International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management

Emerald Article: A performance realization framework for implementing ISO 9000 Dong-Young Kim, Vinod Kumar, Uma Kumar

Article information:
To cite this document: Dong-Young Kim, Vinod Kumar, Uma Kumar, (2011),"A performance realization framework for implementing ISO 9000", International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 28 Iss: 4 pp. 383 - 404 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02656711111121807 Downloaded on: 07-05-2012 References: This document contains references to 110 other documents To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com This document has been downloaded 1679 times.

Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by UNIVERSITAS GADJAH MADA For Authors: If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service. Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Additional help for authors is available for Emerald subscribers. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com With over forty years' experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in business, society, public policy and education. In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.
*Related content and download information correct at time of download.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0265-671X.htm

A performance realization framework for implementing ISO 9000

Dong-Young Kim
Coggin College of Business, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, USA, and

Framework for implementing ISO 9000 383

Received January 2010 Revised April 2010 July 2010 Accepted October 2010

Vinod Kumar and Uma Kumar

Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study is to propose a performance realization framework based on key factors of ISO 9000 implementation. Design/methodology/approach A three-stage approach of a systematic review is employed to examine the literature and develop the framework. The review is concentrated on three research topics: motivations; critical success factors; and impacts of ISO 9000 implementation. Findings This study identies ve motivation factors (quality-related; operations-related; competitiveness-related; external pressure-related; organizational image-related factors) and ten critical success factors (leadership; training; involvement of everyone; organizational resource; quality-oriented culture; customer-based approach; process-centered approach; communication and teamwork; customizing the ISO requirements; quality audit). This study also develops a performance realization framework composed of three parts: conversion; enhancement; and competitive priority stages. Originality/value This study contributes to the development of the literature by providing a set of motivation factors and of critical success factors that can assist practitioners to effectively implement the standard. Further, the proposed framework helps to explain causal relationships among ISO 9000 impacts and provide guidelines about critical considerations. Keywords ISO 9000 series, Quality management, Motivation (psychology), Critical success factors Paper type Research paper

Introduction In a dynamic and intensied market, achieving success is determined by various factors; these include speed to market, quality of the product, and the capability of the competitors (Soh and Markus, 1995). Among the factors, the organizational ability to deliver a high-quality product consistently is still considered to be one of the fundamental and substantial competencies (Reimann and Hertz, 1994). Reecting this belief, many researchers and practitioners have paid attention to quality improvement programs such as the ISO 9000 quality management system (QMS) standard and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) (Oger and Platt, 2002). In particular, ISO 9000 has been viewed as one of the most important quality assurance programs of the last few decades. This is largely because ISO 9000 implementation is a rst step in establishing a quality-oriented environment and achieving total quality management (TQM) in organizations (Mezher et al., 2005; Lewis et al., 2006; Magd, 2006).

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management Vol. 28 No. 4, 2011 pp. 383-404 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0265-671X DOI 10.1108/02656711111121807

IJQRM 28,4

384

ISO 9000 is the global standard designed to provide assurance about the quality of services and goods in supplier-customer relations (International Organization for Standardization, 2009). Implementing ISO 9000 enables organizations to standardize organizational processes, to develop appropriate measures, and to improve quality on a continuing basis (Yahya and Goh, 2001; Williams, 2004; van den Heuvel et al., 2005). It is widely accepted that to produce high-quality services and products, organizations must build an effective QMS by adopting ISO 9000 (Gotzamani et al., 2007; Gingele et al., 2003; Huarng et al., 1999). Unfortunately, obtaining the ISO 9000 certication is a necessary, but not in itself sufcient, condition to construct an effective QMS and to increase organizational performance. Without careful design and implementation of ISO 9000, it is difcult for registered organizations to expect a performance superior to those of non-registered rms (Feng et al., 2008). Along this line, studies postulate that organizational efforts and implementation structure play key roles in creating long-term, effective performance of ISO 9000 (Lewis et al., 2006). To examine these efforts and implementation, researchers have explored in a wide variety of ways. However, during the last decade, there has been much debate on the effectiveness of ISO 9000 implementation (Heras et al., 2008; Singh, 2008). Given the importance of ISO 9000 implementation, the purpose of this study is to propose a performance realization framework. To develop key components of the framework, this study identies key aspects of ISO 9000 implementation: . motivations; . critical success factors; and . impacts of ISO 9000. This study is organized as follows. In section two, the research methodology is discussed. In section three, existing studies on ISO 9000 are reviewed in terms of motivation, critical success factors, and impacts of ISO 9000 implementation. In section four, a performance realization framework is proposed to improve existing implementation frameworks. Finally, the study concludes with main ndings and contributions. Research methodology This study relies on the literature review approach that refers to a form of research that reviews, critiques, and synthesizes representative literature on a topic in an integrated way such that frameworks and perspectives on the topic are generated (Torraco, 2005, p. 356). We admit that the literature review approach is not free from limitations or biases. A reviewer, for instance, might show a bias by omitting or neglecting some portions of the literature because of his or her preferences or mistakes (Stanley, 2001). However, selecting a methodology should be based on research objectives and contexts because there is no perfect methodology that will avoid any bias. There are two reasons why the literature review approach is suitable for this study. First, the literature review approach is one of the most appropriate approaches where contradictory ndings appear (Torraco, 2005). A researcher can carefully examine and synthesize different ndings by using consistent analytical approaches. The second advantage of the literature review is that a researcher can examine the state of knowledge on a specic topic (Baumeister and Leary, 1997). The literature

review on ISO 9000 can offer researchers opportunities to identify the current status and expand current research areas into divergent and multiple bases. We employed a three-stage approach of a systematic review: (1) planning the review; (2) conducting a review; and (3) reporting and dissemination (Traneld et al., 2003). In the rst stage, existing studies on ISO 9000 implementation were located through four electronic databases (Business Source Complete, E-journals@Scholors portal, Emerald Library, and CBCA Business & Reference). A joint search approach was also used with the following keywords: . ISO 9000-oriented keywords (e.g. ISO 9000, ISO 9001, ISO QMS, quality management system, quality system, quality standard, quality improvement standard, and documentation tool); and . practices-based keywords (e.g. motivation, motive, success, critical factor, barrier, performance, effect, impact, benet, process, implementation, and framework). About 130 studies were found through the rst stage. In the second stage, some studies were excluded from the list because the studies concentrated on technological or mathematical issues, not management and business studies. References to the studies were additionally reviewed to nd studies dropped or not identied in the rst stage. In the last stage, about 100 studies were identied. This research scope is limited to the main aspects of the implementation that have been discussed in the literature. These aspects, for example, include why organizations implement the standard, what factors should be managed, and what organizational processes are established. Literature review Motivation and success factors of ISO 9000 implementation The literature review reveals that studies on motivation of ISO 9000 have generally relied on four categorizing areas: (1) regulatory and quality management motivation (Anderson et al., 1999); (2) developmental, non-developmental and mixed motivation (Jones et al., 1997); (3) direct, indirect, and overseas motivation (Arauz and Suzuki, 2004); and (4) internal and external motivation (Boiral and Roy, 2007). Although researchers have used different terms, it could be concluded that organizations determine the registration because of either internal drives or external circumstances (Yahya and Goh, 2001). Most researchers have applied for the classication of internal or external motivations in their empirical studies (e.g. Fuentes et al., 2000; Heras et al., 2008; Naveh and Marcus, 2007). In this study, the implementation motivations of ISO 9000 are categorized into internal- and external-driven motivations. Further, a list of motivations for ISO 9000 implementation is summarized in Appendix 1. The internal motivations are divided

