Satish Mehra

TQM as a management strategy for the next millennia

Total quality management (TQM) has been acclaimed as an organizational philosophy to enhance global competitiveness. Will TQM continue to be a management philosophy of the future in same shape, size, and design? This paper, through literature search and using field experts, identifies the future role of TQM in businesses facing global markets.

A comparative analysis and review of JIT “implementation” research

Compares the research done in the area of JIT implementation in the past decade, identifies critical JIT elements, and groups the elements into broader factors. An extensive literature search was conducted to identify over 130 JIT implementation articles published in both professional journals and proceedings. Initial screening process led to the identification of 105 JIT implementation research articles published since 1980. Each of these 105 articles was reviewed to identify 28 JIT implementation elements. These JIT implementation elements are subsequently grouped into five broader factors. Criteria as the measure of importance of these elements was based on the frequency of citation. The results obtained from this research show that elimination of waste and production strategy are the most specific critical factors of JIT implementation. Followed by three other critical factors: quality control and quality improvement, management commitment and employee participation, and vendor/supplier participation.

Implementing total quality management with a focus on enhancing customer satisfaction

Purpose – Aims to examine the role of total quality management (TQM) towards enhancing customer satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach – Using meta‐analysis, existing research studies on TQM and customer satisfaction were quantified, summarized, and tested for moderators to clarify TQM impact.Findings – It is found that TQM substantially increases customer satisfaction across diverse industrial and cultural settings.Originality/value – This research broadens the scope of TQM applicability across varied industrial and cultural settings to achieve higher customer focus, increased customer satisfaction, and stresses the need for more meta‐analytic studies on the subject.

Financial Justification of JIT Implementation

Many articles have appeared which detail the improvements appearing in manufacturing firms subsequent to JIT implementation. Some firms have attributed the complete financial turnaround of their company to the philosophy. However, this assumes that no other variables contributed to the improvements made. Presents the results of a survey of American manufacturing firms which have implemented JIT. In addition to merely presenting the benefits accrued, an effort is made to correlate these benefits with actual improvements in ROI, total costs and service level. Shows JIT as contributing significantly to the financial status of manufacturing firms.

The perceived impact of JIT implementation on firms’ financial/growth performance

This paper argues that solely depending on short‐term financial performance indicators to justify the benefits of JIT implementation is very misleading and could harm a company’s future long‐term survival. The empirical study presented in this paper investigated the effect of (JIT) implementation on the use of operation performance measures. Furthermore, the effect of the JIT implementation and the use of the operating performance measures on firms’ financial/growth performance, as perceived by the managers, was examined. These effects were measured using path analysis to show direct and indirect effects of JIT practices on the other two variables. Analyses indicate that, although correlations do exist between JIT practices and managerial perceptions of a firm’s financial performance, the relationships are mostly the result of spurious effects. Direct and indirect effects realized from the JIT practices on financial/growth performance are almost non‐existent.

Efficient consumer response as a supply chain strategy for grocery businesses

Quickly responding to customer needs has become a major priority for retail businesses such as grocery operations. Customer satisfaction is an absolute for staying competitive in these retail operations. This paper discusses efficient consumer response (ECR) as a supply chain strategy in grocery businesses by analyzing the adoption of ECR strategy by five major grocery operations in US markets. Furthermore, a management action plan is presented for future adoption of ECR strategy by similar business operations.

Total quality as a new global competitive strategy

Total quality has been acclaimed as an organizational philosophy to enhance global competitiveness. However, changing paradigms in global business operations require that quality concepts like TQM be revised to reflect the changing nature of global competitiveness. This paper, using the existing literature and interactions with the real world managers, presents a conceptual quality framework that can be deployed to enhance the competitiveness of businesses operating in global environments. Specifically, this paper details those quality elements that can affect quality improvement efforts through a variety of cultural differences that one may encounter while managing global operations. Also, proposed are managerial guidelines for implementing quality in the global arena.

Operationalizing productivity improvement programs through total quality management

The intent of this empirical research is to identify the critical factors that are potentially “fatal” to productivity improvement programs and to analyze these factors relative to documented quality concepts. From this analysis we determine that these “fatal” factors can be prevented by the pre‐existence of a quality program, specifically total quality management, which requires participative involvement of all members of an organization, continuous improvement, and customer satisfaction.

Purchasing management and business competitiveness in the coming decade

Changing dynamics of the marketplace require that old mind-sets of the procurement function radically shift directions. Cost-based practices of the past should be replaced by a value-added focus in todays organizational supply channel. This paper, based upon in-depth discussions with a focus group of experts, documents the upcoming challenges for purchasing professionals and defines a new role for purchasing managers. Additionally, key questions are suggested as an impetus for future research.

Cost management system: an operational overview

Defines cost management as “a set of techniques and methods for controlling and improving a company’s activities and processes, its products and services” to achieve continuous improvement and deal with global competition; with commitment from top management and worker involvement. Offers a model of a “self‐perpetuating system of improvement” to continuously improve value added and decrease non‐value added activities, using activity‐based costing to develop the information needed for activity‐based management, just‐in‐time, total quality management and process improvement. Explains these techniques, referring to research, and discusses the necessary conditions for top management commitment and worker involvement. A useful summary of the interaction of many modern management accounting tools