Strategic Quality Planning Research Articles

Korean Standard Quality Excellence Index for strategic quality planning and improvement

As an ongoing pursuit of quality excellence, Korea continues to perform annual product quality evaluation, based on the Korean Standard Quality Excellence Index (KSQEI), as measured across multiple industries by representative customers and experts in each industry. In this study, we analysed the current level of product quality in Korea, and further investigated the impact of quality elements on consumer satisfaction. This study was based on the KSQEI 2015 survey, through which national quality levels were measured for over 72 firms, across 20 industries. Comparisons of weighting methodologies were performed, using analytic hierarchy processing (AHP), entropy determinations, and a compromised weighting approach. Multiple linear regression analyses were also conducted to identify the effectiveness of product and hedonic quality elements on consumer satisfaction. The priorities of quality improvement varied, depending on the chosen perspective of objective or subjective methodologies. Additionally, our implicit inferences indicate that firms should design improvement strategies by considering consumers’ quality attributes, as well as any specific firm’s strategic positioning in the marketplace. Although the scope of the KSQEI is a representative national quality evaluation system, the index was initially designed as a generic model to evaluate product quality within domestic environments. Therefore, while feedback from global consumers was not available for this study, we believe this approach to be a highly representative assessment for businesses around the world. For each industry, 648 respondents (90% consumers and 10% industry experts, on average) were surveyed to assess product quality, hedonic quality, and consumer satisfaction. This study reveals the current levels of various Korean products’ quality, and delineates both the importance of weighting methodologies and prioritisation strategies, using consumer satisfactory groups, when employing KSQEI for quality improvement.

Management of Investment Attractiveness of the Region by Improving Company Strategic Planning

Background/Objectives: The study is analyzing the enterprise strategic planning system and its optimization to improve the competitiveness of regions. Improvement of the strategic planning mechanism should be a priority task for the regional economic policy. Methods: The research has been performed on the basis of the food industry enterprises of the Central Federal District of Russia. The authors have used marketing tools (interviewing and interrogation) and the financial and economic analysis of company performance. In order to optimize the strategic planning process, based on the systemic and integrated approaches the planning process modeling has been used, as well as correlation and regression analysis. Findings: The study has identified the main problems of strategic planning in the Russian companies. To solve them, a scheme of the strategic planning process optimization has been elaborated. It is based on the assessment of the quality of each of the planning stages. The implementation of the scheme involves the use of a specific set of evaluation criteria expressed in the form of specific indicators. Developed tools of strategic planning quality assessment will allow managers to timely identify problem areas in the company. In addition, to improve the company’s efficiency, the classical model of strategic planning has been complemented with a unit of information support improvement. Using the correlation and regression analysis in the model has made it possible to establish the relationship between the resulting index (strategic objective) and factor performance (performance criteria). The scientific approach to the formulation of the company’s goals and objectives will increase the degree of the strategic plan feasibility and the attainability of the planned results. Improvements: The significance of the model for the company’s strategic planning system improvement is that its implementation will form an effective management system ensuring the growth of investment attractiveness of the region.

Corporate Governance of SOEs and Performance in Transition Countries. Evidence from Lithuania

This paper investigates whether and to what extent corporate governance mechanisms affect the efficiency of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) operating in transition economies. Furthermore, it examines the relationship between corporate governance practice and its impact on both wholly state run SOEs and majority state run SOEs. We employed a unique dataset of corporate governance ratings (related to quality of transparency, quality of board, and quality of strategic planning, implementation and control) of commercial Lithuanian SOEs relating to the period following the introduction of the corporate governance reforms in the years 2012-2013. In order to investigate our research hypotheses, we set up a two-stage empirical research strategy that combined a non-parametric efficiency estimator (i.e., Data Envelopment Analysis) with a bootstrapped truncated regression. We built two aggregate indexes of corporate governance ratings to represent one dimension of corporate governance quality. We then ran a battery of regressions using both the aggregated and the single corporate governance indexes as independent variables. First, the paper finds that the wholly state ownership model of SOEs is positively correlated to efficiency (i.e., wholly SOEs are more efficient than majority SOEs). Moreover, overall corporate governance practices are efficiency-enhancing; more specifically, board quality and strategic planning seem to be effective internal governance mechanisms in promoting overall organizational efficiency. Interestingly, we uncovered that there exists a relationship between concentration of ownership and corporate governance practices, but this mitigated efficiency enhancement in wholly state run SOEs compared to majority state run SOEs. This effect was driven by the lower quality of the board. Overall, our findings illustrate that corporate governance reforms have enhanced efficiency, but wholly SOEs require a better implementation in order to achieve full efficiency gains.

