KalDer Continues Its Efforts Aimed at SMEs

KalDer Continues Work Targeting SMEs As competition intensifies in the new economic system initiated by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, organizations face an imperative need for more effective and inclusive management approaches. At precisely this juncture, strategies based on total quality management serve as a driving force for the development of SMEs, which form the fundamental building blocks of Turkey's industrial and entrepreneurial ecosystem. The EFQM model, foremost among these management strategies, translates to numerous benefits for SMEs including reduced costs, business growth, and a corresponding expansion of the employment pool. Turkey Quality Association (KalDer), the national cooperation partner of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), adopts this model as a guide for numerous objectives including ensuring management quality, eliminating losses, reducing costs, preventing potential errors, and achieving excellence. KalDer, which offers a dynamic structure aimed at increasing quality and efficiency across all organizational processes that form the backbone of the EFQM model, supports SMEs in achieving their objectives of productivity and continuity. Turkey Quality Association (KalDer), which continues its activities to establish and disseminate contemporary quality philosophy in our country, provides high added value through its work targeting SMEs. KalDer, which establishes partnerships with expert institutions and structures on the subject to promote the EFQM model—a management model developed by a group of industry professionals and academics and introduced to the world in 1991 by the European Foundation for Quality Management—creates practical implementations that deliver tangible benefits enabling organizations to achieve their sustainable success objectives. In a world of continuous movement and digitalization, the association, collaborating with various civil society organizations, puts forward projects for the development of competitive capabilities of both Turkish industry and SMEs, aiming to integrate the EFQM model into the entire SME ecosystem.

EFQM model reduces production losses, increases productivity

Yılmaz Bayraktar, Chairman of the Board of KalDer, addressing the advantages the EFQM model offers for SMEs: "EFQM, a transformation model that provides a holistic perspective and helps organizations understand how various management tools and techniques can be used in harmony and in a mutually complementary manner, presents an innovative and sustainable management approach for organizations. The EFQM model, recognized globally and establishing a management framework, gains particular importance when considering that nearly all enterprises in our country comprise SMEs. This effective model supports SMEs in managing change and improving their performance. In its simplest definition, EFQM offers SMEs the opportunity to measure where they stand in their journey of creating sustainable value and to achieve success. At this point, we at KalDer believe that SMEs, despite their potential and advantages, can demonstrate their true strength within the framework of the rules that form the foundation of the EFQM model, which remain behind in global competition. Because EFQM takes an X-ray of SMEs, diagnosing what firms need, and moreover through proven methods… SMEs that make the right moves with the right strategies obtain advantages such as eliminating production losses, reducing costs, increasing quality, and boosting productivity," he said.

Develops SMEs' business practices, providing them with transparent and corporate structures

Emphasizing that this model is an effective tool for corporate development and creating better-managed organizations for SMEs, Bayraktar drew attention to the fundamental approaches of the EFQM model, stating: "What matters in the EFQM model is understanding customer priorities, adopting a long-term, stakeholder-focused view, and seeing the cause-and-effect relationships between what an organization does and what it achieves. The basic objective here is to enable SMEs to acquire a more corporate and globally competitive management approach and administrative structure. The EFQM model, through the management approach it provides, creates the necessary infrastructure for transparency, effective strategic planning, increasing digitalization maturity, and establishing the correct corporate structure regardless of the company's organization. It raises awareness, particularly among small business managers, regarding technical efficiency gains in decisions SMEs must make about their production processes and markets. It guides SMEs on fundamental capabilities needed to integrate into global supply chains."

SMEs raise institutionalization rate to 68% with EFQM model

Noting that SMEs, which constitute approximately 98% of enterprises in Turkey, gain numerous benefits when they structure their management approaches with the EFQM model, Yılmaz Bayraktar stated: "This model, which provides a series of added values such as customer numbers, customer satisfaction rate, profitability and income growth, and competitive advantage, stands alongside SMEs in their macroeconomic development journey. To demonstrate this added value with concrete data, an evaluation was conducted on 19 SMEs implementing this model in cooperation between the Presidential Directorate of Strategic Development (T.C. Cumhurbaşkanlığı Stratejik Kalkınma Daire Başkanlığı) and our association within the United Nations Development Program, revealing the changes achieved. In the evaluation marked by figures exceeding 100% in many assessment criteria, important gains were observed in SMEs including momentum, dissemination, and stakeholder focus. As a result of the evaluations conducted, an overall improvement of 48.5% was achieved specifically in the SMEs participating in the research. Accordingly; while the institutionalization rate increased from 26% to 65%, the application rate of organizational bylaws rose from 28% to 68%. Professionalism and specialization rate increased from 30% to 65%, formal organizational structure from 30% to 70%. Delegation of authority increased from 27% to 65%, strategic planning from 20% to 66%, participation in management style from 24% to 63%. Development in decision-making reached from 20% to 60%, while in communication this figure rose from 30% to 70%," he concluded.