STANDARDS CORNER
Small businesses have very different reasons for adopting a quality management system than do medium and large businesses.

Certainly, a small business, like medium and large businesses, may be required by a customer or regulatory authority to be certified to the ISO 9001:2000 standard, but it is rare in most jurisdictions.

An important difference between small and large businesses is that managers in medium and large enterprises are usually employees with the staff and money needed to maintain their certification while the typical small business manager is usually the owner.

Money is the lifeblood of small businesses and anything that chokes the flow of cash can be disastrous. Entrepreneurs constantly battle the gap between payables and receivables, which is precisely where the ISO 9001:2000 standard can help.

The standard provides a quick reference to the management tools an entrepreneur must use to achieve business success. The standard covers customer related processes focusing on customers’ needs to help ensure product satisfies those needs. It may be difficult but the successful entrepreneur must talk frequently to customers and immediately deal with customer complaints. Customers are hard won and must be treasured because the small business owner usually does not have the time and resources to continually seek new ones.

A small business is often the final link to the consumer and may not give enough thought to its suppliers and how important they are as part of their team.

Successful entrepreneurs know all this intuitively, but do not usually organise the business to adequately control all the relationships. Some are very good at selling their products and services and others may be better at actually producing or delivering the product.

The ISO 9001:2000 standard requires businesses to recognise the value-adding activities of business and develop clearly defined processes to achieve continued growth and success. A certified quality management system will include procedures describing how the processes are performed and managed.

Interpreting data can also help predict the future of the business, even to predict dangerous times ahead no matter how good the current bottom line results are. It is well understood that, in order to be managed, an activity must be measured. Clause 8.4 – Analysis of data of the standard requires the small business to collect and analyse data to demonstrate that planned objectives are being achieved.

Small businesses should collect data or information on their Customer base, Customer satisfaction, Employees, and Supplier relationships. The data combined with the current financial results will provide the small business manager with a clear picture of how well the business is doing and where there is weakness that will result in trouble. If necessary, corrective action can be determined and taken.

The Guyana National Bureau of Standards is capable and ready to work with any size of business that is willing to improve its efficiency and viability by implementing the requirements of the ISO 9001: 2000 standard.

For further information on this subject, contact the Guyana National Bureau of Standards on telephone numbers: 219- 0065, 219-0066.