Deming’s Quality Management Practices by Small Businesses in Rural Areas

Deming’s Philosophy is a famous thought among Quality Management scholars and practitioner. The theory consists of 14 principles providing guidelines for appropriate firms’ quality behavior and practices. Deming proposes that an organization shall experience high-quality service by lowering non-value added activities, such as scrap, rework, and conflicts, while increasing customers’ loyalty. There is an overwhelming allegation on the apparent effect of Deming’s theory on quality management theory and practices worldwide, mostly in larger organizations of developed countries. Few studies have discussed the relevance of Deming theories in small business management practices in developing countries. Moreover, there is a stigma among small business practitioners that all western originated management theories are less applicable in their context. At the same time, the currently available literature on Deming management methods is mostly a description of the 14 points. This study aims at elaborating the small businesses owners’/ managers’ understanding of Deming’s fourteen points. The rising numbers of Small Medium Enterprises in Indonesia is a positive sign of local economic development in the Industrial revolution 4.0. To remain competitive, SMEs are forced to be a quality focus and consistently innovate. The sample of the study was 335 SMEs’ owners/ managers in Banyumas Central Java, Indonesia. Authors used descriptive statistics to analyze the data — results based on descriptive analysis. The result of the study confirmed the practics of Deming’s theory among SMEs in Indonesia. Majority of respondents had a good understanding of the theory and felt the benefits of the theory while adopting it.