Purpose – The aim of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of business improvement methods (BIM/TQM) in contributing to innovation implementation in SMEs within peripheral regions. Design/methodology/approach – A survey with responses from 606 SMEs in the North West European...

Purpose – Human Sigma is an emerging topic among many academics and practitioners. At present, limited studies have been reported about the successful applications of Human Sigma in small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of this paper therefore is to provide an analysis of...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate if different applications of process orientation exist and how these are characterised. Furthermore, the objective is to investigate how the applications of process orientation relate to the line organization. Design/methodology/approach...

Purpose – Many companies can today attest to having obtained significant progress in their performance using some improvement processes (six sigma, 5S, business process reengineering, etc.). But they can also attest to experiencing difficulties in sustaining the use of these processes over...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the current quality management practices of service sector SMEs in Pakistan, and to provide an insight for policy development for SMEs. Design/methodology/approach – A focused investigation of 100 SMEs in northern Pakistan was conducted...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the research carried out on a conceptual approach in business improvement termed as culture driven regeneration (CDR). The research positions CDR as business improvement tool that leverages organizational learning, organization culture and...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the level of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) implementation at National bank Operations Division by utilizing the five stages of progress identified by Gygi et al. (2005), namely, initialize, deploy, implement, expand and sustain. A further aim was to...

Purpose – Based on the TQM Model developed in a previous paper published at the TQMJ , the authors have a chance to test out the model in a number of firms in Malaysia through Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM). Furthermore, riding on the success, SIRIM has named...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is the further development of an Excel-based integrated management system for the tool and cutlery industry regarding sustainability. The tool’s actual status allows integrating and implementing requirements considering work safety, environmental and...

This paper seeks to categorise the terminology currently in use within the quality management discourse. Aspirational definitions are studiously avoided, rather a critical perspective of the existing discourse is analysed. Three main terms are found to be most prominent in the current discourse,...