This research investigates the relationship between quality management adoption and firm performance. The study centers on key components of quality management in a survey of manufacturing firms. Factor analysis, cluster analysis, and ANOVA are used to test relationships among quality management adoption level, resulting practices, and performance in small-to-medium manufacturing businesses. Results show that quality adoption is an important determinate of performance for these firms. In addition, findings suggest that the importance of quality adoption transcends industry type, providing empirical support for Deming's philosophy of viewing the firm as a system of interrelated components (1986, 1993) and further validating the teachings of the quality management guru's.