Strategic Capabilities for Megaproject Architects: Sequencing Network Growth and Bottleneck Removal

This study discusses capabilities necessary to strategically plan projects to develop capital-intensive infrastructure. These so-called megaprojects cannot move into implementation without a strategic plan and multiple commitments to supply critical resources. The promoter must thus assemble vast networks of resource-rich stakeholders into the project organization and share direct control over strategic design choice. Hence, strategic planning is inherently a political process that requires collective action, and conflates conflicting goals, diffuse power, and knowledge-work processes. In this study, we argue that promoters need architectural knowledge both of the stakeholder landscape and technical design to improve the quality of strategic planning. Adept promoters influence the sequence of negotiations for agreeing strategic design choice and removing bottlenecks. An ideal sequence aligns the hierarchy of strategic design choices with negotiations with the stakeholders that control the resources that enable the choices. Whilst the environment makes it hard to enact an ideal sequence, working towards this alignment is useful to pre-empt escalating indecision. It also matters to stabilise performance expectations, and thus to sustain legitimacy for the project in the public eye.

Training hospital managers for strategic planning and management: a prospective study.

BackgroundTraining is the systematic acquisition of skills, rules, concepts, or attitudes and is one of the most important components in any organization’s strategy. There is increasing demand for formal and informal training programs especially for physicians in leadership positions. This study determined the learning outcomes after a specific training program for hospital management teams.MethodsThe study was conducted during 2006 and 2007 at the Centre School of Public Health and Management, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade and included 107 participants involved in the management in 20 Serbian general hospitals. The management teams were multidisciplinary, consisting of five members on average: the director of the general hospital, the deputy directors, the head nurse, and the chiefs of support services. The managers attended a training program, which comprised four modules addressing specific topics. Three reviewers independently evaluated the level of management skills at the beginning and 12 months after the training program. Principal component analysis and subsequent stepwise multiple linear regression analysis were performed to determine predictors of learning outcomes.ResultsThe quality of the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analyses performed by the trainees improved with differences between 0.35 and 0.49 on a Likert scale (p < 0.001). Principal component analysis explained 81% of the variance affecting their quality of strategic planning. Following the training program, the external environment, strategic positioning, and quality of care were predictors of learning outcomes. The four regression models used showed that the training program had positive effects (p < 0.001) on the ability to formulate a Strategic Plan comprising the hospital mission, vision, strategic objectives, and action plan.ConclusionThis study provided evidence that training for strategic planning and management enhanced the strategic decision-making of hospital management teams, which is a requirement for hospitals in an increasingly competitive, complex and challenging context. For the first time, half of state general hospitals involved in team training have formulated the development of an official strategic plan. The positive effects of the formal training program justify additional investment in future education and training.

Stakeholder Approach to Evaluation of Tourism Development Plans

Stakeholder Approach to Evaluation of Tourism Development Plans Martin Lusticky, Vladislav Bina, Martin Musil Abstract Tourism development has its irreplaceable role in regional policy of almost all EU countries. The main goal of national and regional governments is to succeed in tourism market by increasing the competitiveness. The quality of strategic planning and plans can be considered as one of the most important factors of competitiveness of tourism destinations. This paper proposes a methodology for quality evaluation of tourism development plans by regional stakeholders which are crucial for tourism development. The evaluation results are used for selection of a benchmark from different Czech, Slovak and British regions by means of fuzzy TOPSIS method. The benchmark is analysed to identify transferable good practices. Subsequently, the quantification of the benchmarking gap between the benchmark and a tourism development plan of the Vysocina Region is realised. By means of the benchmarking gap analysis, the quality enhancement opportunities are identified and the good practices are used to eliminate the negative benchmarking gap. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/smq.v3n3a3

