The quality journey for Greek SMEs and their financial performance

Abstract

This paper measures and examines the eagerness of Greek ISO certified SMEs to continue their journey towards quality, whilst facing economic crisis conditions. The level of quality implemented in the Greek ISO certified SMEs was determined by the main quality elements used to characterize TQM namely the quality culture, the quality tools and techniques, the quality processes and the performance appraisal. A set of ten structural interviews were conducted. From the scoring and frequency analysis conducted, it was found that the SMEs in Greece continued their journey towards quality and among those the small sized were those that showed the best performance, followed by the medium and the micro SMEs. Subsequently, the financial performance of those SMEs was tested using as criteria their profitability, efficiency, liquidity and solvency level. The conclusions derived, support the role of the quality level implemented in an SME as a means of sustaining its financial performance at a level capable of reducing the probability of bankruptcy, during severe financial crisis conditions.

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