Total Quality Management - HTC Company and Apple Inc - Case Study Example

Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Contents HTC Company 5 Apple Inc. 5 Htc one swot analysis 5 Strengths 6 Weakness 6 Opportunities 6 Threats 6 Iphone 5 swot analysis 6 Strengths 7 Weaknesses 7 Opportunities 8 Threats 8 Total Quality Management 8 Total quality management in HTC 9 Total quality management in Apple Inc. 10 Situation analysis observation 13 Comparisons 14 Findings 14 Suggestions 14 Summary 15 HTC Corporation is based in Taiwan and has three main centers namely; United Kingdom, China, and USA. The company also operates in other 21 countries such as Thailand, Brazil, Denmark, Poland and Russia among others. The corporation provides high quality smart phones. Their Smartphones run on Google's android OS and Windows Operating system. Apple Inc. is a large Company operating in Cupertino. The company has appeared in many magazines and won awards as the most admired Company. It designs, manufactures and market top notch mobile, electronic and software products. The Company is recognized for the design of iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod and OS X operating system. 15 HTC one Smartphone comes with an aluminum body and an amazing resolution of 1080p. It is very popular in the urban market. The company installed a new version of 'sense UI' which is clean, light and swift. Users can only use the default memory space that is 32GB or 64GB because the phone lacks a micro SD slot. Another setback is that it has a non-removable battery. HTC market is increasing rapidly and the Corporation has loyal clients both locally and internationally. Its partnership with Google has provided the company with a wide market in the untapped android OS market. However, the company faces threat from brands such as iPhone 5 and Samsung S 5. 15 Iphone 5 has a high quality design and the price is fairly cheap. Iphone users can use app STORE, iTune stores to download apps. The user interface is designed in a simple way to increase ease of use. Apple designs both software and hardware for iPhone 5. Apple produces a new model once per year unlike other competitors who release several models. The apple's screen is small and does not provide more customization. The operating system has compatibility problems with other Operating system. The phone lacks wireless charging and Near-field communication feature. Apple has a large loyal fan base which implies that iPhone 5 has a ready market. Apple Iphone 5 faces competition from other smart phone brands such as, HTC one and Nokia Lumnia which have better features. 15 Total quality management principles are used to manage global competition problems (Rouse, 2005). TQM aims at enhancing services by ensuring continuous improvements based on customer feedback. It’s essential for companies to discover new process that are more customer-oriented. To survive in the current competitive environment, Companies have to create competitive advantage over their competitors. This can be achieved by providing quality products and services. In order to provide Total quality Management, HTC conducts market research to find out consumer needs. The company provides high quality smart phones that enable users to take high quality pictures, provide fast speed, endurance and user friendly interface. They have also installed Beats technology to ensure users get high quality sound. HTC provides customer care services that provide repair services, information and communication channels between consumers and the company. Htc has also partnered with various market leaders such as, Google and Microsoft to ensure that the company understands consumers’ requirements and market expansion. 16 Conclusion 16 References 18 Introduction This is a report on the impacts of total quality management on the mobile industry. In modern times, organizations are increasingly adopting quality measure, for instance, total quality management. These management strategies help organizations to meet the increasing demand for quality services from clients and regulatory groups and create a diverse and strategic competitive advantage. This report will conduct a SWOT analysis of Apple Iphone 5and HTC one mobile phones. It will also focus on the total quality management strategies adopted by Apple Inc. and HTC companies. HTC Company High-Tech Corporation was founded in 1997 (htc.com 2014). HTC Corporation headquarters is located in Taiwan. The company also operates in United Kingdom, USA, and China. These 3 centers mainly work on improving relationship with customers and maintain a steady presence in 21 major markets. These market include; France, Germany, Japan, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Denmark, Brazil Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Australia among others. HTC has a diverse and powerful competitive advantage in the smart phone industry in innovation, design, and production due to great user experience it provides for their clients (Htc, 2014). In 2011, GSM Association awarded HTC Corporation as the greatest “Device manufacturer of the year” (HTC, 2014). Since the company was launched, it has undergone three comprehensive changes which include; Professional PDA designer, smart phone, and Universal HTC brand. The company was recognized for designing and manufacturing most of the OEM branded gadgets available on the market. Since 2006, the corporation has managed to launch several top notch mobile devices under the HTC brand. These devices include; smart phones and tablets installed with Windows Phone and Android operating systems (htc.com 2014). Apple