Abstract

Whether a company is large or small, quality programs are vital to assure customer, stakeholder, and employee satisfaction. Many small businesses, however, may find limited resources and conflicting priorities make the quest for organizational excellence difficult. Small business owners starting a quality program will find the Baldrige self-assessment tool, available free online at the Baldrige website, an excellent compliment to traditional SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. Using a "top to bottom and back to the top" concept to establish a senior management vision assures all levels of the oganization will be involved in the new quality program. Once implemented, a continuous measurement and improvement cycle will keep the program effective. Sidebar articles recommend texts for the entrepreneur's library and provide a partial list of quality improvement models.