Framework for implementing ISO 9000 385

IJQRM 28,4

386

into three factors (quality-, operations-, and competiveness-related factors), whereas the external-driven motivations include two factors (external pressure and organizational image-related factors). To identify critical success factors for implementing ISO 9000, researchers have relied on two approaches: (1) barrier-based approaches; and (2) success-centered approaches. The barrier-based approach assumes that identifying barriers helps organizations to overcome difculties (Bhuiyan and Alam, 2005b). Using this approach, researchers have examined possible barriers (e.g. Tang and Kam, 1999) and how these barriers can be overcome (e.g. Zeng et al., 2007). They found that the barriers tend to be based on organizational, technical, economic, or human resource issues (Fuentes et al., 2000). Among these, the most important barrier is related to the human resource such as a lack of leadership, insufcient involvement of employees, and absence of training (Mezher et al., 2005; Bhuiyan and Alam, 2005a; Fuentes et al., 2000). Implementing the standard considerably relies on employees invisible efforts and positive attitude to change the organizational culture and ways of working (Piskar and Dolinsek, 2006). By contrast, the success-centered approach posits that the successful adoption of ISO 9000 could be achieved through the management of success factors. This approach considers the success factors to be the essential requirements to lead to the positive impacts of ISO 9000 implementation. Appendix 2 indicates a set of critical success factors of ISO 9000 implementation discussed in the literature. The critical success factors are composed of ten factors, such as leadership, training, and quality audit. Impacts of ISO 9000 implementation Researchers have tried to classify the impacts of ISO 9000 adoption from various perspectives. Some researchers split the impacts into two traditional performance criteria: operational and nancial performance (e.g. Naveh et al., 2004). Others have proposed their own classication criteria for ISO 9000 benets (e.g. Tzelepis et al., 2006). In this study, to improve the missing points of prior studies, we discuss the impacts of ISO 9000 classied into four categories: (1) no impact; (2) ISO 9000 assets; (3) ISO 9000 outputs; and (4) organizational performance. Level 0: No impact on performance. In this dimension, organizations do not understand the standard, reasons for the adoption, and ways to connect the implementation to their performance. The organizations admit that their implementation motive is external pressure, instead of motives for internal improvement. Top management is not committed to the quality improvement efforts and does not allocate sufcient resources and time. Employees frequently complain about the effectiveness of ISO 9000. They view the standard to be a paper-driven tool (Hashem and Tann, 2007), to lack exibility and to have poor compatibility with other management systems (Zeng et al., 2007), to contain no guarantee of product quality or market value (McGuire and Dilts, 2008), to

have high implementation costs (Hashem and Tann, 2007), and to have heavy reliance on the auditors subjective interpretation (Seddon, 1997). It is also difcult to nd any signicant and positive relationship between ISO 9000 implementation and performance. Level 1: Established ISO 9000 assets. ISO 9000 assets refer to the infrastructure assisting organizations to transform organizational efforts into operational performance. The assets are necessary and are the minimum conditions necessary to improve operational and business performance. To achieve the assets, organizations should strategically manage organizational activities such as aligning motivations of ISO 9000 adoption with organizational goals and strategies, customizing the standard to t their organization, and creating a quality intensive culture. On the basis of these efforts, organizations lead to the following ISO 9000 assets: . the improvement of systems improved measurement systems, enhanced efciency of QMS, and strengthened feedback systems (Yahya and Goh, 2001; Magd, 2008; Poksinska et al., 2006b; Williams, 2004); . standardization of processes standardized work procedures, created working routines and instructions, and developed documentation standard (Williams, 2004; Yahya and Goh, 2001; Zeng et al., 2007; Jones et al., 1997); and . learning and communication environment disciplined work environment, improved quality awareness, and developed employee morale and communication (Yahya and Goh, 2001; Zhang, 2000; Zeng et al., 2007). Level 2: Improved ISO 9000 outputs. ISO 9000 outputs are dened as operational performance achieved by managing ISO 9000 assets and critical success factors of ISO 9000 adoption. Many empirical studies have listed the positive relationship between organizational efforts for ISO 9000 and operational performance (e.g. Feng et al., 2008; Magd, 2006). Without organizational efforts, it is difcult for organizations to convert ISO 9000 assets into ISO 9000 outputs. To produce ISO 9000 outputs, principles and techniques of ISO 9000 should be widely applied and internalized in all aspects of the business, including suppliers and customers (Van der Wiele et al., 1997). ISO 9000 outputs include the following components: . reduced cost; . fast delivery; . exibility; . shortened cycle time; . enhanced employee satisfaction; . reliability; and . improved productivity (e.g. Mezher et al., 2005; Han et al., 2007; Jang and Lin, 2008). Level 3: Inuence on the organizational performance. Organizational performance is identied as organizational nal results through ISO 9000 implementation. Depending on the types of organizations, they could have different denitions of performance, such as nancial performance or customers satisfaction (Soh and Markus, 1995). The purpose of ISO 9000 is to assist organizations to establish an

Framework for implementing ISO 9000 387

IJQRM 28,4

388

effective QMS. ISO 9000 does not guarantee any improvement of product quality or organizational performance (Feng et al., 2008). This is because ISO 9000 is focused on the development of processes and QMSs, and not on all managerial areas, such as strategy and business results (Porter and Tanner, 1996). Managing all areas could be covered by quality award models, such as the EFQM model (Czuchry et al., 1997). Therefore, we argue that ISO 9000 outputs (operational performance) conditionally inuence organizational performance on a long-term basis. Organizational performance is considerably dependent on the level of organizational efforts or other external factors that are out of organizational control, such as competitors capability or the particular market conditions. This argument is consistent with the views of Soh and Markus (1995), who contended that achieving organizational performance is inuenced not only by operational performance but also by any number of outside factors. Performance realization framework In this section, existing frameworks on ISO 9000 implementation are analyzed in terms of ve criteria. Based on the multiple analyses, we propose a performance realization framework composed of three parts: (1) conversion; (2) enhancement; and (3) competitive priority stages. Analysis of existing frameworks In this study, a framework is dened as a guideline and a road map to assist organizations in achieving their goals by providing core information about implementation procedures, critical success factors, and causal relationships to performance (Aalbregtse et al., 1991; Yusof and Aspinwall, 2000). Based on the denition, eight existing frameworks are analyzed by the following ve criteria: (1) a type of framework; (2) an application of prior theoretical model; (3) a consideration of motivation factors; (4) a consideration of critical success factors; and (5) a clarication of links among impacts. It should be noted that the eight frameworks are not a total list in the ISO 9000 literature (see Appendix 3). Instead, the frameworks are only representative samples to understand the current status of existing frameworks on ISO 9000. Reviewing the eight existing frameworks allows us to recognize two important missing points. First of all, existing frameworks have failed to identify the causal relationship among the impacts of ISO 9000 implementation. The frameworks also do not describe the detailed input, expected output, or a feedback loop. For example, researchers have rarely discussed how the certication inuences a change in organizational processes, how the improved processes make an impact on operational performance, and how the enhanced operational performance affects nancial performance. Consistent with the views of Yusof and Aspinwall (2000), we contend