Inc. According to apple.com (2014), Apple Ins is a multinational company based in Cupertino, California. It was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak. It is ranked third largest mobile manufacture in the globe. The company has appeared on Fortune magazine most admired companies (). Apple is an internationally recognized company that design, manufactures and market high quality mobile and media gadgets. Apple Inc. also specializes in manufacturing portable digital music players, related software, networking solutions, peripherals, and third-party digital content and applications. Apple designs iPad, iPhone, iPod, Mac, IOS and OS X operating systems, iCloud, accessories, services and customer support. Apple Inc. also offers digital content and application on iTunes Store, App storeSM, iBookstoreSM, as well as Mac App store. The company owns retails shops, online stores and direct sales staff for distributing its products globally. It also uses third-party cellular network carriers, wholesalers, retailers, as well as value-added resellers. Apple Inc. bought app-search app engine called Chomp in 2012. Htc one swot analysis According to htc.com (2014), HTC one comes in three models; HTC one (m8), HTC one max, and HTC one mini. HTC one boasts of a 4.3 inch touch screen display with a thin amazing design. The phone camera captures crisp, vivid, beautiful pictures even in low light. The beats audio provides authentic, deep sound with real, finely-tuned details. It comes with a dual core processor speed of 1.5 GHz-1.7 GHz. The battery capacity is 1650Mah. It has a Bluetooth stereo clip that allows you to stream high quality sound from the phone to your car stereo and home speakers wirelessly. Other accessories include; battery bar, media link HD, Bluetooth stereo headphones. HTC one Smartphone can serve as an intelligent TV remote. It allows you to find programs, new programs and updates fast. HTC one allows you to add more APPS. These include; animated schedule and calendar synchronization, advanced camera tools and one-swipe auto feeds (htc.com 2014). Stay up-to date with social media feeds such as, facebook, twitter, blog posts and your favorite football team. You just need to swipe to get latest news. Strengths HTC one is recognized as the best overlay of android operating system (freeswotanalysis.com, 2014). HTC one is a quality phone that’s highly popular in the urban market. The HTC one has completely redesigned software with a new version of “sense UI”. It is clean, light and fast (htc.com 2014). It boasts of an aluminum body that is solid with full resolution of 1080p HTC one has creative front stereo speakers that make the phone ideal for entertainment purposes. Weakness The phone lacks a micro SD slot meaning users are confined to 32GB OR 64 GB of internal memory. This can be an issue if you want to store more media on your gadget. The non-removable battery implies that when travelling you have to carry bulky portable chargers (htc.com 2014). Opportunities HTC has a wide because the company serves clients both locally and internationally and the number of clients is increasing at a very fast pace (freeswotanalysis.com, 2014). HTC has partnered with Google and HTC one has Google Android OS, this implies wide market. Google plays a critical role in the popularity of HTC one Smartphone (htc.com 2014). HTC one has the chance of growing in the untapped market for android OS. Threats The HTC one Smartphone faces threat from popular brands such as, iPhone 5, Samsung S 5 and Nokia lumnia HTC one is very expensive therefore not affordable by many individuals who like to own smart phones. IT therefore faces threats from other cheaper android phones. Iphone 5 swot analysis Iphone 5 was released in November 2012 and is available in white and black color. The Apple iPhone 5 comes with 1.3GHz duo core processor, 4.00 inch display touch screen, 8 megapixel front camera and rear camera, 1.2 megapixel resolution, 1GB RAM, iOS Operating System, 16 GB storage space, a battery capacity of 1440mAH. It supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and GLONASS. Iphone comes with apple ear pods with remote and Mic. It supports several documents format such as, tiff, jpg and gif images, Microsoft office, pdf, htm and html, and keynote (apple.com, 2014). Strengths Iphone 5 boosts of an iconic appearance with a top notch design. The glass and metallic materials used to design iPhone 5 gives it a top-notch appearance (freeswotanalysis.com, 2014). The iphone 5 has amazing carrier support and is distributed all over the globe easily. It costs $199, $299 or $399 depending on the storage space. This price is fairly cheap (apple.com, 2014). Apple’s ecosystem is better compared to other mobile phone manufacturers The iTune store, app store and flawless integration connecting phones, tablets or computers makes it easy for iphone 5 users IPhone 5 Users Interface has been designed in a simple and user friendly way. The iCloud is integrated in a seamless way such that when a user takes a picture it is instantly uploaded to the Photo stream in iCloud. The photo can then be accessed on the user’s laptop or iPad. Users specified in a shared folder can also access the photo (apple.com, 2014). Apple designs both hardware and the software for iPhone 5. Iphone 5 provides users with a solid and robust experience due to greatly simplified quality testing (freeswotanalysis.com, 2014). Ios system provides clients with many apps. Iphone provides users with app stores, Itunes stores and IBookstoreSM (apple.com, 2014). Weaknesses Apple releases one phone per year while HTC releases several models. The iPhone 