A STRUCTURAL APPROACH TO INTEGRATING TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT WITH SUPPLY CHAIN LEARNING

Siew-Phaik Loke,Khalizani Khalid,Murali Sambasivan,Alan G Downe

doi:10.3846/16111699.2011.620170

Abstract

The aim of this study is to integrate total quality management (TQM) and knowledge management (KM) into a unified framework to study supply chain learning among partnering firms. The impacts of TQM practices (e.g. leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, information analysis, people management and process management) and KM practices including KM process, leadership in KM, KM culture, KM technology and KM measurement on supply chain learning were examined. In this study, mail questionnaire have been sent to the managers consists of the Malaysian manufacturing and service firms. A total of 202 firms participated in this study. While greater level of TQM practices tends to enhance KM practices, we found that both TQM and KM are significantly positively related to supply chain learning. The findings of this study empirically tested and confirmed the proposed integrated model. It is hoped that findings from this paper can provide greater understanding in the areas of quality and knowledge management, and illustrate how these practices can enrich the supply chain learning among partnering firms.

Highlights

The success of supply chain management (SCM) depends largely on the firm’s efficiency in managing its processes
The traditional company- centered quality effort has expanded to the entire supply chain systems and such paradigm shift focuses more on supplier-customer relationships and co-making of quality products (Levy 1998; Kuei, Madu 2001; Lin et al 2005)
Spekman et al (2002) suggested that greater level of inter-firm collaborations can be achieved through supply chain learning, when partners learning from their past mistakes

Summary

Introduction

The success of supply chain management (SCM) depends largely on the firm’s efficiency in managing its processes. SCM is regarded as a powerful vehicle in cost reduction overall and performance improvement. It can increase a firm’s competitiveness if it is well-managed. SCM has evolved from a functional focus to cross-functional collaborations. This collaborative strategy has gained popularity among supply chain firms due to the need for global market presence and increased customer demands. SCM includes the sourcing of raw materials, productions, new product development and commercialization, sales and marketing, product returns and recycling, and managing supplier and customer relations (Lockamy, McCormack 2004; Mills et al 2004; Talib et al 2011)

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