Organizational and information support to the system of quality management as a key factor to increase the competitiveness of national companies and their rapid entering the global and EU markets


Project:


OI 179001; 2011-2014

Leader:


Prof. dr Janko M. Cvijanović

Project Summary


The importance of research within this project stems directly from the significance of meeting the economic dimension of competitiveness of the country, i.e., equal participation of Serbia in the European and global market of goods and services. Thus, it is obvious that the companies (the focus of this project is a company) can and must activate all internal technical, technological, human, financial and other resources in order to achieve the required level of competitiveness of goods and services offered in the domestic and foreign markets. It should be emphasized that competitiveness in the domestic market is often underestimated and neglected despite the fact that it is extremely important as it represents the first step on the path towards achieving competitiveness in the European and global market. Competition in the domestic market is occasionally sharper and more complex for some goods and services, primarily due to the effects of some non-economic factors that are, in most cases, political provenances.

 

One of the most important factors of competitiveness of an enterprise is its organization. Management bodies and all employees need to be aware of the fact that quality management systems imply production of goods and services of the expected (agreed) quality, and thus, de facto, the system of managing overall business performance. In order to make this possible, it is necessary to master and control the main business factors, such as: information systems, planning, macro-organizational and micro- organizational structure, technology etc.

 

The role of research within this project is multifaceted, as are the main objectives that this project should achieve. Besides determining the facts (inventory sheet) on each of the sub-issues whose analysis is envisaged by the project assignment, the most important mutual influences shall be examined and recommendations defined for the purpose of improving the current situation.

 

In addition to direct effects on the enterprises that shall be the object of direct research and to which recommendations refer entirely (as they will include all specifics of the situation and relationships in that company), conclusions drawn for a few enterprises can, to a greater or lesser extent, be generalized and applied to a wider range of enterprises with similar profiles and situation.

 

The next congruent circle of influence of this research and its results are executives in other(even different) companies, consultants in the domain of QMS and related, previously mentioned in project assignment of the specified topics, PhD students in the field of organizational sciences etc. Of course, the benefits, i.e., effects of this research on the given subjects depend primarily on the quality of research and findings, but also on the willingness of people working in the business sector, state administration and at faculties to adopt and implement the given findings.It largely depends on the attitude of the country towards economic issues and state policy concerning their resolution. No one can force the director of a company (regardless of the ownership structure in that company) to turn to and implement theoretical and empirical discourses for problem solving in the company, to hire consultants-specialists for certain issues and work hard on corporate culture in which reliance on one's own strengths is considered to be the starting point of conduct for all employees. Two-three days of anti-quartering in front of the office of officials working in certain ministries can lead to problem 'solution', though palliative solution, but the re-election of executives and their entire teams has become a real rarity, and thus, current executives are rarely and insufficiently interested in long-term solutions (which are the key of competitiveness in every enterprise and every economy).

The issue of diversity of approaches to organization, human resources and knowledge management should also be added, depending on whether it is a public company, public utility company, joint-stock company or limited liability company. From a theoretical point of view, those differences exist and should exist, but not to the extent to which it has escalated in Serbian enterprises. Thus, the potential importance of research in this project is immense, but whether it would remain as such, depends both on the quality of research (and relevant conclusions that arise from it) and the willingness and desire of potential users of those results.

 

Therefore, improvements arising from this project are evident in enterprises in which research is to be done, whose wider benefits are greater, but less certain.

Participants from Singidunum University:


prof. dr Mališa Žižović