that a framework should explain the links among various aspects of performance. Showing the causal relationship among the impacts can encourage organizations to pay attention to specic impacts of ISO 9000 adoption and to make an effort to improve the impacts on a short- and long-term basis. Second, existing frameworks have not fully investigated and discussed many listings of motivations and critical success factors. Many frameworks seem to posit that the importance of critical factors should be based on organization-specic contexts. However, we believe that a framework should cover a set of critical success factors, because the framework enables practitioners to focus on developing a set of critical factors. In particular, it is necessary additionally to consider motivation factors in a framework because many empirical studies have found a positive relationship between motivation factors and organizational performance (e.g. Poksinska et al., 2006b; Heras et al., 2008). Performance realization framework To improve the existing frameworks, we highlight the following three important features of a new framework. The rst feature of the framework is its focus on explaining causal relationships among ISO 9000 impacts by relying on a process model proposed by Soh and Markus (1995). Soh and Markus (1995) argued that IT investment does not always lead to enhanced organizational performance because of various factors, such as inappropriate use of the systems. Soh and Markus (1995) explicitly showed how, why, and when the investment creates IT assets; the IT assets yield IT impacts; and the IT impacts affect organizational performance. We believe that adopting the process model in our framework will contribute to the development of the literature on ISO 9000 by clarifying causal relationships among the various impacts of ISO 9000. Applying the process theory is helpful to explain what links among ISO 9000 impacts are expected, why the investment of ISO 9000 adoption inuences preferred organizational performance, and how organizations could accomplish outputs at every stage. Second, the performance realization framework provides guidelines about critical success factors of ISO 9000 adoption. The literature review showed that obtaining the certication does not ensure positive impacts. Organizations should understand, identify, and pay attention to the success factors to achieve a favorable performance. A set of the critical success factors identied in the previous section is combined in the framework. Further, the framework covers the role of motivation factors. Highlighting the critical success factors and motivation factors could encourage practitioners to minimize resource waste and produce high performance. The last feature is that the framework provides information about what inputs, outputs, and screening points are necessary. ISO denes the process as a set of interrelated or interacting activities which transforms inputs into outputs (International Organization for Standardization, 2005, p. 7). In this viewpoint, a framework should clarify the inputs, outputs, and the interacting activities for each stage. Identifying the components enables practitioners to understand the key procedures, the feedback mechanism, and considerations of ISO 9000 implementation. The following section discusses three stages: (1) the conversion stage; (2) the enhancement stage; and (3) the competitive priority stage (see Figure 1).

Framework for implementing ISO 9000 389

IJQRM 28,4

390

Conversion stage. The conversion stage, the rst phase, aims at constructing a foundation to operate quality-based systems, processes, and culture. The main output of this stage is ISO 9000 assets, composed of: . improved systems; . standardized processes; and . learning and communication environment. Without organizational efforts, adopting the ISO 9000 standard does not always result in ISO 9000 assets. Organizations should transform the unfamiliar standard into their own language in terms of compatibility. The conversion activities are split into two managerial areas: (1) the formation of motivations; and (2) the management of critical success factors. To form the appropriate motivations, organizations should understand that their motivations are signicantly associated with organizational goals and strategies. It is also important to make an effort to consolidate the internal-driven motivations or to convert the external motivations into the internal motivations. This is because the internal motivations can mediate the impacts of the external motivation on ISO 9000 adoption ( Jang and Lin, 2008). The management of critical success factors should concentrate on ten factors, such as leadership and quality audit (see Appendix 2 for a complete list). ISO 9000 implementation accompanies the cultural change (Briscoe et al., 2005). ISO 9000 should be aligned with organizational goals and strategies, and it should change many aspects such as culture and employee ways of thinking. In this stage, top management leadership is very important. Top management plays a crucial role in integrating the standard with organizational goals and strategies, allocating sufcient resources, and monitoring organizational efforts (Fuentes et al., 2000; Benezech et al., 2001). Using the support of top management, project team members provide employees with quality-centered training that is helpful to understand the mechanisms of ISO 9000 and its techniques (Balzarova et al., 2004). When employees have a better understanding of the standard, it could be easy for them to be motivated and involved in the organizational efforts (Park et al., 2007). Organizations also provide various communication channels to encourage employee communication and knowledge sharing (Balzarova et al., 2004). Employees make an effort to understand

Figure 1. Performance realization framework

the ways that the standard is customized for achieving their goals (Carlsson and Carlsson, 1996). To assist the organizations, a certication agency offers guidelines and auditing information about the standard (Fuentes et al., 2000). Conducting internal and external audits enables organizations to identify their weaknesses and pay continuous attention to the improvement areas (Singh, 2008; Poksinska et al., 2006a). Finally, an organization obtains the ISO 9000 certication. Depending on the level of organizational efforts, some organizations can achieve their ISO 9000 assets, while other organizations fail to accomplish the ISO 9000 assets. In the screening phase, organizations might decide whether to abandon the adoption of ISO 9000. It is difcult for organizations to terminate the implementation of ISO 9000 because this means accepting failure. The failure tends to increase development and maintenance costs, but reduce product quality (Magd, 2008; Zeng et al., 2007; Boiral and Roy, 2007; Hashem and Tann, 2007). Similarly, process management does not always t all organizations. Increases in process-oriented practices could decrease radical innovation (Benner and Tushman, 2003). We argue that an objective decision at a right time can minimize additional failure expenses and employee resistance for the ISO adoption. Organizations could determine directions by monitoring important variables, such as corporate t, peer supports, potential applications, and rms capabilities (Kumar et al., 1996). Enhancement stage. The purpose of this stage is to make the standard-oriented practices routine across organizations and improve operational performance. In this stage, requirements of the ISO standard are incorporated into the ways that organizations produce products or service. Main outputs are associated with ISO 9000 outputs, such as reduced cost, enhanced exibility, and improved productivity. ISO 9000 assets are necessary to produce ISO 9000 outputs. Organizational efforts in this stage also should be combined with ISO 9000 assets. In terms of the level of efforts, the enhancement stage requires more organizational efforts than those of the conversion stage. ISO 9000 assets are regarded as a solid foundation to efciently produce ISO 9000 outputs. This argument is supported by many empirical studies, which found that the depth of ISO 9000 implementation is positively associated with operational performance (e.g. Mezher et al., 2005; Feng et al., 2008; Magd, 2006; Jang and Lin, 2008). To describe the main characteristics of the enhancement stage, the differences between the conversion and the enhancement stage are discussed in terms of the following two perspectives: (1) individual capability approach; and (2) organizational approaches. With regards to individual capability, in the conversion stage organizations mainly rely on the support of external consultants in adopting ISO 9000. For instance, consultants support organizations when analyzing their status of quality management and documenting work procedures. Employees could learn the basic concepts and simple techniques of ISO 9000. Unfortunately, the consultants supports are limited to minimal information to achieve only the certication. The registration can be progressed with a few quality managers and relevant employees who are responsible for preparing quality procedures and manuals and defending from the external audit. Other employees lack knowledge about statistical approaches and quality techniques and tend to spend a great deal of time preparing for the third-party audit and external

