International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management

Smaller enterprises’ experiences with ISO 9000

Alan Brown Ton van der Wiele Kate Loughton
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Alan Brown Ton van der Wiele Kate Loughton, (1998),"Smaller enterprises’ experiences with ISO 9000", International
Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 15 Iss 3 pp. 273 - 285
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 SMEs’
Smaller enterprises’ experiences with
experiences with ISO 9000 ISO 9000

Alan Brown
Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia and 273
Ton van der Wiele Received April 1997
Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and Revised August 1997

Kate Loughton
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Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia

Introduction
While quality assurance in the commercial world extends back many years in
the UK with the BS 5750 standards, the 1990s has witnessed an enormous
growth of interest in the ISO 9000 series (international version of BS 5750)
throughout the world. This has been particularly strong in Australia where the
number of Australian organisations with ISO 9000 series certification has
passed the 4,000 figures according to recent data in the Quality Certification
News. This is however, still a small percentage compared to the 100,000
organisations worldwide having their quality management system certified
according to the ISO 9000 series standards (Symonds, 1995).
Various reasons for the ISO 9000 drive are identified in the literature (Brown
and Van der Wiele, 1995; Street and Fernie, 1993; Wenmoth and Dobbin, 1994).
They include: customer demands and expectations, competitive pressures, a
regulatory environment and internal forces. This worldwide push has probably
impacted more on smaller organisations than larger ones. Many smaller
enterprises face strong pressure to gain certification due to either customer
requirements or to maintain their competitive position in the industry when
other companies are also moving in this direction. Customers are increasingly
demanding that their suppliers be certified. In fact, many large organisations
have required their suppliers to have ISO 9000 series certification for a number
of years. In some Australian states, government departments may require
companies to be certified in order to be eligible to tender for contracts.
The implementation and certification of a quality management system
according to one of the standards of the ISO 9000 series (certification is possible
against one of the three standards ISO 9001, ISO 9002, and ISO 9003, depending

The research has been supported by The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research
(NWO) with a research grant, and support was also provided by the SME Research Center at
Edith Cowan University. International Journal of Quality
& Reliability Management,
The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their valuable comments on the earlier Vol. 15 No. 3, 1998, pp. 273-285,
version. © MCB University Press, 0265-671X
 IJQRM on the scope of the organisation, for further explanation reference ISO
15,3 9000.1:1994) has come under strong criticism from some sections due to its cost
and in many cases limited benefits, particularly for smaller enterprises.
Research by O’Brien (1995) and Kean et al. (1995) report related costs in
Australia ranging from ECU41,000 for small firms to ECU86,000 for medium
sized enterprises. Pyra and Preston (1996) report costs of ECU59,000 for a small
274 enterprise and ECU70,000 for a medium one. Average times to implement the
quality management system is reported at between 12 to 16 months by Raynor
and Porter (1991), and by Pyra and Preston (1996).
As a response to some of these criticisms, the Australian Quality Council
(AQC) has introduced a low cost partial ISO 9000 training course specifically for
SMEs. While it does not lead to full ISO 9000 series certification, it uses group
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training courses to provide managers with an understanding of some of the

central requirements of a quality assurance system, so they are in an informed
position if they wish to pursue full certification. It also addresses elements of a
broader approach to quality management. An audit of the organisation is
available at the end of the course.
Furthermore, in 1996 the Australian Government announced a revised
purchasing policy. This provides a graded approach ranging from ISO 9000 not
being required for suppliers of “non critical” items and services through to its
requirement for critical areas.

