Definitions of the Concepts Reviewed
Quality management can be defined as a holistic management philosophy that focuses on the maintenance and continuous improvement of all the functions within an organization,
with the goal of meeting or exceeding customer requirements (Flynn et al. 1994; Kaynak
2003). This concept is often referred to as total quality management (TQM) in the literature, and goes beyond standards such as
ISO Environmental management encompasses the technical and organizational activities undertaken by the firm for the purpose of reducing environmental impacts and minimizing their effects on the natural environment
(Cramer 1998; Sharfman et al. 1997). References are often made to total environmental management or total quality environmental management (TQEM) (Corbett and Pan 2002;
Curkovic et al. 2008; Jayathirtha 2001; Willig
1994), which goes beyond standards such as
ISO 14001. The underlying philosophy in
TQEM is that TQM principles apply to environmental improvement as well (Angell and Klassen As for the integration between QM and
EM, the literature has suggested several levels of integration which can be represented as a continuum with two ends a zero or minimum level of integration with two totally independent systems, and the complete or full integration of both systems. For full integration, systems lose their independence (Wilkinson and Dale. It follows from this that QEM implies full integration and represents a single top level management system where QM and EM
lose their independence.
Regarding firm performance, scholars have long acknowledged that the choice of performance measures is difficult and discretionary (Li 2007; Venkatraman and Ramanujam
1986). The literature shows that a broader
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