Quality and Its Economic Impact on Rural Small Business Maine

Currently, small businesses face many challenges to success and growth. Rural regions particularly suffer from the lack of convenient, effective and affordable resources, inhibiting growth in the dominant service and other non-manufacturing sectors. These regions, upon suffering the higher-paying job losses from manufacturing shrinkage, struggle to maintain their vitality and promote economic recovery. Raising productivity, efficiency and profitability in the non-manufacturing small businesses sectors should also encourage employee development and education, further increasing their value to the economy and future generations. "High Performance Work Organizations" (HPWO) have been studied and discussed for many years, but for various reasons the small, non-manufacturing businesses are not receiving the same professional services as their larger, more resourceful competitors have enjoyed. CMS proposes development of Extension Partnerships that resemble their manufacturing counterparts, bringing practical application in line with current available information sources. CMS will research and test the ability to measurably improve regional economic conditions through the successful infusion of "best practices" that are currently employed by large, established and resourceful companies.