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This paper reports the findings of a survey on 24 commercial tools for ISO 9000 certification. We analyse these tools along several dimensions: certification stages supported, targeted industry sectors, and features. Each tool typically provides assistance for several stages of the certification process. Most tools provide some kinds of support for the system analysis, system implementation, system review and maintenance stages. As expected, many tools (about 33 per cent) are targeted specifically for the manufacturing sector. Another 60 per cent of the tools aim at the general business sector. Sixty per cent of the tools support assessment activities while about half support documentation template. No single tool covers all activities of the certification process. It is recommended that any company which is planning or is in the process of implementing a QMS should seriously consider the opportunity of using some of these automated tools.

Quality improvement is critical to the success of software development organizations. Automated tools can greatly assist in the implementation of quality improvement. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the state of tool support of software process improvement.

The authors first review three quality improvement models that can be used for improving the quality of software products, and then identify the required activities of the quality improvement effort based on those models. These activities identified then serve as a reference list to determine the support provided by commercial tools. The paper then conducts two surveys of software quality improvement tools and presents the results.

The results from two surveys indicate that: there is no tool that supports problem identification; most tools can provide several software process improvement functions to help software organizations to improve their process capability and the quality of their products; and there is no set of tools that can provide a complete coverage of all improvement activities.

Although the authors have conducted a detailed search on the internet to identify SPI tools, such a survey will miss those tools which have no presence on the internet. However, the authors are confident that their results can reflect what is available in the marketplace.

Process practitioners will learn about the state of support available in the marketplace and what they may need to develop on their own to provide complete support for their improvement efforts.

The paper proposes a classification of software process improvement functions and present a first survey of software quality improvement tools. The results will be beneficial to process practitioners.

A comprehensive survey was conducted with a view to identifying the benefits derived by ISO 9000 certified companies in Hong Kong. It is generally agreed that the certification helps the companies to improve quality in terms of work procedures, product and service quality, team spirit, subcontractor control, efficiency and complaints. While a large proportion of the certified companies would like to continuously improve their quality on the basis of the certified management system, many of them do not know how to make a start. This paper reviews the difference between what is commonly known as good practice and the ISO 9000 requirements. Some recommendations are made for the certified companies which are planning to develop their quality journey based on ISO 9000.

This paper presents the result of a study to identify the costs and benefits of obtaining ISO 9000 certification. Toward this goal, a survey of some 500 ISO 9000 certified companies has been carried out. Among them, more than 65 per cent believe that ISO 9001 certification is worthwhile, and more than 76 per cent believe that the cost of certification is inexpensive. The results indicate that companies which seek certification because of their customers’ request seem to gain less benefit from ISO 9000 certification. We also found that concern for high costs is much less after initial certification. In addition, we discovered that contrary to many people’s expectation, some factors do not have any bearing on whether benefits outweigh costs. These factors include time taken to get certified, number of years since certification, and reason for certification. Besides presenting the results of the survey, we also introduce a new classification scheme based on the company’s view on the “expensiveness” of the certification and the received benefits. There are some differences in responses from companies of different classes.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the acquisition of an ISO 9000 certification and the overall financial performance of the certified firms. More specifically, the study proposes a multidimensional conceptual framework, including “customers’ demand”, “ISO adoption”, “operation efficiency”, “market efficiency” and “overall financial performance”. Such a multidimensional approach has randomly been explored in the existing literature, making the examination of the proposed conceptual framework an interesting research topic.

The proposed conceptual framework was tested on a sample of Greek ISO 9000-certified companies of various economic sectors. Quality managers were used as key respondents. The final sample consisted of 168 companies. The reliability and the validity of the questionnaire were thoroughly examined. Empirical data were analyzed using the structural equation modelling technique. The findings are based on the 2000 version of the ISO series, which is generally accepted and has widespread use, as it has eliminated most of the disadvantages of the 1994 version. The present study is empirical (it is based on primary data), explanatory (examines cause and effect relationships), deductive (tests research hypotheses) and quantitative (includes the analysis of quantitative data collected with the use of a structured questionnaire).

The findings of the study provide strong evidence that ISO 9000 implementation is highly associated with improvements in overall financial performance. Moreover, it was found that ISO implementation is directly associated with significant improvements in quality awareness, operations execution, market share, customer satisfaction and sales revenue. Finally, customers’ demand was not found to be the most important motivation for implementing an ISO certification. Rather, it seems that companies seek for quality improvement due to internal motives.

A limitation stemming from the implemented methodology is the use of self-report scales to measure the constructs of the proposed model. Moreover, the present paper lacks a longitudinal approach, since it is cross-sectional and provides a static picture of ISO implementation.

The paper makes an analytical effort in order to point out areas that companies should emphasize in order to successfully implement ISO 9000 and, therefore, harvest its potential benefits. Certain practical implications are offered in the final part of the paper.

The paper proposes an enhanced conceptual framework that examines vital issues concerning the successful implementation of ISO 9000, thus, providing valuable outcomes for decision makers and academics. Moreover, the results of the study may be generalized in other developed countries whose economy faces similar significant challenges as Greece.

Firms' motives in adopting ISO 9000 have been considered as one of the primary factors in determining benefits of the implementation of the standard. Literature commonly categorized motives for adopting ISO 9000 into two types, internal and external. The purpose of this paper is to examine three major strategic roles which these two types of motives play in affecting the result of the ISO 9000 adoption, namely goal, driver, and context. As a goal, motives reflect the firms' strategic outcomes in adopting ISO 9000. As a driver, motives determine the way firms implement the standard, and as a context, motives moderate the effect of implementation on firms' performance as the outcomes of ISO 9000 adoption.

Data were collected from 328 middle and senior managers of ISO 9001 certified firms in Australia who were responsible for managing quality system in their organizations.

Consistent with predictions, internal motives had a positive relationship with operational performance and implementation. Furthermore, from a strategic fit perspective, internal motives strengthened the relationship between implementation and performance. In contrast, external motives had no statistically significant relationship with performance and weakened the relationship between implementation and performance.

The results provide key insights for managers to appropriately evaluate their ISO 9000 certification motives and to give attention to the implementation of ISO 9000 standards. Firms can thus gain a better understanding of how performance is shaped from both the motives for and the implementation process of ISO 9000.

This paper is the first which articulates the multiple roles of firms' motives for adopting the ISO 9000 standard and examines their effects on firms' performance.