第六届中小企业管理研讨会

611TheStudyofCapabilityforSmallandMedium-sizedCompaniesinCompetingforTaiwanNationalQualityAward1212AbstractTheTaiwanNationalQualityAward(TNQA)hasbeenconductedfor14years.However,smallandmedium-sizedcompanies(SMSCs)rarelywintheTNQA.ThisstudyundertakesacapabilityanalysistoexplorehowSMSCsdowintheTNQA.Asurveyinstrumentinvolving149questionsextractedfrom“the2001HandbookofStandardCriteriaforEvaluationofTNQA”isusedtomeasurethecapabilityofSMSCsincompetingfortheTNQA.ThepaperconcludeswithasummaryoftheessentialqualitiesrequiredbyanSMSCifitistocompetesuccessfullyfortheTNQA.Keywords:TNQA,TQM,SMSC1.IntroductionIntermsofeconomicscale,SMSCsarelimitedbyfinitefinancialandhumanresources,andtheythereforefinditisdifficulttocreatenewproductiontechniquesanddevelopnewmarkets.This,inturn,impedesthelong-termeconomicdevelopmentofthewholecountry,andinviewofthevigorousglobalcompetitionnowbeingfacedbySMSCstheTaiwanesegovernmentisincreasinglyconcernedaboutthedevelopmentofthissectoroftheeconomy.AhealthySMSCsectorbringsatleastthreebenefitsforthewidereconomy.First,itproducesgrowthinthegeneraleconomyandincreasedemployment.Secondly,itprovidesacompetitiveenvironment,thushelpingtoconstructefficientmarketmechanisms.Thirdly,itacceleratestheexpansionoftechnicalskills,thusimprovingtheoverallleveloftechnologyinindustryasawhole[1].Takentogether,theeconomicperformanceofSMSCsisobviouslycrucialtooverallnationaleconomicperformance.TocreateanothereconomicmiracleforTaiwan,theimportanceofSMSCscannotbeoveremphasized.SinceTaiwanhasbecomeamemberoftheWorldTradeOrganization(WTO),ithasbecomeapparentthatSMSCsinTaiwanarebecominglesscompetitiveontheglobalstage.TaiwaneseSMSCsneedtobecomemorecustomer-orientedprovidinghigher-qualityproductsandservicestosatisfycustomerdemand.TheleadershipofTaiwaneseSMSCsmustorientatetheircompaniestowardsacommitmenttohighvalue-addedactivities.Thisiscanbedonebyimplementingtotalqualitymanagement(TQM)inallbusinessactivities,andcompetingfortheTNQAisthebestwayforcompaniestotestwhethertheireffortstoimplementTQMhavebeensuccessful.However,lookingbackover13years,onlyeightSMSCcompanieshavewontheTNQA[2].ThisstudyexploredwhythisissobyexaminingtheproblemsthatSMSCsexperienceintheireffortstowintheaward.TheaimofthestudywastoprovideguidanceforSMSCsintheireffortstowinthisprestigiousaward.Thestudywasstructuredasfollows.•ToestablishameasurementtooltoevaluatethecapabilityofSMSCsinwinningtheTNQA,thestudyfirstdesignedaquestionnaireonthebasisof141modified612questionsextractedfrom”the2001HandbookofStandardCriteriaforEvaluationofTNQA”[3].•ThecontentvalidityandreliabilityofthequestionnairewastestedbeforeitwasmailedtoTaiwaneseSMSCs.•Ineachquestion,theSMSCswererequestedtosupplyperformancedataabout“difficulties”and“capabilities”whencompetingfortheTNQA.•ThroughinterviewswiththepreviouseightSMSCwinnersoftheTNQA,successfulexperienceswerecollectedasareferenceforotherSMSCswhencompetingfortheTNQA.•ThesepreviouseightTNQAwinnerswerealsorequestedtocompletethequestionnaire.Afterreceivingquestionnaireresponsesfromwinnersandnon-winners,capabilityindicesforbothgroupswerecomputedandcompared.•Forwinnersandnon-winners,thedifficultyindicatorsineachsubcategory(ordimension)ofTNQAcriteriawerealsocomputedandcompared.•TheabovefindingsweresummarisedwithaviewtoformingconclusionsaboutthecapabilitiesrequiredforanSMSCtowintheTNQA.2.TNQAcriteriaandevaluation2.1TNQAcriteriaIn2001,theTNQAcriteriaweremodifiedonthebasisofthe2000MalcolmBaldrigeQualityAward,the1998DemingAward,the1999EuropeanQualityAward,andISO9000-2000[3].ThiswasdonetoensurethattheTNQAcontinuedtobeageneralized,prospective,integrated,internationalaward.Inresponsetotheadventofe-commenceandtheknowledgeeconomy,the2001amendmentstotheTNQAcriteriaincludedareductionfromninecategoriestoseven.ThesevencategoriesarelistedinTable1.Table1.CriteriaoftheTaiwanNationalQualityAwardCategory(criterion)WeightI.Leadership0.15II.Innovationandstrategicmanagement0.11III.Customerandmarketdevelopment0.11IV.Humanresourceandknowledgemanagement0.11V.Informationmanagement0.11VI.Processmanagement0.11VII.Businessresult0.302.2QuestionnairedesignThesurveyquestionsusedinthepresentstudywereextractedfrom“the2001HandbookofStandardCriteriaforEvaluationofTNQA”.Eachsurveyquestion,asdevelopedbythepresentauthors,wasrelatedtoadimensionoftheTNQA.Totestthecontentvalidityofeachdimension,afive-pointLikert-typescalewasusedtoshowtherespondents’preferencesoneachitem.Five-pointscaleswereusedbecauseresearchhasindicatedthattheyareeasilycompletedbyrespondents[4,5]andprovidereliabledata[6,7].2.3.PilottestTotestthevalidityandreliabilityofthequestionnaire,twostepswereundertaken.First,severalmembersoftheChineseSocietyforQuality(CSQ)inTaiwanwereinvitedtoreviewthesurveyquestions.Aftertheirevaluationofeachquestion,itwassuggestedthatthreeitems613bedeletedbecausetheseweretoosimilartootherquestions.Onewasremovedfromoriginaldimension1.2,andtheothertwowereerasedfromdimension7.3(theperformanceofmarketdevelopment).Followingthis,thetwoitemsleftin7.3weremovedtodimension7.1.Thefinaltotalnumberofquestionswas