PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between total quality management (TQM) practices and quality performance in Indian service companies.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical data was collected using a self‐administered instrument that was distributed to 600 Indian service companies. Of the 600 instrument e‐mailed, 172 usable instrument were returned, yielding a response rate of 28.6 per cent. A stratified sampling procedure was utilized to obtain the minimum sample size of 600 from the four chosen service industries (i.e. Healthcare, Banking, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and Hospitality). The data was analyzed using factor, Pearson's correlation, and multiple regression analyses.FindingsThe findings revealed that TQM practices were found to be partially correlated with quality performance of the Indian service companies. It was also found that quality culture was perceived as the dominant TQM practice in quality performance. The other practices such as quality systems, training and education, teamwork, and benchmarking showed a positive relationship with quality performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe research paper was limited by including only four industries in the selection of service companies in India, making this a possibly biased selection and it may not be adequate to generalize the results for the entire Indian service companies.Originality/valueThe study has contributed to the TQM literature with a better understanding of the 17 TQM practices and their association with a company's quality performance that will provide valuable knowledge to top‐management of service companies, to refine their current TQM practices and subsequently improve quality performance.

PurposePrevious research showed that there are some barriers which hinder the implementation of total quality management (TQM) in organizations. But no study has been undertaken to understand the interaction among these barriers and to develop a hierarchy of TQM barriers model. There is an urgent need to analyze the behavior of these barriers so that TQM may be successfully implemented. This paper therefore, aims to understand the mutual interaction of these barriers and identify the “driving barriers” (i.e. which influence the other barriers) and the “dependent barriers” (i.e. which are influenced by others).Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) based approach has been utilized to understand the mutual influences among the barriers of TQM.FindingsIn the present research work, 12 TQM barriers are identified through the literature review and expert opinion. The research shows that there exist two groups of barriers, one having high driving power and low dependency requiring maximum attention and of strategic importance (such as lack of top‐management commitment, lack of coordination between departments) and the other having high dependence and low driving power and are resultant effects (such as high turnover at management level, lack of continuous improvement culture, employees' resistance to change).Practical implicationsThe adoption of such an ISM‐based model on TQM barriers in service organizations would help managers, decision makers, and practitioners of TQM in better understanding of these barriers and to focus on major barriers while implementing TQM in their organizations.Originality/valuePresentation of TQM barriers in the form of an ISM‐based model and the categorization into driver and dependent clusters is a new effort in the area of TQM.

Purpose – The paper aims to measure customer experience in Indian banks. This study examines the 14 factors of customer experience and identifies their impact on customer satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, psychometric scale development procedure is followed comprising with the steps of item generation and selection, scale refinement and scale validation. A one-way ANOVA test is applied to identify the relationship between 14 experience factors and demographics of respondents. Findings – The findings of the study present a 41-item 14 factor reliable and valid customer experience scale among which “convenience” appears as the most significant among all the factors. Research limitations/implications – This study concentrates on a sector-specific scale, whereas a generalized scale that can be applied in other service sectors should be developed. In comparison with previous studies, the results of the current study provide a more absolute coverage and understanding of various touch points used in measuring customer experience in banks. Practical implications – By this reliable and valid scale, bank managers can identify the current and expected experiences of the customers and can build up effective strategies for the utmost satisfaction of the customers. Originality/value – To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study represents the foremost studies for developing a validated tool to measure the experiences of banks' customers.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to present a set of total quality management (TQM) and supply chain management (SCM) practices through an extensive literature review and to identify the relationships among them by comparing the identified TQM and SCM practices. Design/methodology/approach -An extensive overview of the practices of TQM and SCM is carried out using published research papers and some major TQM and SCM practices were extracted. These identified practices are then compared to explore the relationship between them for better understanding and application. Findings -The results reveal six major TQM and SCM practices from as many as 50 TQM practices and 40 SCM practices. The paper further compares these practices and found that management support and commitment, customer focus, and supplier partnership are the most common practices found in both TQM and SCM literature, and have the strongest impact in the integration of TQM and SCM across organizations. Research limitations/implications -This paper focuses only on the literature review of previously published studies, further empirical study can be undertaken using these six identified practices which may allow the validation and generalization of results. Practical implications -The result of this paper will help in providing greater understanding of identified TQM and SCM practices that will lead to successful implementation of TQM and SCM strategies to improve customer service levels and, hence, business performance. Originality/value -Much of the literature on TQM practices and SCM practices are available, but as far as the authors know there is no study undertaken to integrate TQM and SCM practices. This is the first kind of study that compares TQM and SCM practices taken together and can be thus, treated as filling a gap in the extant literature.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated model, in order to identify and classify, key criteria, and to study their role in the selection process of third party logistics (3PLs) services providers for shippers' logistics need.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, an integrated model using interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and FMICMAC analysis has been developed to identify and classify the key selection criteria of 3PL services providers, typically identified by many researchers and practiced by the shippers for effective supply chain management. The key criteria are also modeled to find their role and mutual influence in the selection of 3PL services providers.FindingsThe key finding of this modeling helps to identify and classify the criteria, which may be further used, to identify the potential 3PL services provider. Integrated model reveals, criteria such as information technology capability; size and quality of fixed assets and quality of management as independent criteria, whereas criteria such as compatibility, long‐term relation and reputation as dependent criteria. Criterion namely flexibility in operation and delivery is found to be an autonomous criterion. The important criteria like quality of service, information sharing and trust, geographical spread and range of services, delivery performance, operational performance, financial stability, optimum cost, and surge capacity are found as the linkage criteria. Integrated model also establishes the direct and indirect relationship among various criteria, which plays a significant role in the selection process.Originality/valueThe research provide an integrated model using ISM and FMICMAC to identify and classify various key criteria required for the selection of 3PL services providers. The various key criteria have been grouped under four broad classification, namely, dependent criteria, independent criteria, autonomous criteria and linkage criteria based on their driving and dependence power, deduced from fuzzy reachability value. The model helps in the identification, classification and selection of key criteria along with their behavior, thus this research will help logistics managers to select right criteria for the selection of potential 3PL services providers for their logistics need.