National Environmental Factors for Implementing Total Quality Environmental Management in the Libyan Food Industry
Abdelsalam Saad *
Product Design, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, NG1 4BU, UK and Department of Management, Faculty of Economics, University of Benghazi, Benghazi, Libya
Daizhong Su
Product Design, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, NG1 4BU, UK
Phillipa Marsh
Product Design, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, NG1 4BU, UK
Zhongmin Wu
Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, NG1 4BU, UK
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aims: Investigates national environmental factors on implementing total quality environmental management (TQEM) in the Libyan food industry (LFI), in order to develop modern managerial techniques.
Study Design: A questionnaire was conducted with 62 managers and 518 employees from three companies in the LFI.
Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in Libya, the fieldwork was conducted in 2013.
Methodology: Using existing measures obtained from the literature and new ones specifically developed for this research, a battery of items was derived to investigate technical capability, organizational culture, competition, government policy and human resource.
Results: The results revealed that, five national environmental factors are identified. The findings show that the social responsibility factor is a new phenomenon that has not generally been studied in Libya, and particularly not in the LFI.
Conclusion: This research contributes to the knowledge by investigating the national environmental factors for implementation of TQEM in a different context (i.e., the Arab/North African context). The findings provide a valuable basis to establish a framework model for the implementation of the TQEM in the Libyan context.
Keywords: Food Industry, national environmental factors, total quality environmental management, total quality management, environmental management, Libya