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ISO 9001:2000 in the Egyptianmanufacturing sector:

perceptions and perspectivesHesham A.E. Magd

e-TQM College, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine management attitudes/perceptions of Egyptianmanufacturing organizations toward the implementation of ISO 9001:2000. The implementation of ISO9001:2000 depends on how the standard is perceived by Egyptian companies themselves.

Design/methodology/approach The present study is exploratory in nature and seeks to collect

data about management attitudes/perceptions towards ISO 9001:2000 through a structured mailsurvey. Mail questionnaires were sent to 200 manufacturing companies throughout Egypt, yielding aresponse rate of 35 percent.

Findings Survey results indicated that Egyptian manufacturing organizations are aware of ISO9001:2000 and it is considered to be relevant to their organizations. The main motivators for seekingISO certification were to improve the efficiency of the quality system and to achieve customersatisfaction. The vital benefits perceived from implementing the certificate were improveddocumentation and improvement in the efficiency of the quality system. However, the participantsperceived top management commitment and the lack of qualified personnel to be major barriers for theeffective implementation of ISO 9001:2000.

Originality/value The research adds knowledge in the field of quality management within thecontext of developing countries and gives a particular focus on Egypt and the manufacturing sector, asit is one of the few papers available within the field of quality management in Egypt.

KeywordsQuality standards, Egypt, Manufacturing industries, Perception

Paper typeResearch paper

IntroductionThe globalization of the marketplace and the rapid improvement in high qualityproducts and services has brought about high levels of market pressure across theworld. In order to become efficient and competitive in todays business environment,the majority of companies are being encouraged not only to change their oldoperational habits, but also to develop better ways to ensure that customers aresatisfied with the quality of products/services. As many organizations have discoveredthat the key to customer satisfaction and competitive success lies in emphasizing and

achieving product and service quality as a strategic weapon in performing business(Pulat, 1994; Krasachol and Guh, 2001; Laiet al., 2002; Reedet al., 1999). It is clear thatquality has emerged as a strategic competitive tool for organizational success (Yongand Wilkinson, 2002). In todays business environment, organizations cannot afford toignore the strategic implications of quality for its competitive position. In the light ofthis, it is vital for organizations to develop or adopt an effective Quality ManagementSystem (QMS) very often associated with ISO 9000 series (Rohitratana and Boon-Itt,2001).

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/0265-671X.htm

ISO 9001:2000in Egyptian

manufacturing

173

Received April 2005Revised August 2006

Accepted 31 August 2006

International Journal of Quality &Reliability Management

Vol. 25 No. 2, 2008pp. 173-200

q Emerald Group Publishing Limited0265-671X

DOI 10.1108/02656710810846934
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0265-671X.htmhttp://www.emeraldinsight.com/0265-671X.htm

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Quality Management System is referred to as a business management system thatcan be applied to all business sectors and all sizes of companies. If you think of abusiness as a set of processes it identifies the key process areas that need to beaddressed to ensure quality is managed effectively. Moreover, quality management

systems are designed to provide the support and mechanism for the effectiveaccomplishment of quality-related activities in organizations. It is recognized as asystematic means to manage quality in organizations (Kolka, 2002). In broader sense,Goetsch and Davis (2005, p. 174) indicated that the quality management systemconsists of all the organizations policies, procedures, plans, resources, processes, anddelineation of responsibility and authority, all deliberately aimed at achieving productor service quality levels consistent with customer satisfaction and the organizationsobjectives. When these policies, procedures, plans, etc. are taken together, they definehow the organization works, and how quality is managed. An example of qualitymanagement system is the well known ISO 9001:2000. The ISO 9001:2000 hasformalized an effective system for evaluating the ability of any firm to consistentlydesign, produce, and deliver quality products/services (Fuentes et al., 2000;Martinez-Lorente and Martinez-Costa, 2004; Terziovski et al., 2003; Wayhan et al.,2002). ISO 9001:2000 provides guidelines for organizations to establish their qualitysystems by focusing on procedures, control, and documentation (Sun et al., 2004).Therefore, the objectives of ISO 9001:2000 is the provision of consistency in products,meeting customer and regulatory requirements and having systems that addresscustomer satisfaction, continual improvement, prevention of non-conformity, and theadoption of a system approaching Total Quality management (TQM) (Goetsch andDavis, 2005). The ISO 9001:2000 is based on the concept that certain minimumcharacteristics of a quality management system could be usefully standardized, givingmutual benefit to suppliers and customers, and focusing on process rather thanproduct/service quality (Van der Wieleet al., 2005; Dicket al., 2002). ISO 9000:2000 is