Previous research
Raynor and Porter (1991) report on an interview survey of 20 small to medium
sized firms in the UK in the engineering or machinery manufacturing industry.
Findings indicate that customer pressure (or marketing factors) is the major
driving force behind ISO 9000 series certification. Some firms found that
internal benefits such as better internal control (based on improved
transparency of processes) and waste avoidance resulted from certification.
They conclude that most organisations in their sample found benefits from
certification while only a few had a minimal commitment at the start, reflecting
the view and the attitude of the chief executive.
O’Brien (1995) found some differences between large and medium and small
sized enterprises in an Australian survey on ISO 9000. Four barriers were
identified as less significant for small organisations, namely: lack of
management commitment, lack of communication between departments,
insufficient time spent on training and a targeted time frame which was too
short. These suggest that smaller organisations, in particular, may have some
advantages which may be partly attributable to using external consultants to
introduce ISO 9000 and the fact that there are fewer levels of management. Chan
and Jeganathan (1996) found in an Australian study that high costs were the
greatest inhibitor to ISO 9000 series certification by small business.
McTeer and Dale (1994) surveyed eight enterprises with less than 50
employees in the UK. Their findings also suggest that customer pressure is the
main reason for embarking on ISO 9000 and few of the companies developed
 plans for moving to TQM once certified. Time and lack of knowledge were the SMEs’
main problems faced by the smaller companies who placed considerable experiences with
reliance on consultants to assist them. The cost of developing a quality system ISO 9000
and gaining certification was seen as justified. Interestingly, some of these
smaller companies relied on past experience with suppliers rather than ISO
9000 when doing their own purchasing.
Research by Taylor (1993) in Northern Ireland found organisations 275
somewhat reluctant to measure and quantify the benefits of certification, which
he attributed to the fact that many felt to be driven to certification by external
forces. Another survey in the UK by Lloyds Register Quality Assurance (1994)
reported a highly favorable reaction to ISO 9000 certification with benefits
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including it being a valuable public relations and marketing tool, increased

ability to bid for contracts, fewer customer audits and that it had helped enter
international markets. Only a few expressed negative views about costs and
paperwork. Again another UK survey by Vanguard Consulting (1994) found
that only 15 percent of respondents believed that they had found the benefits
claimed by the British Standards Institution. Respondents were also somewhat
more critical about the standards and the expertise which was available to
advise on implementing a quality system according to the standards. This
study also found that companies who reported success with ISO 9000
introduced it for broader reasons than simply being forced to.

Research methodology and questions

A questionnaire was sent to all enterprises in the state of Western Australia
which had gained ISO 9000 series certification (approximately 500 enterprises).
The questionnaire was developed following a pilot interview survey of 15
organisations. The survey was exploratory in nature and sought to examine a
number of aspects relating to ISO 9000. The general findings regarding the
questionnaire survey have been described elsewhere (Brown and Van der Wiele,
1995). Now, the specific research questions regarding the SMEs within the full
sample is reported.
Of the 160 respondents (representing a response rate of 32 percent), 91
percent could be defined as small or medium enterprises using the Australian
Bureau of Statistics (ABS cat. 1321.0) definition. This classifies an enterprise as
small if it has 100 or less employees in the manufacturing industry or 20 or less
in the service industry. Medium enterprises have less than 500 employees. This
group of SMEs have been selected for the analyses which follow and which
focus more on the specific issues related to the SMEs and on the issues related
to subgroups within the SMEs.
The following questions are examined:
• Why have organisations sought ISO 9000 series certification?
• How did they achieve certification?
• What benefits have they achieved?
 IJQRM • What difficulties have SMEs encountered and how have they been
15,3 dealing with these difficulties?
• Are there differences (related to the first four research questions)
between those enterprises which have found certification beneficial
versus those which have not?
276 The gathered data have been analysed with use of SPSS (SPSS Inc., 1990).
Factor analysis (principal components analysis with a varimax rotation) has
been used to find patterns in the responses on various items around specific
questions in the questionnaire. Discriminant analysis is also used, with the goal
to classify cases into mutually exclusive groups, based on their values for a set
of predictor variables. Furthermore, t-tests have been used to find differences
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between the means of defined subsamples.

The survey sample

Details of the size, turnover and type of company are shown in Table I. It might
be interesting that while many are small in terms of employee numbers, annual
turnover is reasonably large. Table I also defines the subgroups within the SME
sample. It is suggested that there is a good reason to expect strong differences
between the subgroups based on number of employees. The smallest ones
having more informal structures and procedures, and the larger ones growing
towards a more formal organisation.

Results and discussion

Reasons for seeking ISO 9000 series certification
The data on the reasons for seeking ISO 9000 series certification suggest that
there are several important driving forces for ISO 9000 series certification.
Market related factors, customer service, efficiency and as a “kick start” for
quality improvement, all feature as strong motivating forces. Factor analysis of

Annual sales turnover Size of organisations Spread over industries

Turnover Frequency Percentage EmployeeFrequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
ECU N % numbers N % N %

