The study on Indicator Systems of different topics becomes very important when it comes to measuring efficiency in a given company, given that sustainable development trends feel the need to value it in a comprehensive manner, taking into account economic, environmental, social and technological.
Although there are indicators of particular management systems, there is no comprehensive Indicator System that is capable of evaluating the efficiency of the company in its broadest sense.
For this study, the company Intermar SA Cienfuegos is taken as a reference, an entity that provides R&D services to third parties, whose mission is to guarantee the satisfaction of the expectations of its clients in Inspection services.
Adjustment of Faults and other Related Services, supported by a Quality System and the application of a Contemporary Business Strategy, the professionalism of its staff makes Intermar Cienfuegos a Trust Agency.
The vision expresses to be a leading company in the market, with financial strength, satisfied internal and external clients, competent suppliers, necessary technology for the development of its services and staff of optimal professional competence, committed to the organization.
The comprehensive proposal of a System of Indicators to evaluate the R&D work carried out by Intermar SA Cienfuegos, will allow to draw up adequate strategies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Company and will allow to evaluate the science and technology management of the company in a comprehensive and meet all the objectives to make it an efficient and effective company.
Introduction
This case study was carried out in the company Intermar SA Cienfuegos, Cuba, which provides R&D services to third parties, has the mission of guaranteeing the satisfaction of the expectations of its clients in the Inspection, Breakdown adjustment and other services. Related Services, supported by a Quality System and the application of a Contemporary Business Strategy, the professionalism of its staff makes Intermar Cienfuegos a Trust Agency.
Its vision is to be a leading company in the market, with financial strength, satisfied internal and external customers, competent suppliers, necessary technology for the development of our services and staff of optimal professional competence, committed to the organization.
At present, studies on Indicator Systems of different topics are of great importance in order to measure the efficiency of a given company, given that sustainable development trends feel the need to assess it in a comprehensive manner, taking into account economic, environmental, and other aspects. social and technological.
Each of these indicators highlights a facet of the different management systems existing in the company, and they indicate the comparison of relative levels and the recognition of the strong and weak areas of the company and its tendency to move towards sustainable development.
For this reason, a prior statistical work is required to collect basic data and its subsequent analysis, in order to build the necessary indicators for said activity.
In Cuba, although there are Indicators of particular management systems, there is no comprehensive Indicator System capable of evaluating the efficiency of the company in its broadest sense.
In R&D services companies to third parties, it is difficult to establish a set of comprehensive indicators that assess the scientific and technological development of these institutions, since they require a combination of economic indicators characteristic of service companies with other indicators closer to science and technology units, so it is necessary, when establishing them, to do so in a comprehensive way and where all the previous interests are combined.
The scientific problem of this research is the non-existence in the company Intermar SA of Cienfuegos, in a single documentation of all these indicators, in a way that allows us to evaluate the science and technology management of the company in a comprehensive way and that satisfies all the objectives to make it an efficient and effective company.
From here, the hypothetical reference of the research is that the comprehensive proposal of a System of Indicators to evaluate the R&D work carried out by Intermar SA Cienfuegos, will allow to draw up adequate strategies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Company.
The general objective of the research is to propose a System of Indicators for the Intermar SA Company of Cienfuegos, which allows to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of its R&D work in a comprehensive way.
The Specific Objectives are the following:
- Carry out a critical analysis of the main R&D indicators in the literature and the possible adaptation of some of them to the characteristics of the Intermar SA Cienfuegos company. Propose a System of Indicators to evaluate the work of the Intermar SA Cienfuegos company that understand economic, environmental, human resources, training, quality, customer satisfaction and material resources aspects Validate the proposal for this system of indicators in the investigated company with statistical data from 2004 Propose strategies to improve these indicators and in this way, the efficiency and effectiveness of the company.
Development
Science, Technology and Innovation Systems
The Science, Technology and Innovation Systems of each country are extremely complex and, often, very heterogeneous, which makes the development and dissemination of science and technology complicated processes and very difficult to quantify.