perceived as a management control tool, a driver of innovation, and plays a strategicrole within organizations in focusing and ensuring the delivery of quality products/orservices (Van der Wieleet al., 2005). This is seen through the fact that ISO 9001:2000encourages the adoption of the process approach for the management of theorganization and its processes, and as a means of identifying and managingopportunities for improvement. The processes approach is developed based on thebelief that a desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and relatedresources are thought of as a process (Bhuiyan and Alam, 2004). Figure 1 illustrates themodel of the process-based quality management system approach recommended byISO 9001:2000, where the process-based model defines a quality management systemas a single large process which links sub-processes in a continuous improvement cycle.The utilization of process approach emphasizes the importance of understanding and

fulfillment of requirements, the need to consider processes in terms of added values,obtaining results of processes and continual improvement of process based onobjective measures (Tan et al., 2003). Moreover the generic requirements of the newedition are depicted as linked processes (Janas and Luczak, 2002). Figure 1 illustratedthe process approach, which include the following as briefly explained by Biazzo andBernardi (2003, p. 156):

. The management responsibility element comprises the requirements fordeveloping and improving the quality, system, listening to customers,

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formulating quality policy and planning, and defining responsibilities,authorities and communication processes to facilitate effective qualitymanagement.

. The resource management element comprises the requirements for managingboth human and infrastructural resources in order to implement and improve thequality management system and to address customer satisfaction.

. The product realization element includes the specific requirements for the

product realization processes, which involve identifying customer requirements,reviewing product requirements, communicating with customers, designing anddeveloping products, purchasing, producing (and/or delivering) services, andcontrolling measurement and monitoring devices.

. The measurement, analysis and improvement element features the requirementfor monitoring information on customer satisfaction, measuring and monitoringproducts and processes and managing internal audits, non-conformity detectionand improvement actions.

ISO 9001:2000 uses the PDCA (Plan-Do-Act-Check) improvement circle to enclose thefour blocks of management responsibilities, resource management, processmanagement, measurement, analysis and improvement (Ho, 2002). The PDCA

methodology can be applied to all processes and can briefly be described as follows:(1) Plan. Establish the objectives and processes necessary to deliver results in

accordance with customer requirements and the organization policies.

(2) Do. Implement the processes.

(3) Check.Monitor and measure processes and products against policies, objectivesand requirements for the product and report the results.

(4) Act. Take actions to continually improve process performance.

Figure 1.ISO 9001:2000

process-based qualitymanagement system


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ISO 9000 certification supposed to help companies to identify mistakes, streamlinetheir operations, and be able to guarantee a consistent level of qualityproducts/services (Kartha, 2002). In support of this further, Dick (2000, p. 368) statedthat: you should expect greater responsibility, accountability and quality

consciousness among your staff, better use of time and resources, greaterconsistency and traceability of product/service, less wastage through product orservice failure, continual improvement to your quality and efficiency, improved profitand wider market opportunities. Moreover, Sun (1999) investigated ISO 9000certification in Norwegian companies and found that it was significantly correlatedwith quality results, especially the reduction of defective products and customercomplaints and the improvement of business performance such as profitability andproductivity. While another study reported by Heras et al. (2001) demonstrated thatorganizations which have implemented ISO 9000 systems have managed to achievecontinuous enhancement and improvement and a better-run organization. Moreover,Van der Wieleet al. (2005) illustrated that ISO 9000: 2000 perceived to have positiveeffects on business in various perspectives such as continuous improvement,management control, quality focus, efficiency of processes and customer focus.Furthermore, Bhuiyan and Alam (2005) identified the perceived benefits of the ISO9001:2000 are improved documentation, improved quality perception, disciplined workenvironment, consistency across the organization and improved customer confidence.While a study conducted by Zhang (2000) reported further that registered firms tendedto achieve improvement in employee morale and personal accountability for jobperformance as a result of employees understanding their role in the total process.However, recent empirical studies have concluded that the most important benefitssought from ISO 9000 are profit improvements (Naser et al., 2004; Heraset al., 2002b;Zairi and Baidoun, 2003), customer satisfaction (McAdam and Canning, 2001;Escancianoet al., 2001), continuous improvements (Boys et al., 2004; Aarts and Voss,

