| Summary: | During the past two decades, Total Quality Management (TQM) programmes have been implemented in many organizations. A strategy of high quality leads to a sustainable competitive advantage. This paper examines the importance of incorporating TQM in the Malaysian manufacturing industry. The study measures senior production or TQM managers' perception of TQM and level of performances of their companies. Specifically, the paper investigates relationships between TQM, production performance and customer-related performance and the associations were analyzed through statistical methods such as Pearson's correlation and structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings suggest that TQM and its adoptions have significant correlations with production performance and customer-related performance. This study provides striking demonstrations of the importance of TQM in enhancing performances of Malaysian manufacturing companies. The result indicates that retail manufacturing companies should emphasize greater attention to quality measurement aspects of TQM and a greater degree of management support for TQM initiatives to ensure strategic sustainable competitive advantage. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of 7th International Strategic Management Conference.
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