International Journal for Quality Research

14

Authors: Dominik Zimon

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to ask one question. How the implementation of the requirements of ISO 9001 system affects the costs of running the business? Design/methodology/approach – The research covered time from 2006 to 2011 and was an attempt to assess the impact of the maintenance of the ISO 9001 Quality Management System on the costs of small and medium sized business organizations. The main objective was the selection of right research subjects that would allow the formulation of the most reliable and statistically valid conclusions. For this purpose we obtained permissions to conduct research in organizations characterized by comparable futures such as size, industry, type of business and strategy. Findings – The study shows that the costs associated with the implementation and maintenance of the Quality Management System standard is still too high, and effectively discourages representatives of small and medium-sized commercial organizations from implementing ISO 9001 system.

14

Authors: Alexandra Simon, Piotr Kafel, Pawel Nowicki, Marti Casadesus

The aim of this paper is to analyze the key features of an effective complaint management process as well as to explore whether these systems are formally constituted in terms of standards or other models for complaints management. We use four case studies of spa organizations from Spain. The case studies illustrate the organizations’ approach to managing complaints and customer satisfaction effectively. The results of this exploratory study show that all four organizations have some mechanisms implemented to handle complaints although different levels of formalization have been achieved. The analysis unveils some common difficulties and key success factors of implementing a complaints handling system. The results of this paper suggest that managers should prioritize managing customer complaints effectively in order to enhance their chances of meeting customer expectations. This strategy can result into turning customer complaints to customer satisfaction, especially when the organization views complaints as an opportunity to improve.

16

Authors: Ana Stranjancevic, Iva Bulatovic

One of the greatest challenges for stakeholders is to ensure customer satisfaction, especially in service industries such as tourism and hospitality. The aim of this paper is to show that restaurant guest satisfaction depends on numerous factors as well as to show the connection between satisfaction and loyalty. Customer satisfaction and loyalty are excellent indicators of service quality. For the purpose of this paper, empirical survey was conducted and the results of the research were analyzed by statistical method. Factors which affect customer satisfaction are: kind staff, professionalism, speed of service, food quality, ambience and comfort. This implicates a special need for the introduction of strong Human Resource Management, food safety standards (e.g. HACCP) and effective space planning. The study implies that the care for quality of products and services is necessary at all levels and that it is impossible to ensure the customer satisfaction or create customer loyalty without strong management system (including space projecting) and without controlling it.

22

Authors: Rajesh Kumar Jain, Yogesh Doshit, Tripura Sundari Joshi

Indian blood transfusion service industry is not able to meet the needs of the society and is still reliant, at least partially, on professional donors. Hence, major focus has to be on encouraging voluntary donors and increasing the supply. To this end, the quality of blood collection service needs to be assuring, hygienic and efficient in order to attract the potential donors. Authors believe the industry being not competitive, lacks incentives to be modern, resulting in fear psychosis, low supply, diseconomies of scale and higher cost of production. The government, by forcing and ensuring highest standards, can help achieve greater voluntary donation resulting in benefits to the industry and to the recipients. The objective of the study is to measure the quality of service provided by the blood banks to the donors of the blood. The research is directed at measuring the costumers’ perception of service quality, relative importance of its dimensions and identifying the best practices applicable for blood banks. The research is empirical in nature and is based on administering the modified SERVQUAL instruments on more than 300 blood donors. Using statistical analysis, the paper evaluates the processes at different blood banks.

24

Authors: Dinh Tran Ngoc Huy

After the recent global crisis, corporate scandals and bankruptcy in US and Europe, there is some certain evidence on weak corporate governance, risk management and audit system. The 2009 India Code of Corporate Governance also revealed that during the crisis time, there are certain weaknesses although corporate structure is fairly durable. Hence, this paper chooses a different analytical approach and among its aims is to give some systematic opinions. First, it classifies limited South Asian representative corporate governance (CG) standards into two (2) groups: India and Malaysia latest CG principles covered in group 1 and, group 2, including corporate governance principle from Thailand and Indonesia, so-called relative good CG group, while it uses ACCA and OECD and ICGN principles as reference. Second, it, through analysis, identifies differences and advantages between above set of standards which are and have been used as reference principles for many relevant organizations. Third, it establishes a selected comparative set of standards for South Asian representative corporate governance system in accordance to international standards. Last but not least, this paper covers some ideas and policy suggestions.