The Delphi hierarchy process-based study of quality engineering in Malaysia and Indonesia automotive companies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically evaluate the critical factors for successful quality engineering (QE) implementation in automotive-related companies in Malaysia and Indonesia. The existence of these critical factors for the successful application of QE would help the automotive industries, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia, to be able to investigate their current QE practices and how they could be improved. Design/methodology/approach – Delphic hierarchy process (DHP) methodology is used in this study. The DHP method is a combination of the Delphi method and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach for determining the ranking of the factors and sub factors needed for successful QE implementation. The Delphi method is employed to gather data from automotive experts in both countries and the AHP approach is used to rank the critical factors for success of QE practices. Findings – The findings of this study showed that the automotive industries in Malaysia and Indonesia stressed the importance of management responsibility and people management for the successful implementation of QE. Strategic quality planning, continuous improvement, and technology- and production-related resources are the most important sub factors for successful QE in both countries. Research limitations/implications – The series of rounds that took place during the Delphi method increased the length of time required for data collection and the follow-up process. On the basis of the consideration given, the limited resources included time, financial resources, and technical availability for this study, which resulted in the small sample sizes used. Practical implications – The ranking of the critical factors and sub factors for QE implementation could be useful for automotive-related companies in Malaysia and Indonesia to create action plans for improving their QE implementation. Originality/value – The instrument that was developed is a contribution toward characterizing critical factors for QE. Using DHP methodology, nine factors and 31 sub factors have been validated through a series of rounds of the Delphi method. It was developed based on industry experts’ inputs. Therefore, the critical factors represent actual situation for QE success.

Application of Fuzzy Benchmarking Approach for Strategic Planning of Tourism Destination

The quality of strategic planning and resulting strategies is a key factor for the competitiveness of tourism destinations. Even though this is not a typical field where benchmarking methods are widely used, such an approach can be successfully applied. This article drafts a methodology for strategic benchmarking based on a quality evaluation of development strategies in tourism destinations. These strategies are evaluated by key regional stakeholders. The evaluation of fifteen selected strategies of the Czech, Slovak, and British regions has been made by an on-line application incorporating carefully defined criteria designed to operate with fuzzy data. The best strategies—as an etalon of good practice—are selected by the means of the fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method. The Region of Vysocina was selected for realization of the benchmarking gap analysis towards all strategies from the etalon with the aim to identify the opportunities for quality enhancement and corresponding good practices.

Strategic quality planning and its impact on patients satisfaction: Empirical evidence from private health care sector of Pakistan

Strategic quality planning is considered as essential in today's global competition. Limited work has been conducted on SQPP (Strategic quality planning process).This paper describes the strategic quality planning and its impact on private health care sector of Pakistan.

Determinants of Successful Implementation of Quality Management Systems in Local Government Administration in Sarawak, Malaysia

Quality management has taken root in the Malaysian public sector in the mid 1990s. Likewise local authorities in Sarawak begin to embark on implementing Total Quality Management (TQM) and MS ISO 9000. In relation to this, a study was carried out on the implementation of TQM and MS ISO 9000 at four local authorities in Sarawak, namely Dewan Bandaraya Kuching Utara (DBKU), Padawan Municipal Council (PMC), Serian District Council (SDC) and Bau District Council (BDC), to determine the factors which influence the success of implementing quality management in the local authorities. The convenience sampling techniques was used to collect data from the respondents. There were 240 employees or internal customers from all the local authorities who were directly involved with the implementation of quality management programmes responded to the self-administered questionnaires. They were asked to relate their experiences on factors which contribute to the successful implementation of quality management programmes at the local authorities. The findings of the study showed that all four local authorities had successfully implemented quality management and practiced the essential elements such as top management support, strategic quality planning, customer focus, teamwork and quality assurance. The benefits derived from the implementation of quality management include providing better service quality to the external customers, better teamwork, increased efficiency, job satisfaction, and maintaining a better organizational culture. The study shows that the successful implementation of quality management in the four local authorities are strongly related to factors such as top management support, strategic quality planning, customer driven, teamwork, training and recognition, good performance appraisal and quality assurance.

Uma análise do ambiente mercadológico de uma empresa do setor metal mecânico sob as perspectivas de Porter

DOI: 10.5902/198346592966 In a highly competitive market where consumers are increasingly demanding, the companies, in order to maintain themselves, seek competitive strategies, bringing as an alternative the differentiation in their products quality. To achieve this goal, companies guide their business strategies for an apropriate quality system, developing a Strategic Quality Planning. This paper presents the observation made in a metallurgical industry from Santa Maria with the purpose to describe how the Strategic Planning is committed to quality, in addition to an observation of its internal and external environments through the development of the SWOT matrix and the perception through the five competitive forces of Porter (1990). It was observed the cost of poor quality in the company, addressing to the flaws and defects caused by its lack and how much it represented in the company incomes. It was possible to notice how much the company lost in sales according to the flaws in the operational process. This paper intends to warn the administrators about the costs due to a lack of quality presented by the company and that the implementation of a quality system is seen as a tool to promote improvements and not only as a set of rules to obtain a certificate.

