Title: Geographies, motivations and benefits from ISO 9000 standard: a comparison of manufacturing and service organisations

Authors: Pavel Castka, Michaela A. Balzarova

Addresses: Management Department, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8020, New Zealand. ' Commerce Division, Lincoln University, P.O. Box 84, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand

Abstract: In this research we aim to empirically describe differences between manufacturing and service industries in terms of their geographies, motivations and benefits from ISO 9000 certification. Based on the response from 422 New Zealand based ISO 9000 certified organisations, we reveal that service organisations are focused on national business environment whereas manufacturing sector is more linked to international business. Furthermore, ISO 9000 service organisations experience less coercive pressure to get certified in comparison to their manufacturing counterparts and both sectors gain similar benefits from the certification. We have also concluded that our findings are relevant to global population of ISO 9000 certified companies as New Zealand patterns of ISO 9000 are comparable with patterns identified in other developed countries such as the USA, Australia or France.

Keywords: ISO 9000; quality standards; manufacturing industries; motivation; geographies; New Zealand; international business; USA; United States; Australia; France; certification benefits; geography; TQM; total quality management; service sector.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2010.032956

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2010 Vol.5 No.4, pp.370 - 383

Published online: 05 May 2010 *

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