J. Global Business Advancement, Vol. x, No. x, xxxx 1 Copyright © 200x Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Total quality management and its effect on SMEs performance Muslim Amin Management Department, College of Business Administration, King Saud University, P.O. Box. 71115, Riyadh 11587, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Email: tengkumuslim@yahoo.com Abstract: This study investigates the effect of total quality management (TQM) practices on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) performance. A total of 500 SMEs from the food and beverage industry were chosen randomly, yielding a response rate of 34% (170 SMEs). The results of the study show that each dimension of TQM practices has a significant relationship with SMEs’ performance. The results shows that supplier quality management, continuous improvement, employee fulfilment and customer focus are play an important role in enhancing SMEs’ performance. Other enhancers are leadership, learning and process management. Therefore, the ability of SMEs to identify and evaluate TQM practices will significantly improve their performance. The top management needs to consistently monitor TQM practices in order to improve the level of competitiveness for SMEs performance. Keywords: TQM; total quality management, SMEs performance; Malaysia. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Amin, M. (xxxx) ‘Total quality management and its effect on SMEs performance’, J. Global Business Advancement, Vol. x, No. x, pp.xxx–xxx. Biographical notes: Muslim Amin is an Assistant Professor at Management Department, College of Business Administration, King Saud University (KSU), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Prior joining to KSU, he served as a Senior Lecturer at International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM-IBS). His current research interests include service quality, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, electronic commerce and interactive marketing, and entrepreneurship marketing. He has published his research papers in The Service Industries Journal, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Services Marketing Quarterly, Clinical Governance: An International Journal, The TQM Journal, Journal for Global Business Advancement and International Journal of Retailing and Distribution Management. 1 Introduction Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are defined based on three criteria: micro- enterprise, small enterprise and small medium enterprise. Micro-enterprise is defined with annual sales turnover of RM 250,000 and fewer than five full time employees.