Key Success Factors of Total Quality Management - An Empirical Study in Vietnamese Paint and Coating Industry

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
------------

NGUYEN DUC DUY ANH

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS OF TOTAL QUALITY
MANAGEMENT – AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN
VIETNAMESE PAINT AND COATING INDUSTRY

MASTER THESIS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR

HO CHI MINH CITY – 2012


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
------------

NGUYEN DUC DUY ANH

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS OF TOTAL QUALITY
MANAGEMENT – AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN
VIETNAMESE PAINT AND COATING INDUSTRY

Subject: Master of Business Administrator
Code: 60.34.01.02

MASTER THESIS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR

SUPERVISOR:

Dr. NGUYEN THI NGUYET QUE


i

Acknowledgement
This research would have not been completed without the incredible amount of
help and support from my supervisor, teachers, colleagues, customers, family
members and friends. I would like to express my profound thanks to all of you.
Foremost, my greatest gratitude is extended to my supervisor Dr. Nguyen Thi
Nguyet Que, who has given valuable guidance, advices and comments throughout
the whole period of this research. Needless to say, without her support, this
dissertation would not be either inspired or finished. I also would like to give
special words to all professors of the Economic University in HCM city has
teaching and support during study. Many thanks as well for the generous support
of my student colleagues who helped me in any respect during the completion of
the research.
My deep thank is also sent to my friends who are working in the paint and
coating industry for helping and supporting me collect information as well as
investigate and learn the practical experiences during the process of conducting
this dissertation.
Last but not least, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my great
gratitude to my beloved parents, family members and close friends for their
support and encouragement not only during the period of this research but also
for my whole life.

Nguyen Duc Duy Anh
Ho Chi Minh, Dec 2012

ii

Commitment
I would like to commit that the thesis, “Key success factors of total quality
management – An empirical study in Vietnamese paint and coating industry”,
hereby declare that this research thesis is my own original work and that all
sources have been accurately reported and acknowledged, and that this document
has not been previously, the data was collected in reality and it has clear origins.
Nguyen Duc Duy Anh


iii

Abstract
This study is an empirical examines key success factors of total quality
management (TQM) to the result of quality implementation in paint & coating
industry in Vietnam. TQM system helps the enterprise to identify the
relationships

between

TQM

factors

and

the

enterprise

performances

(Sebastianelli, 2003).
The quantitative data were obtained through a survey from 260 quality managers,
top management managers, factory managers and purchasing managers of Paint
& coating manufacturing industry in Vietnam. The objectives of the research are
to provide the key success factors (KSF) and measure their relationship to the
quality implementation as Top management responsibility, Process design,
Employee training, Employee involvement, Benchmarking, and customer focus.
Then, the key findings will be provided and recommendations to enhance the
level of TQM in paint and coating enterprises.


iv

Table of Contents
Acknowledgement ................................................................................................... i
Commitment ........................................................................................................... ii
Abstract ................................................................................................................. iii
List of table .......................................................................................................... vii
List of figure ......................................................................................................... vii
Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................... 1
1.1.Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1
1.2.Backgrounds to the research ............................................................................ 1
1.3. Research issues, objectives and questions ...................................................... 4
1.3.1. Research issues............................................................................................ 4
1.3.2. Research objectives ...................................................................................... 6
1.3.3. Research questions ....................................................................................... 6
1.4.Research methodology and scope .................................................................... 6

1.5. Thesis structure ............................................................................................... 7
1.6. Conclusion....................................................................................................... 8
Chapter 2: Literature Reviews ............................................................................... 9
2.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 9
2.2. Total quality management ............................................................................... 9
2.2.1. Definitions total quality management .......................................................... 9
2.2.2. Key success factors of TQM ...................................................................... 10
2.3. Development of research model and hypothesis........................................... 14
2.3.1 Top management responsibility .................................................................. 14
2.3.2. Process design ............................................................................................ 14
2.3.3. Employee training ...................................................................................... 15
2.3.4. Employee involvement............................................................................... 16
2.3.5. Benchmarking ............................................................................................ 17
2.3.6. Customer focus........................................................................................... 18
2.3.7. Result of implementing quality management ............................................ 18