< 400,000 2 2 < 50 71 49 Manufacturing 52 36

0.4m-0.8m 2 2 51-100 35 24 Sales and
service 43 29
0.8m-3.8m 37 28 101-250 28 19 Information
technology 17 12
3.8m-7.5m 28 21 251-500 12 8 Construction/
transport 18 12
Table I. 7.5m-38m 42 31 Total 146 100 Mining/
Demographic engineering 16 11
characteristics of > 38 million 22 17 Total 146 100
the sample Total 133 100
 these reasons identified two dominant factors, namely, internal reasons related SMEs’
to quality and efficiency improvement and external or marketing reasons. Table experiences with
II summarises the factor analysis. Overall the external reasons seem to be far ISO 9000
more important (mean value 3.64 on a five point scale) compared to the internal
reasons (mean value of 3.01). Discriminant analysis, in relation to the four SME
subgroups based on their number of employees, shows three significant
differences (at a significance level of ≤ 0.05), see Table III. Larger SMEs are more 277
strongly influenced (or they may often be a branch of a larger company) by
headquarters to go to ISO 9000 series certification, and are less concerned about
formal demands in relation to tendering. The smallest SMEs differentiate
significantly on the point that they are not aiming at changing the culture in
relation to ISO 9000 series certification.
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Factor 1 “internal forces” Factor 2 “external forces”

Cronbach’s alpha = 0.88, Factor Cronbach’s alpha = 0.57, Factor
mean = 3.01 loading* mean = 3.67 loading*

Base for quality improvement 0.77 Be considered for tenders 0.67

Improve customer service 0.77 Increase market share 0.62
Improve efficiency 0.74 Stay in business 0.52
Be role model to suppliers 0.72 Gain marketing benefits 0.48
Change in culture 0.70
Combine quality systems 0.68
New direction after restructuring 0.65
Getting external audit 0.64
(Advantage in international markets)** (0.45)
(gain marketing benefits)** (0.43)
(anticipate future customer requirements)** (0.40)
Notes:
* Factor loadings ≥ 0.40 are given
** Excluded from factor 1 according to reliability test Table II.
Overall statistics: N = 131, KMO = 0.80, Bartlett’s significance = 0.00 Reasons for seeking
Eigenvalues: 5.03 and 1.63 ISO 9000 certification:
% Variance explained: 31.5% and 10.2% factor analysis

SME subgroup by employee numbers: < 50 50-100 100-250 250-500

sample for discriminant analysis 55 26 21 11

Mean values on a five-point scale

Forced by headquarters 1.84 2.35 1.90 2.91
To be considered for tenders 4.11 3.96 4.29 2.27
To help develop a culture change 12.78 3.35 3.71 3.73
Table III.
Note: Reasons for seeking
Out of the 16 reasons for seeking ISO certification, only the significant factors are mentioned certification:
(significance level, probability ≤ 0.05) discriminant analysis
 IJQRM Some variation between industries is also apparent, as is illustrated in Table IV.
15,3 It is also apparent that while many organisations would see the wider notion
of quality management being important, ISO 9000 series certification is
considered to be a good basis from which to start the process of quality
improvement. Discussions with managers indicate that ISO 9000 series
certification is seen as a quality concept which is tangible and has meaning.
278 Hoyle (1994, p. 2) makes the point, “ISO 9000 is only a beginning – it provides a
mechanism with which to bring about systematic improvement but it doesn’t
improve performance by itself”.
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1 2 3 4 5
Increase To be Improve As a base for
market Improve considered customer quality
share efficiency for tenders service improvement
Rank in total sample % % % % %

Information technology 81 75 88 56 60
Sales and service 98 90 88 98 93
Manufacturing 88 83 83 83 75
Table IV. Transport/construction 100 100 100 100 100
Top five reasons Engineering/mining 100 100 100 100 100
for seeking Overall 92 87 87 87 83
certification by Note:
industry % indicates percentage of respondents in each subgroup having reason in top five

The majority of respondents see ISO 9000 series certification as preceding TQM
and as a relevant first step in implementing a TQM program. The majority felt
that TQM and ISO could not be implemented simultaneously and very few
thought that TQM should be implemented before ISO 9000 series certification.

How ISO 9000 was achieved

In nearly all respondents’ organisations, employees have been involved in
developing the documentation for the quality management system. This is
positive and in accordance with the generally accepted view that unless
employees themselves are involved in the development of the system, they will
not live according to the procedures as defined in the system. It is surprising
that even in the smallest subgroup of SMEs, a relatively high percentage of
organisations do make use of external consultants. The costs of bringing in a
consultant are quite often mentioned as prohibitive, however, the pressure to get
ISO 9000 series certification combined with the lack of knowledge, and the lack
of time, are forcing the SMEs to look for external support. Table V gives an
overview of the data related to the involvement in the development of the
quality management system.
 Benefits of ISO 9000 series certification SMEs’
If smaller organisations are being forced to gain certification then do they experiences with
actually benefit from this? The top and bottom listed benefits related to the ISO ISO 9000
9000 series certification as mentioned by our respondents are summarised in
Table VI with their mean values and standard deviations, the latter indicating
the level of general agreement within the response group. The most significant
benefits are in terms of raising quality awareness in an organisation. This is an 279
outcome which is also immediately obvious whereas some of the others may
only give benefits in the longer term. This reinforces the view that certification
is a good foundation upon which to start the quality improvement process. Even
though most SMEs go for ISO 9000 series certification for external reasons
(being forced to do so), still the major significant improvements reported are
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related to internal improvements: greater quality awareness, improved

