Jacek Stanisław Jóźwiak Improving the System of Quality Management in the development of the competitive potential of Polish armament companies Summary of doctoral thesis Supervisor: dr hab. Piotr Bartkowiak, prof. nadzw. UEP Auxiliary supervisor: dr Paweł Bartkowiak Poznań 2016 Faculty of Management Department of Investments and Real Estate
The challenges, which created market competition to maintain a competitive advantage inspire companies management to search for optimal factors and activities which can be a source of economic success. In this context relevant and still very current is the issue of customer orientation, as an important determinant in the process of companies competition. It is also one of the key principles of quality management because quality is an essential instrument in providing customers with value higher than the competitors. To meet current and forecast future needs of the customer is the driving force behind improving the quality and at the same time to strengthen the competitive potential which is a collection of valuable resources and activities of a company which are used or can be performed on. Undoubtedly, based on the background of shaping the values for the customers interconnectedness between management quality and competitiveness is shown. Therefore improving the Quality Management System has become an essential tool used to strengthen the effectiveness of the activities and the efficiency of inputs and thus obtain better economic results. An interesting example of seeking to hold at the companies disposal are valuable and well organized resources in which the quality is created is the armament industry. It is due to the fact that the modern military product are both innovative solutions and high quality, reliability and safety for armed forces using them. In addition, also in XXI century ensuring safety and sovereignty of states it is still a constant challenge. In the face of these circumstances production of military products takes a prominent place in global economy. It is observed in both the competition of great armament companies in terms of creating new military products as well as the cooperation of many states in the field of the defence. An example of such cooperation is the affiliation of many countries to the North Atlantic Pact (NATO). In march 2014 it was the fifteenth anniversary of Polish accession to NATO and the subsequent participation in the alliance accelerated the process of upgrading and the modernization of Polish Armed Forces` potential. It also opened the home defence market to foreign companies. In the same year creating the Polish Armaments Group, which has increased the ability of the Polish defence industry to effectively compete on an international defence market level. The results of these changes is to speed up the process of restructuring of the armament companies, including constant improvement of Quality Management System. The literature gap revealed by the author on the improvement of the Quality Management System which meets the NATO specific additional requirements contained in the publication AQAP 2110 (NATO quality assurance requirements for design, development and production) was the first scientific impulse to take up presenting this dissertation. Second and just as important the impulse was the scarcity of research, the purpose would be to find 2
detailed relations in terms of the influence of factors and effects for improving the Quality Management System and the competitive potential of the companies operating in the Polish defence industry. It created a research gap indicating at the same time the need to develop and carry out own empirical research. The inspiration described earlier helped to clarify the main aim of this dissertation, which is to explain the function that Quality Management System has in terms of improving and shaping the competitive potential of Polish armament companies and developing a copyright model refining this potential based on improving this system. Considering the above, the research problem which the author undertook to solve included the following scope: determining the conditions and the effects improving the Quality Management System Polish armaments companies have as well as explaining their function in the context of shaping the competitive potential of these entities. Critical analysis of the scientific literature of the subject did not allow to solve the problem nor to verify these three hypotheses. In the view of the foregoing the author, apart from studying the literature designed and conducted his own empirical research. Its main purpose was to identify both the determinants and effects for improving standardized Quality Management System in accordance with requirements of AQAP 2110 standardized publication and elements of companies competitive potential associated with them. The immediate result of the research was the Quality Management System and its improvement. The subject of research were the armament companies in Poland having the system in place and certified in compliance with ISO 9001, AQAP 2110 by accredited and independent unit. The subjects making up armament industry in Poland were pointed and adapted by the Council of Ministers Consolidation strategy and support of the development of the Polish defence industry in the years 2007-2012 and in publication issued under the auspice of the Ministry of Economy such as Polish industrial defence potential. These companies receive an annual average of not less than 25 percent of the total revenue from the sale of military products and services in the field. On the day 09 th of April 2014 (the starting point of research in companies) were identified 41 such economic subjects. The companies are located in several Polish regions so the spatial range included the specific places in which the production took place. The time scope that the research covered were the years 2013-2016. Bearing in mind the limited both quantitatively and specifically defined research population, the author attempted to test all of its units. The research was conducted by measuring indirect methods, a survey was conducted. As a measure instrument a questionnaire was used (sent via post along with an introductory letter on the scope of the subject and research). When composing the research questionnaire scientific literature 3
