An approach to prioritize quality dimensions of IT enabled small service firms: A study of Indian SMEs

In today´s globally competitive market it is important to adopt quality management principles not only for making profits but also for survival. In India small and midsized enterprises dictate market in terms of sheer number of organizations characterized by dynamics of entrepreneurial fortitude while suffered failure due to poor service quality. With rise of e-business introduced by ICT, service delivery of enterprises grew. However it is seen in practice that many IT projects have suffered missed deadlines, budget overruns, and unsatisfactory quality or unmet performances whereby organizations often go through frustrations and may have serious impact on their operations. In response to the context it is vital for small firms to adopt effective quality orientation approach. Taking scenario into consideration there is a need for deeper investigation to identify context specific dimensions of quality attributes pertaining to IT enabled Indian small service firms. This paper thus attempts to identify and prioritize quality management dimensions based on comprehensive compilation and subsequent analysis of literature followed by data collection and in-depth interview. Further, TOPSIS as multi criteria decision making technique has been deployed to prioritize the same. Paper provide rich conjectural understanding of antecedents to service ventures and start-up survivals which can provide entrepreneurial insights to service managers as well as entrepreneurs who can better apportion their scarce resources to build quality and scalability in an efficient and effective manner.