Total Quality Management and Performances of SMEs in Sarawak

Total Quality Management is important for gaining competitive advantage. However, just creating good product will not by itself ensure success for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) if the product does not meet customer specifications. As such, this study aims to examine the relationship between total quality management (TQM) practices and organisational performance (OP) of the SMEs. Based on the theoretical considerations, a theoretical framework was proposed to link TQM and OP. Structured questionnaires were distributed to randomly selected SMEs in Sarawak. A total of 63 usable questionnaires were anlaysed. This research instrument showed encouraging evidence of reliability and validity. The data analysis reveals that TQM had positive and big impact on OP. However, the selected demographic characteristics of the SMEs had no significant influences on TQM practices. Thus, it was recommended that the SMEs should practice quality management facilitating management tool for improving organizational performance in view of the increasingly more dynamic environments that they are and will be facing.