Implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) in Labour-Intensive Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs): A Case Study of Footwear Manufacturing Company

Globalization in 1990s provided opportunities for emerging economies such as India, to create niche markets
in domains that required skilled labour and less technology. To stay ahead of open competition, some
resorted to modern manufacturing practices that were popular in technology-intensive SMEs. This paper
aims at providing insight in implementing Total Quality Management (TQM) as a manufacturing practice in
labour-intensive SMEs by conducting a case study. The conditions that prevailed before, during and after
the implementation of TQM are described in detail in this paper. Based on our case analysis, we identified
the critical success factors (CSFs) that resulted in this poor deployment. This scenario prevailed in spite of
sincere commitment from the top management. An attempt to mimic from technology-intensive SMEs in the labour-intensive manufacturing, did not result in a similar experience because the quintessential difference in the employee (manpower) education, training and nature of work are the key reasons for this performance. The introduction of TQM in a labour-intensive industry is different from technology intensive platform based industries. Therefore labour-intensive among the SMEs need to be considered differently and appropriate framework has to be developed for implementing TQM.