awareness of problems within the organisation, and improved product quality.
Respondents reported that certification had not brought any significant
improvements in productivity, costs, wastage rates, staff motivation and staff

SME subgroup by employee numbers: < 50 50-100 100-250 250-500

Subgroup size, 100% = 70 35 28 12
% % % %

Own staff/employees 100 91 96 92

Staff from headquarters 14 34 32 17
External consultant 56 69 39 58
Table V.
Note: Parties involved in
% indicates percentage of respondents within each SME subgroup the implementation

Scoring on a five point scale

Improvement issue Rank Mean Std dev.

More quality awareness 1 3.97 0.89

Improved awareness of problems 2 3.90 0.91
Improved customer service 3 3.59 1.05
Improved management control 4 3.58 0.90
Improved product and service quality 5 3.58 0.94
Greater discipline and order 6 3.55 1.00
Consistency across organisation 7 3.49 1.20

Improved market share 18 2.84 1.19

Improved staff motivation 19 2.83 1.10
Ability to stay in business 20 2.82 1.27
Reduced costs 21 2.76 1.21 Table VI.
Improved staff retention 22 2.37 1.14 Top and bottom
Helped in international markets 23 2.25 1.37 listed benefits from
Reduction in customer audits 24 1.92 1.11 ISO 9000 certification
 IJQRM retention. Overall ISO 9000 series certification had not helped the organisation’s
15,3 ability to stay in business. Furthermore, while improved market share was an
important reason for seeking ISO 9000 series certification, many organisations
indicated that they had realised only marginal or no improvements at all in this
area. Neither had they found improvements in the international marketplace.
This would appear to be somewhat disappointing, although perhaps not all that
280 surprising since these types of benefits would take some time to materialise.

Views of those experiencing success with ISO and those who are not
The total sample of 146 SMEs has been separated into two groups, based on the
scoring on a prescribed list of 24 improvement items. The first column of Table
VII covers the list of those items. Respondents were asked to score on a five
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point scale from 1 (not improved at all) to 5 (strongly improved) for each of the
improvement items. For each respondent the sum of the 24 scores has been
calculated and the distribution of those scores have been used to split the total
sample into the optimists and the pessimists, respectively below the mean and
above the mean value of the distribution of sum scores. The optimists perceive
more improvements from achieving certification, the pessimists only a few or
none.
Discriminant analysis was then carried out on the main reasons for seeking
ISO 9000 series certification, aimed at identifying those variables which might
distinguish between the enterprises which reported more or less success
following certification.
A significant (at a significance level ≤ 0.05) difference between optimists and
pessimists was found for all those items which are related to the internal
reasons for seeking certification. A stronger drive from internal reasons to seek
certification leads in the end to a more positive perception about the
improvements realised. This relation might emerge, at least to a certain extent,
because of wishful thinking of the respondents who would like to see
improvements emerging from their own initiatives.
The results suggest that the external reasons (forced by customer, forced by
headquarter, to stay in business, and to be considered for tenders) were the only
ones which are not indicative of success. These results were backed by t-tests
carried out, for the optimists and pessimists as defined earlier, on the reasons
for seeking certification. The results of the discriminant analysis and the t-tests
are summarised in Table VII.

