Purpose -The purpose is to examine the role of TQM in a strategy-TQM-performance model. More specifically, it seeks to investigate whether TQM has a driving role in the formation of strategy or has a mediating effect in the strategy-performance relationship. Design/methodology/approach -A survey was used to collect data. The instrument was assessed for its validity and reliability. Structural equation modelling was employed. Findings -TQM influences strategy formulation process and it is a dynamic resource that contributes to the achievement of a sustainable competitive advantage. In addition, soft TQM has a higher impact than hard TQM on competitive strategy formulation and on performance.Research limitations/implications -The model developed and tested can be enriching to the TQM, strategic management, and quality management fields. Future research is recommended to use methods other than self-report questionnaires and to account for certain behavioral factors that can influence the relationships investigated in the study. Practical implications -The findings provide insights to the need to integrate TQM with the various stages of the strategy formulation process, with an emphasis on the soft elements of TQM, including customer satisfaction, management and leadership, and employee relations. Originality/value -Despite the remarkable contributions of existent research, there is a lack of substantive research that examines the relationship between the hard and soft components of TQM on one hand and the two types of competitive strategy -differentiation and cost leadership -on the other. This gap is filled by this study.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between competitive strategy, total quality management (TQM), and continuous improvement of international project management (CIIPM). Design/methodology/approach -Based on a literature review, a theoretical model and five hypotheses are developed. A cross-sectional data set collected from 268 international project managers based in four countries is used to test the theoretical model. Findings -The results from the statistical analysis suggest that competitive strategy does not directly influence the CIIPM performance, but it influences through the mediation of TQM practices. The results also suggest that "human resource-based" TQM elements have stronger influence toward CIIPM performance than "technology-based" TQM elements.Research limitations/implications -The study used four TQM variables, which originated from the MBNQA (1995) framework. Although the four variables are robust and sufficiently represent the TQM dimension, the multi-dimensional nature of TQM practice can be investigated further. Further, the study only utilized a single variable of CIIPM in investigating international project management performance. As future TQM and international project management practices go through evolutions, additional elements may be incorporated into the three-domain contingency model. Practical implications -The study results suggest that the TQM elements fully mediate the relationship between competitive strategy and CIIPM. This implies that organizations need an innovative management methodology, such as the TQM practice, in order to achieve competitive strategy materializing towards international project management performance. Further, the findings suggest that it is the soft TQM elements (i.e. top management's leadership, compensation, training and empowerment) that impact the CIIPM more significantly. Originality/value -Although numerous classical studies are reported in various contexts involving competitive strategy, TQM practice, and project management performance, no existing study focuses on how these three domains are linked together.

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Purpose -The purpose of this article is to explore the relationship between the organizational culture (organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB)), TQM practice and organizational performance of the manquiladora companies. Design/methodology/approach -A structural equation modelling based on a cross-sectional survey ðN ¼ 230Þ is conducted. Findings -As multinational companies (MNCs) implement innovative management methodology such as the TQM practices, their organizational cultural elements play significant roles towards the outcome. The organizational culture, represented by OCB, significantly impacts how TQM is managed and implemented. Furthermore, the results point out "soft TQM elements" have more significant impact than "hard TQM elements" towards firm's performance.Research limitations -The study includes a specific location (Maquiladora) only. Practical implications -The findings suggest that management should also focus on the intrinsic motivations of employees represented by OCB rather than the sole emphasis on training and education.Originality/value -The study supports the perspective that underlines the importance of the balance between soft and hard TQM, as well as the significance of OCB for a successful implementation of TQM.

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Purpose -As a multinational corporation (MNC) implements a new innovation campaign at its worldwide operations, varying degrees of success stories are reported. The extent of how an innovation campaign and methodology can be transferred from its corporate office to its overseas operations has been the subject of considerable debate. Implementing an innovation methodology such as the total quality management (TQM) can be challenged by the organizational culture unique to each operation. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between organizational culture stemming from national culture and TQM implementation performance. Design/methodology/approach -In total, 186 managers of MNCs are surveyed in their cultural orientations and TQM implementation experiences. The survey result is analyzed by regressing cultural elements on TQM elements. Findings -Our result suggests that an organization's TQM practices are significantly influenced by the organization culture. However, each dimension of organization culture is related to TQM in different fashions. For instance, power distance influences all the TQM elements, but masculinity has positive impact on business performance of TQM practice only. Research limitation/implications -Our findings may assist MNCs in explaining varying success stories of quality management implementation efforts. Furthermore, MNCs can focus their efforts towards improving certain organizational culture that is more significantly related to a certain quality management element. Originality/value -No previous research has reported on how organizational culture stemming from national culture affects quality management methodology implementation.

We investigated the preparation and performance of large-area transmission-type flexible plasmonic color filters (PCFs). These large-area PCFs were fabricated based on a nanotransfer printing (nTP) process that involves nanoimprint-based planarization. This process is a simple surface treatment for easy transfer of a metal to a flexible plastic substrate and formation of patterned aluminum nanodots and nanoholes on a substrate surface with poor roughness. Rabbit-ear structures can form during the nTP process, and this phenomenon was analyzed by numerical simulation. As defects were not detected in a 10 000-round bending test, the PCFs fabricated using this nTP process have excellent mechanical properties.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to verify the universal applicability of total quality management (TQM) across national boundaries. Specifically, the authors examined the validity of the isomorphic nature of TQM leadership style by comparing survey samples from both USA-based firms (n=112) and China-based firms (n=121). Design/methodology/approach – The authors collected the primary data through a survey research method. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were adopted to test the hypothesized research model. Findings – The study results did not support the universality of TQM practices. For example, the results reveal that in the USA-based firms, transformational leadership has a more significant positive influence on TQM practices, while in the China-based firms, transactional leadership has a more significant positive impact on TQM practices. Originality/value – Most of the existing literature on TQM assumed that the most effective TQM leadership style would be universal across organizational or international boundaries. However, our findings imply that the effective leadership style for successful implementation of TQM practices could be contingent on the cultural background embedded within the firms. Therefore, the authors anticipate the findings of the study will guide future research on TQM and create a new path to find solutions not only for optimizing the successful implementation of TQM, but also for minimizing the current high level of TQM failures.