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Choong Y. Lee : Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas, USA, and
Xiaomu Zhou: People's University of China, Beijing, China
Introduction
The economic achievement of China during the last two decades has been impressive. The manufacturing industry has made the most significant contribution to the spectacular economic growth in China (Lee and Yu, 1997). Its superb performance has been based on their competence of being low-cost manufacturers. The cheap labor has enabled Chinese manufacturing firms to enjoy a strong competitive edge in global markets.
However, the Chinese manufacturing industry is now in a critical stage of its development. The business environment in global markets is very turbulent, reflecting keen competition both in price and product advantages. Manufacturers in the developed nations provide high quality products at reasonably low prices, while other developing countries' manufacturers are seriously challenging Chinese firms by producing similar products at a less cost. Furthermore, consumers from all over the world are becoming more quality conscious. The new wave of quality awareness and emphasis has had a significant impact on business operations in the world. These recent developments force Chinese firms to consider quality management practices to enhance the quality of their products. It will be increasingly difficult for them to compete solely on the basis of price. They need a strategic shift.
To meet these challenges, Chinese firms have been paying more attention to quality management (Stephens, 1989). The pioneer group of Chinese firms has found that quality management enhances their ability to compete in the global markets. Therefore, many Chinese firms now try to implement quality management practices, such as total quality management (TQM), as a part of their manufacturing/business strategies (Zhao et al., 1995). Investment in quality management will continuously be increased as quality becomes more critical for them to survive in today's competitive global markets. As a result, quality management and its strategic implications are gaining increasing recognition in China. However, there are few reported studies about quality management, its strategic implications, and its impact on business performance in China. It has motivated this comparative study of manufacturing strategies and business performance between TQM and traditional firms in the Chinese manufacturing industry.
The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast manufacturing strategies and business practices between TQM...