v

2.4. Proposed research hypotheses and research model....................................... 20
2.4.1. Research Hypotheses ................................................................................. 20
2.4.2. Research Model .......................................................................................... 20
2.5. Conclusions ................................................................................................... 21
Chapter 3: Research Methodology ....................................................................... 23
3.1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 23
3.2. Research design ............................................................................................. 23
3.3. Questionnaire development ........................................................................... 24
3.3.1. Operationalization of measurement scales ................................................. 24
3.3.2. Preparation of draft questionnaire .............................................................. 26
3.3.3. Questionnaire design .................................................................................. 27

3.4. Pilot study...................................................................................................... 28
3.5. Main survey ................................................................................................... 28
3.5.1. Population and sampling ............................................................................ 28
3.5.2. Questionnaires administration .................................................................... 30
3.5. Data analysis techniques ............................................................................... 30
3.5.1. Data cleaning .............................................................................................. 30
3.5.2. The reliability of the survey’s results ......................................................... 31
3.5.3. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) ............................................................. 31
3.5.4. Correlation analysis .................................................................................... 33
3.5.5. Multiple linear regression (MLR) analyses ............................................... 33
3.6. Conclusion..................................................................................................... 34
Chapter 4: Data analysis and result ...................................................................... 35
4.1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 35
4.2. Data cleaning, Data filer and Sample description ......................................... 35
4.1.1. Data cleaning and data filter ...................................................................... 35
4.2.2. Sample description ..................................................................................... 36
4.3. Reliability test of measurement ..................................................................... 38
4.4. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) ................................................................ 41


vi

4.5. Testing the research model and the hypothesis ............................................. 45
4.5.1. Testing the correlations of the constructs .................................................. 45
4.5.2. Testing assumptions of Linear Regression ................................................ 46
4.6. Multiple Linear Regression Analysis ............................................................ 47
4.7. Conclusion..................................................................................................... 51
Chapter 5: Conclusions and implications ............................................................. 52
5.1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 52
5.2. Discussion of findings ................................................................................... 52

5.3. Implications ................................................................................................... 54
5.3.1. Theoretical implications ............................................................................. 54
5.3.2. Practical implications ................................................................................. 55
5.4. Limitation of the research ............................................................................. 56
5.5. Conclusion..................................................................................................... 57
Bibliography ......................................................................................................... 58
Appendix 1: Survey of Questionnaires – English version ................................... 61
Appendix 2: Bảng khảo sát – Phiên bản tiếng Việt ............................................. 64
Appendix 3: Descriptive statistics of variables .................................................... 67
Appendix 4: Measurement scales reliability of variables .................................... 67
Appendix 5: Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) ................................................ 71
Appendix 6: Correlations .................................................................................... 74
Appendix 7: Graphic analysis of regression assumptions ................................... 75
Appendix 8: Regression ....................................................................................... 77
Appendix 9: Responders interview list ............................................................... 78


vii

List of table
Table 1: Key success factors of TQM ................................................................... 10
Table 2: Key success factors of TQM in some previous studies .......................... 12
Table 3: Research hypotheses ............................................................................... 20
Table 4: Measurement scale of variables .............................................................. 25
Table 5: Descriptive statistics on all factors ......................................................... 36
Table 6: The responder’s information ................................................................... 38
Table 7: Cronchbach's alpha values ...................................................................... 39
Table 8: KMO and Barlett's Test .......................................................................... 41
Table 9: Total variance explained ......................................................................... 43
Table 10: Rotated Component Matrix .................................................................. 44

Table 11: Pearson Correlations ............................................................................. 46
Table 12: Regression when RIQ (Y) is dependent variable.................................. 48
Table 13: Results of testing hypothesis ................................................................. 50

List of figure

Figure 1: The market share in Vietnamese paint and coating industry................... 4
Figure 2: Research Model ..................................................................................... 21
Figure 3: Research process.................................................................................... 23
Figure 4: The updated research model .................................................................. 51
Figure 5: The process of benchmarking ................................................................ 55


1

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1.

