Looking through and beyond the TQM horizon : Lessons learned from world‐class companies

Purpose – The paper aims to investigate the best common management practices of the world‐class companies identified in Brazil and Japan; and propose a business model aimed at helping companies to achieve world‐class level of excellence. Design/methodology/approach – A cross‐sectional survey is the methodology employed. The balanced scorecard and seven categories with 80 key elements focusing on the Malcolm Baldrige Award were some approaches used to achieve the research's aims. Findings – The main conclusion is that senior managers are positively leading successful top companies with a high focus on customer satisfaction and are continuously improving the six dimensions of their total quality process – as some managers do; but through a systematic self‐management process, they have effectively refined it more than others. Research limitations/implications – The paper investigated only the internal best practices that permeate the Brazilian and Japanese top companies and manufacturing industries. Further research should be done in order to investigate the works outside those companies; to study the top service companies; and also to apply the statistical inference instead of descriptive cross‐sectional method of analysis. Practical implications – It is recommended that senior managers continuously find ways to update and improve their daily leadership skills; clearly define their business areas; and reinforce the quality assurance system and support the integration of TQM with other management systems. Originality/value – It provides a benchmark of excellence practices and valuable suggestions to senior managers interested in implementing or improving their TQM process; and proposes a new business measurement model and conceptual ways for companies to achieve a world‐class level of excellence.