Introducing a Model for Identifying Operative Enablers of Supply Chain Quality Management
Ali Alavi *
Department of Business Administration, Tabriz University, Iran
Muhammad Shukri
Department of Business Administration, Tabriz University, Iran
Roya Kavandi
Department of Industrial Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Tehran Science and Research Branch, Iran
Amir Hossein Marjani
Department of Industrial Engineering, Mazandaran University of Sciences and Technology, Iran
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aims: This study aims at investigating the content of supply chain quality management, uncovering its structure and defining the leading paths to explore development opportunities and to organize resources and organizational operations to push overall performance toward yielding better results.
Study Design: As the scope of competition has been driven from the level of the company toward the supply chain and interaction among companies, researchers are in pursuit of identifying measures to improve quality and its management through the supply chain.
Place and Duration of Study: 4 Electronic Companies in Zanjan Province in Iran. The duration of study was between June 2013 and August 2013.
Methodology: After studying the previous researches and finding a comprehensive view for the paper, 10 factors including: focus on customer, the quality of data and reports, supplier relationships, information technology, human resource management, process management, knowledge management, leadership, quality practices and strategic planning are identified and examined. The significance of the factors have been studied and revealed by deploying a questionnaire in four companies. At first, the four companies have been studied separately then their results have been discussed in comparison to the others.
Results: Findings indicate that Knowledge management had the lowest performance rate. So, it needs considerable attention to improve. On the other hand, Quality Practices rates in very good position and it was the best factor of the 10 factors in 4 Companies.
Conclusion: The proposed conceptual framework is expected to help managers in a better understanding the enablers of the supply chain quality management and to implement such enablers to improve its performance.
Keywords: Supply chain management, quality control, supply chain quality management (SCQM)