A Study of Quality Assurance in Small Businesses

Abstract

Recent research by the authors into quality assurance in small businesses suggests that in many cases the approach to the management of product quality leaves room for improvement. The findings indicate that many small companies are unlikely to have: a coherent quality assurance policy and genuine strategy on quality; a separate quality department; produce reports on quality matters; undertake vendor rating of suppliers; and collect and use quality costs as an aid to strategic and tactical quality related decision-making. A possible consequence of this approach to quality may mean the loss of business opportunities due to inadequate product quality or indeed the high costs of maintaining product quality resulting from the inadequacy of the quality assurance policy and ineffective operations in the quality area. If in the long-term, as suggested by the previous and present Conservative administration, the small business sector is to save British industry and even the British economy itself, then immediate steps must be taken to help small firms to get their quality right and to be aware of the influencing factors which management must examine in order to continue effective quality assurance.