How to Build Quality Management in a Small to Medium Enterprise?

Quality management (QM) in one of its many forms has become an integral part of contemporary business. Since its mainstream introduction to the United States in the early 1980’s it has become more than a strategy or a competitive differentiator. QM is now a customer expectation. Most of the voluminous research done in this field was conducted by large businesses for large businesses. However, the vast majority of businesses in the United States and the world at large are small to medium enterprises (SMEs). These organizations have largely been ignored by the quality movement. This study attempts to narrow that gap by investigating what is currently known in the field by the academic and practitioner communities in the hope that future researchers will use this data to further investigate this phenomenon. The findings from this research study indicate that QM is appropriate to the SME environment. There are specific critical to success factors and barriers to implementation that are unique to SME’s that should be considered prior to implementation. Additionally, there is evidence to suggest that QM is not universal in nature as previously thought, but tends to be context dependent. Most of the studies that were conducted were survey based. There was comparatively little qualitative research done in this field and no action research projects that this author could find which creates opportunities for future research.

Authors: Tres Bishop

Link: https://doi.org/10.28945/4099

Cite as: Bishop, T.(2018). How to build quality management in a small to medium enterprise?, Muma Business Review 2(4). 43-54. https://doi.org/10.28945/4099