Introduction

This chapter explains the reason of choosing the title, and briefly explains the
problem and objectives of the research. The scope and data collection methods of
the research are also presented in this part. It is necessary to overview about the
Vietnamese paint and coating industry in order to illustrate to the readers about the
weaknesses in the quality management of local companies in comparison with
foreign companies that have the competitive advantages in higher service quality
and technology. The author also addresses the fact that there were not so many
previous researches were written about the total quality management (TQM) and
finding key factor success to result of implementing quality management in paint
and coating industry in term of Vietnamese market characteristics.

1.2.

Backgrounds to the research

Scott Detiveaux and Allen Tsaur (2011) reported that the global paint and coating
industry has been affected by the global economic downturn since 2008. They
provided the growth rate before and after the global economic downturn which are
30% and 3% respectively, showing the negative impacts of the global economy to
the paint and coating industry. However, Scott Detiveaux and Allen Tsaur (2011)
also said that Asia Pacific was only one bright spot in the gray picture of global
paint and coating industry. From 2004 to 2009, the growth rate of this industry in
Asia Pacific was amazing, 60%, outperforming the global economic downturn.
From 2010 to 2011, the growth rate of paint and coating industry has not remained
at high speed and reduced to 30% but still higher than the growth rates of any other
areas in the world market. During the economic downturn, the production volume
of this area took 41% of the 27 billion liter of the global coating volume (Scott
Detiveaux and Allen Tsaur, 2011).


2

In the Asia Pacific market of paint and coating industry, China is the strongest
market in term of production and consummation. During the period of 2009 to 2011,
the annual growth rate of China was more than 16%. India was the second place
with the annual growth rate stood at 9%. Japan and Australia were two markets in
the Asia Pacific has been affected by the economic downturn with the annual
growth rate during the period of 2009 to 2011 were 0.7% and 1.5% respectively
(International Paint and Printing Ink Council, 2010).
With the high growth rate of Asia Pacific, the global structure of paint and coating

industry has been changed with the more focus on the Asia Pacific due to the slow
growth of Western countries and the high public debt in the Euro zone. Scott
Detiveaux and Allen Tsaur (2011) said that more and more formulators and suppliers
are coming to Asia Pacific for future growth. For example, the construction spending
in China and India have increased by 10% from 2009 to 2011 while the same figure
in US has decreased by 4%.
In Vietnam, the author has recognized that the paint and coating industry is targeted
as the top potential market in Asia Pacific with the annual growth rate was 21% in
the period of 2003 to 2009 (). Tran Van Chau (2012)
estimated that Vietnamese paint and coating industry will be valued at US$2.5
billion in 2022 in despite of the fact that the 2009 value of this industry was only
US$ 620 million.
The reason is that Vietnam is on the way of modernization with a lot of new
construction, hydropower plants and road are being built, leading to the increase of
demand for paint and coating products. In term of sustainable development,
Vietnam Government has established the chemical regulation for the companies
operating in paint and coating since 2008. This law suit requires the paint and
coating companies have to comply with the safety and quality in manufacturing
products.


3

With the more focus and supports from the Government, Vietnamese paint and
coating industry has been increasing during the time. The highest achievement of
Vietnam paint and coating development is to join the Asian Paint Industry Council
(APIC) in 2008.
Up to now, there are around 400 companies operating in paint and coating industry
in Vietnam, according to Vietnam Paint and Printing Ink Association (VPPIA). The
market is constructed by two main products that support for two distinct purposes,

decoration and industrial usage. In term of product volume, the decorative paint and
coating product consumes the largest market share with more than 70% in the total
production volume of Vietnamese paint and coating industry.
The Vietnamese paint and coating is also classified into four market levels. The
high-end market includes the products from famous international companies coming
from US, Japan or England such as Azko Nobel, Nippon, Jotun with the total
market share is about 35%. These companies have the advantage of better
distribution network compared to other companies. The second one is the medium
market with the participation of several companies coming from Asia such as 4
Oranges, TOA, Sea Master, etc. They are selling their products for around 25% of
the market share. The medium-low market includes the Vietnamese companies such
as Joton, Kova, Tison, Nero etc. consuming for 15% of the market share. The last
one is the non-brand name products which are distributed unsystematically in
Vietnam with the market share is around 25% ().


