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There is little empirical research that demonstrates a link between quality management practice and better project management performance. Some evidence to this effect is presented and analysed. Reviews two studies that examined the relationship between quality management practice and performance in two areas: manufacturing, and logistics. Next, data are analysed from a survey of project managers in the high‐tech and software industries in Israel. Finally, the results of the survey are integrated with those of previous work, and some insights regarding the contribution of quality management practices to project success are offered.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of total quality management (TQM) and supply chain management (SCM) practices on operational performance, and their interlinkage between each other.

Constructs those are critical to pharmaceutical quality and supply chain have been identified with the help of literature and experts from industry. The impact of TQM practices on supply chain practices and on operational performance has been evaluated. Similarly, the impact of supply chain practices on operational performance has been evaluated. Further, alternate models are tested and evaluated through structural equation modeling.

It was observed during testing of alternate models that TQM practices have a direct impact on operational performance. However, TQM practices also directly impact supply chain components, which, in turn, influence overall operational performance. In comparison of alternate models, the model in which TQM practices affect supply chain practices and supply chain practices further affect the operational performance is found most appropriate.

This study provides some useful implications from industry point of view. TQM practices are critical to pharmaceutical industry. TQM practices are the core of attaining a smooth supply chain, which will have greater impact to achieve operational performance. Strategic supplier partnership, procurement management, information sharing, and quality and inventory management practices are driven by TQM practices. This tri-linkage helps to achieve the desired operational performance.

There are very limited studies that have considered both the areas together to achieve better operational performance. In pharmaceutical industry, both TQM and SCM are the critical areas for any organization to drive its growth.

The aim of this paper is to present the results of a survey administered across 23 countries that examines quality priorities, practices and performance by adopting Hofstede's national cultural framework. The purpose of this study is to test the validity of the “culture‐specific” argument as an explanatory construct for explaining quality management.

Data were collected in 2006 as part of the IV iteration of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey. The methodology involved the use of a self‐administered questionnaire to director/head of operations/manufacturing in best practice firms within the sector of firms classified by ISIC codes (rev.3.1) Divisions 28‐35.

From the findings it emerges that whereas differences in priorities can be affected by masculinity and uncertainty avoidance to a very small degree, all the four dimensions of culture significantly affect quality practice and three of the four dimensions affect performance to a greater extent.

The paper contributes to the validation of the “culture‐specific” hypothesis in relation to quality management by addressing its managerial implications. In particular it calls for a fuller appreciation of cultural dimensions which will in turn help firms to better align their quality practices towards the attainment of improved quality performance.

Whereas the traditional literature on quality practices in its attempt to explain existing differences across countries addresses the issue of convergence or divergence of quality practices across countries, this paper analyses similarities and differences by comparing quality priorities, practices and performance across Hofstede's four cultural dimensions. The paper also proposes an original interpretative framework where variations in both quality practices and performance can be explained by some identifiable mechanisms either of “better fit” or “compensation”.

This study investigates the role of national culture on the implementation and effectiveness of quality management practices. Specifically, the authors examine the dual roles of two of Hofstede's national culture dimensions (individualism and indulgence) in driving the implementation of people management practices and in moderating the relationship between people management and product quality performance.

The authors’ dataset combines a survey of 976 firms from 22 countries with Hofstede's national culture index. A multi-level analysis, at firm and country levels, is used for investigating the interplay between two dimensions of national culture (individualism and indulgence) on people management practices and product quality performance.

The authors' findings show the negative relationship between indulgence (at country level) and people management practices (at firm level) while individualism (at country level) strengthens the relationship between people management and product quality performance (at firm level). Furthermore, the finding shows that the joint interaction between individualism and indulgence (at country level) moderates the relationship between people management and product quality performance (at firm level) where the relationship is strongest when individualism is high and indulgence is low.

Understanding the interplay between national culture and management practices is important for managers in making decisions on the practices managers should implement under different cultural contexts to gain the expected outcomes.

The authors' results challenge the universalist view that suggests that quality management practices (in this case people management practices) can be applied in any context effectively to achieve high product quality performance by showing that facets of national culture influence the implementation and effectiveness of people management practices and performance. The results also provide a fresh perspective on the role of indulgence, given that it is the newest dimension in Hofstede's framework. The authors also extend previous studies which commonly only examine the main and not interactive effects of different dimensions of national culture.

The growing acceptance of evidence‐based decision support systems in healthcare organizations has resulted in recognition of data quality improvement as a key area of both strategic and operational management. Information managers are faced with their emerging role in establishing quality management standards for information collection and application in the day‐to‐day delivery of health care. In the USA, rigid data‐based practice and performance standards and regulations related to information management have met with some resistance from providers. In the emerging information‐intensive healthcare environment, managers are beginning to understand the importance of formal, continuous data quality assessment in health services delivery and quality management. Variation in data quality management practice poses quality problems in such an environment, since it precludes comparative assessments across larger markets or areas, a critical component of evidence‐based quality assessments. In this study a national survey of health information managers was employed to provide a benchmark of the degree of such variation, examining how quality management practices vary across area indicators. Findings here suggest that managers continue to employ paper‐based quality assessment audits, despite nationwide mandates to adopt system‐based measures using aggregate data analysis and automated quality intervention. The level of adoption of automated quality management methods in this study varied significantly across practice characteristics and areas, suggesting the existence of data quality barriers to cross‐market comparative assessment. Implications for healthcare service delivery in an evidence‐based environment are further examined and discussed.

