The Integration between Sticky Cost and Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Supporting Continuous Improvement in The Industrial Sector in The Context of Internal Agents- an Applied Study

The main objective of this study was to investigate the integration between sticky cost and Capability Maturity Model Integration in order to decrease the cost stickiness degree and achieve continuous improvement, the sample of the study included 53 firms listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange during the period from 2016 to 2019, the results revealed that Cost of Goods Sold and Selling, General, and Administrative costs exhibit an asymmetric behavior on average, there is no relation between the stickiness of Cost of Goods Sold and agency problem, while there is a positive relation between the stickiness of Selling, General, and Administrative costs and agency problem, furthermore, corporate governance has no impact on moderating the relation between the stickiness of Cost of Goods Sold and agency problem, while, corporate governance has a negative impact on the relation between the stickiness of Selling, General, and Administrative costs and agency problem implying a weak corporate governance, finally, the study provided an empirical evidence on the validity of the integration between sticky cost and Capability Maturity Model Integration in decreasing the cost stickiness degree and achieving continuous improvement through a questionnaire that includes a number of questions that details the validity of plugging appropriate tools in each CMMI maturity level, that in turn makes costs exhibiting symmetric behavior, the results of empirical study showed the plausibility of integrating sticky cost with CMMI in order to reduce cost stickiness degree, and achieve continuous improvement.