The effect of a management intervention on firm performance and quality defects

Using a novel firm level data set from a garment manufacturer in Pakistan we investigate the effect of a new quality management monitoring practice on firm performance and daily defects. We provide evidence that the intervention generally had a negative impact on firm performance for those lines at the extreme ends of the complexity spectrum. Evidence consistent with a quantity-quality trade-off is also found, in that whilst the implementation of the new management practice generally adversely impacted upon all aspects of firm performance it had the desired effect of reducing the number of daily quality defects observed after the intervention.