From Compliance to Agility: Reconfiguring Quality Management to Foster Innovation in Moroccan Industrial Firms

Abstract

This paper revisits the relationship between total quality management (TQM) and innovation in Moroccan industrial firms and argues that the effect of quality management depends less on the formal presence of tools than on the way routines are interpreted and used. To address the lack of methodological clarity often observed in conceptual discussions, the article adopts an integrative critical literature review and explicitly states the review logic, selection criteria and analytical procedure. The review combines seminal studies on TQM and innovation with recent contributions on Quality 4.0, dynamic capabilities and organizational ambidexterity. On this basis, the paper develops a three-stage framework distinguishing compliance-based quality, bureaucratic quality and agile quality. The framework explains why some firms convert standards, audits, problem-solving routines and customer feedback into learning and innovation capabilities, while others reinforce rigidity and ceremonial compliance. The article contributes by clarifying the theoretical novelty of agile quality as a configuration that balances operational reliability with controlled experimentation, cross-functional learning and selective standardization. It also situates the argument within the Moroccan industrial context, where export requirements, certification pressures, unequal digital maturity and resource constraints shape the quality-innovation nexus. The paper concludes with managerial implications and a future research agenda for empirical studies in Moroccan manufacturing sectors.