Assuring Input Quality under TQM Practices: A Comparative Analysis of Four Major Indian Passenger Car Companies

The automobile industry, on one hand, is facing stiff global competition in light of all major US, European and Asian car manufacturers entering at different price points in the Indian market while the other end is witness of customers becoming discerning and discriminately strong in demanding quality and value for money. Hence the entire rule of the game pivots around the scopic perspectives of quality management systems in the organizations. The present study has been undertaken to evaluate the performance of selected four passenger car companies with regard to their pursuit to Total Quality Management(TQM) at input level i.e. Vendor Control and Control of Purchased Material. The paper unfolds performance of these players on selected dimensions and concludes with the fact that wide scope is still available for reaching to the global vistas.