Research & development has been identified as a key element to achieve competitive advantage, particularly in contexts of change and especially for technology-based companies. Nowadays, organizations are aware that quality, and quality management as a consequence, represents an important strategic stimulus, thus assuming a fundamental role in the business strategies implementation. This article, aiming at outlining the practices that managers believe are critical for achieving quality management in applied research and development, examines the adoption of total quality management within R&D based organizations, and its impact in terms of performance. This is a qualitative research from a multicase study on eleven companies. Data were collected through open interviews, using a semi-structured script, with R&D managers and employees from each company. Our study supports the hypothesis that TQM practices positively impact the performance of an organization. Implications for managers and for academics can be derived from the study.

The implementation of TQM in R&D environments / Bigliardi, Barbara; Galati, Francesco. - In: JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT & INNOVATION. - ISSN 0718-2724. - 9:2(2014), pp. 157-171. [http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-27242014000200012]

The implementation of TQM in R&D environments

BIGLIARDI, Barbara;GALATI, Francesco
2014-01-01

Abstract

Research & development has been identified as a key element to achieve competitive advantage, particularly in contexts of change and especially for technology-based companies. Nowadays, organizations are aware that quality, and quality management as a consequence, represents an important strategic stimulus, thus assuming a fundamental role in the business strategies implementation. This article, aiming at outlining the practices that managers believe are critical for achieving quality management in applied research and development, examines the adoption of total quality management within R&D based organizations, and its impact in terms of performance. This is a qualitative research from a multicase study on eleven companies. Data were collected through open interviews, using a semi-structured script, with R&D managers and employees from each company. Our study supports the hypothesis that TQM practices positively impact the performance of an organization. Implications for managers and for academics can be derived from the study.
2014
The implementation of TQM in R&D environments / Bigliardi, Barbara; Galati, Francesco. - In: JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT & INNOVATION. - ISSN 0718-2724. - 9:2(2014), pp. 157-171. [http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-27242014000200012]
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11381/2752544
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 15
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact