Title: Establishing and managing effective internal quality control measures in small service companies

Authors: Alan D. Smith

Addresses: Department of Management and Marketing, Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh, PA 15219-3099, USA

Abstract: Managing quality processes can be challenging for small firms due to the need to rapidly change to fluctuations in the market and also because the products and services created are typically customised, making standardisation difficult. Modifying quality control methods from large corporations is considered, but was not proven beneficial. By surveying small and medium-sized service firms, several suggestions for creating and implementing quality were discovered. This paper also examines the internal quality-control measures currently in place for two small service firms with specific recommendations presented for each of these firms.

Keywords: auditing; internal control; customer behaviour; CRM; customer relationship management; marketing research; operations management; quality assurance; strategic planning; quality control; service companies; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs; customisation; standardisation; USA; United States; TQM; total quality management; Pennsylvania; Cottrill and Arbutina Professional Services; financial services; accounting; Schmidt Consulting Services; market research; consultants; business growth; logistics systems; logistics management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2010.034427

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2010 Vol.7 No.2, pp.219 - 244

Published online: 03 Aug 2010 *

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