This study aims to examine the contribution of the application of total quality control in improving quality performance and its consequences for the creation of competitive advantage. The research method used is a verification survey method to describe the empirical conditions of the production process activities at SMEs producing cocoa in Central Sulawesi Province. The analytical tool used is path analysis with a two-stage regression approach to examine the structural relationship between variables. The results show that total quality control consisting of employee empowerment, employee training and teamwork culture had a significant effect on improving the quality performance of cocoa SMEs. The consequences of improving quality performance are proven to mediate employee empowerment, employee training, and a culture of teamwork in creating a competitive advantage for cocoa SMEs in Central Sulawesi Province.

The value chain and the target cost play significant role in achieving competitive advantage in many areas where both concepts are complement to each other. The two concepts also aim to reduce cost and maintain product quality. The current research aims to establish a framework of complementary association between value chain analysis and target costing system to achieve competitive advantage in manufacturing companies of Saudi Arabia. The study uses exploratory research to study the problem with the help of a structured questionnaire. The reported results show that target costing aids the manufacturing firms of Saudi Arabia in achieving the competitive advantage, and similar type of result holds with the value chain analysis. However, the target costing method is having an insignificant relationship with competitive advantage when combined with value chain analysis method, even after controlling for difficulties.