The twenty-first century harbors intense global competition where the playing field and the rules of the game have changed. There is an urgent need for Pakistani businesses to change the way they operate. This paper introduces the total quality management (TQM) concept and argues that its implementation is the critical need of the hour for the survival of our industries both locally and internationally. The paper is divided into four segments: the first discusses the changed environment in which businesses are operating; the second gives a brief introduction to the TQM philosophy and discusses TQM systems and tools; the third discusses the effect of TQM on productivity and explains what is meant by "effective productivity"; and the fourth presents some of the benefits that were realized by international and local firms implementing TQM.

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This case examines the different project management approaches at Techlogix. Some are highly structured and formal while others are relatively unstructured and informal. The Engyro project involved the development of an Applications Service Provider (ASP) Payments System through a highly structured formal project management system, which created few problems in terms of product specification changes and development. However, a Financial Management System (FMS) developed for the Government of Guam through a relatively unstructured and informal project management approach proved to be a bad experience for Techlogix. The CEO wanted to standardize a highly structured project management system for the company. The project managers at Techlogix feared that a highly structured system would reduce flexibility available to project managers. They felt that a structured configuration and change management system would require a lengthy process to bring about changes in a project's specifications. This would eventually discourage change and create customer dissatisfaction or force the project managers to circumvent standardized procedures creating other problems. This case is useful for examining the factors relevant to project management approaches.

Synthetic Products Enterprises (Private) Limited (SPEL) was one of the few (indigenous) Pakistani companies that had introduced and implemented many quality and productivity improvement initiatives. These included Benchmarking, Statistical Quality Control, Quality Control Circles, and 5S'. A distinguishing feature of these initiatives was the involvement and motivation of its employees. However, with emerging competition coupled with reduced trade barriers, it became imperative for the company to constantly review and improve its current systems, which were predominantly quality driven. SPEL was able to develop a quality culture within its organization whereas several other companies, which had implemented similar kinds of quality tools, failed to develop it. This case explores the process through which a customer focused Total Quality Culture was developed and the conditions needed to facilitate this development.