Scientific and technical activities can only be quantified from an approximate or estimated perspective on the basis of indicators or evaluative parameters, especially elaborated for these activities. It is necessary to use a set of them, since the application of a single indicator provides an incomplete picture of the measurement.
These indicators allow, among other estimates, the comparison of the relative scientific levels of the countries and the recognition of the strong and weak areas in science. Any project of measurement, analysis or evaluation of the scientific or technical activity necessarily requires a previous statistical work of collecting basic data and subsequent analysis of the same, to get to build the necessary indicators of said activity.
Research and experimental development (R&D)
R&D is related to other activities that are based on science and technology. Although these other activities are often closely linked to R&D through information flows and in terms of operations, institutions and personnel, such activities should not be taken into account when measuring R&D. R&D and those related activities can be considered under two headings: the set of scientific and technological activities (ACT) and the process of scientific and technological innovation.
This term R&D encompasses three activities:
- Basic Research: It consists of experimental or theoretical works that are undertaken mainly to obtain new knowledge about the foundations of observable phenomena and facts, without thinking of giving them any specific application or use. Applied Research: They are original works carried out to acquire new knowledge; However, it is mainly directed towards a specific practical objective. Experimental development: It consists of systematic works that take advantage of existing knowledge obtained from research and / or practical experience, and is directed towards the production of new materials, products or devices; to the start-up of new processes, systems and services, or to the substantial improvement of existing ones.
Must be included in R&D:
- Activities of scientific and technical information services and libraries integrated into research laboratories when they are predominantly intended for researchers in those laboratories. Activities of companies' documentation centers should be excluded from R&D when they are used public for all company staff, even if the centers are located in the same premises as the research departments of the company. Excluding the activities of the central libraries of the universities.
Types of indicators that measure Scientific and Technological Activities
The indicators that measure Scientific and Technological Activities are those systematic actions directly and specifically related to scientific and technological development, that is, to the generation, dissemination, transmission and application of scientific and technological knowledge. They include:
- Scientific research Technological research Innovation and technical dissemination Information services Consulting and engineering services Metrology and standardization Planning and management of science and technology Training of technical scientific personnel necessary for these activities
The construction of indicators to measure Science and Technology in Cuba
The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA) has drawn up an Indicator Systems project to evaluate the performance of science and technological innovation entities. This aims to evaluate the efficiency, effectiveness and excellence in the performance of its entities that carry out science and technological innovation activities.
These indicators will allow the entity to compare itself with other previous stages of its own development.
They include the following indicators which are:
- Science and Technology.Industrial Property.Economy.Human Resources.Environment.International Collaboration. Information.Others.
Methodology used for the preparation of Science and Technology Indicators
In Cuba, there is a set of 46 general indicators that measure R&D but at a macro level. Given the need to develop this activity by different economic sectors and lead to its strengthening.
But there is no national system of economic indicators that are capable of quantifying and qualifying the set of these activities by branches or sectors, it is that the following regulations are proposed to be used in the service companies in the territory since it is necessary that the amounts dedicated to R&D can be spent within the statistical unit (internal expenses) or outside of it (external expenses). The procedures for measuring such expenses are the following:
- Identify the internal R&D expenses carried out by each of the statistical units Identify the sources of financing used for these internal expenses, according to the information provided by the executing agency Identify the external R&D expenses of each of statistical units. Add data by sectors of execution and sources of financing, in order to obtain national totals. In this context other classifications and distributions can be established.
Company where the study is carried out
The company INTERMAR, SA, was founded on November 11, 1987, by means of the Company's Articles of Incorporation No. 137 in the 2nd Commercial Registry. from the city of Havana.
INTERMAR, SA is an International Agency for Inspection, Breakdown Adjustments and other Related Services. One of the first Cuban mercantile companies, under a public limited company business scheme.
From the beginning of its operations, the Agency acts as an independent third party to determine the causes, place, nature, scope and responsibility of the losses and damages occurred to import and / or export cargo; offering a reliable and impartial opinion, with international recognition and authority to represent any claim of the parties involved or before Insurance Companies.
The INTERMAR, SA agency has the necessary material and technical resources as well as the appropriate qualified personnel that provide it with the capacity to offer with a high level of professionalism and quality the different groups of services it provides, whether they are Technical Services, Services to Freight or Forwarding Services.