4

Figure 1: The market share in Vietnamese paint and coating industry

25%

35%
High-end market
Medium market

15%

Medium-Low market
25%

Low market

(Source: )

1.3. Research issues, objectives and questions
1.3.1. Research issues
In the author’s opinion, the future development for the companies operating in paint
and coating industry is now controlled by the foreign companies which is
accounting from more than 50% of the total market share, raising the concern for
the high competition between domestic and foreign companies. In fact, according to
VPPIA (2009), the total number of companies exited to the paint and coating market
was 70 companies, accounted for around 20% of the total operating companies.
Hence, the author believes the concern for high competition between companies in
the Vietnamese paint and coating industry is true.
The author also addresses that the WTO accession has been affecting more on the
competition in the Vietnamese paint and coating industry in the years to come as
Vietnamese Government has to open the domestic market for the foreign companies
to participate in as the commitment of trade liberalization between WTO’s members.


5

For locals companies the openness of domestic market is a real challenge, as they
now have to face older, more developed, international companies. The government
is still reluctant and preserves an environment that helps domestic companies.
However, the Vietnamese Government cannot support the domestic companies
forever as the rising of the foreign enterprises that have better manufacturing
technology and product and service quality.
The foreign paint and coating enterprises also have higher Research & Development

(R&D) capacity in studying new products and higher technology in manufacturing
that help the foreign companies to achieve the higher efficiency and cost saving.
The foreign companies also have higher quality of materials for manufacturing paint
and coating products as they have stronger supply network. Currently, the foreign
companies, with the higher technology production chain and better distribution
network, have been providing their diversified products to different types of
customers with the reasonable prices compared to the domestic companies. More
and more foreign products have the same price as the domestic products
().
In this market’s perspectives, the domestic paint and coating companies should
focus on quality management in order to compete with foreign rivals in the future.
The paint & coating companies should built up their own quality management
which is based on the philosophy of Total Quality Management (TQM) originated
from Japanese, According to Karuppusami and Gandinathan (2006), TQM can be
the best way that helps the enterprises continuously improving quality and process
to achieve business performance.
However, there are not so many researches written about the role of total quality
management and in the Vietnamese paint and coating industry. With the strong
estimated growth rate of this industry, the quality management is one of the critical


6

success factors, leading to the higher competitive capacity of local paint and coating
companies in Vietnam.

1.3.2. Research objectives
To examine key success factors of TQM in the result of implementing total quality
management in paint and coating industry.

1.3.3. Research questions
Base on the research’s objectives, the author provides the research’s questions that
are set to answer in the Chapter 3 in order to fulfill the research’s objectives.
What are key success factors of TQM impact the result of implementing total
quality management in Vietnamese paint and coating industry?
How do these key success factors of TQM impact the result of implementing
total quality management in Vietnamese paint and coating industry?

1.4.

Research methodology and scope

In this study, the author uses 06 key success factors of total management quality to
result of implementing total quality management in Vietnamese paint & coating and
then, through the survey of questionnaires that are being sent to 260 samples to
coating & paint manufacturer in Vietnam.
The research was also done by using both of qualitative and quantitative methods.
According to Malhotra and Birks (2000) a qualitative research method is fit when
activities and behavioral of human will be investigated. The author used the
qualitative method by carrying out group discussions and deep interviews made with
5 customers working in the paint & coating enterprises that have experience and
reputation in paint & coating industry.


7

A quantitative method is an importance approach and it evaluates phenomena. This
purpose of this approach is collecting and analyzing data and then applying the data
to statistical testing. Quantitative study would be approach on the customer data
base in CBC Company (CBC is the chemical raw material distribution for paint &

coating manufacturers) by questionnaire and the data was collected for analysis.
The scale is preliminarily tested the reliability by Cronbach’s alpha and exploratory
factor analysis (EFA). Correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis
(MLR) would be used to test the research model and hypotheses. SPSS 20.0
software was used for data analysis.

