Quality Improvement Drivers in the Electronics Industry.

While the management accounting literature has long mentioned quality as an important variable, it is only in recent years that systematic research at the quality/accounting interface has been conducted. This paper examines drivers of quality improvement in the electronics industry. One objective is to examine the extent to which traditional learning-curve models explain observed learning rates. These models underlie most discussion of learning curves in the accounting literature. A second objective is to develop a richer platform from which to conduct further research on quality improvement drivers. A combination of data analysis, company interviews and surveys are employed. Up-stream variables such as product design, infrastructure, supplier and customer-related variables are found to be key drivers of quality improvement. The results support a much broader perspective than the traditional "learning-by- doing" approach being adopted in the accounting literature.