To achieve an efficient operation in its management, the INTERMAR agency has identified the different interrelated processes that comprise the total management of the Agency. This allows us to develop and maintain the monitoring of Customer satisfaction necessary to assess whether their requirements have been met.
The Quality Management System adopted in INTERMAR, SA based on the requirements established in the ISO 9001 standard has made it possible to integrate or align other management systems or related activities existing in the Agency, such as the Protection and Safety of Work; Organization of Work and Wages; and Accounting and Finance and thereby achieve compatibility between the Agency's management systems.
Indicator System Proposal for the Intermar SA Cienfuegos Company
Taking into account the bibliographic study carried out in relation to the different Systems of Indicators to measure R&D in service companies, and the particular characteristics of the Intermar SA Cienfuegos Company, set out above, a System of Indicators is proposed for it composed of seven categories which are:
Economic indicators
Human Resources Indicators
Customer Satisfaction Indicators
Quality Cost Indicators
Environmental indicators
Input Indicators
Training Indicators
Economic indicators
Procedures:
Annual Budget of Income and Expenses of the Entity
Company Workforce Template
Financial Statements (Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Trial Balance for Balances)
Criteria:
1. Compliance with the Total Income Plan above 100%
2. Compliance with the Total Expenses Plan equal to or less than 100%
3. Compliance with the Productivity and Profit Indicator Plans greater than 100%
4. Compliance with the Expenditure Plan of Salary by Weight of Income of the Company below 100%
5. Compliance with the Cost Plan by Weight of Income of the Company below 100%
6. Calculation and analysis of Financial Ratios according to their optimal indices
Human resources indicators
They constitute the composition and capacity of the human capital of the company.
Procedures:
Company template
Human Resources Management System
Record of Determination of the Work Environment
Criteria:
Number of workers the Company has
Number of workers linked to R&D and ACT
Absenteeism rate per worker linked to R&D and ACT less than 4%
Percentage of time of the working day used in R&D and ACT activities
Expert opinion on work environment
Fluctuation of personnel linked to R&D
Years of experience in R&D activities
With the exception of the absenteeism rate, the rest of the criteria do not currently have a norm within the company, so this must be compared over time.
Customer satisfaction indicators
In the company, the degree of customer satisfaction with the services we provide is measured, through the "Customer Satisfaction Survey" Model, being able to mark the trend of behavior measured in a period and gain in the best possible way the accuracy of the processed information, which will then be a breeding ground for our managers when making their decisions with a view to correcting errors or taking the reins of our Company in a successful line of development.
Procedures:
Procedure on the measurement of "Customer Satisfaction"
Surveys on customer satisfaction
Criteria:
Percentage of attendance, punctuality and level of professionalism and speed with which R&D services are provided
Percentage of Employee Standards of Conduct
Customer acceptance level of Official Documentation
Level of acceptance of the rates by the Client
Percentage of compliance with the agreement with the client
These criteria were measured according to the highest scores obtained in the surveys, the highest percentages were selected for each criterion, in these cases there are no standards to measure them, so a comparison of their behavior is made over time.
Quality cost indicators
Procedures:
Procedures Manual for the Quality Cost Control System
Although the appropriate percentage in costs varies depending on the service, the maturity of the quality system, the progress in the implementation of the quality improvement program and the criteria used to select the cost elements, we can handle as a reference as a comparison parameter for the analysis of Quality Costs the following proportions of these with respect to the Total of Quality Costs.
Criteria:
1. Prevention costs must represent between 40 and 50% of the total quality costs, and would be badly evaluated if they reached 10%.
2. Evaluation costs must represent between 40 and 50% of the total quality costs, and would be badly evaluated if they reached 20%.
3. Costs of Internal Failures must represent between 0 and 10% of the total quality costs, and would be badly evaluated if they reached 40%.
4. External Failure Costs must represent between 0 and 10% of the total quality costs, and would be badly evaluated if they reached 30%.