1.5. Thesis structure
The thesis is structured into five chapters as:
Chapter 1: This chapter is highlighted the background to the research as well as
research issue, objective and research question.
Chapter 2: It is presented some review of literature to relate with issue of the
research and previous studies. Based on that, author provides research hypotheses
and then propose research model which will be used for Vietnamese paint & coating
industry.
Chapter 3: Three is to illustrate the research methodology as well as procedures that
will be used in the study. This chapter starts with a research design, pilot study, a
detail explanation was provided on questionnaire development, population and
sampling and data analysis techniques.
Chapter 4: It presents the results of survey. It discusses the respondent’s general
descriptive statistics, using reliability test, EFA and multiple regression analysis
Chapter 5: It provides conclusion and recommendation as well as limitation of the
research.


8

1.6. Conclusion
Base on the overviews of current status of the Vietnamese paint and coating
industry, this research explains firstly the reason of choosing the title, and briefly
explains the problem and objectives of the research. The scope and data collection

methods of the research are also presented in this part. Then, this research will
present the relevant concepts used as foundation for analysis, suggestions and
solutions in this research. It includes literature review on various management fields
such as Total Quality Management and model to measure base on the key success
factors to the result of implementing total quality management.
The purpose is to measure, analyze the problems, and to come up with lessons
learnt and solutions for implementing total quality management in term of paint and
coating industry. Finally, the research will provide recommendation as the most
suitable solutions and conclusion conducted from the survey.


9

Chapter 2: Literature Reviews
2.1. Introduction
In this chapter, the author examines the relevant studies about the total quality
management dimensions and result of implementing. The quality management can
be found in the theory of Total Quality Management which was invented by the
Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers in 1949 and now become one of the
most effective improvement programmers. This chapter also reviews the key
success factors that affecting to the result of implementing total quality management.
In this study, the author adopts the key success factors proposed by Rao et al (1999)
Awan (2008) and Hoang et al (2010) including: Top management responsibility,
process design, Employee training, Employee involvement, Benchmarking and
customer focus.

2.2. Total quality management
2.2.1. Definitions total quality management
Total Quality Management (TQM) was firstly introduced in Japan by Union of
Japanese Scientists and Engineers in 1949. This is the committees of scholar,

engineers and government bodies with the objective is to improve the product
quality and life standard after World War II in Japan. The TQM philosophy then
expanded to American and became one of recognized improvement program in the
world (Kaynak, 2003).
According to ISO 8402:1993, the definition of TQM is “Management approach of
an organization centered on quality, based on the participation of all its members
and aiming at long-term success through customer satisfaction and benefits to all
members of the organization and to society”. However, there is no consensus on the
definition of TQM (Reed, 1996).
In term of the structure of TQM, (Khan, 2001) states that the TQM considers the
customer as the core factors while other factors (i.e. employee empowerment,


10

involvement and development, continuous improvement and use of systematic
approach to management) are the three most important components that support for
the customers focus strategy of the company.

2.2.2. Key success factors of TQM
In this section, the author examines some key success factor (KSF) of the TQM
through the previous studies such as (Tari, 2005) and (Claver, 2003) identifies three
KSF for the TQM as management leadership, formal evaluation model and
empirical research. Dale (1999) identifies management leadership, training,
employee’s participation, process management, planning and quality measures for
continuous improvement as consistent findings in the work of quality leaders such
as Crosby, Deming, Juran, Ishikawa and Feigenbaum. The Malcolm Baldrige
National Quality Award (MBNQA), European Quality Award (EQA) and Deming
application prize are common formal TQM evaluation models used in the United
States of America, Europe and Japan respectively.

