Quality management practices have become increasingly important as firms seek to obtain quality certifications to dominate markets. To date, adequate research evaluating the effects of quality management is lacking. In this work, we used Chinese quality awards to evaluate a firm's quality level. A PSM-DiD (propensity score matching and difference-in-difference) model describing the relationship between quality award effects and financial benefits in terms of return on assets was developed. We further used a hierarchical regression to examine the influence of operational performance on financial benefits. The results show that quality awards cannot assure their winners a higher return on asset. Indicators of operating performance, such as less lead time and higher inventory turnover, can significantly enhance firms' profitability. The moderating effects of operational performance suggest that firms may focus on how to translate quality management practices into business improvement. This study also contributes to the operation management literature by describing how firms need outstanding financial performance for sustainable development and continuous improvement.Sustainability 2020, 12, 1966 2 of 23 for Just-in-Time (JIT) and Six Sigma, respectively, their products still suffer from serious quality-related problems [7].In addition, operational performance is considered to play an important role in quality management practices. Operational performance is defined as the strategic dimensions of competing firms and consists of operational level indicators, such as flexibility and delivery [8]. The results of quality management systems are also shown in operational levels. However, few studies have explored the effects of operational performance on financial benefits. In addition, researchers may merely consider one dimension of operational performance, such as efficiency [9] or inventory [10]. These studies failed to provide a complete description of the influence of operational performance on financial benefits.This study aims to fill the above research gaps by answering the following two questions: (1) How do quality management practices affect firms' financial benefits? (2) What is the relationship between operational performance and financial benefits?We use quality award winners as the research samples and examine whether these firms can obtain a higher return on assets than their counterparts. The results show that the awarded firms could not achieve significant improvement and that the effects of the awards are not obvious. In addition, we explore the impact of operational performance on the return on assets. The findings demonstrate that less lead time and a higher inventory turnover can enhance the financial benefits. Additionally, decreasing the operating costs and tracking sales more closely can improve the return on assets. Besides this, we also find that shorter lead time and larger inventory turnover can positively moderate the impact of quality awards on the ROA.This study contributes to previous rese...