The study on Indicator Systems of different topics is of great importance when it comes to measuring efficiency in a given company, given that sustainable development trends feel the need to assess it in a comprehensive manner, taking into account economic, environmental, social and economic aspects. technological, but there is no comprehensive Indicator System capable of evaluating the efficiency of the company in its broadest sense.
For this study, the Company Intermar SA Cienfuegos, an entity that provides R&D services to third parties, is taken as a reference, which will allow to draw up adequate strategies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Company to evaluate the management of science and technology of the company in an integral way and that satisfies all the objectives to make it an efficient and effective company.
Introduction
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 that is capable of evaluating the efficiency of a company in its broadest sense.
In R&D service companies for 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.
Intermar SA Cienfuegos, is a company that provides R&D services to third parties, and seeks to guarantee the satisfaction of customer expectations in the Inspection, Breakdown Adjustment and other Related Services, supported by a Quality System and the application of a Contemporary Business Strategy. The professionalism of the staff that works there make it your Trust Agency.
It is known that it is a leading company in the market, with financial strength, satisfied internal and external clients, competent suppliers, necessary technology for the development of services and personnel of optimal professional competence, committed to the organization, but the lack of existence in the Empresa Intermar SA de Cienfuegos, of a single documentation of all the indicators, so that they allow to evaluate the internal science and technology management, in a comprehensive way and that satisfies all the objectives to make it an efficient and effective entity.
The case study proposed to carry out a critical analysis of the main R&D indicators in the literature and the possible adaptation of some to the characteristics of the company Intermar SA Cienfuegos, to propose a System of Indicators to evaluate the internal work that understand economic, environmental, human resources, training, quality, customer satisfaction and material resources, and be able to propose strategies to improve these indicators and thus, the efficiency and effectiveness of the company.
Development
1. Science, Technology and Society.
One of the topics in the current debate on science and technology is to determine how much they have served to shape modern societies and transform traditional ones. Scientific as well as technological progress has radically modified man's relationship with nature and the interaction between living beings. Today science and technology penetrate the highest levels in today's society.
Science and technology cannot be studied outside the social context in which they are manifested, they coexist for mutual benefit. Although the effect of both acting together is infinitely greater than the sum of the effects of each acting separately.
And yet, in the face of these developments, more and more serious questions begin to arise about the place of science and technology in our society. There are many who consider science as a threat. Although many consider that this is because society does not tolerate what it does not have information about or simply that it cannot understand it.
Today, technology is part of the life system of all societies. Science and technology are adding to the social and political will of societies to control their own destinies, their means and the power to do so.
Science and technology are providing society with a wide variety of options as to what the fate of humanity might be.
It is clear that between science, technology, and society there is a close relationship. And this close relationship could be considered today as indestructible and each country has been given the task of making this interrelation work as a single and complete system.
In almost all underdeveloped countries there are difficulties in incorporating the achievements of R&D and innovation in the company. Situation motivated by an inadequate organization of the general research activity, a poor evaluation of scientists in companies and improper time management (Díaz-Balart, 2001: 401). Hence the need to create new R&D systems that concentrate resources on those R&D activities with the greatest contribution in relation to the priorities of the industry. It is also capable of interweaving the business system and research centers so that the results of science have a direct and rapid impact on the competitiveness of industrial production (Ob. Cit.: 401)
Within the Science, Technology and Innovation Systems of each nation, which are extremely complex and often very heterogeneous, it determines that the development and dissemination of science and technology are complicated processes and very difficult to quantify, therefore innovation is a challenge for developing countries.
There is currently in Cuba a set of factors that limit innovation:
- Insufficient visibility of the role of technology in the development of the country Organizational, accounting and financial management deficiencies in companies Insufficient completion, organization and management of the interface structure Insufficient culture of innovation Lack of correspondence between the capacity to Installed research and financial resources assigned with the achieved level of innovation Insufficient integration, particularly between the business sector and the research sector Insufficient technological demand from the business sector to the research sector Insufficient use of information and management knowledge, quality and intellectual property Insufficient use of product strategy in companies Lack of a legal, regulatory, financial and stimulating framework.Insufficiency of dynamizing mechanisms of innovation. (CITMA, 2003: 2).
Based on the recognition achieved to date and the importance of improving it, the need to produce transformations that enhance and stimulate the role of innovation as a tool for the strategic development of the company, the economy and society as a whole is unquestionable. This is of particular importance for the business system, in achieving high efficiency, effectiveness and competitiveness, which today constitutes the highest priority in the development of innovation in the country.
Therefore, the company must formulate a technological strategy integrated into the global strategy and at the same level as other specific strategies, but it is essential that a mutual interaction is generated between the two: the technologies that are known and mastered will make it possible to obtain new products. While, reciprocally, the strategic decision to tackle new activities requires having what are called technological competencies, that is, skills and knowledge that allow the company to differentiate itself by mastering some technological or scientific aspect.
Decision-making in the area of public policies in science, technology and innovation increasingly requires information that reflects the basic parameters of national systems, both in terms of capacities and the level of activity. This requires reliable and internationally comparable science, technology and innovation indicators.
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 (Velho, 1998: 25).
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 scientific or technical activity necessarily requires a previous statistical work of collecting basic data and subsequent analysis of the same, in order to build the necessary indicators. (Frascati, 2001: 16) of said activity.
