Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to assess the current quality management practices of service sector SMEs in Pakistan, and to provide an insight for policy development for SMEs. Design/methodology/approach -A focused investigation of 100 SMEs in northern Pakistan was conducted through focused interviews and e-mail survey. The survey is based on a list of 19 quality management techniques selected through Delphi research. Findings -A significant gap is reported between the knowledge of quality management techniques and their usage by SME entrepreneurs. The results show strong usage of CRM related techniques while low usage of suppliers' development related and statistically extensive techniques. Significant correlation is found between the usage of TQM and other quality management techniques, particularly six sigma and 5S. Practical implications -The results offer insight into quality management practices in Pakistani SMEs which represent the broader South Asian business culture that is host to a huge share of outsourcing from developed economies. Besides being of huge value to policy makers in the country, the results are useful for firms in developed economies that outsource their businesses to developing economies in South Asia. Originality/value -The paper provides an insight into the quality management practices of Pakistani SMEs.

Summary Faults are natural for any practical system including photovoltaic (PV) power generation systems that need to be diagnosed accordingly to maximize its efficiency. However, faults can be rectified only if they are diagnosed correctly. Therefore, a credible and reliable diagnosis is required for maintenance of the system. In this paper, independent component analysis (ICA)‐based wireless fault diagnosis technique is proposed for solar PV systems. ICA enables us to communicate without having any prior information about the signals and the wireless channel. The proposed technique can diagnose faults related to electrical failures, climatic impacts, variable irradiance, and irregular cell temperature. Effectiveness of the proposed technique is evaluated through extensive simulations utilizing practical data.

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