Due to the limited sample size of the current study, it has been decided to carry out a
large-scale survey in UK SMEs in the future for greater validity of the findings from
this research. A number of semi-structured interviews will also be performed as part of
the next phase of this research. The authors will take the strengths and weaknesses of
SMEs into account in the future semi-structured interviews. This would enable the
authors to have a deeper understanding of six sigma implementation within the SMEs.
The authors also intend to conduct a longitudinal study on six sigma within SMEs in
the UK and other countries. In order to assist SMEs with the implementation of six
sigma, the authors are recommending a six sigma user group (SSUG) to share and
exchange experiences of successful six sigma projects within SMEs as well as with
similar companies which embark on six sigma programme. The results presented in
this study are exploratory and are based primarily on descriptive statistics. No attempt
is made to generalise the outcomes. Future studies will attempt to generalise some of
the findings.