Framework for implementing ISO 9000 391

IJQRM 28,4

392

auditors questions. They view the external audit to be an annoying process that could expose their weakness or problems. In the audit, they might try to hide problems and do not share constructive ideas with external auditors. In contrast, in the enhancement stage, employees make an effort to nd opportunities to improve their systems and processes in their own manner. They do not need external support. They can implement statistical and quality-based approaches or tools in their work. They know why the requirements of ISO 9000 are important in their work and how the requirements are embedded in daily life. To develop their own capability and continuously improve their work, they spontaneously attend training programs and share their knowledge with colleagues and auditors. Further, they do not spend much time preparing for the third-party audit because they want to show auditors their daily work. They view the audit as an excellent opportunity to identify their weaknesses and areas for improvement. These attitudes and efforts consequently lead to ISO 9000 outputs. In terms of organizational approaches, the level of the organizational involvement is different between the conversion and the enhancement stages. To meet the requirements of ISO 9000, certied organizations should construct the ISO standard-based circumstance. In the conversion stage, most changes are derived by organizational force or a few limited employees efforts. For instance, organizations form a project team to motivate employee involvement. The key members are deeply involved in the quality movement, while other employees would resist ISO 9000 adoption and any changes. Many changes are determined by a top-down approach and efforts of a limited number of employees. By contrast, in the enhancement stage changes are achieved by the involvement and efforts of employees, not organizational force. Organizations do not force employees to be involved in the implementation. Employees are fully motivated and involved in the quality improvement activities. These motivated workforces contribute to changing organizational culture. Project team members concentrate only on nurturing motivated employees, offering advanced training programs, and monitoring and guiding organizational performance. Organizational goals and strategies are designed and implemented through a bottom-up, instead of top-down, approach. Competitive priority stage. The competitive priority stage aims to achieve organizational performance by maintaining a competitive edge in a market. In this study, organizational performance refers to nancial performance, successful goal accomplishment, and degree of satisfaction (Soh and Markus, 1995). It is clear that high operational performance does not always lead to high organizational performance, even though an organization can produce a high-quality product or service. In a dynamic market, providing high-quality products or service is necessary, but it is not sufcient to guarantee success because customers consider many other factors (e.g. variety, price, and speed) (Reimann and Hertz, 1994). It is also hard for an organization to control the factors that are mainly exposed to outside contexts. Thus, it should be noted that ISO 9000 implementation does not always ensure high organizational performance. ISO 9000 adoption focuses on improving operational performance and establishing a continuous improvement culture to produce a product or a service efciently and effectively. In this stage, an organization would realize that it is time to adopt a quality award model that focuses on performance management and value creation. This is because their capability already exceeds the coverage of ISO 9000.

Implications The ndings of this study provide important implications for practitioners and academics to facilitate the implementation of ISO 9000. First, the benets of ISO 9000 have to be viewed from three different aspects: (1) ISO 9000 assets; (2) ISO 9000 output; and (3) organizational performance. Managers must understand that standardizing a process, ISO 9000 assets, is only one component among many ISO benets. The asset is the bedrock to create ISO 9000 output, such as reduced cost, enhanced exibility, and improved productivity. Establishing ISO 9000 output cannot always guarantee desirable performance because organizational performance is inuenced by the outside context. To effectively manage the benets of ISO 9000, it is very important for organizations to understand the multidimensional aspects of benets, to specify different benets, and to invest resources for improving benets on a long-term basis. Organizations that do not understand the different components of benets are likely to often complain about the effectiveness of ISO 9000 implementation or to simply maintain the certication without any benet. Thus, organizations may need to recognize the causal relationships among the benets of ISO 900 and handle resources in a discrete manner according to the development stage. Second, most attention must be directed to ten critical success factors: (1) leadership; (2) training; (3) involvement of all staff; (4) organizational resources; (5) a quality-oriented culture; (6) a customer-based approach; (7) a process-centered approach; (8) good communication and teamwork; (9) customizing the ISO requirements; and (10) a quality audit. Our literature review indicates that these factors play a synergistic role in fostering organizational learning and change. It appears that these practices have a greater impact than other practices. These factors are vital in continuing to prioritize organizational efforts and to monitor relevant progress. It is likely that organizations focusing on the success factors might nd it easier to realize the benets of ISO 9000 than organizations paying less attention to these factors. Third, the proposed framework in this study provides academics with future research topics on how organizational efforts generate different benets through ISO 9000 implementation, such as assets and outcomes. This study outlines the different implementation stages and the benets expected at each implementation stage. Future researchers should test the framework by focusing on the relationship between organizational efforts and corresponding benets from a longitudinal