2001; Zairi and Baidoun, 2003), process improvements and marketing benefits(Wayhan et al., 2002; Aarts and Voss, 2001; Eklofet al., 1999), and profitability (seeTable I for illustration).

Despite the numerical success of ISO 9000, a considerable number of criticisms ofthe certification exist, as it is not a risk-free undertaking. ISO 9000 registration does not

ISO certification

Qualitymanagementsystem

Qualityimprovement

Businessperformance Profitability

Certified to ISO9000 standard

The approvedquality

managementsystem brings anincreasedemphasis onquality and how itmay be achievedconsistently

Internal: lesswaster and

duplication ofeffort

External:qualityreceived bycustomersimproves

Reduced costsimproves

competitivenessFewer customerdefections so salesincreaseBadge of qualityopens more saleopportunities

Cost of salesreduces leading to

increased profitsProfitabilitybenefits from scaleeconomies andlower salesacquisition costs

Source: Heraset al. (2002a, p. 776)

Table I.The expected linksbetween qualitycertification and businessperformance

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guarantee improved performance due to the high explicit and implicit costs associatedwith implementation (Van der Wieleet al., 2005; Curkovic and Pagell, 1999). Van derWiele et al. (2005), and Bhuiyan and Alam (2005) indicated that ISO 9000: 2000perceived as having higher development and maintenance costs. The cost of

certification can be very high ranging from $10,000 to $250,000 (Withers andEbrahimpour, 2001). The variation in costs depends on the suitability and efficiency ofexisting systems and the competence of the employees (McAdam and Jackson, 2002:Mo and Chan, 1997) Stevenson and Barnes (2001) identified four factors that tend togenerate costs in achieving certification: time, training, consultants and theregistration itself. Moreover, another perceived criticism of the ISO 9000 was theprimary concern with the generation of documentation to describe steps to be takenwhen problems are encountered (Bhuiyan and Alam, 2005). This is evident through asurvey of UK quality management which concluded that ISO 9000 had been reduced toa mechanical approach and as being paperwork driven (Wilkinson et al., 1994).Furthermore, the standard may interfere with new and better ways of operating,quality by inspection is not quality, and too heavy reliance on peoples and inparticular assessors interpretation of quality (Seddon, 1997; Stevenson and Barnes,2001; Douglas et al., 2003). Also the certifications tend to provide indicators that thecertified organization has complied with process requirements, but they do notguarantee that the supplier produces quality products and/or services that actuallymeet customer requirements (Abraham et al., 2000; Singels et al., 2001), and maydiscourage creative and critical thinking, because employees are forced to workaccording to well-described procedures and rules (Casadesus and Karapetrovic, 2005).Recently, various studies have confirmed that ISO 9000 certifications are tooexpensive, too time consuming, resource-consuming, too formalized and impersonaland that costs are greater than the benefits derived (Casadesus and Karapetrovic, 2005;Bhuiyan and Alam, 2005; Dick, 2000; Augustyn and Pheby, 2000).