This paper aims to develop a theoretical base for supply chain quality from the learning perspective. Through utilizing the relational view of inter‐organizational competitive advantage, the paper identifies learning‐driven practices that influence buyer‐supplier performance outcomes.

A review of the literature in quality management, supply chain management and strategic management is conducted to develop key practices associated with quality management in a supply chain environment.

The findings suggest that quality management facilitates cooperative learning and improves inter‐organizational learning processes. At the supply chain level, it enhances supply chain satisfaction and supply chain performance.

The study contributes to our understanding of quality management practices within a supply chain environment from an inter‐organizational learning perspective. It extends the concept of quality to the supply chain through focusing on key practices that influence the quality of supply chain relationships.

Semiconductor manufacturing is in the spotlight of the global manufacturing industries. Quality management is strategically and tactically important for gaining a competitive advantage. Since Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is one of the major suppliers of global semiconductor products, its quality management practice has a global impact. This research was conducted based on a proven measurement instrument for quality management practices including eight critical factors and 63 measuring items. Data were analyzed with respect to their reliability, mean rank, consistency, and correlation. Analysis results revealed insights into managers’ perception of quality management practices in the semiconductor industries.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between quality management practices and their impact on performance.

First, critical quality management practices are identified and classified in three main categories: management, infrastructure, and core practices. Then, a model linking these practices and performance is proposed and empirically tested. The empirical data were obtained from a survey of 133 Tunisian companies from the plastic transforming sector.

The results reveal a positive relationship between quality management practices and organizational performance. Moreover, the findings show a significant relationship between management and infrastructure practices. In addition, the results illustrate a direct effect of infrastructure practices on operational performance and of core practices on product quality.

The conceptual model proposed and tested in this study can be used by researchers for developing quality management theory. In addition, this model may offer a flow chart to practitioners for effective quality management implementation.

The proposed model is the first one to distinguish the direct effects of infrastructure practices on performance from the indirect effects of these practices through the core practices. Besides, the use of path analysis method to study the direct and indirect relationships between quality management practices and their effect on performance dimensions.

This study aims to investigate the effect of supply chain quality management on operational performance in Vietnamese manufacturing companies.

Questionnaire survey is conducted to collect data from Vietnamese manufacturing companies in the electronic/electric industry. Collected data were analyzed by using correlation analysis and hierarchical regression analysis.

This study points out the current situation of implementing supply chain quality management practices in Vietnamese manufacturing companies which are more focused on internal quality management practices than upstream and downstream quality management practices. Correlation and regression analyses that demonstrate the significant linkage between supply chain quality management practices and operational performance are confirmed in this study. Upstream and downstream quality management are found to be the significant predictor for high performance on quality, cost and delivery.

This study has some limitations that can be addressed in future studies. The first limitation is the relatively small sample size due to lack of time and resources. These constraint can be overcome in future works by collecting more data in diverse countries and industries to re-examine the framework. Furthermore, larger sample will allow researchers to apply other statistical methods such as path analysis and structural equation modelling, which would provide interesting results. Another limitation is that the collected data in this paper mainly rely on perceptions of the respondents, which may cause individual bias in analysis. To reduce this type of bias, both subjective and objective measurement of scales, especially performance measures, can be used in future studies.

This study provides empirical evidences that practitioners can use to improve a specific type of performance, especially in the context of emerging economies. In a turbulent and unpredictable business environment, it is emphasized that quality management should be extended at supply chain level to utilize the capabilities of external partners. In Vietnamese manufacturing firms, implementation of such practices as information technology links, information sharing, supplier involvement and customer involvement would lead to high level of operational performance.

Supply chain management and quality management are two fields of study that have gained much attention of researchers. However, the concept of supply chain quality management as well as its impact on business performance have not been fully studied, especially in context of a developing country. Through extensive literature review, this study proposes and tests an analytical framework that characterizes supply chain quality management into three elements: internal quality management, upstream quality management and downstream quality management. Subsequently, their impact on quality, cost and delivery are analyzed to provide better understanding of supply chain quality management in Vietnamese context.

The purpose of this paper is to address the extent to which quality management is “culture‐specific”.

The paper presents the results of a survey administered across 21 countries that seeks to examine quality priorities and practices by adopting the global leadership and organizational behaviour effectiveness (GLOBE) framework. Data were collected in 2006 as part of the fourth iteration of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey. The methodology involved the use of a self‐administered questionnaire to director/head of operations/manufacturing in best practice firms within the sector of firms classified by ISIC codes (rev.3.1) Divisions 28‐35.

From this study, it emerges that adopting the GLOBE framework provides an invaluable insight into understanding quality management across countries. In particular, the findings show that some national cultures are more conducive to the implementation of quality management than others.

The analysis of the data leads this paper to endorse the idea that through an accumulation of scientific knowledge relevant to the applicability of quality management across national settings, managers can better understand how to transfer best quality management practices from one country to another.

While some previous research portrays quality management as a comprehensive management paradigm with elements and relationships that transcend cultural and national boundaries, the current study provides evidence that the adoption of certain quality practices across different countries can follow distinctive patterns.