Manufacturing quality and cultural values in China

ABSTRACT

Popular and academic publications continually remind us that China has become the global manufacturing center for many international companies. However, quality problems appear to have increased in recent years, with many Chinese products not meeting international standards for safety and quality. We consider the relationship between cultural value dimensions and the Lean Six Sigma process as a quality management solution for Chinese manufacturing problems, employing the GLOBE cultural value dimensions to assess the possible effects of introducing Lean Six Sigma in China. Even though the GLOBE dimensions predict that Chinese values may be consistent with the lean Six Sigma values, implementing the practices in China may be difficult.