5 has a small screen and cannot be compared to android screen that provides more customization due to resizable widgets and convenient app shortcuts (Yoshida, and Ojo, 2009). The iphone 5 technology is weak and lacks cutting edge features. Apple’s iPhone 5 operating system is not compatible with many devices (Yoshida, and Ojo, 2009). Iphone phone can be described as evolutionary rather than revolutionary compared to what other competitors are offering (Kane, Sheth, and Morison, 2010). Iphone 5 lacks near-field communication features thus cannot be great mobile payment gadget. Android platform provide NFC feature (apple.com, 2014). It does not have inductive charging. Opportunities Apple is a globally recognized company and Iphone 5 has a great opportunity to score massive enterprise support particularly with organizations that have already selected iPhone. This gives it a great competitive strategy compared to Android (apple.com, 2014). Iphone 5 greatest opportunity comes from Apples loyal fan base. Apple’s ecosystem plays a major role in the loyal client base. The loyal clients are willing to spend cash to upgrade from iPhone 4 to iPhone 5(apple.com, 2014). Threats The HTC be is threatening Iphone 5 popularity. Apple faces a great challenge of winning back previous consumers who have shifted to android smart phones. HTC one provides greater specs and features compared to iPhone 5 Total Quality Management Current technology advancement has improved production, business growth and client’s expectations (Rouse, 2005). Organizations need to come up with new processes and systems so as to concentrate more on clients. This involves enhancing products quality, procedures and services in order to survive the global market competition. Total quality management principles can help managing global competition challenges. TQM approach seeks to enhance services through continuous improvements in response to continuous feedback from the clients. TQM principles can be applied in any type of company. Initially, it was applied in the manufacturing industry, but has since been applied in hotel management, schools, churches and roads maintenance (Rouse, 2005). It is hard for companies to survive in the current competitive environment due to world globalization and liberalization. Companies need to create the competitive advantage over their rivals (Samson & Terziovski, 1999). Total quality management is an important issue and generates significant amount of interest among executive officers and researchers (Ahire et al, 1995). There is increasing competitive, business survival strain and the dynamic changing customer-oriented environment. Experts such as Deming (1986) and Juran (1993) argues that competitive advantage can be achieved by offering quality products and services. In today's global market, quality is the competitive advantage. TQM has been applied as an efficient management to provide organizations with stability, progress and prosperity (Issac et al., 2004). The benefits of quality improvement are portrayed through decrease in costs and an increase in profit made by the organization (Freiesleben, 2005). There are three different perspectives that can be applied to understand benefits of an efficient TQM. The first one is the operating perspective. TQM can be applied to enhance global competitiveness (Flynn et al., 1995). Companies which implement TQM effectively can achieve internal benefits such as enhancing quality, improving productivity, and increasing operating income. The second perspective is financial performance. Thorough design and implementation of consistent and documented management systems can help promote financial performance. Companies that implement an effective TQM can significantly improve the stock price performance (Hendricks and singhal, 2001). The final perspective is knowledge management. TQM implementation can increase organizational knowledge, which in turn helps in understanding how quality management practices impact on performance of an organization (Linderman et al., 2004). Previous research supports the positive effects of TQM on business performance (kaynak., 2003). Total quality management in HTC The Company creates products that give you a customized user experience. The company conducts thorough market research to identify how people like to interact with technology. HTC has managed to obtain high products referrals rate, and brand recognition through strong recommendations from retailers, clients opinion, friends, family and press reviews. HTC designs products provide an elegant experience due to great performance, endurance, user friendly interface and modern innovation applied. HTC products offers modern innovations such as, camera with rival leading point and shoot models, and a top notch HD video. For quality sound, HTC expert install Beats technology on their phones. The company aims to create phones that offer entertainment systems, communication control center as well as an expression tool (htc.com, 2014). HTC has partnered with technology experts, such as, Google and Microsoft. This strategic partnership provides means of conducting research, development and product evolution. HTC decided to partner with technology leaders In order to provide hardware software, content management and delivery systems in a flawless manner that makes customers feel they are in control. In proving total quality management, HTC discovers the best methods to integrate high quality technologies with seamless user experience. The company designs new products regularly in order to enhance user experience. Customers are encouraged to provide feedback on their personal