Business Performance of SMEs in Vidharbha and Khandesh Region of India: A TQM Implementation

Abstract

This paper attempts to identify the importance of factors and sub factors for the successful implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Vidarbha and Khandesh region in India. This study first investigates the critical factors and sub-factors that determine the adoption and successful implementation of TQM.  Moreover, the evaluation weights are determined using analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The findings advocate that these enterprises would stress the basic TQM factors of organization and “understanding of customer needs (CN)”, “common understanding of quality (UQ)” and “use of team process (TP)” are the most important factors.  The results suggest a generic hierarchy model for organizations to prioritize the critical factors and formulate strategies for implementing TQM in Vidarbha and Khandesh, as well as other cities and regions in India.