While the quality literature abounds with prescriptions for how quality should be managed, no one has proposed an organization-theory explanation for how quality is managed in organizations. This paper proposes a system-structural model of quality management that relates organizational quality context, actual quality management, ideal quality management, and quality performance. The relationships between organizational quality context and actual and ideal quality management are investigated using data collected from 152 managers from 77 business units of 20 manufacturing and service companies. A previously reported instrument is used to measure managers' perceptions of ideal and actual quality management in terms of eight critical factors including product/service design, training, employee relations, and top management leadership. Several measures are used to characterize organizational quality context including company type, company size, degree of competition, and corporate support for quality. The results indicate that organizational quality context influences managers' perceptions of both ideal and actual quality management. This suggests that knowledge of organizational quality context is useful for explaining and predicting quality management practice. Important contextual variables are corporate support for quality, past quality performance, managerial knowledge, and the extent of external quality demands.

The effects of organizational context on quality management: An empirical investigation

The effects of food safety issues released by we media on consumers’ awareness and purchasing behavior: A case study in China

Purpose – Despite the potential benefits of total quality management (TQM) articulated by quality experts and practitioners, these benefits are not easy to achieve in practice. Many service industries have found difficult to implement TQM successfully. The present study investigates and categorizes the barriers to a successful implementation of TQM program in the service industry. The purpose of this paper is to understand TQM barriers and prioritize their relative importance by ranking them in the service industry. Design/methodology/approach – Based on previously published literature on TQM barriers in service industry and after discussions with quality experts, this study utilizes a set of 12 barriers to TQM as identified by the authors of TQM barriers to accomplish the objectives of the present study. The 12 barriers were divided into three categories. These barriers were prioritized and ranked using an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach, a multi-criteria decision-making process. Findings – In ...

Identification and prioritization of barriers to total quality management implementation in service industry

Recent studies on total quality management (TQM) show that there is sudden shift in the application of TQM from manufacturing to service organization and voluminous studies have been undertaken in it. TQM has taken a strong place in all sectors and emerged out as an approach for process improvement, waste reduction, business optimization and quality performance. Additionally, numerous researchers and academicians have acknowledged the applicability of TQM for sustainable competitive advantage especially for service organizations. In light of this, the purpose of the present study is to understand the concept of TQM as applicable to the service system. It also explores the literature on TQM in service organizations as well as reasons for its failure. Lastly, the study provides systematic guidelines for effective implementation of TQM in the service organizations. The findings of study provide a better understanding of TQM, its practices and present the reasons for growth of service organizations. Results also highlight some major outcomes from the latest studies on TQM in service organizations. Finally, the study proposes a ten step approach for effective implementation of TQM in the service organizations. This study provides a framework for better understanding the fundamentals of TQM in service organizations and seeks an in-depth knowledge of TQM theory to the service managers and practitioners. Some managerial implications and scope for future study are presented at the end.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID2725107_code1083297.pdf?abstractid=2725107&mirid=1&type=2

An Overview of Total Quality Management: Understanding the Fundamentals in Service Organization

Wine is a heterogeneous, information-rich offering, with a plethora of brands in the market. Knowledge of wines amidst such diversity understandably varies. In addition, some offer opinions on wine while others seek them. Yet, the interplay between opinion leadership and opinion seeking, on the one hand, and wine knowledge, both objective and subjective, has received little attention by wine marketing researchers. Thus, this paper explores the relationships between opinion leadership and opinion seeking among wine consumers, and investigates whether objective and subjective knowledge varies between opinion leaders and seekers. An online survey was used to collect data on the four constructs and correlation analysis was undertaken to investigate the relationships between them. Key findings indicate that those who tend to seek opinions about wine tend not to have high objective knowledge of wine, as may be expected. On the other hand, opinion leaders think that they know about wine, and generally are object...

Does objective and subjective knowledge vary between opinion leaders and opinion seekers? Implications for wine marketing

Total quality management (TQM) has been recognized as a successful management philosophy that can be successfully practiced in the Real-estate industry. The purpose of this research is to determine the important factors that influence the TQM practice in real estate industry. The research methods employed included a literature review, in-depth interviews and focus group techniques which were used as a first to identify ten constructs of TQM in organizations. That is Top Management Commitment, Customer Focus, Benchmarking, Continuous Improvement, Supplier Quality Management, Product Innovation, Product Quality, Employee’s Involvement, Rewards and Recognition, Educational and Training. The AHP questionnaires were sent as 142 organizations of members of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India, in the metro city of Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai. The sampling procedure resulted in an overall response rate of 51% and the result was categorized based on organization size—small, medium and large. Then, the empirical study adopted the techniques of the Analytic Hierarchy Process to solicit opinions from 72 expert opinion collected through mail questionnaire. The results show that Employee involvement, top management commitment, employee customer focus, plays very important role for TQM practice in organizations. The results show that the Employee’s Involvement is most important to TQM practice in India. This is not difficult to understand, since the less than desirable record of real-estate industry. Therefore, the key to a successful strategy is to rebuild the confidence of TQM practice in real-estate industry.

