An Empirical Analysis of Quality Management Practices in Japanese Manufacturing Companies

Quality management represents company-wide activities to improve the quality level of products and works through customer orientation, continuous quality improvement, employees’ involvement, etc. to establish and sustain a competitive advantage. This paper presents result of an empirical analysis on quality management practices and its impact on competitive performance in Japanese manufacturing companies. This result has been derived from the third round survey conducting in Japan industry in 2003 under the framework of High Performance Manufacturing Project. The data were gathered from thirty-five plants in Japan. The questionnaire’s responders were general manager, production manager, quality manager, and supervisors. Ten measurement scales were constructed to describe quality management practices in production as follows: Cleanliness and organization, Feedback, Process control, Equipment and maintenance, Product design, Customer orientation, Supplier relationship, and Top management leadership for quality. Regression models between quality management practices and dimension of quality, competitive indexes were developed. The results show significant contribution of quality activities to quality performance and competitive performance. Among ten examined quality practices, Work attitude, Product design process, Equipment and maintenance were identified as important determinants for improving quality performance and competitiveness.