Disappointments with ISO 9000 series certification

Respondents were asked to rate their disappointments with certification. The
results are given in Table VIII.
The greatest disappointment for an enterprise is to discover that, having
achieved certification, a non-certified company has been awarded a contract by
a customer who required suppliers to be certified. Given that this has been a
major driving force for many enterprises, it is likely to lead to disillusionment
with ISO particularly given the frequent reference to the high cost of
 2-tail
SMEs’
Pessismists* Optimists* probability experiences with
Reason to seek ISO mean Mean Wilks’ Lambda F-ratio Significance significance ISO 9000
Forced by
(industrial) customer 3.00 2.86 0.994 0.527 0.470 0.637
Forced by headquarters 1.93 2.22 0.992 0.756 0.387 0.322 281
Stay in business 2.44 2.93 0.977 2.218 0.140 0.090
Be considered for
tenders 3.92 3.91 0.999 0.053 0.819 0.991
Anticipate customer
requirements in
the future 2.89 3.89 0.829 19.330 0.000 0.000*
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Help improve
customer service 3.48 4.29 0.843 17.560 0.000 0.000*
Maintain/increase
market share 3.76 4.26 0.945 5.461 0.022 0.024*
Improve company
efficiency/wastage 3.67 4.38 0.879 12.930 0.001 0.002*
Provide an advantage
in international
markets 2.19 3.07 0.919 8.290 0.005 0.003*
Bring together
various quality
systems 2.11 3.00 0.867 14.440 0.000 0.000*
Gain marketing
benefits 3.26 3.88 0.937 6.341 0.014 0.012*
Help develop a
culture change 2.67 3.64 0.896 10.910 0.001 0.001*
Given new direction
after major
restructuring 1.48 2.43 0.876 13.290 0.000 0.000*
Get external audit
of processes and
systems 1.65 2.66 0.809 22.260 0.000 0.000*
As a base for
quality improvement 3.07 3.95 0.845 17.200 0.000 0.000*
Be a good role-model Table VII.
for our own suppliers 2.26 3.02 0.928 7.310 0.008 0.003* Optimists versus
Notes: *“Pessimists score below the mean of the total sum of scores on perceived pessimists: discriminant
improvements from achieving certification, “optimists” score above the mean analysis and t-test
Box’s M = 227.22, significance = 0.003 on reasons to seek ISO

certification both in terms of money for consultants and audits and extra
employees or overtime required in relation to the certification. Many survey
respondents made written comments to this effect.
Respondents also expressed a relatively high level of disappointment with
the volume of paperwork required and the relatively high costs involved. Much
of the paperwork is required in actually preparing material for audits, although
there are also reasonably high on-going recording requirements. Problems are
 IJQRM Mean score on five
15,3 point scale, higher score
indicates stronger
Disappointment Rank disappointment std dev.

Companies using suppliers

282 without ISO 1 3.95 1.31
Increase in paperwork 2 3.59 1.13
High costs involved 3 3.56 1.25
Number of questionnaires demanded 4 2.96 1.32
Business increase not as expected 5 2.90 1.30
Consistency among assessors 6 2.73 1.26
Table VIII. Standard difficult to interpret 7 2.66 1.24
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Disappointments Number of customer audits

with ISO not decreased 8 1.86 1.07

also apparent with the standards (interpretation) and assessors (knowledge of

specific industry). The optimists as defined earlier show significantly higher
scores on the importance of the experience of the certification institute in their
industry as the (only discriminating) reason to choose a specific certification
institute for the certification audit. The t-test figures show mean scores on a five
point scale from 1 (not important at all) to 5 (very important) are for the
optimists and the pessimists, respectively 3.55 and 2.74, at a significance level
of 0.004 (2-tail probability).

Problems and how they were dealt with

It could be expected that SMEs would face particular difficulties with gaining
ISO 9000 series certification, and may not achieve significant advantages.
Respondents were asked to submit and rank what they felt were the greatest
problems or issues they experienced. The responses on the open question were
categorised and are summarised in Table IX, giving the number of respondents
who mentioned the problem and giving a severity index, in which the top three
problems have a weighting of respectively three points for the top ranked
problem, two points for the second mentioned and one point for the third
mentioned problem.
Lack of commitment is the most frequently mentioned problem, and is
related to commitment of employees, managers and time commitment.
Convincing both managers and employees of the future benefits arising from
certification and dealing with a general level of indifference was reported as
being a major challenge.
Respondents were also asked how they dealt with those problems. The great
diversity of problems and solutions offered as an answer to the open question,
makes it difficult to categorise. However, Table IX also gives at least an
illustration of the solutions SMEs used to overcome the problems, again the
 Problems Frequency Score Solutions Frequency Score
SMEs’
encountered N severity index to problems N severity index experiences with
ISO 9000
Employee commitment 50 122 Staff training 31 72
Paperwork/documentation 38 84 External help/
consultants 24 58
Interpretation of standards 35 84 Extra hours/staff 15 33 283
Time commitment 22 57 Regular meetings/
communication 12 22
Management commitment 18 42 Visible management
commitment 8 22
Costs involved 16 30 Records/statistics/
documentation 10 21
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Training staff 12 26 Encourage employee

