This study aims to construct measures to assess the awareness and implementation situation of TQM among the enterprises in Danang city. The results show that despite a high level of quality awareness by the managers, the TQM implementation is still limited among the surveyed businesses. | Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy / Journal of Economic Development 23(3) 57-72 57 Awareness and Implementation of Total Quality Management: The case of Enterprises in Danang City NGUYEN THI BICH THUY The University Of Danang – University Of Economics – bichthuy692000@ ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Implementation of quality management in accordance with advanced quality management models, especially the Total Quality Management (TQM) approach, is crucial to the outcome quality of organizations, customer satisfaction, organizational competitive advantages, and financial performance in the present integrating environment. This study aims to construct measures to assess the awareness and implementation situation of TQM among the enterprises in Danang city. The results show that despite a high level of quality awareness by the managers, the TQM implementation is still limited among the surveyed businesses. Received: Oct. 10 2015 Received in revised form: Dec. 25 2015 Accepted: June 20 2016 Keywords: Total Quality Management, quality management implementation, customer orientation, business performance, Danang enterprises. 58 Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy / Journal of Economic Development 23(3) 57-72 1. Introduction In the context of current deeper integration, effective quality management to create competitive advantage is regarded as one of the critical issues among businesses. Improvement in the outcome quality will help reduce costs, enhance customer satisfaction, and in the end lead to better financial performance. Currently, implementing quality management practices involves not only traditional quality management techniques but also a series of principles and programs with advanced management systems such as ISO 9000 or, particularly, the Total Quality Management (TQM). Enhancing the competitiveness and business efficiency is the ultimate goal of quality management implementation. Among initial studies, the implementation of quality management is known as