Kalite Yönetimi Uygulamalarının Firmaların Finansal Performansına Etkisinin Analizi

Abstract

Günümüzde, tüketicilerin kalite bilincinin ve buna bağlı olarak beklentilerinin artması ile birlikte giderek hız kazanan küresel rekabet, firmalarda kalite yönetimi uygulamalarının yükselişe geçmesine neden olmuştur. Bu oldukça zorlu rekabet ortamında uluslararası piyasalarda kendine yer edinmek isteyen Türk firmaları, Türkiye Kalite Derneği tarafından yürütülen "Ulusal Kalite Hareketi"nin de desteği ile, özellikle Avrupa Birliği standartlarına uyum şartlarını sağlayacak belge ve sertifikaları edinme yoluna gitmişlerdir. Son yıllarda kalite yönetimi uygulamalarından biri ya da birkaçını kullanan firma sayısındaki artış, kalite yönetimi uygulamalarının firmaların finansal performansına etki edip etmediği konusundaki tartışmaları gündeme getirmiştir. Bu çalışmada, kalite yönetimi uygulamalarının firmaların finansal performansı üzerinde bir etki yaratıp yaratmadığı ve bu etkinin ne yönde olduğuna dair analizler yapılmıştır. Türkiye'de sanayi sektöründe faaliyet gösteren 324 firmanın on bir yıllık finansal verileri, panel veri teknikleri ile analiz edilmiş ve kalite yönetimi uygulamalarından en az birini uygulayan firmalardaki değişimler tespit edilmeye çalışılmıştır. Firmalara ait finansal veriler, İstanbul Sanayi Odası tarafından her yıl yayınlanmakta olan "Türkiye'nin 500 Büyük Sanayi Kuruluşu" raporundan elde edilmiştir. Çalışmada, firmaların "Aktif Karlılığı" ve "Kar Marjı" performans göstergelerini açıklayan iki model kurulmuştur. Toplam Kalite Yönetimi, Altı Sigma ve Yalın Yönetim uygulamaları modele açıklayıcı değişken olarak eklenerek kalite yönetimi uygulamaları ile finansal performans arasındaki ilişkisinin karlılık oranlarında artışa neden olup olmadığı incelenmiş, elde edilen bulgular ile literatür karşılaştırılmıştır. Yapılan analizler neticesinde kalite yönetimi uygulamalarının, firmaların finansal performansları üzerinde kısmi bir etkiye sahip olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Her iki modelde de Toplam Kalite Yönetimi ve Altı Sigma uygulamalarının karlılığı etkilediği ancak Yalın Yönetim uygulamasının bu etkiye sahip olmadığı saptanmıştır. Altı Sigma uygulaması karlılık göstergelerini olumlu yönde etkilerken, Toplam Kalite Yönetimi'nin olumsuz etkilediği; bu duruma Türkiye'de Toplam Kalite Yönetimi'nin benimsenmesi sırasında yapılan hatalar ve uygulamasında karşılaşılan sorunların neden olduğu görülmüştür. Aynı anda birden fazla kalite yönetimi uygulaması kullanan firmalarda ise karlılık göstergelerinin yıllar içerisinde olumlu ve anlamlı sonuçlar ortaya çıkardığı tespit edilmiştir.

