This study develops and tests hypotheses to examine empirically how the perceived image ofa company's quality ofwork life will affect'its market and financial performances. Growth and profitability of two groups of publicly held companies were compared bused on sales growth, asset growth, return on equity, and return on assets. Thefirst group consisted ofjfty-eight companies identified as the best companies to workfor in the United States; the second group consisted of eighty-eight of Standard and Poor's top one hundred companies. Statistical evidencefound in this study supports a paradigm that aligns the interests of the investor managel; and employee stakeholders into a win-win situation. Findingsfrom this empirical study suggest that companies with high quality of work l$e can also enjoy exceptional growth and profi tabili ty.After many years of organizational restructuring and work reengineering, American companies are regaining their competitiveness in the global marketplace. In search of greater efficiency and higher productivity, many companies continue to redesign and automate a number of processes and operations, resulting in a reduction of their workforce. Although the restructuring processes have left many workers unemployed, management is, ironically, paying more attention than ever before to recruiting qualified people (Osterman, 1995; Vallario, 1997). Management recognizes that a productive workforce will provide a global, sustainable competitive advantage for business organizations (Bohl, Slocum, Luthans, and Hodgetts, 1996;Lau, 1993). As the composition of the workforce continues to change over the years, companies that offer better benefits and supportive working environments are expected to gain ieverage in hiring and retaining valuable people. Although both management and employees confront the issue of quality of work life (QWL), research to date has provided little empirical evidence of its effect on business performance. The reason for such a lack of research in this critical area may be the result of

This study reports a recent survey of the current state of quality management implementation and practices in China with reference to the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) criteria. Comparisons are made between firms in three different stages of the development of a quality system: firms that focus on inspection, statistical quality control, and total quality management. The results support the common wisdom that firms practising total quality management have superior performance in leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resource focus, process management, and business results. The survey results also indicate that most Chinese firms still lack a full understanding of strategic quality management although a higher percentage of them claim that they are total quality management companies. To further the quality movement in China, quality managers and professionals should take a leading role in promoting contemporary, strategic quality management concepts and practices.

Service profit chain is a well-received model to explain the sustainable competitiveness of many service organizations. The model attributes a service organization's financial and market performance to its relationships with its customers and employees. According to the service profit chain, internal service quality serves the foundation of the model and it ignites a chain effect leading to an organization's growth and profitability in the end. The purpose of this study is to provide an ad hoc analysis of two key elements of the service profit chain. Specifically, this research explores the direct linkage between performance in growth and profitability and quality of work life, which is a proxy for internal service quality in the service profit chain model. The performance of companies with a reputation of high quality of work life were contrasted to a control group of S&P 500 companies using COMPUSTAT data.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.Abstract In this empirical study of 382 US computer and electronics companies, the relationship between manufacturing flexibility and its five infrastructural scales was examined. These infrastructural scales include workforce autonomy, communication, interdepartmental relationships, supplier flexibility and technology. The results suggested that all infrastructural scales, except workforce autonomy, have a direct and positive effect on a firm's manufacturing flexibility. Discussion and managerial implications of the results were also presented in this paper.