Why is it difficult to succeed with quality improvements?

Some people see total quality management (TQM) as something necessary to reach competitiveness and therefore emphasize the relation between TQM and success. A number of recent investigations support this competitiveness/success link, reporting that organizations that have successfully implemented TQM also attain better financial results than "the average company". Others claim that TQM is merely a management fad and point out, quite correctly, that many companies have failed in their attempts to implement TQM. As a result, the concept of TQM is less popular today as demonstrated by the growing resistance in the USA and the movement away from using "quality" in naming conventions. Instead, new concepts such as six sigma and business excellence, have supplanted TOM as "the new management paradigm", the latter shown by, for instance, the EFQM's change from a quality framework to an excellence framework. There are several reasons why implementation is difficult, including conceptual, terminological, structural, and mental reasons.