Total Quality Management Strategy

Total Quality Management 

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a crucial determinant of company success. TQM refers to the continual process through which managers detect and minimize or eliminate errors in a process. It intends to promote streamlined processes, which support an improved customer experience. Riding on the idea of holding every employee accountable for their actions, TQM ensures that every individual involved in a process participates in enhancing the final product (Abbas, 2020) . Thus, according to van Kemenade and Hardjono (2019), TQM is a managerial approach that maintains customer centeredness through the involvement of all employees in quality improvement. It utilizes proper strategies, empirical data, and effective communications to incorporate quality into the organization's culture (Abbas, 2020) . In response to the industry's TQM demand, Andrews team adopted Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) systems, Vendor or Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory control systems, Quality Initiative Training (QIT), channel support systems, concurrent engineering, Six Sigma training, GEMI TQEM sustainability initiatives, quality function deployment, and UNEP green programs to control its process' quality standard. 

Selected Initiatives 

Cost Reduction 

Cost reduction was adopted to lower spending and increase revenues. Because material, labour, and administrative costs comprise the most significant expenditures in any company, there is always a need to limit the spending that goes into material purchases (Almudara, 2018) . Both CPI and Vendor/JIT systems facilitate the reduction of material costs. However, Vendor/JIT systems have an additional advantage because they reduce administrative costs as well. QIT systems, on the other hand, promote cost reductions by reducing a company's labor costs. Implementing Six Sigma training also contributes significantly to lowering labor and material costs. Besides, Six Sigma crowns the contributions of other TQM strategies because it improves staff morale and limits their turnover rate. Overall, reducing material, labour, and administrative costs, as Almudara (2018) explained , causes a significant increase in a company's Return on Investment (ROI). 

Besides cost reduction, the management also adopted operational improvements. Pambreni et al. (2019) explain that o perating procedures may also impact a company's income. A company's distribution channels affect its ability to deliver products to customers. Hence, improving a company's distribution channels through the implementation of channel support systems stimulates demand increases and reduces distribution costs which in turn cause increased profitability. Besides, a company may reduce the amount of time needed to improve a product and lower its R&D time by implementing concurrent engineering. Working together, lower distribution costs, increased demand, and improved products enhance a company's profitability. 

Finally, the management adopted corporate social responsibility to improve the company's image. Implementing environmentally friendly procedures as part of a company's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy attracts customers (Abbas, 2020) . This customer attraction is primarily pegged on the fact that customers like to associate with companies that consider their effect on the environment and adopt measures to limit environmental degradation. Therefore, through the implementation of UNEP green programs, it is possible to increase the market for a company's products. GEMI TQEM sustainability initiatives also allow an organization to utilize best practices on environmental management, health, and safety to lower material and labour costs. These environmentally friendly programs reduce costs and increased product demand. 

Andrews' team invested substantially in TQM to ensure the company's business processes were streamlined to minimize costs, stimulate demand increases, and promote sustainability. The table below summarizes the company's investments in TQM. 

Results 

The company's investment in TQM yielded major adjustments in cost reduction, operational improvements, and demand increases. At the end of the accounting period, the company's TQM reports suggested that material, labour, and administrative costs reduced substantially. Besides, the company's R&D Cycle time reduced as demand for its products increased. The table below summarizes the results. 

The percentage changes reported in the table above directly impacted the company's financial results for the fourth competition round. The company's financial measures revealed substantial increases in cumulative profit, market share, return on sales, return on equity, and ending stock price. Therefore, the investment was worthwhile. However, it would be necessary to exit the less profitable markets and invest in the more profitable ones during the next business round. 

References 

Abbas, J. (2020). Impact of total quality management on corporate green performance through the mediating role of corporate social responsibility.  Journal of Cleaner Production ,  242 , 118458. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118458 

Almudara, S. (2018). Total quality management to reduce cost and to improve quality process in education institution.  International Journal of Educational Research Review ,  3 (2), 23-29. https://doi.org/10.24331/ijere.391174 

Pambreni, Y., Khatibi, A., Azam, S., & Tham, J. (2019). The influence of total quality management toward organization performance.  Management Science Letters ,  9 (9), 1397-1406. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.msl.2019.5.011 

van Kemenade, E., & Hardjono, T. (2019). Twenty-first-century total quality management: The emergence paradigm.  The TQM Journal ,  31 (2), 150-166. https://doi.org/10.1108/tqm-04-2018-0045