experience with HT products. The Corporations promotes and celebrate clients sharing their perspectives. Chief Executive Officer Peter Chou has been working for the company since it was launched in 1997 (htc.com, 2014).Under his leadership, the company has established itself as a universal Smartphone brand due to his strong belief in values of entrepreneurship and innovation. In 2011, HTC appeared on the list of the top 100 global brands by Interbrand. It has also been recognized to be among the most innovative organizations in the glob by fast Magazine as well as MIT technology review in 2010 and 2011(htc.com, 2014). According to htc.com (2014), the company aims to provide innovate mobile communication devices and information across the globe. HTC wants to strategically reduce the distance between consumers, facilitate information management, and promote consumers’ communication and lives (Htc Corporation, 2014). HTC business level strategy applied is focus differentiation. The corporation applies two main approaches to execute it; brand strategies and competitive factors. When it comes to brand strategies, the company usually concentrates on smart phone market. HTC want to control Microsoft Operating System and Google’s Android OS (htc.com, 2014). HTC brand strategy is enhanced through launch of innovative and user friendly interfaces. HTC responses on market changes rapidly by diversifying their products to meet market need. Competitive strategy deals with factors that promote HTC development as well as negative factors that hinder HTC development and countermeasures. Working closely with market leaders allows change of trends, creation of cooperative work teams, implementation of global operations and good cost control measures. Strategic collaboration with the globe’s market leaders in the telecommunication industry promote understanding of consumers’ needs, and consistent market expansion, especially the internet platform market which is beneficial to the high demand of data transmission. HTC maintains these factors to develop competitive advantage for the corporation (htc.com, 2014). HTC provide total quality management by offering customer support. In 2007, the organization opened its first customer care service center in Taiwan (htc.com, 2014). The chief operating office, Fred Liu, believes that offering excellent customer support and after-sales services are essential in maintain success. The company plans to open more customer care centers in Taiwan and across the world to enable their clients enjoy their smart phone’s experience without troubles. Customer care center is essential for consumers. It helps to save time and allow efficient ways of solving problems faced by clients. Clients can get customized consultation on HTC products, request for warranty repairs and purchase HTC’S products. HTC gives clients an extra phone during repair period. This ensures that customers do not have stay unavailable during that time. Their objective is to provide value-added design, top notch manufacturing and logistics as well as excellent customer support services. Employees are valuable assets in any company when providing total quality management. HTC employees professional to head various sections, such as, product design, user interface, sales and marketing as well as brand promotion. HTC professional employees come from different countries and this helps to increase diversity. The company ensures gender equality when employing people (htc.com, 2014). Total quality management in Apple Inc. Apple applies a user-oriented although anti-traditional business philosophy. This is a approach aims at diversifying products to diffuse market risks by providing clients with a variety of products with different performance level, features and prices. Apple concentrates and uses resources well to ensure their products are exceedingly well (Yoshida, and Ojo, 2009). This approach ensures that Apple produces sustainable products. Apple produces one new phone model each year. This implies reduced sophistication and easily standardized models during the manufacturing procedure. This reduces costs used to purchase raw materials and labor. Apple produces products for markets that are geographically and culturally diverse. Apple Inc. has been able to employ innovativeness and creativity in the usability. The company focuses providing user friendly software rather than traditional hardware specifications to prevent low margin competition with its rivals (Yoshida and Ojo, 2009). Apple builds an eco-system around their software software platform that allows developers, publishers as well as multimedia distributors to contribute o the usability objective under Apple. The Capacity to have mutual benefits is likely to have a long-term effect on the company’s profitability. Propriety device and software ensures that Apple Company maintains a consistent user experience and also assures the company of obtaining great returns (Cusumano, 2010). Apple employs direct and indirect distribution methods to reach consumers. Experienced and dedicated Apple’s sales person provided an integrated buying experience. Operating self-owned stores cuts costs incurred to carry out market research on what consumer needs. This information can be obtained from the communication between clients and sales person. Apple also provides top notch sales and after-sales customer support all over the globe. The company deems that direct and efficient communication with consumers can differentiate the company from its rivals. Digital content and softwares application can be delivered automatically through the internet.. Apple Inc. is