Framework for implementing ISO 9000 393

IJQRM 28,4

394

perspective. It may be necessary to adapt existing scales or develop new scales that are adequate to capture the nature of organizational efforts. For example, to measure organizational efforts, it is imperative to adapt or customize a set of quality management practices and a questionnaire developed by Saraph et al. (1989), Flynn et al. (1994), Kaynak (2003), and Sila and Ebrahimpour (2005). Similarly, using the list of benets suggested in this study, researchers can develop or customize survey items. This attempt will lead to modication of the proposed framework and development of theories on the link between organizational efforts and the benets of ISO 9000. Conclusion Over recent decades, ISO 9000 has been viewed as one of the crucial quality programs to improve the quality of products or services (Lewis et al., 2006). Many organizations have struggled to obtain the ISO 9000 certication and transform ISO 9000 implementation into organizational performance. However, there has been much debate about the effectiveness of ISO 9000 adoption. In view of this debate, this study has synthesized the literature on various aspects of ISO 9000 implementation and suggested a performance realization framework to implement ISO 9000. Crucial ndings could be summarized into four points. First of all, it is important to understand internal-driven and external-driven motivations of ISO 9000 adoption. Many studies agreed on the positive relationship between internal-driven motivations and performance. Some researchers also argued that external-driven motivations could have an effect on organizational performance directly or through internal motivations. To achieve organizational performance through ISO 9000 implementation, organizations should fully understand their motivations in adopting ISO 9000 and establish implementation objectives and plans. Second, concentrating organizational efforts on critical success factors is an essential condition to improve both short- and long-term performance through ISO 9000. In particular, to successfully implement ISO 9000, it may be imperative for organizations to customize ISO 9000 requirements to be aligned with their own organizational goals and strategies. Organizations that do not customize the requirements would face employee resistance and an incompatibility with their own systems. Finally, the performance realization framework is provided as a useful guideline for ISO 9000. The framework has several advantages, such as describing the causal relationships among ISO 9000 impacts. The framework addresses different features and corresponding performance in three stages. Using the process model is benecial in explaining how and when investments in ISO 9000 are transformed into different performances. These efforts will contribute to the development of literature by structuring the classication of ISO 9000 impacts and illuminating the causal relationships among the impacts. To conclude, this study provides an overview of the literature on ISO 9000 implementation. The new framework is also suggested to help practitioners implement ISO 9000. We hope that the framework and important ndings in this study will be a valuable foundation for future research.
References Aalbregtse, R.J., Hejka, J.A. and McNeley, P.K. (1991), TQM: how do you do it?, Automation, August, pp. 30-2. Aldowaisan, T.A. and Youssef, A.S. (2006), An ISO 9001:2000-based framework for realizing quality in small businesses, Omega, Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 231-5.

Anderson, S.W., Daly, J.D. and Johnson, M.F. (1999), Why rms seek ISO 9000 certication: regulatory compliance competitive advantage?, Production and Operations Management, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 28-43. Arauz, R. and Suzuki, H. (2004), ISO 9000 performance in Japanese industries, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 3-33. Balzarova, M.A., Bamber, C.J., McCambridge, S. and Sharp, J.M. (2004), Key success factors in implementation of process-based management: a UK housing association experience, Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 387-99. Baumeister, R.F. and Leary, M.R. (1997), Writing narrative literature reviews, Review of General Psychology, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 311-20. Benezech, D., Lambert, G., Lanoux, B., Lerch, C. and Loos-Baroin, J. (2001), Completion of knowledge codication: an illustration through the ISO 9000 standards implementation process, Research Policy, Vol. 30 No. 9, pp. 1395-407. Benner, M.J. and Tushman, M.L. (2003), Exploitation, exploration, and process management: the productivity dilemma revisited, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 238-56. Bhuiyan, N. and Alam, N. (2005a), A case study of a quality system implementation in a small manufacturing rm, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 54 No. 3, pp. 172-86. Bhuiyan, N. and Alam, N. (2005b), An investigation into issues related to the latest version of ISO 9000, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 199-213. Boiral, O. and Roy, M.J. (2007), ISO 9000: integration rationales and organizational impacts, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 226-47. Briscoe, J.A., Fawcett, S.E. and Todd, R.H. (2005), The implementation and impact of ISO 9000 among small manufacturing enterprises, Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 43 No. 3, pp. 309-30. Buttle, F. (1997), ISO 9000: marketing motivations and benets, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 14 No. 9, pp. 936-47. Carlsson, M. and Carlsson, D. (1996), Experiences of implementing ISO 9000 in Swedish industry, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 13 No. 7, pp. 36-47. Chin, K.S. and Choi, T.W. (2003), Construction in Hong Kong: success factors for ISO 9000 implementation, Journal of Construction Engineering & Management, Vol. 129 No. 6, pp. 599-609. Chin, K.W., Poon, G.K.K. and Pun, K.F. (2000), The critical maintenance issues of the ISO 9000 system: Hong Kong manufacturing industries perspective, Work Study, Vol. 49 No. 3, pp. 89-96. Czuchry, A.J., Hyder, C., Yasin, M. and Mixon, D. (1997), A systematic approach to improving quality: a framework and a eld study, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 14 No. 9, pp. 876-98. Feng, M., Terziovski, M. and Samson, D. (2008), Relationship of ISO 9001:2000 quality system certication with operational and business performance, Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 22-37. Flynn, B.B., Schroeder, R.G. and Sakakibara, S. (1994), A framework for quality management research and an associated measurement instrument, Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 339-66.

Framework for implementing ISO 9000 395

IJQRM 28,4

396

Fuentes, C.M., Benavent, F.B., Moreno, M., Cruz, T.G. and Val, M.P. (2000), Analysis of the implementation of ISO 9000 quality assurance systems, Work Study, Vol. 49 No. 6, pp. 229-41. Gingele, J., Childe, S.J. and Miles, M.E. (2003), Incorporating links to ISO 9001 into manufacturing process models using IDEF 9000, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 41 No. 13, pp. 3091-118. Gotzamani, K.D., Tsiotras, G.D., Nicolaou, M., Nicolaides, A. and Hadjiadamou, V. (2007), The contribution to excellence of ISO 9001: the case of certied organisations in Cyprus, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 19 No. 5, pp. 388-402. Han, S.B., Chen, S.K. and Ebrahimpour, M. (2007), The impact of ISO 9000 on TQM and business performance, Journal of Business and Economic Studies, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 1-23. Hashem, G. and Tann, J. (2007), The adoption of ISO 9000 standards within the Egyptian context: a diffusion of innovation approach, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp. 631-52. Heras, I., Cilleruelo, E. and Iradi, J. (2008), ISO 9001 and residential homes for the elderly: a Delphi study, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 272-88. Huarng, F., Horng, C. and Chen, C. (1999), A study of ISO 9000 process, motivation and performance, Total Quality Management, Vol. 10 No. 7, pp. 1009-25. International Organization for Standardization (2005), Quality Management Systems Fundamentals and Vocabulary, International Organization for Standardization, Geneva. International Organization for Standardization (2009), ISO Standards, available at: www.iso. org/iso/iso_catalogue.htm (accessed March 2009). Jang, W.Y. and Lin, C.I. (2008), An integrated framework for ISO 9000 motivation, depth of ISO implementation and rm performance: the case of Taiwan, Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 194-216. Jones, R., Arndt, G. and Kustin, R. (1997), ISO 9000 among Australian companies: impact of time and reasons for seeking certication on perceptions of benets received, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 14 No. 7, pp. 650-60. Kaynak, H. (2003), The relationship between total quality management practices and their effects on rm performance, Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 2, pp. 405-35. Kumar, V., Perrsaud, A.N.S. and Kumar, U. (1996), To terminate or not an ongoing R&D project: a managerial dilemma, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Vol. 43 No. 3, pp. 273-84. Lee, Y.S. and Lam, K. (1997), Managing quality at an engineering maintenance centre: from QCC to ISO 9001 and beyond, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 118-37. Lewis, W.G., Pun, K.F. and Lalla, T.R.M. (2006), Exploring soft versus hard factors for TQM implementation in small and medium-sized enterprises, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 55 No. 7, pp. 539-54. McGuire, S.J. and Dilts, D.M. (2008), The nancial impact of standard stringency: an event study of successive generations of the ISO 9000 standard, International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 113 No. 1, pp. 3-22. Magd, H.A.E. (2006), An investigation of ISO 9000 adoption in Saudi Arabia, Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 132-47. Magd, H.A.E. (2008), ISO 9001: 2000 in the Egyptian manufacturing sector: perceptions and perspectives, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 173-200.

