TY  - JOUR
T1  - Quality Management Practices, Innovation and Profitability of SMEs: Evidence from
Argentina
AU - Diaz, Enrique AU - Sensini, Luca 
JO  - International Business Management
VL  - 14
IS  - 9
SP  - 328
EP  - 336
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2001/08/19
SN  - 1993-5250
DO  - ibm.2020.328.336
UR  - https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=ibm.2020.328.336
KW  - Quality management practices
KW  -innovation
KW  -profitability
KW  -SME
KW  -Argentina
KW  -questionnaire
AB  - This research aimed to study the diffusion of
quality management practices and the attention to the
innovation of Argentine SMEs also evaluating the
relationship between innovation, quality management
practices and profitability. To achieve the objectives of
this study, we used a sample of SMEs head quartered in
the province of Buenos Aires, following a stratified
random sampling technique. This approach has the
advantage of improving the efficiency of the estimates
and the representativeness of the extracted sample. The
data were collected through a questionnaire structured in
3 sections. Out of a sample of 1000 companies, 397
companies completed the questionnaire and were
therefore, analyzed. The results show that only 23.2% of
SMEs have introduced at least one quality management
practice. The high training and consultancy costs
represent the main obstacle to the introduction of tools
and techniques for quality management. Culture, training,
and organizational context are the main factors capable of
promoting the development of these practices within
companies. The results show that the stimulus for
innovation which mainly concerned the product, the
process and to a lesser extent the organization, comes
mainly from the company’s know-how and human
resources but also from the stimuli coming from the
competitive environment. Finally, the analysis of the
causal relationships that link the propensity to invest and
innovate, the introduction of quality management
practices and profitability with the other explanatory
variables of business management have shown that SMEs
that have made investments in innovation and have
introduced at least one quality management practice are
more likely to achieve operating profits.
ER  -