e-Qualifácil: Preparing Small Businesses for a Quality Management System

Abstract

More than 95 percent of all the businesses around the globe are small-and medium-sized (International Organization for Standardization [ISO], 2016). However, the limited resources of small businesses represent a difficulty in implementing a quality management system (QMS) complied with ISO 9001:2015, which is many times demanded by the supply chain of these companies. The object of this research was to develop an artifact, named e-Qualifácil, to access the current stage of the small business' QMS. Using the Design Science Research method, the artifact was built considering the seven guidelines of the Design Science and the five phases of research applied to development cycles of artifacts. e-Qualifácil was tested in three small businesses of discrete manufacturing. For each business, the artifact generated a prioritized list of activities that together represent an action plan for the adequacy of business' process to the requirements of the ISO 9001 standard. In addition, the application process of the artifact pointed out the lack of leadership in planning, formalization and control of quality processes, and technical processes in general. Design Science Research showed up as a good option to include rigor in organizational interventions and a practical tool to strengthening knowledge dissemination.

Involvement of Brazilian companies with occupational health and safety aspects and the new ISO 45001:2018

“…The authors attributed this fact to the negligence of these companies about the complexity of the implementation processes and the organizational changes necessary to guarantee the system functionality. The management reality of these companies is so particular that models have been developed and tested in order to make easy the implementation of management systems (Anholon et al, 2017;Bianchi & Ferraz Junior, 2020). Regarding large companies, the situation is different when it comes to more traditional management systems, such as QMS.…”

Developing Operational Capabilities in the Collaborative Practice-Adoption Process through Different Triadic Structures

“…In transaction and closed triad structures, the sense of interdependence is more significant among its members, allowing the buyer to influence product characteristics and performance (Mena et al, 2013). Past studies had presented the practice-adoption process as a source of capabilities for supply chains (Amrani & Ducq, 2020;Bianchi & Ferraz, 2020;Khalfallah & Lakhal, 2020;Zimmermann et al, 2020).…”

“…With an internal focus, we can include practices such as just-in-time (JIT) (Flynn et al, 1995;Khalfallah & Lakhal, 2020), total quality management (TQM) (Alsawafi, Lemke, & Yang, 2021;Krause, Handfield, & Scannell, 1998), IT-based practices (Frohlich & Westbrook, 2001), and practices related to integrated product development (Tan, Kannan, & Narasimhan, 2007;Zimmermann, Ferreira, & Moreira, 2020). We can include integration practices adopted for buyers and suppliers with an external focus, such as quality management systems (QMS) and integrated product development (Bianchi & Ferraz, 2020).…”

Blockchain Technology in Renewable Energy Certificates in Brazil

“…In case studies via DSR, either in the sustainability field (França et al, 2020;Stiel et al, 2016) or in other areas (Bianchi & Ferraz, 2020;Debastiani et al, 2020;Gaspareto & Henriqson, 2020), there is a clear rationalization between the problem to be solved and the solution proposed or analyzed, always in a direction in which the problem induces the solution. However, in the case analyzed the ways in which organizations justify the implementation of their solutions and the resolution of their problems are built in a different way: organizations, whether leaders or challengers, choose the blockchain as a panacea and apply it to the resolution of several problems by trial and error in an attempt to justify the resolution of problems that are not actually solved, such as the traditional forms of auditing that remain without internal changes, that are intrinsic and dependent on the policy and regulatory context (Burer et al, 2019).…”

“…Even beginning to be widely used in solution development, especially in the field of sustainability, the theoretical development of DSR was built from the artifact perspective and evaluation, in contrast with the delimitation of the problem that the artifact is trying to solve. Finally, other authors are already applying DSR in studies beyond the field of technology(Bianchi & Ferraz, 2020;Debastiani, Alperstedt, Santos, & Koerich, 2020;Gaspareto & Henriqson, 2020) Maedche, Gregor, Morana and Feine (2019). found three types of problem formulation in design science based onKuechler and Vaisnhavi (2012), Peffers, Tuunanen, Rothenberger andChatterjee (2007), andSein, Henfridsson, Purao, Rossi and Lindgren (2011).…”