Benchmarking as a Mechanism for the Incremental Formalization of Quality and Capacity Building in Traditional Small Businesses: Evidence of an Emerging Economy
Published 2024-12-15
Keywords
- Organizational formalization; quality capability development; Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); capability building; longitudinal case study; Artisanal production systems; organizational learning; emerging markets.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
In small businesses within emerging economies, benchmarking does not typically fail due to technical deficiencies in the tool itself, but rather because of the inherent fragility of their own organizational structures. Lacking standardized processes, these business units face a chasm between management theory and daily operations, where informality dictates the rules of the game.
This research moves away from the simplistic view of benchmarking as a mere performance mirror; instead, it analyzes it as a driver that creates tension and compels formalization in environments where knowledge is often tacit and unsystematic. The study contributes to the literature by reconceptualizing benchmarking in small-scale contexts and introducing a replicable ordinal framework for evaluating structural gaps. The implications highlight the potential of simplified benchmarking approaches to strengthen organizational stability and resilience in resource-constrained environments.