Total Quality Management in International Business Essay

Total Quality Management in International Business - Essay Example Gerber views quality from the definitional perspective in that quality is the top priority of the company and serves a generic marketing strategy for promotional purposes. The company uses quality to solidify the firm’s brand value. The company wants the logo Gerber baby to be associated with the highest quality standards. Based on Gerber’s trajectory during the 20th-century quality has been a critical success factor that has helped the company become the industry leader in infant care products. When quality is used to define the product line of a company and the product’s the firm offers are in reality superior to the competition an enterprise has a great formula for success. Quality at Gerber has become so important that the company seeks feedback from a variety of stakeholders including the customers, suppliers, and employees.2. Gerber Corporation realized since its inception that quality could provide the company with a competitive advantage due to the importance parents place in the care of their creatures. The business integrated quality into the manufacturing processes in order to create greater consistency and reliability in the quality of the firm’s products. Gerber has benefited from using teamwork in the quality assurance process. The use of teamwork allowed the company to spread quality functions from departments to being used throughout the plant. The human resources practices that encouraged teamwork help the firm achieved synergy. Synergy in the workplace occurs when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts (Schermerhorn & Hunt & Osborn, 2003, p.174). Another technique that has helped Gerber achieve quality improvements is getting frontline employees involved. The floor workers are the individuals that at times have the greatest insight into quality control problems because they are the ones that see the production lines with their own eyes day.A strategic move that improves quality in the company was the implementation of managerial incentives for quality performance.