Quality management, environmental management and firm performance: A review of empirical studies and issues of integration

Abstract

Quality management (QM) and environmental management (EM) are two business practices that may affect firm performance. These practices are being increasingly introduced into firms, which often use them jointly owing to their similarities. As a result of these similarities, their integration has become a popular topic of research and practice. In the field of integration, the highest level of integration may be achieved by means of a single, full QM-EM system (QEM) in which QM and EM lose their independence. It is therefore desirable to identify dimensions from which to assess these management practices and their effects on performance. The aim of this paper is to carry out a literature review in order to propose and analyse dimensions for QM, EM, QEM and firm performance, as well as models of causeeffect relationships between these variables. The topics reviewed are the following: (1) the QM and EM dimensions; (2) the empirical studies about QM-performance and EMperformance links; and (3) issues of integration. The review suggests that the large body of QM research may inform EM and QEM. This is so because research on the QM side is more advanced and developed than that on the EM side.

Contribution of Quality Management Practices to Sustainability Performance of Vietnamese Firms

“…Regarding environmental performance, the impact of QM practices is significant on Resource consumption reduction but insignificant on Emission reduction. A possible explanation for insignificant influence of QM practices on Emission reduction might be that QM focuses on eliminating wastes of inefficient processes rather than reducing pollution in form of emissions [4]. Therefore, one suggestion to better address the environmental issues is to integrate QM with environmental management system, as exemplified by ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 integration [61].…”

“…Some studied examined QM and antecedent of economic performance such as operational performance [12,28,38,39,[51][52][53][54], production performance [34], and quality performance [22,23,26,33,55,56]. Regarding environmental performance, some studies found the contribution of quality management system to environmental performance [4,[57][58][59][60]. Empirical evidence shows that enterprises with QM implementation in accordance with ISO 9001 intertwine with environmental management system ISO 14001 obtain higher benefits than the others [61].…”

“…Firstly, the "zero defects" goal of QM or "waste reduction" principle of lean management works closely with "no waste" aim of environmental management system [4]. Eliminating wastes and defective items also mean reduction of resource consumption and pollution, and in turns, improve the environment.…”

“…To do so, enterprises should implement "sustainability management", which is defined as "accelerating the and all functions of the organization" [12]. From this point of view, quality management is made up by a set a companywide quality management practices and techniques [4,13,14] with the purpose to deliver high quality products to customers.…”

“…From this point of view, quality management is made up by a set a companywide quality management practices and techniques [4,13,14] with the purpose to deliver high quality products to customers.…”