention‐appraisal‐failure (PAF) model. The PAF model, based on the “higher quality‐higher cost” notion, fails to explain the “higher quality‐lower cost” premise of total quality. The purpose of this study is to examine the behaviour of quality costs and investigate the two contradicting views.

Based on the literature, a generic descriptive model is developed to examine the dynamics of quality costs and quality level over time. Through illustrative examples, the behaviour of quality costs is demonstrated and relevant implications are highlighted.

The proposed model supports continuous improvement regardless of the effectiveness of the firm's quality improvement programs. When the quality improvement program is highly effective, the “higher quality‐lower cost” phenomenon is observed; whereas, in a less effective quality improvement program, the authors observe the “higher quality‐higher cost” phenomenon, which still calls for increased improvement effort necessary for quality sustainability.

The proposed model explains well the dynamics of quality costs, however, it can be further enhanced by incorporating the dynamics of the effectiveness of the firm's quality improvement program and its relation to quality level and quality costs.

The proposed model is a useful tool especially for quality improvement planning and budgeting decisions.

Balancing between the two contradictory views of quality costs, this study provides a deeper understanding of the relationship of quality costs and quality level.