Magd, H. and Curry, A. (2003), An empirical analysis of management attitudes towards ISO 9001: 2000 in Egypt, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 15 No. 6, pp. 381-90. Mezher, T., Ajam, M. and Shehab, M. (2005), The historical impact of ISO 9000 on Lebanese rms, Quality Assurance, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 25-42. Mo, J.P.T. and Chan, A.M.S. (1997), Strategy for the successful implementation of ISO 9000 in small and medium manufacturers, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 135-45. Naveh, E. and Marcus, A. (2007), Financial performance, ISO 9000 standard and safe driving practices effects on accident rate in the US motor carrier industry, Accident Analysis and Prevention, Vol. 39 No. 4, pp. 731-42. Naveh, E., Marcus, A. and Moon, H.K. (2004), Implementing ISO 9000: performance improvement by rst or second movers, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 42 No. 9, pp. 1843-63. Oger, B. and Platt, D.E. (2002), Value measurement and value creation models in Europe and the US: a comparison of the EFQM Excellence Model and the Baldrige Award Criteria, Comptabilite Controle Audit, pp. 99-116. Park, D.J., Kim, H.G., Kang, B.H. and Jung, H.S. (2007), Business values of ISO 9000: 2000 to Korean shipbuilding machinery manufacturing enterprises, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 32-48. Piskar, F. and Dolinsek, S. (2006), Implementation of the ISO 9001: from QMS to business model, Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 106 No. 9, pp. 1333-43. Poksinska, B., Dahlgaard, J.J. and Eklund, J.A.E. (2006a), From compliance to value-added auditing experiences from Swedish ISO 9001: 2000 certied organisations, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 17 No. 7, pp. 879-92. Poksinska, B., Eklund, J.A.E. and Dahlgaard, J.J. (2006b), ISO 9001: 2000 in small organisations, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 490-512. Porter, L.J. and Tanner, S.J. (1996), Assessing Business Excellence, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Reimann, C.W. and Hertz, H.S. (1994), Understanding the important differences between the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and ISO 9000 registration, Production and Operations Management, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 171-85. Rogers, E.M. (1995), Diffusion of Innovations, The Free Press, New York, NY. Rohitratana, K. and Boonitt, S. (2001), Quality standard implementation in the Thai seafood processing industry, British Food Journal, Vol. 103 No. 9, pp. 623-30. Saraph, J.V., Benson, P.G. and Schroeder, R.G. (1989), An instrument for measuring the critical factors of quality management, Decision Sciences, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 810-29. Sarkar, A. (1998), Implementation of ISO 9000 in a textile mill, Total Quality Management, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 123-31. Seddon, J. (1997), Ten arguments against ISO 9000, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 7 No. 4, pp. 162-8. Sila, I. and Ebrahimpour, M. (2005), Critical linkages among TQM factors and business results, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol. 25 No. 11, pp. 1123-55. Simmons, B. and White, M. (1999), The relationship between ISO 9000 and business performance: does registration really matter?, Journal of Managerial Issues, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 330-43. Singh, P.J. (2008), Empirical assessment of ISO 9000 related management practices and performance relationships, International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 113 No. 1, pp. 40-59.

Framework for implementing ISO 9000 397

IJQRM 28,4

398

Soh, C. and Markus, M.L. (1995), How IT creates business value: a process theory synthesis, paper presented at the 16th International Conference on Information System, Amsterdam. Stanley, T.D. (2001), Wheat from chaff: meta-analysis as quantitative literature review, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 131-50. Tang, S.L. and Kam, C.W. (1999), A survey of ISO 9001 implementation in engineering consultancies in Hong Kong, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 16 No. 6, pp. 562-74. Torraco, R.J. (2005), Writing integrative literature reviews: guidelines and examples, Human Resource Development Review, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 356-67. Traneld, D., Denyer, D. and Smart, P. (2003), Towards a methodology for developing evidence-informed management knowledge by means of systematic review, British Journal of Management, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 207-22. Tzelepis, D., Tsekouras, K., Skuras, D. and Dimara, E. (2006), The effects of ISO 9001 on rms productive efciency, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 26 No. 10, pp. 1146-65. van den Heuvel, J., Koning, L., Bogers, A., Berg, M. and van Dijen, M.E.M. (2005), An ISO 9001 quality management system in a hospital, Quality Assurance, Vol. 18 No. 5, pp. 361-9. Van der Wiele, T., Dale, B.G. and Williams, A.R.T. (1997), ISO 9000 series registration to total quality management: the transformation journey, International Journal of Quality Science, Vol. 2 No. 4, pp. 235-52. Williams, J.A. (2004), The impact of motivating factors on implementation of ISO 9001: 2000 registration process, Management Research News, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 74-84. Yahya, S. and Goh, W. (2001), The implementation of an ISO 9000 quality system, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 18 No. 9, pp. 941-66. Yang, Y.H. (2001), Software quality management and ISO 9000 implementation, Industrial Management and Data Systems, Vol. 101 No. 7, pp. 329-38. Yusof, S.M. and Aspinwall, E. (2000), Total quality management implementation frameworks: comparison and review, Total Quality Management, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 281-94. Zeng, S.X., Tian, P. and Tam, C.M. (2007), Overcoming barriers to sustainable implementation of the ISO 9001 system, Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 244-54. Zhang, Z. (2000), Developing a model of quality management methods and evaluating their effects on business performance, Total Quality Management, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 129-37. Further reading Benner, M.J. and Veloso, F.M. (2007), ISO 9000 practices and nancial performance: a technology coherence perspective, Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 26 No. 5, pp. 611-29. Bhuiyan, N. and Alam, N. (2004), ISO 9001: 2000 implementation the North American experience, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 53 No. 1, pp. 10-17. Biazzo, S. and Bernardi, G. (2003), Process management practices and quality systems standards: risks and opportunities of the new ISO 9001 certication, Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 149-69. Chan, Y.K., Kam, J., Neailey, K. and Ip, W.H. (2002), How IMS can achieve ISO 9001: 2000 certication, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 14 No. 6, pp. 345-9. Delgado-Hernandez, D. and Aspinwall, E.M. (2005), Improvement tools in the UK construction industry, Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 23, pp. 965-77.

