Quality management practice in Ethiopia

Competitiveness in the global market is becoming fierce. The importance of total quality management is growing to increase customers’ satisfaction and as a result to win the market in the long term. However, developing economies like Ethiopia is challenged in their quality of products and services. Based on the Ethiopian Quality Award (EQA) self-assessment model and the 2009 award participants, quality management practice in Ethiopian manufacturing and service industries is studied. The result justifies that quality will be the future challenges of competitiveness. The root causes of the quality problem are investigated and revealed in the study to give directions for the policy makers, the industries and researchers.   Key words: Quality management, quality award.