Do Investments in Innovation and Quality Management Systems Ensure Superior Financial Performance? A Quantitative Study of Brazilian Publicly Traded Companies

ABSTRACT Investments in innovation and quality management systems have long been presented as tools that can boost organizational performance. In Brazil, empirical, systematic, and rigorous research on such relations on such relations is still scarce. Given this context, this study sought to verify, using multiple linear regressions, how investments in innovation, and adoption of the six sigma methodology and ISO 9001 certification, impacted the financial performance, in terms of profitability, of the 101 Brazilian publicly traded companies comprising the study sample in fiscal year 2019. Regression results shows evidence that Brazilian publicly traded companies are having little success in regards to financial results by their six sigma efforts, and that R&D efforts and ISO 9001 certification exert positive and significant impact on profitability, via the ROA index. The interaction between ISO 9001 and R&D came close to significance, indicating a possible synergistic effect to be tested in future studies. Besides contributions to the entrepreneurial field, aiding companies to direct their efforts toward initiatives capable of positively impacting profitability, such findings also help advance academic knowledge.摘要 长期以来，创新与质量管理体系投入均被视为提升组织绩效的有效工具。而在巴西，针对此类关联开展的实证、系统且严谨的研究仍较为匮乏。鉴于此背景，本研究借助多元线性回归方法，旨在探究2019财年纳入本研究样本的101家巴西上市公司的创新投入、六西格玛（six sigma）方法应用与ISO 9001认证获取，对其以盈利能力为衡量标准的财务绩效产生的影响。回归结果显示，巴西上市公司通过六西格玛实践所取得的财务成果收效甚微；而研发（Research and Development）投入与ISO 9001认证可通过资产收益率（Return on Assets，ROA）指标，对盈利能力产生显著正向影响。ISO 9001认证与研发投入的交互项接近显著性水平，表明存在潜在协同效应，有待后续研究进一步验证。本研究成果不仅可为企业界提供参考，助力企业将资源投向可正向提升盈利能力的实践方向，同时也有助于推动相关学术知识的发展。