품질경영의 원천과 활동요인이 경영성과에 미치는 영향에 관한 실증연구

Abstract

The intense competition in the global automobile industry has resulted in improved automobile parts procurement strategies and increase in overseas direct investment, thereby reshaping the environment of the automobile parts industry in Korea.

Alongside the expansion of module parts procurement is the growth of automobile parts companies. Moreover, the automobile parts industry has become more open and competitive in response to the emergence of China as an economic power, launch of FTA negotiations, global procurement of automobile parts, and multiple deliveries of parts. With future automobiles such as hybrid automobile, fuel cell, and intelligent automobile serving as keys to competitiveness, the role of parts in the process of technological development and automobile production has become even more important.

In terms of quality competitiveness of each country's automobile industry, Korea was rated 89.6 out of 100 in 2005 compared to China (69.7) and Japan (100). Although Korea is expected to earn the same rating as Japan by 2010 (96.0), the pace at which China's quality competitiveness improves is projected to accelerate further to give it a rating of 83.7. This means that China will outperform Korea and Japan in some respects.

Quality goods and services are critical to the competitiveness of the automobile parts industry. As part of efforts to gain competitive edge, a growing number of companies introduce quality management that entails not only improving the quality of goods and services but also exercising overall management ranging from improving quality to environment to safety matters

ditto for maintaining customer-oriented quality management and establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with suppliers.

Fifth, the core practices of quality management were believed to wield a significant influence on the financial results. Among the 4 variables of core practices, quality strategy planning was found to have a significant effect on the financial results. Task function, customer relationship, outsourcing, process order, and mutual relationship should be clarified to make the organization function effectively through CEO leadership and employee participation. Moreover, setting the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) related to process results requires scheduling, content, and budgeting for regular analysis with the participation of the CEO. Improving process and goods and available resources also necessitates taking follow-up measures for correction and prevention.

Finally, the core practices of quality management were found to have a considerable effect on the non-financial results. Among the 4 variables of core practices, the exchange of quality information, compliance with requirements, and use of core tools were believed to influence the non-financial results. Specifically, the non-financial results of enhancing employees' awareness about quality, problem-solving ability, product quality, and customer satisfaction were attributed to the collection of quality information and analysis, exchange of quality information between customers and organizations through Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and use of ISO/TS 16949 certification and core tools.

hence the introduction of the ISO/TS 16949 (quality management system) and ISO 14001 (environment management system).

Therefore, this study seeks to confirm which core practices should be concentrated by the company to enhance the level of quality management by examining the implementation level of ISO/TS 16949 currently applied to the automobile parts industry, and suggest the method to boost the corporate competitiveness by figuring out the cause and effect relationship among infrastructure practices, core practices, and performance of the quality management.

Specifically, the definition and development of quality management and overview of ISO/TS 16949 were systematically clarified. Likewise, this study came up with a research model and a hypothesis based on previous research on the cause and effect relationship between quality management and management performance.

For the empirical analysis, questionnaires were administered to approximately 600 ISO/TS 16949-certified companies. Out of the 257 companies that responded, 240 were considered. Statistical analysis such as variance and regression analyses was performed by group for the collected questionnaires using SPSS ver. 12.0 package.

The empirical analysis revealed the following results:

First, no statistically significant difference was noted between the infrastructure practices of quality management and core practices of quality management in terms of the time required to acquire an ISO/TS 16949 certification.

Second, in terms of the type of supply, the difference between level of infrastructure practices and core practices of quality management was not statistically significant. This implies that the ISO/TS 16949 certification has helped improve the level of quality management system regardless of the type of supply.

Third, a statistically significant difference was noted between the infrastructure practices and core practices of quality management in terms of the size (number of employees) of ISO/TS 16949-certified companies. This suggests that big companies have more infrastructure practices and consequently better core practices compared to small and medium-sized companies. Therefore, small and medium-sized companies should figure out what the key process in the organization is, clarify the roles and rights of employees for smooth communication, and provide constant training on quality management.

Fourth, the infrastructure practices of quality management were found to have a major impact on the core practices of quality management. In other words, effective quality management requires CEO leadership, employee participation, and consistent training on quality management