Title: Relationships among ISO 9001, competitive dimensions and profitability

Authors: S. Bruce Han; Khim L. Sim; Maling Ebrahimpour

Addresses: Girard School of Business and International Commerce, Merrimack College, North Andover, MA 01845, USA. ' College of Business and Economics, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA. ' College of Business, University of South Florida – St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, USA

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to better understand the relationships among ISO 9001 certification, competitive dimensions and profitability by focusing on two major industries in the USA. In this study, data was collected from 441 ISO 9001 registered manufacturing companies, of which, 295 companies belong to the electronics industry and 119 companies to the chemical industry. One important result of this research is that there is evidence that ISO 9001 registration efforts benefit a firm's competitiveness. However, achieving ISO 9001 certification alone will not lead to higher profitability. In the chemical industry, companies attain better financial performance by making improvements in costs. For electronics firms, higher profits can be obtained through enhancing the quality of their products, reducing cost of doing business and providing greater flexibility to their customers.

Keywords: ISO 9001; quality management; quality standards; cost; flexibility; dependability; profitability; quality certification; competitiveness; manufacturing firms; electronics industry; chemical industry; product quality; financial performance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2012.045200

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2012 Vol.11 No.2, pp.222 - 236

Published online: 16 Aug 2014 *

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