INTEGRATING TQM IN ORGANIZING PRODUCER’S ASSOCIATION OF ORGANIC PRODUCTION IN REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Abstract

One important approach to sustainable development, which at the same time gives a good quality and safe product and has seen intense growth in the country, is organic farming. The Republic of Macedonia has excellent conditions for the development of organic farming due to the extensive farming mainly in the highlands and the adoption of the Law on Organic Farming followed by appropriately defined agrarian policy. In Republic of Macedonia there is a formal legal framework upon which several associations of producers of organic food have been formed. Nevertheless, associations are facing problems such as insufficient quantity for sale, poor market organization and division occurs in societies when in one region there are several manufacturers for the same product. In terms of managing these issues, there emerges the need for a new approach to management whose base is the multidimensionality of the quality, its operation and function in all spheres of social life.

By applying the concept of Total Quality Management - TQM as a way of organizing, the associations of producers of organic products have the potential to win and maintain the market. This paper attempts to answer the question of how TQM can improve the organization of associations of producers of organic products. The research in the paper is based on analysis of data obtained through interviews with the members of associations of producers of organic products in Republic of Macedonia on a previously prepared questionnaire with qualitative and quantitative data as well as their published information.