In the current dynamic and competitive environment, continuous improvement has become a basic management requirement aiming to increase performance of firms and local productive arrangements. The objective of this study is to present guidelines for collective development of continuous improvement in Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises that operate in this type of arrangement. The proposal was formulated based on the theoretical concept and validated by a case study. The guidelines are composed of six main stages: Preparation, Array Diagnosis, Company Diagnostics, Implementation, Audit, and Evaluation.
Continuous improvement; Quality management; Micro; Small and medium enterprises; Local productive arrangement; Industrial sector
