THE IMPLICATIONS OF TQM FOR RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY IN NEW-ZEALAND FIRMS

This paper examines the suggestion that total quality management (TQM) is accepted and highly applicable to the research and development (R& D) function. It describes the results of a recent study of New Zealand firms, and examines their responses to questions relating to the inco rporation of TQM in R&D departments, especially those covering competi tive benchmarking, time-based competition, process simplification and performance evaluation. The results indicate a need for organizational and cultural changes in the management of R&D if TQM is to be applied and the quality and competitiveness of R&D activities improved.