Transforming Quality Management Practices: Applying the Hong Kong/China Experiences

Abstract

Quality transformation is a process to enhance the forms and patterns of quality activities. It affects the adoption of quality management (QM) practices in individual firms and governs the development trend of QM in a nation or region. With the open-door policy in China and the escalating land and labor costs in Hong Kong, much of the low-cost manufacturing activities in Hong Kong have been relocated to China since the 1980s. Transplanting operations to China needs to be an integrated transfer of technical, financial and management know-how, and in particular, the quality management concepts and practices. This paper reviews the quality development and transformation processes in Hong Kong/China manufacturing industries with special emphasis on the transfer of QM practices from Hong Kong to China during the critical period of extensive relocation of manufacturing operations. Before the 1990s, the QM practices in Hong Kong were unsatisfactory. In the early 1990s, the adoption and implementation of ISO 9000 systems had a significant impact on igniting the QM movement in Hong Kong. With the driving force of the ISO 9000 movement, many certified firms in Hong Kong have taken steps to adopt continuous quality improvement (CQI) strategies and are working toward total quality management (TQM). Many Hong Kong manufacturing firms in China have quickly adopted QM practices from their host companies. Hong Kong firms need to further assist their partners in China in committing to quality and increasing their own capability for continuous improvement. Achieving the long-term quality goal of TQM entails a very complex process with a wide range of effects. The currently adopted Hong Kong “ISO 9000-CQI-TQM” step-by-step quality model is recommended for China. The Chinese manufacturing industry in this paper refers specifically to the manufacturing operations in China with major investments from Hong Kong.