Levels of Excellence in Small Manufacturing Companies in Cúcuta -Colombia

Abstract

The permanence in the market and the increase in business competitiveness are growing needs for manufacturing companies, especially for small companies that need to adopt best management practices for their growth, based on a self-assessment approach. The study was based on determining the degree of compliance of 33 small manufacturing companies in Cúcuta with the levels of excellence established in the EFQM:2013 excellence model, due to its wide impact and successful experiences at international level, in order to identify the dimensions on which the companies should focus, with a view to developing a standard adapted to the needs of the sector. The research was carried out through a quantitative approach, in which, for the selection of the companies, a simple random sampling was carried out with a degree of reliability of 80% of 119 constituted companies; also, the Pearson correlation coefficient was applied to analyze possible relationships between the results of the evaluated criteria and factors such as the years of permanence in the market and the application of other quality standards, Nevertheless, interdependencies were found between the scores obtained in the different criteria of the model, reaffirming its consistency. Finally, the average score of the sector was approximately 309 points out of a possible 1000, showing wide margins for the implementation of new practices that facilitate permanence in the market and sustained success, mainly in the results related to clients.