Publications

Article

Price and Quality Decisions by Self-Serving Managers

By: Marco Bertini, Daniel Halbheer and Oded Koenigsberg

We present a theory of price and quality decisions by managers who are self-serving. In the theory, firms stress the price or quality of their products, but not both. Accounting for this, managers exploit any uncertainty about the cause of market outcomes to credit... View Details

Keywords: Causal Reasoning; Self-serving Bias; Strategic Orientation; Managerial Decision-making; Price; Quality; Decision Making; Theory

2025
Working Paper

Managing Remote Work Quality: Evidence from Auditing Management Systems Standards

By: Ashley Palmarozzo, Michael W. Toffel and Melissa Ouellet

Remote work has become more common, providing operational flexibility and productivity benefits, but questions remain about whether and how it affects work quality. We investigate the quality effects of remote work in a context in which remote work separates workers... View Details

Keywords: Audit; Auditing; Remote Work; Compliance; Assessment; Environment; Management Systems; Quality Management; Quality Management System; Quality; Operations; Supply Chain Management; Environmental Management; Safety

SSRN

June 2010
Article

Quality Management and Job Quality: How the ISO 9001 Standard for Quality Management Systems Affects Employees and Employers

By: David I. Levine and Michael W. Toffel

Several studies have examined how the ISO 9001 Quality Management System standard predicts changes in organizational outcomes such as profits. This is the first large-scale study to explore how employee outcomes such as employment, earnings, and health and safety... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Management; Standards; Employees; Wages; Organizations; Profit; Safety; Health; Policy

Article

Audit Personnel Salaries and Audit Quality

By: Jeffrey L. Hoopes, Kenneth J. Merkley, Joseph Pacelli and Joseph H. Schroeder

This study examines the relation between audit personnel salaries and office-level audit quality. We measure audit personnel salaries at the associate, senior, and manager ranks for Big 4 audit offices from 2004 to 2013, using unique individual-auditor-level data... View Details

Keywords: Audit Personnel Salary; Audit Quality; Salary Determinants; Audit Fees; Accounting Audits; Quality; Wages

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11 Dec 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Quality Management and Job Quality: How the ISO 9001 Standard for Quality Management Systems Affects Employees and Employers

Keywords: by David I. Levine & Michael W. Toffel

Article

Audit Quality and Auditor Reputation: Evidence from Japan

By: Douglas Skinner and Suraj Srinivasan

We study events surrounding ChuoAoyama's failed audit of Kanebo, a large Japanese cosmetics company whose management engaged in a massive accounting fraud. ChuoAoyama was PwC's Japanese affiliate and one of Japan's largest audit firms. In May 2006, the Japanese... View Details

Keywords: Audit Quality; Auditor Reputation; Japan; Accounting Audits; Crime and Corruption; Reputation; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Japan

SSRN

November 1994
Article

Science, Specific Knowledge, and Total Quality Management

By: Karen H. Wruck and Michael C. Jensen

Keywords: Science; Knowledge; Quality; Management

SSRN

2013
Working Paper

The Impact of Conformance and Experiential Quality on Healthcare Cost and Clinical Performance

By: Claire Senot, Aravind Chandrasekaran, Peter T. Ward and Anita L. Tucker

The quality of operational processes is an important driver of performance in hospitals. In particular, processes that reliably deliver both evidence-based and patient-centered care, which we call conformance and experiential quality, respectively, have been argued to... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Experiential Quality; Conformance Quality; Clinical Outcomes; Cost Efficiency; Quality; Service Operations; Health Care and Treatment; Performance; Outcome or Result; Health Industry

January 2013 (Revised August 2013)
Case

First Solar: CFRA's Accounting Quality Concerns

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Ian McKown Cornell

The case relates to accounting quality analysis conducted by the leading research firm Center for Financial Research and Analysis (CFRA) on companies in the solar industry with a focus on First Solar Inc. In 2009, CFRA was concerned that First Solar, like much of the... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Accounting Quality; Financial Accounting; Financial Statement Analysis; Accounting Fraud; Accounting Red Flags; Accounting Scandal; Risk and Uncertainty; Quality; Earnings Management; Valuation; Crime and Corruption; Financial Statements; Energy Sources; Green Technology Industry; Accounting Industry; Energy Industry

fall 2003
Article

Why Total Quality Management Programs Do Not Persist: The Role of Management Quality and Implications for Leading a TQM Transformation

By: Michael Beer

Keywords: Quality; Management; Transformation

Article

Manage the Suppliers That Could Harm Your Brand: Know When to Avoid, Engage, or Drop Them

By: Jodi L Short and Michael W. Toffel

The pandemic has placed a new spotlight on working conditions in factories that supply global companies. To avert problems, firms often impose codes of conduct on their suppliers and perform audits to assess compliance. Do these measures help identify unethical... View Details

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August 2015
Article

Hospital Board and Management Practices Are Strongly Related to Hospital Performance on Clinical Quality Metrics

By: Thomas C Tsai, Ashish K. Jha, Atul A. Gawande, Robert S. Huckman, Nicholas Bloom and Raffaella Sadun

National policies to improve health care quality have largely focused on clinical provider outcomes and, more recently, payment reform. Yet the association between hospital leadership and quality, although crucial to driving quality improvement, has not been explored... View Details

Keywords: Hospitals; Quality; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Practices and Processes; Service Delivery; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

Article

Total Quality Management and the Human Resource Professional: Applying the Baldrige Framework to Human Resources

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Christopher L. Hart

The still evolving discipline of total quality management (TQM) has left many human resource professionals confused about their role. The authors believe that the HR function personnel should spearhead company quality efforts, as well as assess the performance of their... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Management Practices and Processes; Human Resources

April 1989 (Revised January 1990)
Case

Texas Instruments: Cost of Quality (B)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

A division questions whether to retain, modify, or abandon its cost of quality system now that more direct measures of quality have been adopted. Discusses the role of quality cost measurement in a mature quality management system. View Details

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Quality

August 2002 (Revised December 2002)
Case

Quality Imaging Products (QIP)

Martin Stein, a recent business school graduate, is the new owner of Quality Imaging Products (QIP), a $10-million-a-year remanufacturer of printer and copier ink cartridges. Within weeks of buying the company, QIP's vp for finance, gives an ultimatum: a raise or he... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture; Crisis Management; Manufacturing Industry

August 1988 (Revised November 1988)
Case

Texas Instruments: Cost of Quality (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Texas Instruments implements a Cost of Quality (COQ) system as part of a company-wide "Total Quality Thrust." After several years of operation, group management questions whether or not the COQ system should be updated to make it more useful in identifying areas for... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Performance Improvement

July 1998
Case

Quality Furniture Co.

By: David F. Hawkins and Norman Bartczak

A supplier is trying to determine if credit should be extended to two customers whose circumstances have changed. 99U per Case Records. View Details

Keywords: Credit; Risk Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Manufacturing Industry