Impact of Total Quality Management, work teams, and Just-In-Time on the performance of the Mexican manufacturing industry
type: CreativeWork
description: There is no doubt that every corner of the manufacturing world is changing in important ways. Industries that were once dominated by North American and Western European companies are now global, and competition around the world is intense. No manufacturer can afford to be complacent about past successes and expect to survive. The pressures of competition are significant, and they are growing. In Mexico too, companies are becoming concerned by the increasing global competition they are facing. The most immediate threat is posed by the USA and Canada as a consequence of the establishment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Japanese competition is also increasing, and so too is the competition from the newly industrialised countries of Asia and Europe. Many Mexican companies which relied on cheap labour and had little outside competition are now threatened by technically more advanced companies. Manufacturers find themselves competing more intensely than ever before in international markets. This also means they face more intense competition in their own domestic markets from international producers. Of course, there is no blueprint for survival in the global market. But clear patterns emerge when one carefully examines the practices of those manufacturers regarded as "world class". A good deal of evidence suggests that the failure of some firms to survive in the global market is due to the mismanagement of people rather than to problems with technical systems per se. In particular, changes in manufacturing often are not accompanied by complementary changes in human resource management. Human resource management considerations such as Work Teams may be as important as other aspects of modern manufacturing, such as Just In Time (JIT) and Total Quality Management (TQM). Recognition of this issue is so widespread that most theorists see Work Teams (WT) as a critical link in the conversion to the modern manufacturing paradigm. This study investigates the im…
abstract: There is no doubt that every corner of the manufacturing world is changing in important ways. Industries that were once dominated by North American and Western European companies are now global, and competition around the world is intense. No manufacturer can afford to be complacent about past successes and expect to survive. The pressures of competition are significant, and they are growing. In Mexico too, companies are becoming concerned by the increasing global competition they are facing. The most immediate threat is posed by the USA and Canada as a consequence of the establishment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Japanese competition is also increasing, and so too is the competition from the newly industrialised countries of Asia and Europe. Many Mexican companies which relied on cheap labour and had little outside competition are now threatened by technically more advanced companies. Manufacturers find themselves competing more intensely than ever before in international markets. This also means they face more intense competition in their own domestic markets from international producers. Of course, there is no blueprint for survival in the global market. But clear patterns emerge when one carefully examines the practices of those manufacturers regarded as "world class". A good deal of evidence suggests that the failure of some firms to survive in the global market is due to the mismanagement of people rather than to problems with technical systems per se. In particular, changes in manufacturing often are not accompanied by complementary changes in human resource management. Human resource management considerations such as Work Teams may be as important as other aspects of modern manufacturing, such as Just In Time (JIT) and Total Quality Management (TQM). Recognition of this issue is so widespread that most theorists see Work Teams (WT) as a critical link in the conversion to the modern manufacturing paradigm. This study investigates the im…
author: Esfandiari, M.R.A.
keywords: HD28 Management. Industrial Management
date published: 1998-03
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:39:01Z
provider: City University of London
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: City University London