Dereli, T., Baykasoglu, A. and Das, G.S. (2007), Fuzzy quality-team formation for value added auditing: a case study, Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 366-94. Dick, G.P.M. (2000), ISO 9000 certication benets: reality or myth?, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 12 No. 6, pp. 365-71. Dunu, E.S. and Ayokanmbi, M.F. (2008), The impact of ISO 9000 certication on the nancial performance of organizations, Journal of Global Business Issues, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 135-44. European Foundation for Quality Management (2003), Assessing for Excellence, European Foundation for Quality Management, Brussels. Evans, J.R. and Lindsay, W.M. (2008), Managing for Quality & Performance Excellence, Thomson South-Western, Mason, OH. Gotzamani, K.D. and Tsiotras, G.D. (2002), The true motives behind ISO 9000 certication: their effect on the overall certication benets and long term contribution towards TQM, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 151-69. Heras, I., Dick, G. and Casadesus, M. (2002), ISO 9000 registrations impact on sales and protability, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 19 No. 6, pp. 774-91. International Organization for Standardization (2000), ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management Systems: Requirements, International Organization for Standardization, Geneva. International Organization for Standardization (2006), The ISO Survey 2006, International Organization for Standardization, Geneva. Jahnke, B., Bachle, M. and Simoneit, M. (1995), Modelling sales processes as preparation for ISO 9001 certication, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 12 No. 9, pp. 76-99. Lee, P.K.C., To, W.M. and Yu, B.T.W. (2009), The implementation and performance outcomes of ISO 9000 in service organizations: an empirical taxonomy, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 26 No. 7, pp. 646-62. Lee, T. (1995), The experience of implementing ISO 9000 in Hong Kong, Asia Pacic Journal of Quality Management, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 6-16. Lima, M.A.M., Resende, M. and Hasenclever, L. (2000), Quality certication and performance of Brazilian rms: an empirical study, International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 66 No. 2, pp. 143-7. Lipovatz, D., Stenos, F. and Vaka, A. (1999), Implementation of ISO 9000 quality systems in Greek enterprises, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 16 No. 6, pp. 534-51. Mahadevappa, B. and Kotreshwar, G. (2004), Quality management practices in Indian ISO 9000 certied companies: an empirical evaluation, Total Quality Management, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 295-305. Mann, R. and Voss, M. (2000), An innovative process improvement approach that integrates ISO 9000 with the Baldrige framework, Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 128-45. Martnez-Costa, M. and Martnez-Lorente, A.R. (2003), Effects of ISO 9000 certication on rms performance: a vision from the market, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 14 No. 10, pp. 1179-91. Martinez-Costa, M., Martinez-Lorente, A.R. and Choi, T.Y. (2008), Simultaneous consideration of TQM and ISO 9000 on performance and motivation: an empirical study of Spanish companies, International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 23-39.

Framework for implementing ISO 9000 399

IJQRM 28,4

400

Mokhtar, M.Z., Karbhari, Y. and Naser, K. (2005), Company nancial performance and ISO 9000 registration: evidence from Malaysia, Asia Pacic Business Review, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 349-67. Morris, P.W. (2006), ISO 9000 and nancial performance in the electronics industry, The Journal of American Academy of Business, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 227-34. Najmi, M. and Kehoe, D.F. (2000), An integrated framework for post-ISO 9000 quality development, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 226-58. National Institute of Standards and Technology (2009), Baldrige National Quality Program, available at: www.baldrige.nist.gov/ (accessed April 2009). Rahman, S. (2001), A comparative study of TQM practice and organizational performance of SMEs with and without ISO 9000 certication, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 35-49. Sroufe, R. and Curkovic, S. (2008), An examination of ISO 9000:2000 and supply chain quality assurance, Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 503-20. Struebing, L. and Klaus, L.A. (1997), Smaller businesses thinking big, Quality Progress, February, pp. 23-7. Tayler, W.A. (1995), Organizational differences in ISO 9000 implementation practices, The International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 12 No. 7, pp. 10-27. Taylor, W.A. and Meegan, S.T. (1997), Senior executives and the ISO 9000-TQM transition: a framework and some empirical data, The International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 14 No. 7, pp. 669-86. Terziovski, M., Power, D. and Sohal, A.S. (2003), The longitudinal effects of the ISO 9000 certication process on business performance, European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 146 No. 3, pp. 580-95. Tsekouras, K., Dimara, E. and Skuras, D. (2002), Adoption of a quality assurance scheme and its effect on rm performance: a study of Greek rms implementing ISO 9000, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 13 No. 6, pp. 827-41. Van der Wiele, T., Williams, A.R.T. and Dale, B.G. (2000), ISO 9000 series registration to business excellence: the migratory path, Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 6 No. 5, pp. 417-27. Vouzas, F.K. and Gotzamani, K.D. (2005), Best practices of selected Greek organizations on their road to business excellence, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 259-66. Wayhan, V.B., Kirche, E.T. and Khumawala, B.M. (2002), ISO 9000 certication: the nancial performance implications, Total Quality Management, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 217-31. Wilson, J.P., Walsh, M.A.T. and Needy, K.L. (2003), An examination of the economic benets of ISO 9000 and the Baldrige Award to manufacturing rms, Engineering Management Journal, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 3-10. Wong, K.Y. and Aspinwall, E. (2004), Knowledge management implementation frameworks: a review, Knowledge and Process Management, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 93-104. Corresponding author Dong-Young Kim can be contacted at: d.kim@unf.edu

Appendix 1
Motivation Internal-driven motivation Quality-related Improving product/service quality Enhancing quality management practices Developing standardized processes and rules Resolving quality problems Establishing the documentation system Achieving customer satisfaction Operations-related Improving organizational efciency and productivity Developing organizational control system Increasing consistency of operations Reducing costs due to internal and external failures Reducing cost of customer complaints Competitiveness-related Enhancing international competitiveness Developing a new international market Differentiating with respect to competitors Building disciplined organizational culture Managing employees knowledge Increasing and maintaining market share External pressure-related Complying with customers demands/pressure Reecting pressure from competitors/partners Meeting the regulations of the European Union or governments Avoiding potential export barriers Following the markets behavior Organizational image-related Promoting corporate image Achieving marketing advantage Improving the rms quality image Supporting literature Arauz and Suzuki (2004), Bhuiyan and Alam (2005b), Briscoe et al. (2005), Buttle (1997), Gotzamani et al. (2007), Huarng et al. (1999), Jang and Lin (2008), Magd (2008), Magd and Curry (2003), Tang and Kam (1999), Williams (2004)

Framework for implementing ISO 9000 401

Arauz and Suzuki (2004), Buttle (1997), Fuentes et al. (2000), Hashem and Tann (2007), Jang and Lin (2008), Magd (2008), Magd and Curry (2003), Tang and Kam (1999), Williams (2004)

Bhuiyan and Alam (2005b), Briscoe et al. (2005), Buttle (1997), Fuentes et al. (2000), Gotzamani et al. (2007), Hashem and Tann (2007), Jang and Lin (2008), Mo and Chan (1997)

External-driven motivation

Arauz and Suzuki (2004), Bhuiyan and Alam (2005b), Briscoe et al. (2005), Buttle (1997), Fuentes et al. (2000), Gotzamani et al. (2007), Hashem and Tann (2007), Huarng et al. (1999), Magd (2008), Magd and Curry (2003), Mo and Chan (1997), Tang and Kam (1999), Williams (2004) Arauz and Suzuki (2004), Buttle (1997), Fuentes et al. (2000), Huarng et al. (1999), Tang and Kam (1999), Williams (2004)

