Mohamed, Samira Said Salim
(2006)
Quality Management in Tanzania.
[Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)]
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Increased globalisation and awareness have forced the subject of Quality Management (QM) into the spotlight. More and more, people have awakened to the importance of quality and now regard it as crucial in influencing their retail, or otherwise, decisions. Businesses employing the latest quality techniques realise significant advantages over those that do not. The trend towards quality has not just swept across developed countries but also, increasingly, towards developing countries. Many studies have been conducted regarding the subject, and findings have shown that quality techniques can be successfully adopted by less developed countries. In fact, studies suggest some quality techniques like TQM could actually be more appropriate, in terms of their alignment in some cultural dimensions, to countries in Africa than to other more developed countries like the U.S.A.
Research has shown that an SME enjoys several benefits due to its size. It can more quickly adapt its processes and workforce to the changes required in order to employ a new technique. It enjoys a closer relationship with its customers, thus is more in tune with their needs and can focus on trying to satisfy them. Nevertheless, many SMEs suffer from a lack of resources, business planning, an emphasis on short-term profitability, and generally, a misconception of quality practices.
This dissertation aims to investigate QM in Tanzania, a less developed country in Africa, and to determine the main barriers to its implementation. In addition, it aims to identify the main problems that an SME may encounter when it tries to implement Quality Management. A case study methodology was thus used so as to provide a robust data collection technique. The case study was conducted on a small plastic manufacturing company named Esri Enterprises Ltd, located in Tanga, a coastal town in Tanzania.
From the case study, the main issues affecting QM implementation were found to include education of the workforce, level of competition, leadership, the Government and its policies, and culture, amongst others. In particular, it was found that the Government had an important role to play in the development of SMEs.
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