Does this mean that firms with a greater emphasis on
manufacturing quality simply use more of all kinds of
measures? The findings in Table 1 suggest that this is
not the case. Rather, the firms in the sample use different
mixes of specific measures to support their strategy.
While firms with greater emphasis on quality in manufacturing
report using more of most measures, they use
two measures less frequently: machine productivity and
market share. In both cases, though, the difference
between firms with high vs. low quality emphases is
small (4.9% and 1.5%, respectively). At the other end of
the spectrum, seven measures have over 30% higher
usage rates by firms that emphasize quality: employee
satisfaction, customer satisfaction, employee training,
employee turnover, employee skills, employee
spirit/morale, and new product design efficiency. A further
eight measures have higher usage rates by quality focused
firms in the 20%-30% range. Remarkably, none
of these 15 measures are from the financial category.
The picture that emerges is that firms that emphasize
quality also pay more attention to manufacturing and
customer-order-filling cycle times, new product
introductions and design efficiency, employee skills,
safety, training, turnover, empowerment, and employee
and customer satisfaction. They also expect managers
in charge of manufacturing to have a long-term perspective
on the business, engender strong employee spirit or
morale in their units, and exhibit loyalty towards the
firm. These patterns provide support for claims that
nonfinancial performance measures (both objective and
subjective) are better than financial measures at helping
firms implement and manage new manufacturing.