Value-Creation through the Balanced Scorecard Oriented TQM Concept(Authors: Dr. Mike C. K. Lam and Mr. Q.S. Ren)AbstractThis paper tries to solve some of the issues concerning total quality management (TQM). Firstly, what does a TQM (business excellence) concept/model look like? Are these TQM concepts/models theoretically sound? Would the judging frameworks and criteria of some quality awards such as Hong Kong Management Association (HKMA) Quality Award be the TQM concepts/models?Secondly, are TQM models related to other management concepts such as the Balanced Scorecard (BSC)? Thirdly could we integrate the TQM concept withBSC framework to form a value-adding concept? The main aim of this paper concerns with the processes of building up the Balanced Scorecard Oriented TQM concept theoretically, forwhich the bases are conjoining the Kanji s TQM model and the framework of the BSC withreference to the judging framework and criteria of HKMA Quality Award. Based on the concept of Systems Theory and model building technique, firstly we triangulated the Kanji TQM model and the BSC framework to fit into the Systems Theory. Secondly, we compared these triangulated models with reference to the judging framework and criteria of HKMA Quality Award systematically. Thirdly, after analysis, we proposed the BSC-Oriented TQM concept and its concept mapping for reference and further testing in the real world. The expected outcomes of this research are solving the above-mentioned research problems. The ultimate aim of this research is to form the conceptual model of BSC-Oriented TQM concept for further testing by practitioners and academics of TQM in order to gain more concrete experiences or the management knowledge of the world.IntroductionThe original or traditional approaches of quality management were very much processoriented. With the advent of Total Quality Management (TQM), organizations began to focuson the needs (requirements) and wants (exceeding the requirements) of customers bothexternally and internally (Wilkinson, 1992). There isno doubt that the issue of customers becomes the foci of all kinds of management tools and concepts. On the other hand, one ofthe basic concepts of TQM is the systems theory (input-process-output). That is to say, theinputs-processes-outputs(activities) of an organization are aimingat the fulfillmentof theneeds and wants of the customers such as the concept of To delight customers , winput or starting point of the whole value-adding chain of business processes so that theoutputs are customers satisfaction/delight and thus the financial performance. If we accthis simple logic of doing businesses, we still have to solve, at least, two major issues. Firstly,let us assume that we know our customers thoroughly. However, in accordance with Ansoff(1984), Strategy is a concept of the firm s business, which provides a unifying theme for aits activities. The problem is how could we organize allitiesthe ofactivan organization undera unifying theme, which is, the strategy of an organization? Secondly, even though an organization has strategy, how could we know the implementation of the strategy is right? Theanswer of these two issues lies on the strategic management of an organization with the help of the BSC.According to Kanji and Asher (1995), the ultimate aim of TQM is to achieve business excellence (company performance) such as financial and non-financial results/measures. However, from our concrete experience and observation and reflections, the practitioners and academics of TQM are facing many problems. To name a few, firstly, what does a TQM concept/model look like? Would the judging frameworks and criteria of some quality awards such as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (USA) or Hong Kong Quality Management Association Quality Award (hereafter we call HKMA Quality Award) be the TQM (business excellence) concepts/models? Secondly, are these TQM concepts/models theoretically sound/ based? Ba(Nonaka and Konno, 1998), which is a knowledge creation process, and Kolb s Experienti Learning Cycle (Kolb, Rubin and McIntyre, 1979), we advocate that it is highly likely tointegrate or”“ conjoining the”framework of the BSC with the TQM models such as the Kanji s TQMmodel (1998) with reference to the framework and judging criteria of HKMAquality award as a kind of TQM (business excellence) concept for reference. The expected result of this research is solving the stated research problems of this paper and the ultimate aim is to form the conceptual model of BSC-Oriented TQM concept for further testing by practitioners & academics of TQM and BSC in order to gain more concrete experiences. (Please refer to Figure 1)Background of the StudyThe authors of this paper have been involving the research and t