Performance Effectiveness of Total Quality Management Implementation in Small and Medium Enterprises

Abstract

The relationship between an effective Quality Management System (QMS) and performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is akin to the organisations’ development and sustenance. The main purpose of this paper is to study the importance of such a relation along with the consumer orientation of the firms as well as the influence of innovative traits in their continual improvement. The number of antecedents in the performance of SMEs is tested by Structural Equation Model by a single indicator study corrected for errors. The findings explains the relevant QMS components influencing the performance of SME sector firms and their orientation towards costumer requirements in terms of measured results, the quality program in practice, top management training programs and the initiatives of managerial leadership. Consumers’ requirements impacting the innovative components as well as effect of innovation on quality performance are confirmed in the study. While the innovation tendency is not influenced by the existing QMS practice, it could be moderately evidenced that the performance is influenced by consumer orientation. Limitations of this research study may be due to potential uncertainty of single indicator method. An inclusive research with more variants of product range and larger regional coverage of SMEs could yield better convergence. Original value addition of the study is that public or Government policy makers should not consider any QMS implementation alone as critical factor of SMEs performance, but there exist complex relations between other constructs to be integrated.