TQM practice in real-estate industry using AHP

Opinion leaders influence the consumer's decisions making and play significant role in disseminating information, specifically in high involvement purchases. After extensive literature survey on the opinion leaders, the theoretical framework was proposed and their hypothesis was tested. The results from the empirical study that was conducted, indicates that opinion leaders in high involvement product possess significantly higher levels of media-exposure endurance, social involvement, product knowledge, innovativeness and computer usage than non-leaders. Based on the findings, the theoretical model was developed, conclusions are drawn, key implications delineated, and avenues for future research are listed. The findings will provide useful information for marketers to promote the high-involvement products. They are also significant to real estate companies, banks, FM CG industries, who desire to understand the opinion leaders for their inputs, influences for the marketing strategies. The new finding indicates that they are younger, attained a higher education, has computer competence and they desire unique product offerings that convey status, will be useful for research purpose. This study provides a first step in investigating the opinion leadership and their impact that are rooted in high involvement product; still more research in this area is warranted.INTRODUCTIONIn the Information economy, the information is very important and opinion leaders play a vital role in dissemination information and knowledge The companies have started using communication from opinion leaders in the form of opinions, recommendations, suggestions and experience on products, services, or sellers, in order to influence consumer decision making.The customer's approach to purchasing a product is influenced by their situation- whether they have money and how important, frequent, risky, or urgent the purchase is to them in their situation. Processes of consumer decision-making situation are partly affected by product involvement (Laurent and Kapferer, 1985). A consumer spends time and energy to make a decision in purchasing high-involvement products, whereas spends less time and effort for low-involvement products (Richins and Bloch, 1986). While researchers haye focused on the low-involvement, frequently purchased, convenience product (Olshavsky and Miller, 1972; Swan and Combs, 1976; and Prakash and Lounsbury, 1983), less attention has been devoted to the factors that influence the satisfaction with a high-involvement product (Day, 1977; Churchill and Suprenant, 1983; and Oliver and Bearden, 1983).It was observed that the greater the involvement with the product, the greater the search for information about the product and the larger the number of information sources used, the more extensive the information processing undertaken by the consumer. More importantly, the consumers undertake extensive post-purchase evaluation and attempt to maximize their satisfaction with the product (Barber and Venkatraman, 1986). In case of high-involvement purchases often resulting in extended problem solving, the consumer seeks information from opinion leaders and other personal sources of information.Opinion leaders have long been of interest to managers and researchers because they are instrumental in successful marketing strategies. The tendency of the consumer market to depend upon the success of new products often rests with opinion leaders who direcdy influence the consumers by giving advice and verbal direction for search, purchase, and use. Despite the phenomenal growth of consumer market in India, surprisingly very little empirical research has investigated about the opinion leaders in highinvolvement purchases. Hence, it is needed for further research to address this gap "the influence of the opinion leaders in high involvement consumer decision-making situations" in the extent literature.Lawrence Corey (1971) defines an opinion leader as "trusted and informed people who exist in virtually all primary groups. …

The Role of Opinion Leaders in High-Involvement Purchases: An Empirical Investigation

Sobha Developers was a public-listed real estate company. It developed a self-sustaining integrated customer relationship management (CRM) model which was tested over a period for its robustness. Several concerns and issues were raised and business decisions were taken over these. The model enabled an increase in customer retention growth rate. The company’s vision for the next five years was to make Sobha Developers an industry leader and incorporate the integrated CRM model in every real estate company in India and Asia. Having achieved the strongest growth rate in the past few years, Sobha Developers had stabilized its real estate operations not only in Bangalore but also in other cities of India. The contract works with corporates could potentially treble the revenues of Sobha Developers in the coming two years and lend further financial strength and muscle to the company’s operations.

P. Sanjay Sarathy

Papers

TQM practice in real-estate industry using AHP

The Role of Opinion Leaders in High-Involvement Purchases: An Empirical Investigation

Sobha Developers Limited: Competitive Advantage through CRM