Business excellence (BE) models for MSMEs: the contemporary art and science of Improving national economy

Abstract

The interest on the role of MSMEs already had resurgence as early as 1990. The issues confronting Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs) on the need to streamline its processes and to improve the delivery of its services have never been outdated, and in fact, are becoming more imperative as its business continues to expand. This challenges remain and is highlighted even more as the call for globalization from various international actors get sturdier. Based on the foregoing, it is thus, a fact unarguably stronger than the wall of Gibraltar that MSMEs play a vital role in keeping the ball rolling for various economic activities of any state down to its every single household. With these vital roles, it is expected that harnessing their business capabilities could significantly contribute to higher business growth which could lead to an enhanced level of national productivity and competitiveness. The role of MSMEs is even more crucial for developing countries as the same is a potential source of income and employment, and a potential solution to poverty alleviation as well as rural growth and development. This study reviews how MSMEs across Asia fared in adopting and institutionalizing the Business Excellence (BE) framework for performance excellence. It will also look into how BE affected the MSMEs which have adopted the framework. Capping off the paper, is a propose program which will help MSMEs adopt and institutionalize the BE framework to build a culture of excellence. This would highlight the need for organizational self-assessment and action planning deployment as a tool to identify one's strength and opportunities for improvement and eventually addressing the same to improve productivity and quality, and eventually contributing to national economy.