New, tougher challenges facing the business community demand quality should run through an entire business, from the cleaner to the chief executive, according to Emidio Friggieri, chairman of the Malta Chamber’s Quality Management Committee.
The committee is holding its annual quality and business excellence conference, themed Globalisation, Consumerism or Quality – What Is Driving Today’s Market? on November 11, World Quality Day. The full-day event, which will be held at Floriana’s Grand Hotel Excelsior, is aimed at senior staff, business people and those aspiring to leadership. It will be held in the wake of government support and tax incentives for firms striving for quality announced in Monday’s Budget.
“There is a huge misconception about quality,” Mr Friggieri told The Times Business. “Many still assimilate the word ‘quality’ with product standards, inspections, 100 per cent checks, ISO 9001 compliance, and the quality department. This is totally wrong because when we talk of quality our intention is to include the whole business, from the cleaner to the CEO. This is why this year we decided to promote business excellence.
“We operate in a global economy. This has brought about major changes in the way we set business strategies, and innovate and manage our business. Consumerism has brought additional challenges: buyers have a much wider choice on quality and price and where to source goods. Customer loyalty is almost diminishing with more manufacturers offering international warranties or replacement for defective goods. Supply is higher than demand in most cases. This presents new opportunities to all local businesses. Consumers are spoilt for choice; they have a global choice at their fingertips.”
The Quality Management Committee works to help increase awareness of business excellence and has implemented several initiatives, including questionnaires, seminars, fact sheets, and events. This year it aims to support other sectors besides manufacturing understand the importance of business excellence. The committee is manned by a small team of volunteers, supported by the secretariat at the Malta Chamber.
Mr Friggieri pointed out some educated buyers did not care to buy the most expensive quality product when they could purchase a similar product for less, offering the same solution with the same warranty. Consumers were aware products had a shorter lifespan nowadays and technology was continuously offering new solutions.
These realities challenged businesses to strike a balance between supplying consumer needs without jeopardising quality while operating in a globalised economy where innovation, competitive price strategies and service quality played an equally important role.
The conference aims to discuss these challenges and present cases of companies adopting business excellence principles throughout their procedures. Representatives of foremost firms in Malta and of European organisations will deliver a clear message that every business has a role to play to remain competitive.
Keynote speaker Everard Van Kemenade will focus on skill requirements for a globalised environment. He will be followed by two local business people and parallel workshops on manufacturing, financial services and ICT.
“Business excellence is a result of various initiatives throughout the organisation, leaving no stone unturned to improve quality,” Mr Friggieri continued. “Traditionally quality normally starts in the quality department but it would be fatal to stop there. Management must agree on the quality standards it wants to instil and achieve throughout the organisation. This is quality of management, not management of quality. Business excellence can only be achieved if management agrees on strategic key performance indicators which must be monitored, analysed, communicated and improved continuously. The minute you stop improving, your competitors will thank you.
“There are well-established business excellence models that have been developed by successful organisations around the world that are readily available for others to emulate.”
Do Maltese businesses have to look abroad for guidance or inspiration to reach quality and business excellence in their fields?
Mr Friggieri pointed out companies with foreign investment had high standards because of the markets they operate in. Most Maltese companies still needed to understand the broader concepts of quality.
There were Maltese businesses that were well geared to reach high standards in many aspects and demonstrated it by ‘living’ it. He admitted that there were some businesses which did not know where to start, had no standards and were not even bothered to improve. But there were others floating somewhere in between and were having difficulty identifying ways to continue in a holistic and structured manner.
Organisations first needed to look at their own structures before deciding on the extent of their commitment to business excellence and preparing for a long-term business strategy.
“’Quality’ is used, misused and abused in Malta in many ways,” Mr Friggieri added. “But more and more businesses are realising that if they do not pull up their socks they will not survive. Competition is healthy and is on the increase rapidly. Expectations are growing and the choice is unlimited. Some business people still tend to think that quality is something that can be advertised. What use is it to make statements about your quality commitment if your employees are not motivated, or the processes in your organisation are not employee- and customer-oriented?
“It is a culture that we need to nurture: Quality requires a national drive as our culture is still predominately one of cutting corners and blaming others. We have, however, made huge steps forward, but it is a never-ending journey.”
Mr Friggieri warned against businesses viewing quality as a necessary evil that brought a cost burden on the organisation.
There were costs, admittedly – key performance indicators needed to be established to measure the success of all quality initiatives. Training staff to improve skills and help them to understand their role in the business may seem a cost but should be considered an investment, he stressed.
If these initiatives did not form part of a holistic business excellence journey, they would become a cost, and results and improvements would be minimal. Costs would increase again and render the business less competitive.
“A structured approach is important,” Mr Friggieri pointed out. “This can be facilitated with the help of self-assessment questionnaires. The committee has developed a simple survey for member organisations and it is ready to send it out to any business to help them better understand how to embark on the road to excellence. It is not easy, but it is the best way forward. Many organisations already make huge efforts and, without knowing, are already implementing business excellence initiatives. The pity is that these are done haphazardly. They are not pursued and improved, and new initiatives are introduced instead. This makes the employees realise there is no continuity. Short-term initiatives give short-term results.”