sources were used as well as experiences of other authors studying standardized management system and Delphi method with the participation of group of experts. The study was divided into three stages. Stage one-preliminary research covered the analysis of the literature, consultations with experts, developing the final version of the questionnaire and pilot studies in companies. The actual research was conducted during the other two stages. Stage two included the development of Quality Management Studies and its thorough examination. During stage three a report on second stage of the study was posted to all respondents, that is to all Quality Management System commissioners from various companies of the industry. Subsequently the relation between improving Quality Management System and shaping the competitive potential of the companies was closely examined. In the last two stages of the survey took part respectively 98 percent (2 nd stage) and 90 percent (3 rd stage) of the companies of the defence industry in Poland, which sent back correctly filled out questionnaires. Therefore, necessary grounds to reach the comprehensible results were obtained. The data acquired during the research was given statistical analysis. For this purpose, following methods were used: analysis of the statistical measures, factor analysis and correlation analysis. Use of data analysis successfully supported the concluding process necessary to achieve the purpose of the dissertation. The dissertation consist of six chapters. The layout of the work was dictated by subject of the study the pursue to achieve set goals and progress of the research project. First three chapters consist of theoretically-descriptive part. In the first chapter, after defining the concepts of the industry and indicating the criteria for its extraction, synthetic characteristics of the defence industry were introduced. The attention was drawn to specific elements of the industry subsequently on the North American (USA) market Western European and in Poland. Presentation of the armaments industry in Poland which is the author s main interest and subject of the research is enhanced with data collected during his own investigation. In the second chapter the attempt was made to identify and systematize the relation between quality and competitiveness. Therefore, in the first place operationalising the concepts related to quality (including military products quality) and competitiveness was attempted. Subsequently, chosen concepts of quality management and competitiveness of the company were presented. The final part of this section looks at competitiveness from the point of view of its quality. The third chapter introduces important and necessary solutions for solving the research problem associated with both the improvement of the standard of the Quality Management System in accordance to AQAP 2110 for armament industry and elements and measures of 4
companies competitive potential. In presenting the improvement of the Quality Management System and the evolution of the competitive potential in terms of process the author sought to indicate the dynamic relations between dimensions of quality and competitiveness. Chapter four which introduces the empirical part of the dissertation has a methodological character. Firstly the research issue was outlined and adopted hypotheses were presented; then, the aims and the scope of the research were determined. Furthermore, research methods used and tools used for personal research as well as data analysis were presented. Chapter five is of empirically-normative content. In this chapter a lot of attention was paid to the results of authors own empirical research which led to clarification of the function which improving the Quality Management System has in shaping the competitive potential of the defence industry companies in Poland. Based on the survey results analysis hypothesis was verified. In the final part of this chapter the conclusions based on the examination were formulated, which is the logical result of the research work carried out. In the six chapter the author s model for shaping the competitive potential based on the improvement of the Quality Management System is presented. It is predicted that the practical use of this solution in companies in future might be a helpful tool when making key decisions regarding the improvement of performance in companies. This chapter makes an empirically-theoretical part of this dissertation. Summarizing, the answers to research questions and the results of the verification of hypotheses are presented, also the implementation of the purposes of the dissertation is assessed. Related to resolving the research problems and the prospect of further research is also formulated. The results of the research, making the analysis and outlining the results allowed for a full implementation following detailed aims of this dissertation. They allowed also, apart from merely defining the function of improvement, to prepare author s model for shaping the competitive potential based on improving the Quality Management System, which was the culmination in accomplishing the main goals of this dissertation. Based on the results obtained in compliance with accepted statistical criteria the hypothesis was positively verified. The author found the empirical evidence proving that, an identified factors, which determine the improvement of Quality Management System, have a greater or lesser effect on shaping the competitive potential of companies. The result of the research also showed that a rather large group of specific effects of improvement which influence with great force the development of competitive potential as 5
a whole. Moreover, the sum of the effect of improvement influence with great impact the development of the majority of individual elements of competitive potential. The analysis undertaken showed also the occurrence of directly proportional relation between reaching by the company higher level of efficiency and increasing the effectiveness of the system with distinguishing feature being the effectiveness and efficiency. At the same time in a study of operational efficiency it was found that transition to the next level of improvement of the Quality Management System increase both the effectiveness of ways of conduct and efficiency in the use of inputs with prominent increase in influence strengthening competitive potential. It is also worth noting that Polish armament industry have not had such advanced research conducted as yet; the research including two important areas, activity of companies management that is improving quality management and shaping competitive potential and relation between them. Researches were met with great interest and the research report was sent via email to all surveyed that is to Quality Management System specialists in chosen companies. This indicates a possibility that potential implementation of the results into practice may take place. The author of the dissertation recommends the improvement of the Quality Management System extending the scope of the systematic maintenance of the system. It is stipulated that the companies management when assessing the functioning of the processes and conformity of the products should analyse at the same time particular spheres of the functional resource of competitive potential with the use of adapted measures and indicators. It is anticipated that this may have positive impact on improving the operational efficiency of companies. Also, designed by the author model solution including the above recommendations might be universal and helpful tool in making key decisions regarding the improvement on working of the companies. In view of the above, the further prospect of research directed at identifying new results for improving Quality Management System and getting to know their role in shaping the competitive potential of the companies opens up. 6