QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN RURAL AND URBAN SMEs ? A COMPARATIVE STUDY

The level of awareness on Quality Management Practices (QMP) has increased considerably over the last decade, but the literature findings reveal the lack of studies on QMP and its implementation in rural SMEs. The exploratory research focuses on identifying, analysing and comparing the level of QMP implementation in urban and rural Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Bangalore. The research hypothesis is that, urban and rural SMEs would differ significantly in implementation of different quality practices. Data was collected through structured questionnaire and analyzed using F-test and chi-square test, as appropriate, to detect the statistical significance of QMP implementation in urban and rural SMEs. The research findings suggest that research, rural firms are performing at a higher level of sophistication and experience in QMP, further, TQM is the major drive for QMP implementation.