The apparel industry is truly global in nature. Apparel manufacturing being labour intensive has been migrating from the high wage developed world to developing countries. However, the developing countries will need to have efficient manufacturing operations if they are to retain their competitiveness in the apparel industry. This paper attempts to evaluate the productivity levels achieved by Indian apparel manufacturers vis-aÁ -vis their counterparts from the rest of the world; to ascertain factors associated with productivity performance; and to recommend strategies for productivity improvement.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore the meaning of TQM implementation in India and its impact on the Indian organizations' overall performance. This study also aims to prescribe a TQM model for Indian organizations in order to maximize the impact of TQM with predefined concentrated efforts. Design/methodology/approach -A detailed questionnaire, based on current practices and unexplored areas identified by a literature survey, was designed and administered. The questionnaire consists of 11 "Contributing Variables" and nine "Contribution Variables". The scores for these 20 variables were obtained from different organizations and put to factor analysis. Findings -The result of factor analysis shows the existence of clusters of large correlation coefficients between subsets of these variables. This suggests that these variables could be measuring aspects of the same underlying dimensions. These underlying dimensions, or extracted factors, are four in number and are related to, respectively, efficiency, customer, people, and teambuilding. This shows that all the 20 TQM variables in India can be summarized into these four dimensions, which are taken as the four pillars of the suggested TQM model for Indian organizations. The proposed model is named TQMEF (TQM-efficiency model).Research limitations/implications -This study is based on a single respondent from each organization, so it adds individuality to the scores. This can be avoided in future by having cross-sectional data through more than one respondent from each organization. This will also help in avoiding error due to the tendency of respondents sometime to give over-ambitious answers. Practical implications -The paper identifies four pillars on which TQM implementations should yield positive results for Indian organizations, implying that these organizations can gain by concentrating efforts in these areas. Originality/value -The paper identified the importance of safety and resources conservation as crucial factors. Hitherto, in most models, only the other three aspects of TQM were given importance. Efficiency has emerged as a key issue in the Indian context.

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