The state of quality management implementation: A cross-sectional study of quality-oriented companies in Hong Kong

This paper reports the current status of quality management implementation in quality-oriented companies in Hong Kong, identifies the major problems they encounter and suggests future directions for quality management in Hong Kong. We use the critical factors of quality management developed by Black and Porter (1996, Decision Sciences, 27, pp. 1-21) as the evaluation criteria for this study. Using a structured questionnaire, we survey over 1000 companies with an operational quality management system and receive 304 valid responses for data analysis. The respondent companies are classified into four industry types: manufacturing, service, construction and public utility. The results display a cross-section of their quality management implementation status in these different industries in Hong Kong. We find that these companies in the public utility and service industries appear to have a higher level of quality management implementation than those in the manufacturing and construction industries. They also seem to differ in their emphases on their quality management implementation. Implications of the results and suggestions for quality management implementation are provided.