What value does a total quality management program have in implementing strategy?

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The Answer is Total quality management (TQM) is an operational philosophy that stresses commitment to customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. It aims at improving quality, increasing flexibility, and reducing costs in order to better satisfy the customer. Because TQM aims to reduce costs as well as improve quality, it can be used as a program to implement either an overall low cost or a differentiation business strategy. Like MBO, TQM helps keep employees' minds on a crucial objective of strategic management: increasing sales and profits by pleasing the customer. Because the mission of most business firms is customer driven, TQM helps to clarify and fine-tune the company's mission statement. TQM makes the key point that because competitive advantage is usually only temporary, the organization must emphasize continuous improvement to improve product quality and reduce costs. According to TQM, customers can be internal as well as external to the organization. To the extent that a company is able to continually improve its service to its internal customers, it is more likely to keep internal transaction costs low and thus be in a better position to reap the benefits and avoid the disadvantages of vertical integration.

What Value Does a Total Quality Management Program Have in Implementing