recognized for preserving the balance between innovative and commercial personnel demonstrated by the teamwork between CEO Steve Jobs, and Tim Cook. Steve Job specialized in creating product design and friendly user experience while Tim Cook managed daily operations (Yoshida, and Ojo, 2009). Apple’s working culture image is steady as its products. The company has employed intelligent engineers, over 25,000 full time and part employees deployed in its retail shops. The organization provides equal employment opportunities through its affirmative action employer policies. The company employees people with physical disabilities through a special program (Yoshida, and Ojo, 2009). Hypotheses development Based on the TQM implementation in Apple Inc. and HTC Corporation, this report concluded seven principles that determine the success of implementing TQM. Total quality management is guided by eight principles. 1. Customer focused company Companies depend on their clients. These organizations should understand current and future client’s needs, meet client’s needs and aim to exceed client expectations (Oakland, 2005). 2. Management Leadership Management leadership determines whether or not a TQM system can be executed effectively (Soltani., 2005). Management leadership describes the way management levels guides and supervises employees in an organization. Management level should provide the essential resources for training personnel to the new changes after implementation of TQM. It aims at creating a friendly environment for employee’s during the change period (Kaynak, 2003). Effective management is applied when choosing qualified suppliers and certifying suppliers to ensure supply of high quality materials (Flynn et al. 1995). Managers control direction and the internal environment of the company. Leaders’ role is to create an environment whereby people can participate fully in achieving the Company goals. Management level impacts on decision making and resource allocation procedures for supplier and design management. 3. Human resource Employees should have the capacity measure and utilize quality data effectively so as to ensure quality management (Ahire and Dreyfus, 2000). TQM success depends on the collaboration and coordination between an organization's employees. People’s involvement at all levels is essential in any organization. This allows their abilities to be employed in benefiting the company. 4. Quality data and reporting Quality data and reporting applies reports and control charts to establish quality issues and give timely information for correcting and improving issues. A good data and reporting system is essential in providing management level with adequate information to make timely decisions. It can also help management identify and solve issues involving input materials from suppliers (Adebanjo and Kehoe, 1999). 5. Suppliers management Managing suppliers in an effective way will promote cooperation between suppliers and the organization by facilitating supplier’s participation in the design and production process. It will also ensure that procurement of materials meets organization's requirement and be effectively utilized (Flynn et al., 1995). According to Kaynak (2003), supplier management has direct positive effects on both design and process management. Quality raw materials from suppliers will help minimize repairs and production of defective smart phones. 6. Design management When a process approach method is used to manage resource and activities it helps to achieve desired results efficiently. System approach to management is applied to establish, understand and manage a system of related procedures for a particular object and helps in achieving efficiency in the company. Continuous improvement should be a long-term objective for a company. Factual approach to decision making ensures logical and intuitive analysis of data and information for effective decisions. Mutually beneficial association between the Company and its suppliers improve the ability of both Companies to add value. 7. Process management TQM processes are categorized into four main groups; plan, do, check, and act. This is known as the PDCA cycle. In the planning phase, the problem is defined, relevant data collected, and problem’s root cause understood. Doing phase involves developing and implementing a solution and identifying means of measuring its efficiency. In checking phase, results are confirmed by comparing before and after data. In the acting phase, results are document; people are informed about process adjustments, and recommendations made concerning the problem to be tackled in the next PDCA cycle. Process Management flowchart 8. Company’s performance Total quality management aims at creating an organizational environment that favors job redesign and cross training so as to allow job flexibility. It also provides a chance to create and manage the association between clients and suppliers. It is important for organization looking to provide quality products and services to their clients. It results to Company prosperity and continuing growth. Organization should aim to offer high quality products and services so as to compete in the global economy. Research has been conducted to analyze the impact of Total quality management on industry performance, and small and medium-size businesses (Flynn et al., 1995). Situation analysis observation Both smart phones are made of aluminum but HTC one is heavier than iphone 5. HTC one is great if you need huge screen display. You can secure iphone 5 with your fingerprints a feature that is not supported by HTC one. HTC one supports near-field