The purpose of this project is to understand the quality control systems in mainland China’s enterprises. The author selected state-owned enterprises and rural enterprises for comparison. The sample of this article displays two types of significant company variances in operating scales and product areas. However, conclusions are based on a convenient sampling and have very general considerations concerning operating conditions within the firms. The author hopes that this paper has useful implications for the dichotomy between state-owned and rural firms.
Following is the major finding:
(1)With respect to the interactive relationships between companies and suppliers, the two types of companies are affected by supplier’s suspension of their raw materials, but rural enterprises have fewer incidence of this than state-owned ones.
(2)With respect to the interactive relationships between companies and consumers, state-owned enterprises emphasize a system of independent distributors but rural enterprises usually promote their products through their own distribution system to open markets and direct sales to consumers.
(3)Concerning the competitive factors of both types of enterprises, they both consider quality control as the most important element, but in the other elements they have different opinions.
(4)Concerning the design and research of product quality, state-owned enterprises generally establish the research and marketing departments individually but rural enterprises combine the two departments together due to their small size.
(5)With respect to manufacturing and inspection of products, more state-owned enterprises apply a statistical technique to these processes.
(6)The upper and middle managers of both types of enterprises intensively participate in the processes of setting, operating and evaluating the quality-control.
(7)Concerning communication between internal departments within state-owned firms, management emphasizes consultation of a prepared manual for all departments. However, rural firms prefer direct contact and consultation with each internal department.
(8)Both types of companies have different ways to deal with employees’ misbehavior. Rural enterprises prefer to discharge those employees, but state-owned enterprises owing to the restriction of employment practices use education or transfer those personnel to correct their behavior.
