Introducing strategic quality management

This paper introduces strategic total quality management (STQM) as an extension of total quality management (TQM). STQM is defined as a quality management philosophy that views quality from the overall performance of a firm. It defines quality as being driven by customer and environmental needs and looks to identify critical factors that will determine the survivability and competitiveness of a firm in the near future. A contrast between total quality assurance, total quality management and strategic total quality management is presented using ten principles of quality. The dimensions of STQM are also identified and defined and STQM transformation frameworks are presented to show the process of implementing STQM. The strategic cycle presented here is linked to the popular PDCA or Deming cycle. Furthermore, top management strategies and reasoning for this new focus and strategic targets are identified, grouped and discussed.     

南宋时期的《中庸》与道统——历史与学术背景

由于“中”“庸”两词语义上的模糊性,其哲学含义颇为复杂。从郑玄到二程、吕祖谦,尤其是朱熹,都对“中庸”进行了解释,现代学者对《中庸》书名的释义更是多种多样。对于《中庸》的时代以及与子思的关系问题,中国历代学者以及西方的汉学家都提出了不同的观点,至今仍然莫衷一是。     

Unionization Structures in International Oligopoly

We examine how competition in international markets affects a union's choice of wage regime, which can be either uniform or discriminatory. Firms are heterogeneous with regard to international competition. When unions choose their wage regimes sequentially, a discriminatory outcome becomes more likely when international competition increases. However, for intermediate levels a union may stick with a uniform wage regime even if the rival union adopts a discriminatory regime. When competition is sufficiently intense, both unions revert to the discriminatory regime. Paradoxically only in those latter instances all parties (consumers, workers, and firms) may be better off (each in aggregate) if all unions adopt a uniform wage regime. We conclude that union incentives to coordinate their wage regimes should then also become largest.     

A Comparative Analysis of Quality Practice in Manufacturing Firms in the U.S. and Taiwan*

The aim of this paper is to determine if there is a causal relationship between multivariate constructs for quality (i.e., customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and employee service quality) and organizational performance. The presence of such relationships, as well as the identification of key indicators within each quality construct for different types of firms, are explored in this empirical study on the perceptions of middle managers in Taiwan and the United States. The study found a significant causal relationship between the quality constructs and organizational performance. These relationships are different, however, for the four types of firms based on age and size. Also, within the same firm types, there are differences among countries. For example, for older firms, Taiwanese managers tend to perceive customer satisfaction as the most important quality construct in improving organizational performance, while U.S. managers tend to perceive employee satisfaction as the most important. For younger firms, U.S. managers perceive customer satisfaction as influencing organizational performance, while Taiwanese managers perceive both customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction as doing so. A further breakdown of the quality constructs identified the key indicators within each construct that separates “better performers'’from “lesser performers'’in both countries for the four types of firms. These indicators are dissimilar, thus suggesting that focus on quality constructs may lead to improvements in organizational performance by focusing on different indicators in different environments. These results have implications for the adoption and implementation of quality practices in different countries.     

Immigration Policy,Equilibrium Unemployment,and Underinvestment in Human Capital

We analyse the impact of different immigration policies on human capital investment in a search‐theoretic model. This class of models features unemployment and underinvestment in human capital. The underinvestment in human capital can be solved by combining immigration policy with appropriate education subsidies. Extending the model with respect to different skill groups allows to analyse the observed bimodal skilled immigration of the USA.