Does TQM Impact on Bottom‐line Results?

The US General Accounts Office (GAO) study is, arguably, the first Western attempt at linking TQM and bottom‐line results. The study focused on the top 20 scorers of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) in the period of 1988‐89. Following the findings of the GAO study, the Bradford study was conducted in order to establish whether similar patterns of behaviour were emerging within European companies which are pioneering TQM and trying to enhance competitiveness. The information used for this analysis was focused on“hard” bottom‐line business indicators. The performance indicators chosen reflect business performance both in the short term and the long term. They include both “softer” or people‐related measures, such as employee trends and remuneration, and “hard” measures such as those which are efficiency‐driven. The sample of 29 companies studied was chosen on the basis of good knowledge of their TQM programmes. The analysis was conducted over a five‐year span, since it was assumed that this would be a reasonable period for TQM implementation to start to yield to positive results.