Table 1: Key success factors of TQM

Malcolm Baldrige

European Quality

Deming application prize

National Quality Award

Award (EQA)

(DAP)

(MBNQA)
1. Leadership

1. Leadership

1. Policies

2. Strategic planning

2. Employee

2. Organization

3. Human resource

management

3. Information

4. Process management

3. Policy and strategy

4. Standardization

5. Information system

4. Alliances and

5. Development and

and data analysis

resources

6. Customer and market

5. Process management

7. Business outcome

6. People results

usage of human
resource
6. Activities ensuring

11

7. Customer results
8. Society results
9. Key results

quality
7. Activities for
maintenance and
control
8. Activities for
improvement, results
and future plans

(Source: Tari, 2005)
Flyyn et al. (1994) provided seven quality practices of TQM (i) top management
support, (ii) product design, (iii) process management, (iv) quality information, (v)
supplier involvement, (vi) workforce management and (vii) customer involvement.
TQM is closely resembled to the preceding instrument developed by Saraph et al.
(1989). Powell (1995) comprehended the dimensions of quality management and
identified 12 factors from a thorough review of literature (Deming, 1986; Juran,
1986; Crosby, 1979; Flynn et al; 1995 and Saraph et al., 1989). These factors are (i)
Committed leadership or executive commitment, (ii) Employees empowerment, (iii)
Adoption and communication of TQM or adopting the philosophy, (iv) Closer
supplier relationships, (v) Training, (vi) Open organization, (vii) Closer customer
relationships, (viii) Benchmarking (ix) Process improvement, (x) Zero-defects
mentality, (xi) Measurements and (xii) Flexible manufacturing.
Hoang et al., (2010) provided six key success factors for TQM in manufacturing

and service companies in Vietnam as (i) customer focus, (ii) top management
commitment, (iii) information and analysis system, (iv) education and training (v)
employee empowerment, (vi) and process management.
Recently decade, many authors are finding key success factors of TQM as described
in the table 2.


12

Table 2: Key success factors of TQM in some previous studies

No

Authors

1


2


3

Key success factors of TQM
4
5
6
7
8
9 10


 


1

Rahman (2001)

2

Brah et al. (2002)
Prajogo and Sohal
(2003)













4

Talavera (2004)





5

Sila (2005)





6

Prajogo (2005)





7





























10

Tari et al (2006)
Brah and Lim
(2006)
Karupusami &
Gandhinathan
(2006)
Demirbag (2006)







11

Sila (2007)











12

Ou et al. (2007)











13

Fryer et al. (2007)







14

Macinati (2008)







15

Ya’acob (2008)
Al-khalifa et al.
(2008)
Salaheldin (2009)













Satish &
Srinivasan (2010)
Malik & Khan
(2011)
Arumugam &
Mojtahedzadeh
(2011)







Zehir et al (2012)





3

8
9

16
17
18
19
20
21













































12






11





























13

Note: (1) Leadership/Top Management (2) Customers Focus (3) Teamwork (4)
Process Management (5) Supplier Quality Management (6) Training (7) Strategic
Planning (8) People Management (9) Employee Involvement (10) Information and
Analysis (11) Incentive and Recognition (12) Continuous Improvement
Source: Masood ul Hassan et al. (2012)
In this context, the author will choose the research study of Rao et al (1999) is the
key paper. Rao (1999) provided 13 constructs which was the highest one compared
to Saraph et al.(1989), Flynn et al.(1994), Ahire et al. (1996) and Grandzol. Rao et
al (1999) research did not include so many factors compared to Karuppusami and
Gandhinathan (2006) and Sila and Ebrahimpour (2002).
Furthermore, the author believes that the research model of Rao et (1999) has better
than other research model of Saraph et al.(1989), Flynn et al.(1994), Ahire et al.
(1996) and Grandzol and Gerhson (1998) as their researches only focused on the
United State market while Rao et al (1999) focused on both of developing and
developed countries, including India, china, Mexico.
Hence, the author decided using model of Rao et al (1999) for this research.
However, the model of Rao et al (1999) should be refined before applying for the
survey of total quality management for Vietnamese paint and coating industry. This
refinement process was taken from the research of Awan (2008) and Hoang et al.,
(2010) which highlights the importance of six factors:
(1) Top management responsibility
(2) Process design

