Title: Can TQM improve the sustainability of family owned business?

Authors: Boon In Tan; Kee Luen Wong; Chee Keong Choong

Addresses: Faculty of Business and Finance, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Universiti, Bandar Barat, 31900 Kampar, Perak, Malaysia ' Faculty of Business and Finance, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Universiti, Bandar Barat, 31900 Kampar, Perak, Malaysia ' Faculty of Business and Finance, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Universiti, Bandar Barat, 31900 Kampar, Perak, Malaysia

Abstract: TQM or total quality management is a management philosophy that aims to improve the performance of firms. For a family owned business, a better firm performance is widely acknowledged to be the path to pass down the wealth and business from generation to generation. Thus the sustainability objective is the main agenda for business continuity of a family owned firm. The paper discuss the possible contribution of TQM to the performance and sustainability to family owned business by adopting and learning from a TQM model as well as from Stafford et al.'s (1999) sustainable family business model.

Keywords: family owned businesses; TQM; organisational performance; sustainability; total quality management; sustainable development; family firms; firm performance; organsiational learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2015.067406

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2015 Vol.17 No.2, pp.174 - 186

Published online: 17 Apr 2015 *

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