| Abstract [eng] |
The aim of the Master's thesis is after reviewing the scientific literature and conducting an empirical study, to evaluate the influence of the application of management principles and methods on the financial indicators of private medical laboratories mediated by service quality and customer satisfaction. The thesis consists of three structural parts - literature review, research methodology and results analysis. At the end of the work, research conclusions and proposals, approval and dissemination of the results are presented. During the literature review, the specifics of private medical laboratories were analyzed, sources of management principles and methods were identified, management principles and methods typically applied in private medical laboratories were identified, the most important performance results of private medical laboratories were analyzed. It includes service quality, customer satisfaction and financial indicators. Also were summarized the impact of applied management principles and methods on the quality of services, customer satisfaction and financial indicators of private medical laboratories. After analysing the literature, was decided that to assess the impact of the application of management principles and methods on the performance of private medical laboratories, such as service quality, customer satisfaction and financial indicators, the appropriate empirical research methodology is a quantitative study by conducting a questionnaire survey and including not only in Lithuania, but also in other European countries existing private medical laboratories. The most suitable target respondents are laboratory managers, directors, quality managers, other managers or employees who are familiar with the laboratory's performance. The questionnaire was sent by e-mail to 950 potential respondents from 23 European countries. Answers were received from 139 respondents from all countries included in the study. “IBM SPSS Statistics v29.0.2.0” software was selected for data analysis. Paired and multiple linear regression analyzes were used to determine the relationship and influence between the variables, and the mediating relationship between the variables was evaluated. During the empirical quantitative research, 6 hypotheses were tested, which were approved based on the results of the research - strong direct effects and partial mediations were found between the variables. Based on the conclusions of this work, it can be said that the application of management principles and methods has a strong direct positive influence on service quality, customer satisfaction, and on financial indicators mediated by service quality and customer satisfaction. Management principles such as elimination of waste, empowerment, identification of value-creating processes, continuous improvement of processes (Kaizen), long-term philosophy, visual management, teamwork, value stream planning, first time quality, leaders promoted from within and continuous training of employee and methods such as the responsibility matrix, FMEA, Kanban cards for inventory management, total preventive maintenance (TPM), daily meetings (Asaichi), Gemba walk, value-stream mapping (VSM), root cause analysis (five whys) and standard operating procedures (SOP) have the greatest influence on service quality. Meanwhile, customer satisfaction is most influenced by principles such as the identification of value-creating processes, elimination of waste, empowerment and long-term philosophy, and methods such as daily meetings (Asaichi), the responsibility matrix, value-stream mapping (VSM), Kanban cards for inventory management and Gemba walk. |
