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The purpose of this paper is to explore crucial evolutionary operational improvement initiatives related to quality management, and the emphasis is on the lessons learned from operational improvement practices in Taiwan.

To understand a firm's evolutionary operational improvement activities holistically and deeply, the authors conducted in‐depth interviews with executives from four firms in Taiwan. The grounded theory method is adopted in this study to depict the profile of the key evolutionary operational improvement activities.

Based on the results of the qualitative empirical study, six major dimensions of operational improvement are identified. Further, eight empirical propositions are proposed with detailed descriptions.

The results are based on international manufacturing companies in Taiwan, and thus cannot be generalized to situations in other emerging countries and industries without further research.

By referring to the results of this work, managers can better understand the relationships among operational improvement activities, and thus increase the chances to benefit from operational improvement initiatives.

This paper adds to the literature by providing new empirical insights into the relationships among operational improvement activities.

The aim of this paper is threefold: first, to examine the content of supply chain quality management (SCQM); second, to identify the structure of SCQM; and third, to show ways for finding improvement opportunities and organizing individual institution's resources/actions into collective performance outcomes.

To meet the goals of this work, the paper uses abductive reasoning and two qualitative methods: content analysis and formal concept analysis (FCA). Primary data were collected from both original design manufacturers (ODMs) and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in Taiwan.

According to the qualitative empirical study, modern enterprises need to pay immediate attention to the following two pathways: a compliance approach and a voluntary approach. For the former, three strategic content variables are identified: training programs, ISO, and supplier quality audit programs. As for initiating a voluntary effort, modern lead firms need to instill “motivation” into a supply chain quality system.

The findings based on the abductive model reveal numerous strategic and tactical enablers, key sequences to move firms from their current situation to their preferred one, and critical opportunities for supply chain‐wide quality system designs.

This study will be of great value to supply chain policy makers, supply chain operators, and decision makers in lead firms in a supply chain setting and their channel partners. The proactive use of the authors' proposed research procedure is indispensable to effective supply chain quality planning.