Management Innovation in Chinese Context: The Diffusion of TQM in China

摘要

This research focuses on the diffusion of TQM from 1978 in China when it began to reform and open up, and this paper has further discussed the features of management innovation in the Chinese context, which would have some inspirations for how to import a new management technique in a different context in the future research. The study found that from 1978 the dominant body of demand for management innovations has gradually shifted from government to enterprises and during different periods it shows differences in rationality. In China, the early discussion on TQM was first initiated by academic scholars who were usually deemed more rational than corporate managers, then it was affected by social psychological factors showing the other side of irrationality. Through bibliometric analysis of publications and journals on TQM, this study also found that the life cycles of the diffusion of management innovation were different when the dominant body of demand had changed.