Previous literatures have demonstrated a significant research gap in terms of the quality of the management practices in the organizational performances of the SMEs particularly in the food processing industry in Malaysia. Subsequently, an exploratory study is conducted to verify the proposed critical success factors (CSF) and the model constructs for SMEs in the Malaysian
food industry that is in line with these practices. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify CSF of quality management practices of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Malaysian food industry and to develop a conceptual framework of quality management practices based on the Total Quality Management (TQM) in relation to the organizational performance of the SMEs in the food processing industry in Malaysia. The quality management framework consists of leadership, corporate planning, human resource management, customer focus, supplier focus, information management, process management and quality assurance as the CSF. Finding from the exploratory study has supported the proposed constructs and results show that the instrument is reliable in measuring the construct. Thus, this study is important to support the SMEs in the food processing industry in Malaysia to manage and prioritize the implementation of QM in order to improve the organizational performance.