Abstract

Most scholars as well as practitioners are fully aware that Total Quality Management (TQM) has become the key factor in improving organizational performance.  Most of past researchers have found that TQM has a deep impact on organizational performance including the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Several researchers have also looked at the issue of ISO 9000 certification in relations to the implementation of TQM. This study tries to examine whether ISO certified companies have higher TQM practices as compared to those non ISO certified small and medium enterprises in the northern region of Malaysia. The result shows that the only significant difference between ISO certified and non-ISO certified organizations was in training and education with ISO certified firms reporting higher extent. However, overall, ISO certified firms did not differ significantly on the other 6 practices. This to a certain extent questions the rationale of getting certified.

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