Quality practices for a competitive advantage in smaller firms

This exploratory, study, examines the quality, practices used in smaller entrepreneurial firms, The current literature defines flexibility, as one of the primary, competitive priorities for smaller firms. This study, develops an exploratory,proposition that relates the characteristics of quality systems used by, small firms, and their value, to the competitive priority, of flexibility,. A survey, of 184 small firms in the US. was conducted using the classification scheme for quality systems consistent with the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award (MBNQA) performance criteria. Overall, the results support the proposition that small firms tend to employ quality, practices that enable change and that position the firm to pursue flexibility as a competitive priority. The paper concludes with a discussion of the insights generated by, the findings and directions for future research.