1 To what extent do you think the success of TQM is reliant on having a supportive culture?

Bosch, a supplier of car components and electronic products to many of Europe’s leading car manufacturers, introduced TQM when it opened its first manufacturing plant in the UK on a greenfield site in Wales in 1990. Many of the company’s customers had specific quality demands, so it was necessary to have a corporate culture in which quality was firmly ingrained. The values forming part of the culture included a quality product to secure global competitive advantage, continuous improvement of the employees’ skills, improved quality of operations and productivity, and the aim of meeting the company’s responsibilities to customers, employees, suppliers and the local community.