Introduction:
Customer-supplier chains are probably the most central issue for TQM. There is growing realization that the business cycle does not stop within the confined boundaries of organisations. Customer-supplier chain formation therefore is the process of establishing the necessary links so that the ultimate goal of enlightening the customer can become realizable.
Traditional versus TQM based business cycle:
The business cycle represents three sets of processes including supplier processes, manufacturer processes and customer processes,
Without strong customer-supplier links both internally and externally, TQM efforts are doomed to fail.