STATISTICAL RESEARCH

Statistical Research

Statistical Research

Most of the published international literature suggests that the concept of TQM has been implemented mainly in large organizations. For instance, Brown (1992) reported on the application of TQM in several large organizations engaged in mining, steel fabrications, construction, plastic and chemical manufacturing and mass transportation. Little research has been undertaken into how TQM has been applied in small businesses in America. One study that addressed the issue of TQM and small business in the context of Western America was by Brown (1993). However, this was a case study and thus its ® ndings cannot be generalized across the whole range of SMEs. A review of the literature on TQM highlighted that, relative to large organizations, SMEs are slow in adopting TQM principles (Ghobandian & Gallear, 1996). This is not surprising given the diþ erences between SMEs and large organizations. SMEs diþ er from large organizations in management style, structure, decision-making process, availability and utilization of resources and negotiating power (Haksever, 1996;Welsh & White, 1981). In the UK about 50% of sales in the manufacturing sector are generated through subcontracting (Ghobandian & Gallear, 1996). Moreover, the current trend of focusing on core business has further polarized the situation. The lack of product quality produced by SMEs would therefore adversely aþ ect the competitive ability of large companies. Because of this, large organizations have insisted that their small suppliers implement the TQM concept in their own businesses. · Impact of TQM on large organizations. One of the direct impacts of the implementation of TQM by large companies is that they develop a closer relationship with their suppliers and subcontractors, which in turn has pushed them to settle on fewer suppliers. This has in¯ uenced the small ® rms to adopt TQM of their own (Simons & Kerr, 1993). 

The survey instrument and sampling procedures

Development of the survey instrument

The framework is structured with seven criteria. These criteria are leadership, strategy and planning, information and analysis, people, customer focus, processes, products and services and organizational performance. Under each criterion exist one or more subcriteria, which describes in more detail aspects of the criterion. Using these sub-criteria as a guide, a questionnaire with 36 items was developed to create a self-assessment measure of TQM practices. Additional questions were included to measure the quality perception and ISO 9000 certi® cation status of the participating companies. A similar approach was applied by Kaldenberg and Gobeli (1995) and Quazi and Padibjo (1997) in their studies on SMEs in the USA and Singapore, respectively. A ® ve-point Likert scale was used to measure the extent to which certain management practices were used by managers (a higher score indicates greater agreement that the ® rm use that particular management practice). Additionally, respondents were given an option to indicate if the item was not applicable to their company. The questionnaire was pre-tested using several companies not included in the random sample. Consequently, several questions were rewritten. 

Results

Reliability and validity of the survey instrument

The survey instrument was evaluated for reliability and validity. Reliability refers to the instrument's ability to provide consistent results in repeated uses. Validity refers to the degree to which the instrument measures the concept the researcher wants to ...