The post‐Second World War era has seen the emergence of two strategies to improve the operational effectiveness of manufacturing firms: just‐in‐time (JIT) production systems and total quality management (TQM). Both evolved in Japan, and the West deciphered and applied them later. TQM has...

Analyses, through a nationwide empirical survey of US companies, the effects of JIT and TQM strategies and offers important guidelines for JIT/TQM programme co‐ordinators that might be helpful during the implementation process. Shows that while companies can benefit from implementation of JIT...