communication that lacks in iphone 5. HTC one provides high quality sound due to boom sound features. iPhone 5 is integrated in a seamless way that allows you to connect iCloud, App stores and iTunes in a user friendly manner. Comparisons Both Companies deal with manufacture of high quality smart phones. They face stiff competition from other smart phone manufactures such as, Samsung and Nokia. When it comes to total quality management, both Companies seeks to provide quality products and services. They have employed professional designers to ensure top notch production. The Companies have sales staff to ensure distribution of products. Apple and HTC provide excellent customer care services to meet consumer needs. Findings Both companies can prevent competitors’ entry into the smart phone industry by offering functional and customized products at low cost. Good networking services in the Smartphone industry can also prevent competition risks. Fortunately risk of competitors’ entry into the Smartphone industry is low because there are several barriers that hinder entrance into the mobile industry (Oakland, 2005).These barriers include; economies of scale, brand loyalty, and competition between established companies. The fixed expenses and investment required to conduct research and establish a Smart phone company is very high. For example, in 2009 HTC spent over $280 million to conduct research and start operations. HTC usually spend 5%- 7% of their total annual revenue to research (HTC, 2014). It is hard for new companies to expand their market share because established companies have significant brand loyalty. Research conducted by YouGov’s technology and telecoms consulting team, shows that over 81% of Apple consumers are loyal to the brand and 44% of HTC consumers would remain loyal to the brand. This implies that it is vey difficult for a company to establish itself and gain brand loyalty and market share. Rivalry among established Mobile Corporation is very stiff. For example, In 2010 Apple’s law legal strategy attempted prevent HTC’s triumph in lawsuits. In this case, Apple put aggressive actions and HTC applied strong defensive countermoves and this demonstrates the extent of rivalry in the smart phone industry (Oakland, 2005). Suggestions TQM will promote change in culture and practices in both Apple and HTC companies. These changes can be easily facilitated if there is a formal management system implemented. The system will help provide facts on which to base change. It will also allow changes to be executed more thoroughly and permanently. Apple needs to some countermeasures to handle the negative factors which hinder development of the company. These negative factors include new Smartphone competitors in the market and global economic weakness. HTC is expanding at a very high rate. Annual report shows that demand for smart phones is increasing each year across the world. HTC should ensure that they increase productivity so as to meet the high demand of the market. HTC also requires more manufacturing plants, suppliers and retailer shops to meet the rising demand for HTC products. While concentrating on meeting increasing consumer needs, HTC should also focus on their quality control. Summary HTC Corporation is based in Taiwan and has three main centers namely; United Kingdom, China, and USA. The company also operates in other 21 countries such as Thailand, Brazil, Denmark, Poland and Russia among others. The corporation provides high quality smart phones. Their Smartphones run on Google's android OS and Windows Operating system. Apple Inc. is a large Company operating in Cupertino. The company has appeared in many magazines and won awards as the most admired Company. It designs, manufactures and market top notch mobile, electronic and software products. The Company is recognized for the design of iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod and OS X operating system. HTC one Smartphone comes with an aluminum body and an amazing resolution of 1080p. It is very popular in the urban market. The company installed a new version of 'sense UI' which is clean, light and swift. Users can only use the default memory space that is 32GB or 64GB because the phone lacks a micro SD slot. Another setback is that it has a non-removable battery. HTC market is increasing rapidly and the Corporation has loyal clients both locally and internationally. Its partnership with Google has provided the company with a wide market in the untapped android OS market. However, the company faces threat from brands such as iPhone 5 and Samsung S 5. Iphone 5 has a high quality design and the price is fairly cheap. Iphone users can use app STORE, iTune stores to download apps. The user interface is designed in a simple way to increase ease of use. Apple designs both software and hardware for iPhone 5. Apple produces a new model once per year unlike other competitors who release several models. The apple's screen is small and does not provide more customization. The operating system has compatibility problems with other Operating system. The phone lacks wireless charging and Near-field communication feature. Apple has a large loyal fan base which implies that iPhone 5 has a ready market. Apple Iphone 5 faces competition from other smart phone brands such as, HTC one and Nokia Lumnia which have better features. Total quality management principles are used to manage global competition problems (Rouse, 2005). TQM aims at enhancing services by ensuring continuous improvements based on customer feedback. It’s essential for companies to discover new process that are more customer-oriented. To survive in