Environmental indicators
Procedures:
Monthly income of the company
Environmental strategy of the organization
Periodic control of water and energy consumption
Criteria:
1. Maximum level of knowledge of the personnel of the current environmental legislation
2. Amount of raw material recovered per year
3. Saving of water consumption
4. Saving of energy consumption
5. The number of work accidents must be equal to zero
6 Percentage of workers who use means of protection equal to 100
7. Percentage of workers who have made medical check-ups equal to 100
8. Percentage and quality of the facility's emergency plans
Criteria that do not have optimal figures to achieve are currently not measurable in the company, so they must be compared over time.
Input indicators
Procedures:
Warehouse Records
Expense Report by Items
Criteria:
Percentage of purchase of materials and equipment for activities related to R&D and ACT
Percentage of administrative expenses and other general office expenses.
Number of computers used in R&D and ACT work.
There is no optimal measurement criterion, in any element of this indicator, with which we can compare its behavior, and reach a conclusion, so it must be analyzed over time.
Training indicators
Process:
Company Training Plan
Criteria:
Number of workers who are in training courses
Percentage of compliance with the Annual Training Plan greater than or equal to 100
conclusione s
A proposal of indicators is made to measure the efficiency of R&D in the company Intermar SA Cienfuegos. These indicators were grouped into seven categories that were:
- Economic Indicators Human Resources Indicators Customer Satisfaction Indicators Quality Indicators Environment Indicators Training Indicators
An analysis of the economic indicators of the company Intermar SA Cienfuegos in 2004 showed that in general it has very positive indicators where a Cost per Weight of Income or Profitability of 0.42 cents of 0.47 planned is observed, a profit at 119% and a Solvency of 13.5 that place the company in the First Navigation Quadrant as a consolidated company, with a good economic and financial position.
The analysis of the R&D indicators for 2004 in the Human Resources category showed a high cultural level (from Higher Level to Medium Level) of the company's workers (99%), 67% have an average age between 26 and 40 years, of the total number of workers in the company (104), 80 of them are linked to R&D and ACT activities for 77%.
The Absenteeism Rate is very low (2.5%).
When analyzing the indicators in the Customer Satisfaction category, it was evidenced that the behavior of these criteria is highly variable, especially in the fourth quarter of this year, where the Treatment, Seriousness, Presence, Attendance, Punctuality aspects had a lower acceptance by part of the client, although they were in the acceptable ranges.
In the criteria of Professionalism, and Speed of delivery of reports, there is variability of opinion, with complaints due to delay in the delivery of information and disagreements with the rates used by Intermar SA Cienfuegos.
From the R&D indicators related to Quality Costs, it is concluded that Prevention Costs must be increased, in order to prevent and avoid non-compliance with the requirements of any service, through the purchase of Rotation Means, Training Activities, etc. The Evaluation Cost should be increased through on-site controls, evaluation of the opinion status of the staff. On the other hand, the Costs of Internal Failures (Lack and delay in supplies), although they are in the permissible range, significantly influenced so that the Costs of External Failures exceeded the allowed range and 10392.00 ceased to be entered in the year analyzed.
From the analysis of the indicators framed in the environmental category, it can be concluded that the knowledge of Environmental Legislation in the company is general, and that there is a Strategy for Environmental management, it was determined that there is a potential for recovery of raw material from of all the existing stationery in the archives and that it is not recovered, this figure can reach 2.5 tons. On the subject of saving water and energy, an increase in water consumption is observed in 2004 compared to the previous year. In the case of energy, it is observed that in the first four months of 2004 a consumption was higher than the year of comparison, and in the last quarter of 2004 there was a notable decrease in the consumption of this indicator, closing the year with less than budgeted.
From the determination of the indicators related to Supplies, it is evident that the company made purchases of office supplies for activities related to R&D, which represent 70% of the total used in the office for this concept, which is representative. The expenses show that the largest expenditure made is the telephone (63.6%).
From the analysis of the training indicators, it is concluded that in this regard the company does a strong job and trains all its workers, offering courses on different topics, which is beneficial for the good performance of the work to be done, and the Training Plans 91.7% are met, and the number of courses to be taught may increase.
Bibliography
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