Managing Quality in a Global Supply Chain
MANAGING QUALITY IN A GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN
To appear in:
Euro Asia Journal of Management (EAJM), July 2002
Author: Affiliation: Adress:
Prof. Peter Neergaard Copenhagen Business School CBS Solbjerg Plads 3 2000 Frederiksberg Denmark +45 38 15 24 04 pn.om@cbs.dk
Telephone: E-mail:
MANAGIN QUALITY IN A GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN
ABSTRACT Based on literature in corporate citizenship, quality is defined as related to the product itself as well as to the environmental and social impact of the production in the whole value chain. Environmental-friendly labels, or eco-labels, which are appearing on a number of products, are a testimony to that. This is particularly the case for textiles where e.g. 'organic cotton ' is increasingly perceived by consumers as attributes of quality. In the global economy many of the core activities of a company are outsourced to suppliers, often resulting in a long supply chain. Supply chain management becomes an important task for companies devoted to quality management. This is particularly evident for the textile industry. Companies in the West design and market their products, whereas the production of goods takes place in a long chain of independent companies scattered all over the world. But how can quality be managed in a long complex supply chain? The mainstream quality literature has not much to offer in this respect. The paper reports three different case studies and ways to manage quality in the supply chain. The paper attempts to contribute to theory development by explaining the choice of controls used in the supply chain by drawing on contingency theory. The paper concludes that much more research has to be devoted to the issue. 1.0 THE DEFINITION OF QUALITY What is quality? Crosby (1980) defines quality as "conformance to requirements", Juran (1988) as "fitness for purpose or use", whereas most of the recent literature advocates "quality is whatever the customers say it is, and the quality… is whatever the
To appear in:
Euro Asia Journal of Management (EAJM), July 2002
Author: Affiliation: Adress:
Prof. Peter Neergaard Copenhagen Business School CBS Solbjerg Plads 3 2000 Frederiksberg Denmark +45 38 15 24 04 pn.om@cbs.dk
Telephone: E-mail:
MANAGIN QUALITY IN A GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN
ABSTRACT Based on literature in corporate citizenship, quality is defined as related to the product itself as well as to the environmental and social impact of the production in the whole value chain. Environmental-friendly labels, or eco-labels, which are appearing on a number of products, are a testimony to that. This is particularly the case for textiles where e.g. 'organic cotton ' is increasingly perceived by consumers as attributes of quality. In the global economy many of the core activities of a company are outsourced to suppliers, often resulting in a long supply chain. Supply chain management becomes an important task for companies devoted to quality management. This is particularly evident for the textile industry. Companies in the West design and market their products, whereas the production of goods takes place in a long chain of independent companies scattered all over the world. But how can quality be managed in a long complex supply chain? The mainstream quality literature has not much to offer in this respect. The paper reports three different case studies and ways to manage quality in the supply chain. The paper attempts to contribute to theory development by explaining the choice of controls used in the supply chain by drawing on contingency theory. The paper concludes that much more research has to be devoted to the issue. 1.0 THE DEFINITION OF QUALITY What is quality? Crosby (1980) defines quality as "conformance to requirements", Juran (1988) as "fitness for purpose or use", whereas most of the recent literature advocates "quality is whatever the customers say it is, and the quality… is whatever the
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