Suppliers\u27 Quality Practices in Six Countries and Regions: China, Taiwan, India, Korea, Mexico, and Costa Rica

In this paper we report suppliers’ quality practices in six countries — China, Taiwan, India, Korea, Mexico and Costa Rica. The practices include suppliers’ education, technical assistances, involvement in product development and long-term relationships. India, China, Korea and Taiwan are four major countries in Asia that have shown substantial economic growth over the years. Mexico is a member of NAFTA. Cost Rica is a growing country in Central America. Differences in terms of quality results are explored as well. In general, supplier quality practices are related to the overall quality management practices. Supplier quality practices affect the internal and external quality results. However, the length of quality experience in the organizations turns out to be a discriminating factor for choosing particular supplier quality practices. The implication of these results confirms that supplier quality practices are important practices for both internal and external quality results