In today's world, consumers are quality conscious and with consequent increase in the expectations of increasingly accelerating global competition, has led to the rise of quality management practices in the firms. In order to provide a competitive advantage, it is necessary to include quality management to the managerial process and to develop appropriate performance criteria for quality management. While in the United States Six Sigma, Lean Management and Total Quality Management are popular; in Europe EFQM (the European Foundation for Quality Management) Excellence Model, ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems and Total Quality Management practices are the most preferred quality management practices. And also in Asia; the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9000 Quality Management System, Kaizen, 5S and Total Quality Management practices are the most preferred quality management practices. In this quite challenging competitive environment, Turkish companies who want a share of the international market, are particularly chose to obtain documents and certificates that will require compliance with European Union standards. With the support of the "National Quality Movement" that carried out by the KalDer (Turkey Quality Association), not only Total Quality Management, but also Six Sigma and Lean Management practices have also drawn considerable interest by the Turkish companies. Some of these firms imitating the major competitors in the international markets with catching up concern, then begin to implement quality management practices. The other part of the firms began quality practices to keep pace with the competitors in the first group and fulfill the requirements of the current time by adapting to these innovative approach. In recent years, increase in the number of companies which using the quality management practices has brought discussions on whether the quality management practices have impact on financial performance of the companies or not. In this study, the analysis has been done for testing if there is an impact on the financial performance of the companies that implement quality management practices. And also some other analysis has been done to find out if there is an effect what is the direction of it. Eleven-year financial data of 324 companies operating in the industrial sector in Turkey were analyzed with panel data techniques and aimed to determine the changes in the companies that implemented at least one of the quality management practices. The financial data of the firms was derived from the report that called "Turkey's Top 500 Industrial Enterprises" which is published every year by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry. According to collected data and research question of the study, the hypotheses are defined as follows: H1: Total Quality Management practice has an impact on the financial performance of the companies. H2: Six Sigma practice has an impact on the financial performance of the companies. H3: Lean management practice has an impact on financial performance of the companies. H4: Use of multiple quality management practices at the same time, has an impact on the financial performance of the companies. While in 2000, only 25% of the firms in the study was using at least one of the quality management practices, this proportion rose to 68% in 2010. National Quality Movement that being conducted by KalDer has substantial share in this remarable rise. As a result of giving seminars and making promotional activities, KalDer reached a large number of firms. KalDer promotes the companies to the exellence model and the quality management practices by giving rewards in different categories annually. In this study, two models were established to explain firms "Return on Assets" and "Profit Margin" as performance indicators. "Total Quality Management", "Six Sigma" and "Lean Management" practices were added to the model as explanatory variables and examined whether the relationship between quality management practices and financial performance has caused an increase in profitability of the firms. And after that, findings of the study and the literature was compared. As a result of the analysis, implementation of quality management has concluded that it has a partial effect on the financial performance of the companies. It was observed that quality management practice with the biggest impact on Return on Assets is Total Quality Management (coefficient = -0.0228), and it is followed by Six Sigma (coefficient = 0.0224). This result means that if one unit of change occurs in Total Quality Management, Return on Assets will be negatively affected by 2.28% units. In a similar way, it has been reached that if one unit of change occurs in Six Sigma variable, Return on Assets will be positively affected by 2.24% units. Any significant relationship between Lean Management practice and Return on Assets could not be found at the end of analysis. As Return on Assets, in Profit Margin it was observed that quality management practice with the biggest impact on Profit Margin is Total Quality Management (coefficient = -0.030), and it is followed by Six Sigma (coefficient = 0.024). According to this result, if one unit of change occurs in Total Quality Management, Profit Margin will be negatively affected by 3% units. Similarly, it has been reached that if one unit of change occurs in Six Sigma variable, Profit Margin will be positively affected by 2.4% units. In a similar manner, any significant relationship between Lean Management practice and Profit Margin could not be found at the end of analysis. As a result of examinations made on companies that using multiple quality management practices at the same time, it is revealed that in 2000, only 2.8% of the firms in the study were using multiple quality management practices; but in 2010, it is observed that this ratio increased to 26.5%. While the companies use multiple quality management practices at the same time, profitability indicators revealed significant and positive results in years. It is found that if one unit of change occurs in using multiple quality management practices at the same time, Return on Assets will be affected by 2.6% units and Profit Margin will be affected by 3% units. According to data from the year 2010: 13.3% of companies using Six Sigma with Lean Management; 13.8% of companies using Six Sigma with Total Quality Management and 17.9% of companies using Total Quality Management with Lean Management. The number of employees of the firm, the debt ratio and foreign capital ownership percentage in the company is considered as an indicator of institutionalization. It is revealed that Return on Assets is affected by the percentage of foreign capital (0.015%), the number of employees of the firm (0.9%) and the debt ratio (20.6%). The observations from the model of Profit Margin show that the percentage of foreign capital and the number of employees of the firm does not have an effect on Profit Margin. But on the other hand, the study concluded that the debt ratio of the firm affects Profit Margin (22.6%). Considering the whole of of the work; it is revealed that H1, H2 and H4 hypothesis is accepted; but H3 hypothesis is rejected. Based on Return on Assets and Profit Margin performance indicators, various quality management practices' effects on these indicators was examined. In both models it is found that Total Quality Management and Six Sigma practices affect profitability but Lean Management does not have this effect. While Six Sigma implementation affects profitability indicators in a positive way, it is reached that Total Quality Management adversely affected by profitability indicators. The examinations show that in Turkey, the mistakes made during the adoption of the Total Quality Management and the problems encountered in implementation caused this situation about Total Quality Management.