Determinantes de la implantación de la norma ISO 9001

Abstract

Over the last two decades, the number of ISO 9001 certified companies has been growing constantly and by the end of 2013 reached more than 1,100,000 (ISO,2014) worldwide. However, the distribution of certificates between countries does not match the weight that each one has on the global economy. In this study, first, the literature related to ISO 9001 has been revised, including articles on the causes of the adoption of standards, advantages, disadvantages and effects of the application of the standard on business results. Furthermore, an analysis of diffusion models is performed. This analysis of literature shows that many companies get the certificate only as a way of improving their image. Therefore, it may exist the temptation of getting the certificate at minimum cost, without any real change in the quality management system of the company, that is, making a "qualitywashing". It was also found that one of the main reasons for the certification is to get into new markets. Based on this, the influence of seven factors in the number of ISO 9000 certificates is analyzed: Economic Development, Facing Exporting to Europe, Corruption, Reputation, Competitiveness, Innovation and Business Sophistication. The results indicate that these variables have a statistically significant influence on national implementation of ISO 9001, relationships that become stronger for developed countries. In the case of corruption, -this thesis is pioneer in its study-if its influence is confirmed in future studies, it would be a major criticism of the operation of the system ISO 9001 and it could result in a loss of confidence in the standard by the companies themselves.