Title: Adoption of industry-specific quality management system standards: determinants for auto component firms in India

Authors: Neelam Singh

Addresses: Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University, Delhi – 110024, India

Abstract: Leading international buyer-firms stipulate advanced quality management system (QMS) standards. The industry/sector-specific QMS standards have been developed beyond the ISO-9000 for certain sectors where the quality issues are critical. These standards seem to play a quality signalling function. However, the adoption of industry-specific QMS Standards has been hardly analysed at firm-level. This study explores the inter-firm variations in holding the |automotive industry specific harmonised QMS standard| ISO/TS-16949 accredit for 466 auto component producers in India. Alternatively, we examine the holding of |ISO/TS-16949 and/or (earlier widely accepted) QS-9000| accredit(s) in terms of the firm-specific variables. The logistic regressions indicate considerably higher probabilities for bigger and pure-technical collaboration enterprises. For holding the ISO/TS-16949 Accredit, also the foreign financial collaboration has a favourable influence on SMEs; however, overall the foreign ownership, even the majority foreign equity, has negligible impact on large firms. We suggest preparatory cum financial assistance for the ISO/TS-16949 certification.

Keywords: quality management systems; QMS accreditation; automotive components; automobile industry; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs; industry-specific QMS; global value chains; purchasing; ISO 9000; QS 9000; ISO/TS-16949; quality standards; technical collaboration; productivity management; financial aid; exports; India; quality standards; quality certification.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2010.029513

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2010 Vol.5 No.1, pp.88 - 107

Published online: 30 Nov 2009 *

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