The Place of Total Quality Management (Tqm) in Agribusiness: A Case Study of Cadbury Nigeria Plc

Abstract

This study examines the role of quality products in an agribusiness enterprise and assesses the level of awareness about TQM amongst staff and customers of the company and also identifies the socio-economic characteristics of respondents that affect quality acceptance. A hundred customers and thirty staff of the company were sampled using simple random sampling method. The result of the data shows that there is a high level of awareness about TQM amongst staff of the company and that quality is measured at all stages of production in the company by meeting minimum operational standard. Also, the study revealed that different reasons make customers prefer the company’s products among which are, high quality products sold at reasonable prices, hence, making cost on quality effective in increasing the company’s profit. The result of the probit regression model indicated that gender, marital status, salary structure, formal education and working experience are statistically significant and have a high probability of limiting the intake of low quality products.

Key words: Total Quality Managemnet (TQM), Agribusiness and Cadbury PLC