Abstract:
To survive and achieve to develop their activities in an increasingly competitive
environment, small and medium sized enterprises have to increase their
competitiveness and, progressively, reduce their operational cost. It is therefore the
objective of this research project to develop a flexible and unique management system
for these enterprises to use to integrate all management systems or activities related to
quality, safety and environmental issues and continuously improve their overall
business performance and also to get prepared for certification according to the
relevant international standards.
The research project has been based on the edition of 2000 of the ISO 9001 standard:
"Quality Management Systems
-
Requirements", the ISO 14001: 1996 standard:
"Environmental Management Systems
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Specification with Guidance for Use", the BS
8800: 1996 standard: "Guide to Occupational Health and Safety Management
Systems" and the Business Excellence Model.
The thesis author carried out a data collection procedure to determine the special
characteristics of small and medium sized enterprises and to specify their needs for
survival and development. The results of the research reinforced the conclusions of
the relevant literature that was reviewed. The areas of literature examined related to
quality management systems as platforms for integration, to safety and environmental
management systems and to business process analysis and the conclusions were taken
under consideration from a point of view of small and medium sized enterprises.
The output of the research project is a practical guide for small and medium sized
enterprises. It is a route-map of activities for the implementation of the integrated
management system, incorporating tools addressing specific management areas using
quality, safety and environmental issues to focus them. The route-map has the
potential to integrate the overall management activities of an organization and has an
internal metric mechanism to indicate the rate of integration. The tools of the route-
map were partially implemented to two (2) SMEs, giving positive validation of the
concepts.
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