Table AI. A set of motivations for ISO 9000 implementation

IJQRM 28,4

Appendix 2
Critical factor Leadership Description Commitment of top management in the allocation of resources and organizational efforts. Understanding of principles, efforts needed, and possible impacts of ISO 9000 implementation. Emphasis on systematic planning, quality-focused goals, and strategies on a long-term basis. Periodic review of quality audit ndings and demonstration of strong will about continuous improvement Provision of training programs about mechanisms, roles, and terminologies of ISO 9000. Development of education programs about statistical tools and techniques. Nurture of qualied personnel and internal auditors Participation and commitment of employees, competent quality managers, and internal auditors. Specicity of everyones responsibility. Management of employee resistance to the ISO adoption. Supporting literature Benezech et al. (2001), Bhuiyan and Alam (2005a, b), Chin and Choi (2003), Chin et al. (2000), Feng et al.(2008), Fuentes et al. (2000), Heras et al. (2008), Magd (2008), Piskar and Dolinsek (2006), Poksinska et al. (2006b), Singh (2008), Tang and Kam (1999), Williams (2004), Zeng et al. (2007)

402

Training

Balzarova et al. (2004), Bhuiyan and Alam (2005a), Carlsson and Carlsson (1996), Fuentes et al. (2000), Heras et al. (2008), Magd (2008), Park et al. (2007), Poksinska et al. (2006b), Rohitratana and Boonitt (2001), Singh (2008), Tang and Kam (1999), Yahya and Goh (2001) Balzarova et al. (2004), Briscoe et al. (2005), Chin and Choi (2003), Feng et al. (2008), Fuentes et al. (2000), Heras et al. (2008), Magd (2008), Mo and Chan (1997), Park et al. (2007), Poksinska et al. (2006b), Rohitratana and Boonitt (2001), Tang and Kam (1999), Williams (2004), Yahya and Goh (2001) Balzarova et al. (2004), Bhuiyan and Alam (2005a, b), Briscoe et al. (2005), Carlsson and Carlsson (1996), Chin et al. (2000), Heras et al. (2008), Magd (2008), Mo and Chan (1997), Poksinska et al. (2006b), Simmons and White (1999), Yahya and Goh (2001)

Involvement of everyone

Organizational resource

Allocation of sufcient time and effort to implement and maintain the standard. Provision of nancial resources to precede the implementation plan

Quality-oriented culture

Development of dynamic environment Briscoe et al. (2005), Chin and Choi (2003), Poksinska et al. (2006b), Tang to lead quality consciousness. Establishment of the ISO practices as a and Kam (1999) part of organizational routine. Facilitation of the continual efforts to improve the quality system Identication and review of the needs Carlsson and Carlsson (1996), Heras of customers. Adoption of measuring et al. (2008), Park et al. (2007), Singh and monitoring processes to enhance (2008) customer satisfaction. Management of processes for customers complaints (continued)

Customer-based approach Table AII. A set of critical success factors of ISO 9000 implementation

Critical factor Process-centered approach

Description Identication and standardization of organizational working processes. Development of documentation processes and systems. Use of equipment to test processes and procedures. Measurement and periodic feedback of organizational performance

Supporting literature Balzarova et al. (2004), Bhuiyan and Alam (2005b), Briscoe et al. (2005), Feng et al.(2008), Poksinska et al. (2006b), Singh (2008)

Framework for implementing ISO 9000 403

Communication and teamwork

Balzarova et al. (2004), Chin and Choi Provision of ofcial or unofcial communication routes. Encouragement (2003), Fuentes et al. (2000), Tang and of teamwork to align individual goals Kam (1999) with organizational goals. Measurement of the team performance with individual contribution Specication of detailed requirements to apply to an organization. Decision of the scope and rules to efciently apply for the documentation system. Encouragement of a readiness analysis to tailor the requirements Implementation of value-added and consistent quality audits. Commitment and support from the certication agency. Operation of supervision systems on the certifying bodies. Emphasis of certication agencys professional ethics Bhuiyan and Alam (2005b), Briscoe et al. (2005), Park et al. (2007), Singh (2008), Tang and Kam (1999), Yahya and Goh (2001), Zeng et al. (2007)

Customizing the ISO requirements

Quality audit

Chin et al. (2000), Fuentes et al. (2000), Park et al. (2007), Poksinska et al. (2006a), Tang and Kam (1999), Yahya and Goh (2001), Zeng et al. (2007) Table AII.

404

IJQRM 28,4

Appendix 3

Study No specic basis No detailed information

Czuchry et al. (1997)

Lee and Lam (1997) No specic basis No specic basis No specic basis

Sarkar (1998) System approach System approach

Fuentes Diagnose ! planning ! documentation ! implementation ! control and et al. (2000) maintenance Yang (2001) Establish full commitment ! define and document a high-level quality system structure, and write a quality manual ! define the foundation elements of quality systems ! define major supporting elements ! define remaining supporting elements ! perform a pre-assessment audit and correct deciencies found during the pre-assessment audit ! undergo a registration audit System approach

Bhuiyan and Alam (2005a, b)

Aldowaisan Develop a QMS around a single product realization process ! develop the ISO System approach 9000 system processes completely ! include more product realization and processes and managerial processes Youssef (2006) System approach

Hashem and Tann (2007)

Table AIII. Comparison of existing frameworks of ISO 9000 implementation

Application of prior theoretical Type of framework model Consideration Consideration of motivation of critical factors factors Yes (e.g. management commitment) Clarication of links among impacts No detailed information No specic basis No detailed information No detailed information No detailed information No detailed information Yes (e.g. training) Yes (e.g. top management involvement) Yes (e.g. training) Yes (e.g. management and employee commitment) No detailed information No detailed information No detailed information No detailed information No specic basis Yes (e.g. handling customer complaints) No specic basis No detailed information Yes (e.g. training) No detailed information Yes (e.g. resources) No detailed information Yes Rogers No detailed information (1995) innovation adoption model Yes (e.g. managers role) No detailed information

Stage

Step Management decision and commitment ! establishment of management approach representative and areas coordinator ! internal and gap analysis and pre-assessment ! quality system manual and procedures ! procedures in place ! internal audits and corrective actions ! registrar initial visit ! final assessment ! registration

Training ! documentation ! implementation, audit, and review ! System preliminary assessment and system review ! dry run and formal assessment approach

Step Top management ! training programs ! documentation ! continuous review ! union involvement ! awareness ! internal quality audit ! quality approach improvement studies ! certification audit ! follow-up

Gap analysis ! understanding the quality system ! forming a project team ! designating a management representative ! developing a quality policy and an objective ! setting up the documentation of procedures ! training shop oor personnel ! conducting internal audits

Awareness=knowledge ! attitude formation ! evaluation ! adoption ! continued use/rejection