Total quality management in the construction industry in Hong Kong : a supply chain management perspective

Total quality management (TQM) is increasingly being adopted by construction companies as an initiative to solve quality problems in the construction industry and to meet the needs of the final customer. However, TQM should incorporate the integrated quality management activities of members in the supply chain. This supply chain context is especially salient in the quality assurance of construction projects as a general contractor often outsources most of the construction work to other members in the supply chain, i.e. its suppliers and subcontractors. Therefore, this paper aims to delineate the supply chain management issues in total quality for construction projects. Through the use of an in-depth case study on the TQM system of a leading construction company in Hong Kong, the strategy, structure and tasks for managing supplier/subcontractor relationships are examined. The study concludes with identification of some supply chain management issues in the construction industry, as well as future research topics in integrating supply chain management with TQM.