Business excellence through total supply chain quality management

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show how the quality practices such as leadership and strategic quality planning, supplier relationship management, customer focus, quality data and reporting, process management and human resource management are as relevant to supply chains as they are to an individual firm.Design/methodology/approachBased on the review of relevant literature, propositions have been framed to stimulate future research. In order to evaluate the quality management (QM) practices in Pakistani supply chains, three cases have been presented. These cases provide information about QM practices of the case companies with respect to the supply chains they represent. Based on the case comparisons, common themes regarding the state of QM in Pakistani supply chains have been identified.FindingsThe current study shows that the state of QM in the supply chain context is at a primitive level in Pakistan. Most organizations have instituted quality departments and devised quality policy and planning inspired by ISO 9000 standards. However, quality culture that promotes bottom‐up improvement throughout the organization is nonexistent. Compared with the proposed framework of total supply chain quality management (TSCQM), Pakistani organizations have a long way to go before any significant integration can be achieved in the quality functions at the supply chain level.Originality/valueBuilding upon the current literature in the field of supply chain and QM, the current study proposes a new, more comprehensive framework TSCQM.

Quality of care in accredited and nonaccredited hospitals

Although Saudi Arabia is one of the first countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region to implement healthcare accreditation standards, little is known about its impact on nurse assessment of the provision of healthcare. The main objectives of this study were to determine the quality of healthcare services provided by accredited and nonaccredited hospitals on the basis of the views of nurses. In addition, this study aimed to explore the potential contributing factors affecting the quality of care. A cross-sectional study was carried out at one accredited and another nonaccredited hospital at Al-Khobar city, Saudi Arabia. A questionnaire was used to assess nurses' perceptions of the quality of healthcare provided in the target hospitals on a five-point Likert scale tool. A total of 164 nurses were surveyed. Quality of healthcare services and the potential contributing factors affecting the quality of care. The most highly rated scales by nurses were 'education & training' (mean=4.09), followed by 'quality management' (mean=3.96) at the accredited hospital compared with 'use of data' (mean=3.56) and 'strategic quality planning' (mean=3.56) at the nonaccredited hospital. For both hospitals, the lowest scores were assigned to the 'reward' (mean=2.78 and 3.06 by nurses at accredited and nonaccredited hospitals, respectively). Nurses' rating for all scales was higher in the accredited compared with the nonaccredited hospital, except for the reward scale. The difference was statistically significant for all scales, except human resource utilization (P≤0.02). In accredited hospitals and for different scales, nurses with 4-6 years of experience, Saudi nurses, and those aged 30-35 years had significantly higher agreement scores than their counterparts. For the accredited hospitals, the predictors of good-quality results were leadership, commitment and support (P=0.019), and strategic quality planning (P=0.007). For nonaccredited hospitals, predictors of good quality results were leadership, commitment, and support (P=0.001). As perceived by nurses in study hospitals, accredited hospitals perform favorably compared with nonaccredited hospitals in almost all quality scales. Thus, accreditation can be considered a tool for improving hospital quality. The most important determinants of quality in healthcare were leadership, commitment and support, and strategic quality planning.

Tourism Destination Benchmarking: Evaluation and Selection of the Benchmarking Partners

Tourism development has an irreplaceable role in regional policy of almost all countries. This is due to its undeniable benefits for the local population with regards to the economic, social and environmental sphere. Tourist destinations compete for visitors at tourism market and subsequently get into a relatively sharp competitive struggle. The main goal of regional governments and destination management institutions is to succeed in this struggle by increasing the competitiveness of their destination. The quality of strategic planning and final strategies is a key factor of competitiveness. Even though the tourism sector is not the typical field where the benchmarking methods are widely used, such approaches could be successfully applied. The paper focuses on key phases of the benchmarking process which lies in the search for suitable referencing partners. The partners are consequently selected to meet general requirements to ensure the quality if strategies. Following from this, some specific characteristics are developed according to the SMART approach. The paper tests this procedure with an expert evaluation of eight selected regional tourism strategies of regions in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Great Britain. In this way it validates the selected criteria in the frame of the international environment. Hence, it makes it possible to find strengths and weaknesses of selected strategies and at the same time facilitates the discovery of suitable benchmarking partners.

Valstybės strateginio planavimo subjekto dilema

Straipsnyje siekiama pagrįsti valstybės strateginio planavimo visuminio subjekto nuostatą. Šiuo požiūriu įvertinamos Lietuvos Respublikos vyriausybių veiklos programos, ūkio (ekonomikos) plėtotės, darnios raidos strategijos. Pažymimas strateginės analizės instrumento SWOT galimybių didinimas.