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 Applied Research Experimental Development
The activities of scientific and technical information services and libraries integrated into research laboratories should be included in R&D when they are predominantly aimed at researchers in those laboratories, and the activities of research documentation centers should be excluded from R&D. companies when they are for public use by all company personnel, even if the centers are located in the same premises as the company's research departments.
It is difficult to establish the frontier of R&D in services sector activities, for two main reasons: the first, because it is difficult to identify projects in which R&D intervenes and, secondly, because the line between R&D D and other innovation activities that are not R&D is very tenuous (Frascati, 2002: 34).
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. Its objective is 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.
In Cuba, there is a set of 46 general indicators that measure R&D but at a macro level, but there is no system of economic indicators that are capable of quantifying and qualifying the set of these activities by branches or sectors, this is the reason why The one proposed by the following regulations 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 that allow 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. (Frascati, 2002: 45)
Company where the study is carried out.
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, it 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. It has the necessary material and technical resources, as well as the appropriate qualified personnel that provide it with the ability to offer with a high level of professionalism and quality the different groups of services it provides, whether they are Technical Services, Freight Services or Freight Services..
In order 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, which allows the development and maintenance of the monitoring of Customer satisfaction necessary to evaluate the required requirements.
The Quality Management System adopted from 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 Work Safety and Protection; Organization of Work and Wages; and Accounting and Finance and thereby achieve compatibility between the Agency's management systems.
His work profile also includes damage adjustments for insurance; inspections to the technical condition of ships and other facilities; economic appraisals; inspections of trailers and other specialized services at the request of the Classification Societies based in the country, as well as National and International entities, Freight Forwarders and Customs Brokerage Services; and other related services.
The lines of services are about 50 and the different services amount to more than 100. These are provided throughout the national territory, being present in most of the country's municipalities. The development achieved has gone beyond Cuban borders and today it has representations in different countries such as: Panama, Canada, Spain and Italy.
By committing to the excellence of its services, INTERMAR, SA has been a visionary Organization in understanding the worldwide emergence of more rigorous expectations of customers in relation to the quality of the services received. In this way, in 1990, it began to organize the management of its internal assurance services, which it offers to its clients, five years later. In 1996, the National Standardization Office obtained the Certification of its Quality System under the ISO 9002 model.
In 1999, this certification was ratified by the National Standardization Office, this time covering all its offices in the national territory and it was also certified by the Bureau Veritas Quality International in those services related to international trade. At the end of 2002, INTERMAR, SA submitted to a new certification process of its Quality System in its adoption of the ISO 9001: 2000 standard in order to maintain its achievement with the continuous improvement of its management and its processes.
This fact has turned out to be central in obtaining higher levels of organization, demand and quality in daily work. Several technical services have been approved by prestigious international institutions, including: Bureau Veritas, Germanischer Lloyd, Lloyd's Register, RCB, Det Norske Veritas, Nippon Kaiji Kyokai, SGS and the Hellenic Registry.
In recent years INTERMAR, SA, added two important recognitions to its endorsement: Belonging as Associate Member to the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Association (FIATA); and its membership in the TT CLUB (Freight Forwarder Club).
The INTERMAR, SA agency has the necessary material and technical resources as well as the appropriate qualified personnel that provide it with the ability to offer the following groups of services with a high level of professionalism and quality:
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:
I. 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
II. Human resources indicators
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.
III. Customer satisfaction indicators
The "Customer Satisfaction Survey" Model marks the trend of the behavior measured in a period and to gain in the best possible way the accuracy of the processed information, which will then be a breeding ground for managers when making their decisions with in order to correct errors or take the reins of the Company in a successful line of development.
Procedures: 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
Criteria measured according to the highest scores obtained in the surveys, and the highest percentages for each criterion. There are no standards to measure them, so a comparison is made of their behavior over time.
IV. 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, as a comparison parameter are used the following proportions of these with respect to the Total 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%.
V. 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
The criteria that do not have optimal figures to achieve, are not measurable in the company, so they must be compared over time.
SAW. 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 its behavior can be compared, and reach some conclusion, so it must be analyzed over time.
VII.- Training indicators
Procedure: 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
Conclusions
1.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 old, 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%).
2. 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 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.
3. 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, by purchasing Means of Rotation, 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, had a notable influence so that the Costs of External Failures exceeded the allowed range and 10392.00 ceased to be entered in the year analyzed.
4. From the analysis of the indicators framed in the environmental category, it can be concluded that the knowledge of the 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 all the existing stationery in the archives and that this 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 higher than the year of comparison was obtained, 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%).
6. From the analysis of the training indicators, it is concluded that in this aspect 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 Plans of Training are met at 91.7%, being able to increase the number of courses to be taught.
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www.monografias.com/trabajos10/vici/vici.shtml Luisa de los Ángeles Rodríguez Domínguez. (Ave 4, Nor. 4321/43 and 45 Cienfuegos, CUBA CP 55100.)
Master in Science and Technology. Member of the CTS + I Chair of Cuba. Advanced degree in the Curricular Doctorate "Educational Contributions to the Social and Humanistic Sciences" University of Granada, Spain.Assistant Professor.
Department of Economic Studies, Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences, University of Cienfuegos, CUBA.
Road to Rhodes, km. 4, Cuatro Caminos, Cienfuegos, CUBA. CP 59430 Phones: (53) (432) 52-3190, 52-3351, 52-3640; Telephone / Fax: (53) (432)
