Small Business Guidebook to Quality Management

摘要

There are more than 20 million small businesses in the United States. Smallbusinesses are a major force behind our economy. They employ more than half the private sector workforce in this country. Between 1980 and 1986, 64 percent of the 10.5 million jobs created in the U.S. were produced by small businesses.' Small companies are now operating in one of the most dynamic economic periods in American history. The list of current concerns for all business managers includes the usual factors: sales, profits, costs, schedules, deadlines, labor-management agreements, suppliers, and competition. The last decade has added other concerns like increased government reporting, increased global competition, increased complexity to government procurement, rising health care costs, and new government-mandated programs. Perhaps the overriding challenge of the past several years, however, has been the prolonged recession and the gradual, sluggish nature of the economic recovery. For many small business owners, these increasing business concerns have become critical issues in the fight for survival. How does one meet all these challenges.