A Comparison of Quality Improvement Practices in Korea, New Zealand and the United States of America

Abstract

The focus of this paper is the quality of the organization's product or service, More specifically, this study identifies alternative approaches to quality improvement practised in the United States, Korea and New Zealand, and then groups companies by quality improvement practice, measuring group financial and operating success. Factors reflecting approach to improvement could be identified for performance quality in all three countries, productivity in all three countries, and financial results in U.S.A. and Korea. It can be also observed that for most dependent variables, the regression used multiple factors to explain the relationship. That is, factors which are grouping of improvement approach items, are required to explain quality, productivity, and financial performance. In other words, an individual item, expressed as one approach to quality or productivity improvement, cannot explain performance in a statistically significant manner. Multiple and complex relationships are required to explain performance.