Linking quality management to manufacturing strategy: an empirical investigation of customer focus practices
通过案例研究，探讨客户焦点实践是否依赖于工厂的制造战略背景，发现两者存在权变关系，并揭示了作用机制，为质量管理项目的实施提供指导。
Abstract Quality management (QM) has often been advocated as being universally applicable to organizations. This is in contrast with the manufacturing strategy contingency approach of operations management (OM) which advocates internal and external consistency between manufacturing strategy choices. This article investigates, using the case‐study method, whether customer focus practices—a distinctive subset of the whole set of QM practices—are contingent on a plant’s manufacturing strategy context. The study strongly suggests that customer focus practices are contingent on a plant’s manufacturing strategy and identifies mechanisms by which this takes place. The findings inform the implementation of QM programs.