Value‐added role of internal audit: an Ethiopian case study

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to draw inferences – from the results of an Ethiopian public sector corporation (for‐profit) case study – on how the attributes of a value‐adding internal audit department would vary among organisations.Design/methodology/approachThe case study strategy is employed. The internal audit function of a public sector corporation was examined using an analytical framework derived from the literature. Research evidence was gathered distributing questionnaires to managers and internal auditors, conducting a semi‐structured interview with the internal audit department manager, and reviewing documents.FindingsThe results highlight that traditional/compliance audit is dominant in the organisation studied as contrasted with value‐added auditing. The paper concludes that goals and strategies pursued and the level of risk faced by organisations to which internal audit provides service, appear to shape the attributes of a value‐adding internal audit department. The study also demonstrates that the quality of strategic planning for, and marketing of, internal audit would influence the extent to which an appropriate value‐added profile is attained in a particular context.Research limitations/implicationsSince a single unit of analysis is examined, universal generalisability of the findings cannot be claimed. Also, the research design assumed that the unit of analysis investigated falls within the scope of internal audit departments considered in the literature that served as a basis to develop the analytical framework and data collection instruments.Originality/valueThe paper is expected to inspire conclusive follow‐on research on the role of internal audit in Ethiopia, or other countries with similar settings.

Total quality management in secondary schools in Kenya: extent of practice

Purpose – To investigate the extent to which secondary schools practiced aspects of total quality management (TQM).Design/methodology/approach – A cross‐sectional research design was used in this study. A sample of 300 teachers in a residential session during a school holiday provided their perceptions on the practice of TQM in their schools. Data were collected using a questionnaire.Findings – Board of Governors and chairpersons in secondary schools are not providing the necessary leadership that would promote TQM practices necessary for schools' continuous improvement. However, some head teachers are providing the required leadership with a considerable number of school managements empowering their employees. The majority of schools are not committed to strategic quality planning, though they do promote human resource development initiatives.Research limitations/implications – The study relied on an accessible sample of practising teachers drawn from M.Ed and PGDE students on a one‐month residential ses...

Interview with a Quality Leader: Dale Schumacher on Strategic Quality Planning and Research

Dale N. Schumacher, MD MPH, is president of the Rockburn Institute, a not-for-profit health services research and consulting organization. Dr. Schumacher has 25 years' experience in the fields of medicine, health services research, and consulting. He spent 3 years in the U.S. Public Health Service, where he coordinated the development of the Sickness Index Profile, an early health status measure. Dr. Schumacher also helped establish the Center for Hospital Finance and Management at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, where he was an associate director. He has held senior management positions or consulted with the Sisters of Mercy Health Corporation, Holy Cross Health System, Alexian Brothers Health System, Catholic Medical Center, and Northwestern Healthcare. Currently, he is senior medical advisor to the National Business Coalition on Health and serves as clinical informatics officer for Crozer-Keystone Health System in Philadelphia. He is a board member at Kaleida Health System, Buffalo, NY. Dr. Schumacher has written more than 40 publications in the areas of medical education, medical care, quality-of-care assessment, healthcare data analysis, and reliability of chart-review data. Dr. Schumacher earned his medical degree from the University of Illinois and his master of public health degree from The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, and was a postdoctoral fellow there in the departments of health services administration and epidemiology. He trained at The Johns Hopkins/Baltimore City Hospitals and St. Agnes Hospital. Dr. Schumacher is board certified in internal medicine.

The role of socio‐cultural, political‐legal, economic, and educational dimensions in quality management

Quality management practices have recently flourished across the globe. In this research we review and integrate the literature by identifying and organizing significant research findings, and develop a conceptual model of the relationships between international environmental conditions (e.g. socio‐cultural, political‐legal, economic, and educational factors) and dimensions of quality management (e.g. strategic quality planning, customer focus and satisfaction, human resource development and management, information and analysis, management of process quality, and quality and operational results). The model developed here helps us move beyond examining the differences in quality practices across countries to an understanding of why such differences occur, and helps practitioners gain a better perspective on how quality management techniques can be adopted in different regions around the world.

Impact of Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Criteria on organizational quality performance

The aim was to test the link between the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) criteria and organizational quality performance. Specifically, this paper focuses on the role of quality information and analysis in quality performance among Korean manufacturing firms. This study also reviews prior research on MBNQA and examines the impact of customer and market management on quality. A survey instrument was developed based on specific criteria of MBNQA. Results suggest that quality information and analysis has a strong, positive impact on strategic quality planning and process management, and quality results are affected by human resource management and process management.