the current competitive environment, Companies have to create competitive advantage over their competitors. This can be achieved by providing quality products and services. In order to provide Total quality Management, HTC conducts market research to find out consumer needs. The company provides high quality smart phones that enable users to take high quality pictures, provide fast speed, endurance and user friendly interface. They have also installed Beats technology to ensure users get high quality sound. HTC provides customer care services that provide repair services, information and communication channels between consumers and the company. Htc has also partnered with various market leaders such as, Google and Microsoft to ensure that the company understands consumers’ requirements and market expansion. Apple produces sustainable products by designing one new smart phone model every year. This approach reduces sophistication during the manufacturing procedure and ensures their products are standardized. This reduces costs incurred to purchase raw materials and labor. In order to provide total quality management, apple produces innovative and creative smart phones. The company designs user friendly softwares to prevent low margin rivalry with other mobile manufactures companies. Apple applies direct and indirect distribution methods. The company has online stores, self owned-shops, retailers and wholesalers for distributing its products. Self-owned stores are essential for understanding consumers need through sales personnel and consumer interactions. They also offer high quality after sales services Total quality management is based on eight principles; Customer oriented management leadership, Human resource, quality data reporting, Supplier management, and design and process management. Conclusion Smart phones play an essential role in peoples’ lives. They have revolutionized the mobile phone industry and changed the way people use the computer. The technology is improving continually and the environment experiences several changes such as, advanced internet infrastructure, mobile telecommunication standards, and development of user friendly interface. Total quality management will make both Apple and HTC companies more competitive. It will establish an innovative culture which will promote growth and continuity. Apple and HTC adoption of a total quality management will help to provide a working environment whereby both suppliers and clients will be satisfied. Total quality management will reduce strain, waste and friction. It will help in creating teams, partnerships, and co-operation. References Adebanjo, D. & Kehoe, D. An investigation of quality culture development in UK industry, International Journal of Operations and Production Management,.1999 Ahire, S.L., Landeros, R. & Golhar, D. Total quality management: A literature review and an agenda for future research, Production and Operations Management, 1995 Ahire, S.L. & Dreyfus, P. The impact of design management and process management on quality: an empirical examination, Journal of Operations Management, 2000 Corbett, C.J., Montes-Sancho, M.J. & Kirsch, D.K. The financial impact of ISO 9000 certification in the United States: an empirical analysis, Management Science, 2005 Cusumano, M. A. Platforms and services: understanding the resurgence of Apple. Commun. ACM, 2010 Deming, E.W. Out of Crisis, Cambridge, MA: MIT Center for Advanced Engineering.1986 Flynn, B.B., Schroeder, R.G. & Sakakibara, S. A framework for quality management research and an associated measurement instrument, Journal of Operations Management, 1994 Flynn, B.B., Schroeder, R.G. & Sakakibara, S. The impact of quality management practices on performance and competitive advantage, Decision Sciences, 1995. Freiesleben, J. The economic effects of quality improvement, Total Quality Management, 16(7), 2005 Issac, G., Rajendran, C. & Anantharaman, R.N. A conceptual framework for total quality management in software organizations, Total Quality Management, 2004 Juran, J.M. Made in USA: a renaissance in quality, Harvard Business Review, 1993 Kane, Y. I., Sheth, N., & Morison, S. Apple knew of iPhone issue. Wall Street Journal - Eastern Edition, 2010 Kaynak, H. The relationship between total quality management practices and their effects on firm performance, Journal of Operations Management, 2003 Linderman, K.R., Schroeder, G., Zaheer, S., Liedtke, C., Choo, A.S. Integrating quality management practices with knowledge creation processes, Journal of Operations Management, 2004. Oakland, J. From quality to excellence in the 21st century, Total Quality Management,2005 Rouse, M. Total Quality Management (TQM). 2005; Retrieved on 4th April 2014 from http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/Total-Quality-Management Samson, D. & Terziovski, M. The relationship between total quality management practices and operational performance, Journal of Operations Management, 1999 Soltani, E. Top management: a threat or an opportunity to TQM?, Total Quality Management, 2005 Terziovski, M. & Samson, D. The link between total quality management practice and organizational performance, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 1999 Yoshida, J., & Ojo, B. Point/counterpoint: Why Apples CE dominance is assured or not. Electronic Engineering Times(1573), 2009 http://www.apple.com/ http://www.htc.com/www/smartphones/htc-one-s/#/ http://www.freeswotanalysis.com/telecommunication-companies-swot-analysis/532-swot-analysis-of-apple-iphone.html http://www.freeswotanalysis.com/telecommunication-companies-swot-analysis/57-htc-corporation-swot-analysis.html Read More