participation 8 20 Table IX.
Inflexible standards 11 22 Auditing 7 16 Problems encountered
Inflexible auditors 11 22 Increase budget 3 8 and dealt with

frequencies and the severity index is given based on similar weighting factors
for the top three mentioned solutions.
Training employees and managers and seeking the use of consultants are the
primary methods for dealing with problems faced by SMEs during the
development of the quality management system. The most common problems of
employee commitment, and documentation and paperwork were most frequently
dealt with by staff training, and external help and consultants respectively.
Training also takes on an increased importance particularly related to better
or adequate and on-going training and to ensure records are kept in order. SMEs
also reported increased attention being given to training needs analysis and
better training of new employees through improved induction processes. Part of
the attention given to training needs is associated with the need to identify any
deficiencies with employees and deal with them. It is also reported that training
has become more focused in a number of SMEs. Some organisations had
employed a training coordinator in relation to the certification process.
Some criticism was directed at consultants and assessors by many SMEs.
These included: the lack of assessor’s knowledge about particular industries,
some assessors being overly pedantic about paperwork, “nit picking” auditors,
different interpretations of standards between auditors and the degree of
variance between accreditation authority standards. Comments were also made
about inflexible standards and assessors and the inability of assessors to relate
outside their discipline. A further comment was that because certification
bodies are commercially oriented, there is scepticism about their ethics related
to the number of faults found in audits.
Other criticisms were levelled at the standards themselves. The most
significant was that standards were being seen as more appropriate for
manufacturing and less for construction, mineral processing, retail, wholesale
transport and distribution. Others include: ISO 9000 series standards not being
 IJQRM written in layman’s terms, difficulties in understanding exactly what the
15,3 standard requires and inconsistencies with the interpretation of standards by
consultants and assessors.
For many SMEs the entire concept of the ISO 9000 series certification is a
completely new concept, so learning to understand the jargon and objectives
also presented a challenge. Many expressed disappointment with the lack of
284 suitable courses or literature available on the subject, so had to often rely on
consultants. Others attended courses, visited and talked to other SMEs and in
some cases appointed an internal person as a full-time consultant.

Conclusions
The major findings of the research can be summarised in the following way:
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• The approach taken to ISO 9000 may impact on results. If it is seen as a

means of improving internal efficiencies and involves employees in
documenting systems and so on, the outcome is more likely to be a
workable system. If ISO 9000 series quality system certification is only a
reaction to external pressure from customers or governmental bodies, it
will be more difficult to perceive improvements coming from the quality
system.
• There are potentially substantial internal benefits from adopting a
quality assurance system. While it does not have to be an ISO 9000 series
system, it must be workable. The most important benefits mentioned by
the respondents cover not only improvements in the quality of the
products and services, but also improvements in quality awareness and
improved management control.
• Involvement of employees in the process of gaining certification enhances
the outcomes and commitment. Although in many SMEs an external
consultant was involved in developing the quality system, own staff and
employees were also participating in the development of the system.
• While ISO 9000 series certification may be important in gaining access
to markets, by itself, it will not guarantee success. Industrial customers
and governmental bodies are demanding ISO 9000 series certification as
a general rule in relation to their vendor list, however, those general rules
are not strictly practised.
• ISO 9000 series certification is generally an expensive process for SMEs
as they are more reliant on outside assistance. Sharing expert time with
other SMEs and/or involving students who are following quality
programs are good solutions to those problems.
• Many SMEs experience disappointment with ISO 9000 series
certification, with the increase in paperwork, and the costs involved. The
biggest disappointment is that industrial customers and government
bodies who forced the SME to go for ISO 9000 series certification, still are
using non certified suppliers.
 ISO 9000 series certification has provided mixed experiences for SMEs. For SMEs’
many, it is a “necessary evil”, forced upon them largely by purchasers, experiences with
particularly large organisations and government departments. Any competitive ISO 9000
advantages to a single enterprise may be short lived as it is usually only a
matter of time before many companies in the same industry achieve
certification. It is then seen by many as just another cost of doing business
without any corresponding improvements in market share. 285
If however, the manager of the business sees certification as an opportunity to
improve internal processes and systems from the outset rather than a mechanism
to get a certificate on the wall, it is likely to yield positive results. Furthermore, in
this situation, employees are more likely to be involved in developing the system
with the assistance from external consultants. It becomes a workable system
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which has the commitment of employees. SMEs which adopt this approach are
also more likely to progress to broader quality concepts such as TQM.
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