Talent management strategy and strategic quality management a study of select pharmaceutical companies in India

Abstract

The dynamic business environment poses new challenges to every pharmaceutical company. The quantity of pharmaceutical products is going to increase significantly in coming years due to increasing global demand for pharmaceutical products, demographic changes, and the demand in emerging economies. The industry is struggling with increasing regulatory pressures to develop a stable quality-oriented production system and on the other hand, the problem of drug shortages and product recalls is forcing the pharmaceutical companies to take a closer look at the quality management systems and quality organization to stabilize the manufacturing systems, enhance flexibility and overall firm performance. Strategic Quality Management, a concept introduced as an extension of total quality management, represents the integration of strategic planning process with continuous improvement philosophy propagated by total quality management. Among various factors influencing management of quality, people management has emerged as an important factor having impact on product quality in the pharmaceutical industry. The main objective of this thesis was to understand the strategic quality maturity of Indian pharmaceutical industry and the role of talent management strategy in achieving the objectives of strategic quality management. Another objective of the study is to examine the allocation of resources for quality management. The study used strategic intent as an indicator of strategic quality management maturity that is estimated based on three variables, namely, strategic management practices, strategic quality management practices and organization structure. The study was done on 365 respondents employed at senior and middle management level with pharmaceutical companies located in major pharmaceutical clusters in India, namely Maharashtra, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim and West Bengal. The study used a pre-validated questionnaire for data collection.