Title: Development and validation of business excellence frameworks for Indian manufacturing MSMEs

Authors: P.M. Unnikrishnan; Jyoti Tikoria; Arun Kumar Agariya

Addresses: Department of Management, BITS Pilani, Rajasthan – 333031, India ' Department of Management, BITS Pilani, Rajasthan – 333031, India ' Department of Management, ABV-IIITM, Gwalior, M.P. – 333031, India

Abstract: The present study aims at exploring the status of business excellence practices, proposing and validating a framework and prioritisation of validated factors for Indian manufacturing MSMEs. A structured methodology was followed for achieving the three-fold objectives of present research work. The findings present the awareness and status of business excellence practices in MSMEs followed by validation of eight factor multidimensional construct of business excellence comprising of factors namely: organisational culture and stakeholder engagement; quality systems and business orientation; self-managed teams with diverse work force; competitiveness and market orientation; result orientation; innovation and continuous improvement; inclusive organisational environment; and leadership and top management commitment; out of these leadership and top management commitment received a higher weightage. The implications for practitioners and policy makers have also been discussed. The novelty of this research work lies in proposing a framework for business excellence assessment of MSMEs for fuelling the growth of Indian economy.

Keywords: business excellence; India; micro, small and medium enterprises; MSMEs; framework; economy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2025.149876

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2025 Vol.37 No.3, pp.387 - 421

Received: 22 Jul 2021
Accepted: 25 Dec 2021
Published online: 17 Nov 2025 *

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