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Purpose -This paper aims to rank the emphasis placed on critical factors and quality management principles that determine the success of total quality management (TQM) as it applies to quality management system implementation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach -This paper is a synthesis of the literature on TQM implementation in SMEs operating in a developing environment and identifies critical factors. These factors are prioritised according to the frequency in which they appeared by number of articles. The compliance requirements of the ISO 9001:2000 standard is mapped to one or a combination of quality management principles (QMPs) on which the standard is based. These principles are grouped as soft and hard and ranked in terms of the number of compliance requirements they represent. Findings -The paper identifies critical factors of TQM implementation for SMEs operating in a developing economy. Although exploratory in nature, evidence shows that, while researchers have placed more emphasis on the "soft" factors, the compliance requirements of the ISO 9001:2000 standard stress more on the "hard" factors.Research limitations/implications -The paper shows that the possibility of enriching the theories and practices of TQM implementation and extending the knowledge and applications of "soft" and "hard" factors need to be explored. Contrasting the eight QMPs of ISO 9001:2000 with the evaluation criteria of quality excellence awards needs to be addressed. Practical implications -This paper reviews the relative importance of "soft" and "hard" factors, and relates the QMPs and compliance requirements of ISO 9001:2000 to TQM implementation in SMEs. It identifies strengths and weaknesses of the standard, and provides a source of information for top management of SMEs interested in implementing a quality management system. Originality/value -The findings in this paper link the compliance requirements of ISO 9001:2000 to QMPs, and point to areas that tend to be least addressed by the ISO 9001:2000 standard. The paper also advocates a holistic approach to safeguard proper TQM implementation and continual improvement of people, product and processes in SMEs.

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In order to create and sustain competitive advantage, a company should not only develop technologies to create products and processes that meet customer needs, but also stimulate a corporate culture that commits to continuous performance improvement. Managing corporate culture is one of a number of important factors that make for organizational change and business success. This paper reviews the cultural roots and identifies the characteristics of Chinese cultural values and management. A comparative analysis of the differences between Anglo-American and Chinese cultures is made. The cultural influences on Chinese management systems are then elaborated with reference to enterprise management in Mainland China and Hong Kong. With unique cultural heritage, collective orientation has a pervasive influence on the mode of Chinese management and organization. The prevailing Chinese culture values stress largely the paternalistic approach to management, acceptance of hierarchy and the importance of relationships. Today's Chinese enterprises need to determine changes in practice or value or both aspects of corporate culture in order to facilitate organizational change and maintain a competitive edge over their rivals. The paper also discusses the links of cultural values to employee involvement (EI) and total quality management (TQM), and initiates a need to manage cultural influences on EI/TQM practices to improve organizational performance in Chinese enterprises.

Measuring organizational performance plays a very important part in translating corporate strategy into results. Various emerging (non-traditional) performance systems have recently been devised to aid firms in selecting and implementing measures. This paper discusses the strategy/measurement initiatives and compares ten emerging performance measurement systems with respect to a list of performance dimensions, the characteristics of performance measures, and the requirements of development process. Although these systems have constraints borne with their own application domains, they stand by themselves empirically and/or theoretically, and provide guidance about what to measure and how to design performance measures that could be linked to the corporate strategy and objectives of an organization. This paper concludes that there is a need to develop a paradigm for integrating strategy formulation and performance measurement in organizations.