Special report | A survey of India's economy
The unknown majority
India’s small firms are nimbler than the big ones—but more vulnerable too
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JAGADEESAN INDUSTRIES, “manufacturers of precision auto components”, may be small, but it is plugged in. Over the past five years, the three brothers who own it have put Japanese notions of total quality management to work in their tiny factory in Chennai. Machine operators have “ownership” of the components they make, which means that they, not a supervisor, are in charge of quality control. The proprietors' business cards sport ISO 9002 marks of manufacturing quality.
This article appeared in the Special report section of the print edition under the headline “The unknown majority”
From the June 2nd 2001 edition
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