According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, the nation's small businesses totaled 27.3 million in 2008, and, of these, approximately 6 million were employers, accounting for 49.6% of U.S. private-sector jobs. Unfortunately, 50% of small businesses fail within their first five years, but there are role models.
What does this have to do with the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence? Aren't the Criteria just for big business? The simple answer: No. Of roughly 1,500 applications for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, 400 were from small businesses, and 22 small businesses have been named Presidential role models. Here's the story of two of those role models: MESA Products, Inc., and Stoner. At the 23rd annual Quest for Excellence Conference on April 4, both presented their stories of tremendous and sustained growth.
MESA, which manufactures products to prevent metal structures from corroding, including providing engineering and installation services, reports a 20% annual growth rate since its inception. In 2006, after five applications for the Baldrige Award, MESA was honored as a Presidential role model, and since then, "it continues to grow with the things we learned from our [Baldrige performance excellence] journey," said Cary Hill, controller/director of administration.
"Baldrige took all the stuff that we do and wrapped it up. It gave us the framework and the discipline; it helped us see the integration, and we became great," said Hill. He added that doing Baldrige is how we run our business. Doing Baldrige has helped lead MESA into the future, to become "a sustainable, enduring company."
Hill says he continues to serve as a Baldrige examiner, and as an examiner, he can bring the Criteria back to MESA and help identify gaps on where the company needs to improve. "This is what [Baldrige] is all about."
Rob Marchalonis, CEO of Stoner, a manufacturing and sales company of cleaners, lubricants, coatings, car care products, and a premium glass cleaner called Invisible Glass, which is the #1 glass cleaner in dollars in the United States and the #1 glass cleaner brand in the auto category, said the Baldrige Criteria forced the company to look at its methods, processes, and customer and employee satisfaction and engagement. Before Baldrige, Marchalonis said the 2005 Baldrige Award recipient focused entirely on its financial and product outcomes, but Baldrige helped it to improve its overall system by differentiating operational efficiencies and conducting lots of benchmarking.
Baldrige has provided a framework for Stoner to more effectively integrate its acquisitions and to evaluate the business potential of acquisitions, he said. Marchalonis added that being named a Baldrige Award recipient helped give Stoner performance excellence credentials, and the owners/founders of its acquisitions often become Stoner's best salespeople.
So what has the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence framework done for these small business? I think the results speak for themselves.
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