Total Quality Management in International Distribution Channels

This paper focuses on Total Quality Management (TQM) in international distribution channels. Total Quality Management has recently received much attention both in management theory and practice. For producers of goods and services that are not in direct contact with their final consumers, a critical quality question is how the quality can be secured throughout the distribution channel TQM in distribution channels cannot be limited to activities within the boundaries of each company, but needs to be extended to include all companies in the channel. We argue in the paper that channel organization partly determines the possibility of implementing TQM. A model is developed and empirically explored in the context of international distribution of Norwegian farmed salmon.