Quality Management Practices of Food Manufacturers: A Comparative Study between Small, Medium and Large Companies in Malaysia

Ng Kim-Soon,Salama A Mostafa,Nallapaneni Manoj Kumar,Umashankar Subramaniam,Mohammad Nurunnabi,Lim Hui Chin,Rabei Raad Ali

doi:10.3390/su12187725

Abstract

Quality management (QM) has been intensively studied from the perspective of quality management practices (QMP) and market performance in the food manufacturing industry. However, in Asian countries, studies as regards to the sizes of food manufacturing companies are being neglected. Hence, this quantitative study investigates several aspects and focuses on the extent and level of QMP implementation among small, medium, and large food manufacturing companies in Malaysia. A survey questionnaire has been used to collect the data. In general, the results show that the components and types of QMP have the highest impact on large companies and medium companies than the smallest companies. It was found that QMP significantly related to the operational performance and market performance of the food manufacturing companies in Malaysia. Moreover, the verified QMP was particularly important to improve the effectiveness of resource control of small-sized and medium-sized enterprises. The outcome of this study serves as a framework to bring an understanding of QMP and promote continuous QM improvement means to the food manufacturing industries in Malaysia and other countries of the region.

Highlights

Over the past few decades, the food manufacturing industry has experienced substantial global growth
Malaysia is considered as a good candidate for studying the quality management practices (QMP) of food manufacturing companies in the Asia Pacific region
This study focuses on investigating the QMP within the operational performance and market performance of Malaysian food manufacturing companies

Summary

Introduction

Over the past few decades, the food manufacturing industry has experienced substantial global growth. It was identified that this manufacturing industry dominated the whole manufacturing sector in the United States, within 28,000 companies involved in the sector Another example is the Canadian food manufacturing industry, which is the second-largest manufacturing sector, accounting for more than 88 billion dollars in revenue in 2012 [2]. Malaysia is considered as a good candidate for studying the quality management practices (QMP) of food manufacturing companies in the Asia Pacific region. It has increasing positive growth in the processed food market that includes large, medium, and smallest food manufacturing companies.

Objectives

Methods

Results