Naslov
THE IMPACT OF QUALITY PRINCIPLES ON RADICAL PRODUCT INNOVATIONS: CASE OF CROATIAN MANUFACTURING SMES

Autori
Baković, Tomislav ; Butigan, Ružica ; Sutić, Ines

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u zbornicima skupova, cjeloviti rad (in extenso), znanstveni

Izvornik
Proceedings of the 15th QMOD Conference: How may organizations use Learning, Creativity and Innovation in realizing their dreams of excellence and recover from the economic crisis? / Dahlgaard-Park, S.M. ; Dahlgaard, J.J. ; Hamrol, A. - Poznań : COMPRINT, 2012, 157-166

ISBN
978-83-89333-46-9

Skup
15th QMOD Conference: How may organizations use Learning, Creativity and Innovation in realizing their dreams of excellence and recover from the economic crisis?

Mjesto i datum
Poznań, Poljska, 05.09.2012. - 07.09.2012

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
quality principles; radical product innovations; SMEs; Croatia

Sažetak
Purpose- Radical product innovations are a key component of manufacturing industry competitiveness. On the other hand there is no successful quality management system without implementing basic quality principles. The quality principles in this study were analyzed from the aspect of being either organic or mechanical principles. The research question that governs this study is: What is the real influence of quality principles on radical product innovation in Croatian manufacturing SMEs? Methodology- A questionnaire survey was developed and distributed to a sample of SMEs from Croatian manufacturing industry. The method used for analysis is multiple linear regression. The quality principles analyzed are: management support, quality information, process management, product design, human resource management, supplier relationship, customer focus and continuous improvement. Radical product innovation construct is measured by: autonomy, cannibalization, pro-activeness, risk taking and readiness for introduction of radical product innovations. Findings - Our research has revealed a positive connection between overall quality principles and radical product innovations. However there are significant differences between some of the quality principles when it comes to their separate influence on radical product innovativeness. The findings of this study are especially important for all those quality professionals wonting to increase their quality management system innovation potential. Research limitation- The main limitation of this study is connected to the research sample. Companies were chosen according to national business classification and many industries with different characteristics were analyzed together. Implications- Practical implications of this study would be that involving management in issues related to quality management too much often results in them not being able to recognize the importance of radical product innovations. It is also obvious radical product innovations can only be realized trough investment in people which in a way confirms the positive connection of soft quality management practices and innovation management. Originality/Value of the paper- The connection between quality and innovations is being heavily investigated for some years and this study makes several contributions to the topic. First of all radical product innovations are analyzed as second order latent variable and it is therefore possible to investigate separately the influence of quality principles on main radical innovation constructs. Second only radical product innovations were considered important since incremental innovations can be considered as a form of continuous improvement. The third contribution is regarded to analyzing SMEs who are

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Ekonomija

POVEZANOST RADA