Quality costing: a survey in Greek supermarkets using multiple correspondence analysis

Abstract

Purpose The present paper is an effort towards an integrated depiction of the quality costs of supermarkets in Greece. The purpose of the survey was to investigate to what extent the P-A-F model is used by Greek trade companies in the years of economic turmoil. Furthermore, it analyses how the quality costing process differentiates itself according to a number of demographic variables (size, number of employees, number of branches, ISO/HACCP certification). Design/methodology/approach The survey was conducted in 159 Greek supermarkets via a questionnaire. The method of Multiple Correspondence Analysis was successfully implemented in the process of answering the above mentioned questions. Findings The survey highlighted the limited use of quality costing practices among supermarkets. The way companies monitor quality costs proved to be highly dependent on their size, the economic circumstances and other variables (i.e. ISO/HACCP certification). Furthermore, our research provides evidence that prevention plus appraisal costs “balance” with failure costs at 83% of quality conformance. Originality/value The present study offers a first insight into the attitude of Greek supermarkets towards quality costing implementation. Moreover, it is enriched with empirical findings on the interrelations among the quality cost categories, which support and verify “the new COQ model”. Finally, given the fact that the majority of published research papers focus on quality costing in manufacturing companies, we chose to examine supermarkets, as a first attempt towards the analysis of quality costing in retail companies in Greece.