(3) Employee training
(4) Employee involvement
(5) Benchmarking.
(6) Customer focus


14

2.3. Development of research model and hypothesis
2.3.1 Top management responsibility
Top management affects positively and negatively to the quality management. Bersin
(2011) in the research on measuring the impact of top management responsibility and
the quality management of the company identified that top manager must set the
elements of corporate culture such as values, belief, measure, and taking appropriate
actions to improve the efficiency of corporate culture management, ensuring that the
corporate culture is managed and carried out by actions and learning rather than
words. Bersin (2011) also stated that the company should incorporate the service
quality dimensions to the key performance indicator of top management in order to
gain the commitment of top management responsibility on the quality management.
Puffer & Waldman (1996) said that, the role of top management to formalize the
company quality value and vision and project them in a clear, visible and consistent
manner. Rao (1999) has confirmed active and visible participation by top
management in quality management implementation is decisive in supporting the
action and behavior that steer the company to success in internal and external quality
performance.
H1: Top management responsibility affects to the results of implementing total
quality management in Vietnamese paint & coating industry.

2.3.2. Process design
Process design is defined as the behavior and systematic principles that are

important to managing the process rather than the result (Anderson et al., 1994; Teh
et al., 2008). It also points to the way how businesses strive to be success by
encouraging the need for knowledge innovation and creativity in process
improvement and optimization (Zairi, 1997).


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Process design stresses the value adding to a process, increasing the productivity of
every employee and enhancing the quality of the company (Motwani, 2001). Ju et al.
(2006) showed that the basic requirements of process design are to lower down
costs, boost efficiency and reducing cycle-time.
According Lee et al. (2001) was that an effective process design will have an effect
on quality performance. Molina et al., (2007) concluded that the most significant
matter in the link between TQM processes control and the internal knowledge
transfer is the systematic use of control processes in a firm, which has an important
part to play on the search for and transfer of knowledge to which they are applied.
For firms that have put TQM into practice, it is widely known that TQM helps in
the continuous improvement of processes, and this will direct such firms to seek and
use the knowledge they need.
H2: Process design affects to the results of implementing total quality management
in Vietnamese paint & coating industry.

2.3.3. Employee training
Employee training is the process of continuous learning that helps the employees to
improve their working abilities (Robbins, 1992). In the world today, employee
training is important to every companies due to it helps to shape up and enhance the
knowledge, working skills and solving the daily problems (Nadler, 1984;Buckley &
Caple, 1990). Employee training is carried out by internal and external sources.
According to Chang (1999), the internal training is cost saving but it is not up-todate with the new trend in the market. In this context, the external training helps the

company updating the new trend in the market. Wang (2012), furthermore, states
that employee training is the effective tool to explore the employees’ potentials and
to adapt the current skills of the employees for future developments.


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In term of the quality improvements, employees training are also adopted by many
organizations. Zeithaml & Binter (2003) identified that the effective employee
training will increase the product and service quality and therefore, increasing the
customer satisfaction. Wang (2012) and Chou (2010) state that companies should
lay their focuses on training system in order to educate the professional skills to
their employees. The professional skills training include the working mentality,
working attitude and working behaviors.
Furthermore, the companies should drives their training system through “the
customers’ opinions for the evaluation, improve techniques during service process
and develop better conversation skill for dealing with customer complaints.”
(Wang, 2012)
H3: Employee training affects to the results of implementing total quality
management in Vietnamese paint & coating industry.

2.3.4. Employee involvement
Employee involvement is defined as the process of involving employees to the
working process of the company (Lawler, 1992). The theory of employee
involvement to the working process had started since 1930s and most of the
previous studies showed that the company can gain better results or higher business
performance when the employees are involved. Lawler (1992) stated that the
employees should be involved in the lowest level of the working process of the
company that is also called the bottom-up involving approach. However, the
bottom-up approach is only suitable with the case of which the individuals do

almost the working parts of the company. When the working parts are shared by
different individuals or teams, the bottom-up involvement will create the conflicts
between individuals and teams, thus decreasing the productivity (Lawler, 1990).