For enterprises in Serbia, international standards represent a powerful tool in improving the quality and competitiveness of products and gaining the trust of domestic and international market. Surveyed enterprises have had the possibility to evaluate how the introduction of IMS reflected in increasing competitiveness and customer satisfaction.
World Economic Forum (WEF), defines competitiveness as a range of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of the country (a measure of ability to produce goods and services using their own existing human, financial, natural and other resources) (WEF, 2010, pp. 4). The slowness in adopting international standards becomes a big obstacle in the development and competitiveness of our enterprises. Many domestic companies have already met the requirements of its foreign partners to provide certificates about the quality of products, and a certificate of quality management system according to ISO 9001:2000 becomes even necessary prerequisite for any business arrangements (USAID, 2006, pp. 2). 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 83% 83% 79% 46% 42% 42% 37% 35% 31% 23% 21% 19% 12% 8%
In essence, in order to achieve market success, the enterprise is required to possess a competitive advantage in terms of lower costs and product differentiation, with a strategy of long-term providing high quality products and services, including permanent innovation. Enterprises need to invest significant efforts to meet the demands of more and more educated and informed customers. In such conditions, the quality of the business represents an elementary factor of competitiveness, which is based on the continuous improvement of productivity and knowledge. The application of integrated management systems is one of the most serious ways to achieve competitive advantage of domestic enterprises in the international environment, as it allows reducing the time required to achieve the elements of business excellence. This creates conditions for enterprises in less developed countries to create a business system that allows a successful presence in the market by respecting the requirements of international standards. Improving the knowledge of managers and expert teams of domestic enterprises is the most important way to improve competitiveness, based on the implementation of integrated management systems.
In order to examine the influence of IMS on the competitiveness, to SMEs was given the opportunity to round up some of the offered answers (increasing the competitiveness is: not achieved, achieved in the range of 1-10%, achieved in the range of 11 to 25%, achieved in the range of 26-50% and achieved in the range of more than 50%). The results were as follows: at two SMEs there was no increasing of competitiveness, 11 SMEs registered increasing in the range of 1-10%, 22 SMEs registered increasing in the range of 11-25%, 10 SMEs registered increasing in the range of 26-50% and seven SMEs registered increasing the competitiveness higher than 50%.
Figure 13: The influence of IMS on the increasing of competitiveness
How as much as 50 SMEs, or 96% of the sample, recorded an increasement of competitiveness, the hypothesis H1: The application of IMS increases the competitiveness of SMEs is proved undoubtedly. It is important to point out that, at three-quarters of surveyed enterprises (75%), this increasement was bigger than 10%, and the enterprises that have observed the largest increasement of competitiveness, ie an increasement bigger than 50%, have implemented three systems per enterprise averagely. In addition, in the previous response, 43 SMEs have indicated that the most important external benefit of applying the IMS was the achievement of competitive advantage.
Table 2: Relation between the number of management systems and increasing competitiveness Competitiveness Number of systems Number of enterprises Average Increase 11-25% 60 22 2,73 systems Increase 26-50% 24 10 2,4 systems Increase > 50% 21 7 3 systems
Quality begins and ends with the customer who is also the final judge the quality of products and services. The aim of SMEs is to fulfill all expressed and unexpressed needs and expectations of current and potential customers. Customer satisfaction is measured and analyzed in order to obtain their loyalty. The customer satisfaction represents the sense to which level the product characteristics and helpfulness of suppliers have met the expectations of the customers throughout the entire lifecycle. If the customer is satisfied, it means that he looks at his supplier positively, and that he is ready to develop his business connections with the supplier.
To determine the degree of customer satisfaction it is necessary to collect systematically the data from customers, to analyze their satisfaction and make examinations of these analyzes. Measuring customer satisfaction is the responsibility of the organization, because from the degree of this satisfaction depends the sale itself, and thus the survival of the organization. There are various methods for measuring customer satisfaction, which include analyzing of the performances of different activities in the processes according to the customers, through the performances of delivery and characteristics of delivering products and their behavior in exploitation (Heleta, 2012, pp. 295). Measuring the customer satisfaction is a continuous process that includes the following elements: establishing criteria for customer satisfaction, successful communication and listening to feedback, and the development and implementation of solutions based on feedback from the customer.
Because of the importance of this criterion for the successful business operations, but also the very survival of SMEs, the relationships between the implementation of IMS and increasing customer satisfaction were analyzed. Based on obtained results, it was stated that two SMEs have not noticed an increasing of customer satisfaction, while at the same time two SMEs said that was impossible to estimate. The remaining 48 SMEs have recorded a positive impact of the IMS
application on the customer satisfaction, so that 12 SMEs registered an increasing in the range of 1-10%, 16 SMEs increasing in the range of 11-25%, 13 SMEs increasing in the range of 26-50% and 7 SMEs increasing in range of more than 50%. Also, we point out that, from 7 SMEs that have observed the greatest increase in customer satisfaction (> 50%), 3 SMEs are operating in the industrial sector, 3 SMEs in services, and 1 SME belongs to professional organizations.
Figure 14: The influence of the IMS on increasing the customer satisfaction
Source: The authors′ ilustration, based on the research results
In fact, 92% of surveyed enterprises noticed an increase in the customer satisfaction, and thereby the hypothesis H2: The application of IMS leads to increased customer satisfaction, was confirmed. The largest number of surveyed enterprises (16 SMEs) registered an increasing in the range of 11-25%, and they have enforced three (or more precisely 2.88) standards per enterprise averagely. Increasing the customer satisfaction and meeting their demands is among the most significant external benefits of the IMS application that is highlighted by the 41 enterprise. For SMEs, increasing the level of customer satisfaction is usually one of the highest ranked goals.
Table 3: Relation between the number of management systems and increasing customer satisfaction Customer satisfaction Number of systems Number of enterprises Average Increase 1-10% 34 12 2, 83 systems Increase 11-25% 46 16 2, 88 systems Increase 26-50% 31 13 2, 38 systems Increase > 50% 21 7 3 systems