Quality Management, Supply Chain Management, and Just In Time: A Model of Their Impact on Business Performance

Just in time, quality management, and supply chain management have in recent years been proposed as means of improving product quality and responsiveness, while simultaneously reducing cost. The three can also be used as complementary elements of an integrated strategy aimed at improving an organization’s competitiveness. This study proposes and tests a structural equation model that examines linkages between just in time, quality management, and supplier management, and their impact on business performance. Results show that while just in time, quality and supply chain management efforts are indeed mutually supportive, it is a firm’s efforts in the area of quality management that directly drive business performance. Activities related to just in time and supply chain management impact business performance only via their impact on quality management. Results also indicate that while supplier managements is directly influenced by quality and supply chain management efforts, it does not influence performance