The Role of Total Quality Management Practices in Sustaining Competitive Advantage, A Context of Restaurant Industry in Pakistan.

Abstract

This research explores the influence of Total Quality Management practices on sustaining competitive edge in marketplace. The research studies this relationship in the context of Casual Dining and Family style Restaurants in Islamabad, Pakistan. This study is basic research as it focuses on advancement of knowledge, rather than solving a problem. The nature of this research is a quantitative, following deductive reasoning. TQM was divided into four separate independent variables to check the impact and significance of each individual variable in relation to dependent variable. The population targeted consisted of Restaurant managers in casual dining and family style restaurants. A questionnaire was drafted by adapting items from studies surveying TQM parameters and its impact on competitive advantage. Due to unknown total population, convenience sampling was used. Questionnaire was distributed in-person and online. Responses were received from managers, while staff was excluded from the sample of this study. A total of 119 responses were received, within a timeframe of 02 weeks. Collected data was statistically tested, using descriptive statistics for demographics while inferential statistics were used to interpret data on variables. SPSS software was used for purpose of analysis. It was deduced from results that there was a strong positive relationship between independent variables and dependent variable. After running the regression analysis, the value of R square for continuous improvement, supplier quality management, process management and customer focus were found out to be 0.382, 0.442, 0.351 and 0.521 respectively. The value of R Square explains how much of change in dependent variable is explained by the independent variable or to what degree does independent variable predicts dependent variable. Following these results, customer focus was found to be the strongest predictor of competitive advantage accounting for 52.1% of variance in dependent variable. Supplier quality management was the second-best predictor, accounting for 44.2% of variance in competitive advantage. Customer focus showed a strongly positive and significant correlation (correlation coefficient = 0.722, p<0.001) to competitive advantage. All other independent variables showed moderately positive and significant link to competitive advantage. Based on these results, this study recommends further investigation on this topic by studying this framework in presence of other variables and in context of other cities and industries in Pakistan. Keywords: Total Quality Management, TQM, Continuous Improvement, Supplier Quality Management, Process Management, Customer Focus, Competitive Advantage, Restaurant Industry, Pakistan.