TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT RESEARCH: 1990-1996.

INTRODUCTION

Companies trying to gain a competitive edge in today's global marketplace have realized the importance of raising the quality of goods and services. Quality management is now fairly well established in the U.S. and Western Europe, and it is increasingly being implemented in developing countries such as China, India, and the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe (Krygier, 1993). Quality management techniques are expected to increase market share, customer loyalty, productivity, cash flow, return on investment and stock price, and to reduce production costs and after sales service calls.

The move toward quality management in organizations has been accompanied by a growing interest in this area among academicians. Journals such as Decision Sciences, Academy of Management Journal, and California Management Review have brought out special issues on quality management, and a new journal Quality Management was founded in 1993. These publications have emphasized topics such as the importance of quality and quality attitudes (Batley, 1993), quality strategies (Daniel & Reitsperger, 1994; Hurd, 1992; Robinson & Schroeder, 1993), quality tools and techniques (Denton, 1991; Melcher et al., 1990; Pitman et al., 1995), and the implementation of quality programs in organizations (Easton, 1993; Lakhe & Mohanty, 1994).

The literature on international quality management, however, has not been integrated into a comprehensive framework for awareness and understanding. This paper begins the process toward integration by examining and identifying publication patterns in international quality management in industrialized, newly industrialized, and developing regions. Recognizing these publication patterns can be useful to both researchers and practitioners. Researchers can use this paper to assess the under- or over-representation of certain areas of research when developing theories and conducting studies in international quality management, and practitioners can get a better perspective on the quality management techniques adopted in different regions around the world. The next section discusses international quality management in industrialized, newly industrialized, and developing regions; the following section expands on quality management approaches prevalent in the literature. In addition, these sections present the research questions investigated in the study.

INTERNATIONAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN INDUSTRIALIZED, NEWLY INDUSTRIALIZED, AND DEVELOPING REGIONS

Quality management can be influenced by the degree of competition faced by a firm, barriers to entry in an industry or country, quality demands by customers, governmental regulations concerning quality, and the level of technology (Benson, Saraph, & Schroeder, 1991; Ettlie, 1997). These factors can vary by country. Companies in countries with high levels of competition and few barriers to entry are more likely to practice quality management; even if the competition is based on of price rather than quality, cost reductions can still be gained through improved quality techniques. Likewise, firms may be forced to adopt quality practices in the face of customers' quality requirements and government regulations (Benson et al., 1991). The level of technology can also influence the quality management practices of organizations. The connection between quality management and organizational performance is stronger in low-technology firms than in high-technology ones (Ettlie, 1997); hence, countries with large numbers of low-technology industries may benefit to a greater extent by adopting quality practices.

The literature suggests that industrialized and developing countries are at different stages of the quality movement. In industrialized countries, quality management has been practiced for a number of years, whereas in developing countries it is of a more recent origin. The literature has extensively examined quality management in industrialized countries such as the U.S. (Benson et al., 1991; Easton, 1993; Johnson, 1995; Kano, 1993), the U.K. (Field & Shutler, 1990; Oakland & Aldridge, 1995; Pitman et al., 1995, Porter & Smith, 1993), Australia (Davis & Fisher, 1994; Samson & Sohal, 1990), New Zealand (Batley, 1993; Sloan, 1992), Japan (Flynn, 1992), and the Netherlands (de Vries & van de Water, 1992). For the most part, American industries started to emphasize quality management when they began losing market share to Japanese competitors and realized the importance of quality to Japan's economic success (Reitsperger & Daniel, 1990). European firms have also taken a significant interest in quality management due to changes in the European market and the adoption of ISO 9000 and BS 5750 standards.

Recently, researchers have begun to examine quality practices in newly industrialized countries such as Singapore (Pheng, 1993; Pheng & Hwa, 1994), Taiwan (Tam & Lu, 1995), and Hong Kong (Lam, 1995), and in developing countries such as India (Lakhe & Mohanty, 1994; Motwani, Mahmoud, & Rice, 1994), China (Zhao, Young, & Zhang, 1995), and Mexico (Tata & Prasad, 1998; Vargas & Johnson, 1992). The literature suggests that the quality movement is lagging in developing countries who are still perceived as producers of Poorer quality products. For example, a survey of quality in India found that only four per cent of the companies surveyed were using quality practices effectively (Singh, 1991).

A number of barriers to quality management have been identified in developing countries. These include: low levels of competition, lack of management commitment, low employee involvement, lack of communication and trust between suppliers and customers, unorganized customers, few established quality standards, low levels of capital investment in technologies and education, and severe constraints on economies (Lakhe & Tidke, 1991; Lakhe & Mohanty, 1994). Often, imports are heavily regulated in many developing countries to protect local industries and customers have no choice but to purchase lower-quality, indigenously manufactured products. Also, in contrast to firms in industrialized countries that invest in employee education and expect all workers to be responsible for the quality of products and services, companies in developing countries are more likely to place the responsibility for quality in the hands of a few specialists and refrain from investing in employee training and education (Lakhe & Mohanty, 1994).

These differences in quality management practices between industrialized and developing countries should decrease with the lowering of trade barriers, the opening up of markets to multinational companies, and the acceptance of international quality standards such as ISO 9000 in developing countries. Hence, these countries may begin to see dramatic improvements in quality. In contrast, industrialized countries have already achieved high quality standards and further improvements may be only marginal. The literature on international quality management should reflect this increasing focus on quality in developing countries.

Research Question 1: Are international quality management publications changing their focus from industrialized to newly industrialized and developing countries?

It is possible that the level of industrialization of a country influences the quality management approaches used by organizations. Numerous quality techniques have been proposed by practitioners and researchers. In general, these techniques can be categorized as people-centered or data-centered (Ettlie, 1997). Deming initially focused on improving quality in manufacturing through statistical process control and other data-centered techniques, but later broadened his approach through his 14 principles of management (Deming, 1986). Juran (1989) stressed both approaches through the three basic processes of quality management--quality control, quality improvement, and quality planning. In contrast to Deming and Juran, Crosby (1979, 1984) has always been a proponent of the people-centered approach through his focus on the cultural and behavioral aspects of quality management. The following paragraphs briefly discuss these two approaches to quality management and connect them to industrialized, newly industrialized, and developing regions.

People-Centered Approach

The people-oriented approach to quality management includes issues such as top management leadership, employee involvement, supplier relations, and focus on customers (Burdett, 1994; Crosby, 1979; Deming, 1986; Juran, 1989; Pulat, 1994). Top management leadership is often the key to continuous quality improvement in organizations. This leadership consists of creating a vision that incorporates quality as integral to the business and of establishing policies, practices, and structures consistent with that vision (Crosby, 1984; Deming, 1986; Garvin, 1986; Juran, 1989; Pulat, 1994). Employee involvement, empowerment, teamwork, participation in training and quality circles, and horizontal coordination across functional areas are considered important aspects of quality management because maintaining high levels of quality depends on using the talents and abilities of the entire work force (Burdett, 1994; Crosby, 1984; Deming, 1986; Pulat, 1994). The quality department's access to top management, its coordination with other units, and its visibility and autonomy can also play a role in the effectiveness of organizational quality improvement efforts.