The implementation of ISO 9000 certification does not come without a risk factorand organizations should review the benefits and drawbacks of ISO 9000 certificationsas the implementation and the impact of ISO 9000 standards can vary fromorganization to organization and from country to a country, and these variations existsdue to the various organizational contexts/variables and the state of countriesawareness of quality management, their commitment in helping organizations inimplementing quality management tools and techniques, and countriesinfrastructure/readiness. For example, the government of Hong Kong had mandatedits contractors to be ISO certified in ensuring quality. Organizational contextualfactors/variables include managerial knowledge, corporate support for quality,external quality requirements and product complexity, international competition, firmsize, capital intensity, degree of diversification, timing of implementation and maturity

of quality management tools (Hendricks and Singhal, 2001; Das et al., 2000). Thesecontextual factors have contributed to the variations of ISO 9000 implementationwithin organizations and countries, but the most important factor is the way thecertification is perceived by top/senior management, as this is classified as the mostinfluential factor for implementing the standard. If the certification is perceived in anegative way, top management would not implement the standard, but on the otherhand, if the standard is perceived positively, top management will provide their fullsupport to ISO 9000 certification. This is evidenced through the fact that top


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management acts as a driver of quality management systems implementation throughthe provision of the needed resources and the key to continuous improvement throughthe creation of values, goals and systems to satisfy customer expectations and toimprove organizational performance (Chin and Choi, 2003; Solis et al., 2000; Yusof and

Aspinwall, 2002; Antony et al., 2002).It is notable that much of the research on ISO 9000 certification, particularly in the

USA and Europe, has consistently been claimed, while little research has been carriedout in developing countries (Al-Khalifa and Aspinwall, 2000; Tannok and Krasachol,2000; Krasachol and Guh, 2001), and more specifically Egypt. Therefore, it seems thatthis area of research in developing countries should have more focus on the trend ofISO 9000 certification, and this is evident through the ISO Action Plan for developingcountries 2005-2010, as it is realized the importance of developing countries to haveaccess to international standards and increase their participation in internationalstandardization and formal assessment activities and consequently benefit fromknowledge transfer (ISO, 2004). The ISO action plan illustrated various actions fordeveloping countries which intended to mobilize its members, regional organizationsand donor agencies. The actions are aimed at promoting developing countriesparticipation in ISO, building capacity through technical assistance programs andenhancing interactions at regional and international levels (ISO, 2004). Therefore, inenhancing and complementing the ISO action plan, the researcher attempts to shedsome light on ISO 9001:2000 certification driving forces, benefits and barriers in themanufacturing sector in Egypt as an example of a developing country.

Research problem and study objectivesThe Egyptian government and the business community have placed a greateremphasis on achieving superior quality in order to compete in both domestic andforeign markets through a quality assurance system (ISO 9001:2000). This is vital

because more and more European and foreign buyers have become frustrated havingto verify the quality of Egyptian goods they purchase, a costly and time consumingprocess. Therefore, the Egyptian government and consulting firms have beenpersuading Egyptian companies to seek ISO 9000 certification to ensure quality ofproducts/services. The quality standard has also become a subject of interest in Egyptdue to the fact that ISO 9000 has been used widely throughout Europe, the USA andworldwide as a nationally and internationally accepted quality standard (Tan andLim-Teck Sia, 2001; Dick, 2000; Zairi and Baidoun, 2003). For example, more than300,000 public and private organizations worldwide have received certification as ofDecember 1999 and this number is growing by 50,000 to 60,000 per year (Corbett andKirsch, 2001). Moreover, ISO (2001) confirmed that the worldwide total of ISO 9000certificates was 408,631, which provides evidence of the continuing growth of the

quality system standard (ISO 9000). The standard was perceived as a non-politicalbaseline for quality and spread from Europe to North America, Japan to the rest of theWorld.

The implementation of the standard in Egyptian companies depends on how thestandard is perceived by the Egyptian companies themselves. Despite the number ofpublications and the amount of research into ISO 9000, little empirical research hasbeen carried out in the Arab world and more specifically Egypt. There is very littleknown about management attitudes/perceptions in Egypt towards ISO 9000.

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Therefore, the focus of the present study was to examine managementattitudes/perceptions of Egyptian manufacturing organizations toward ISO9001:2000 standard.

Research methodology and organizational profileThis study is exploratory in nature and seeks to collect data about managementattitudes/perceptions towards ISO 9001:2000. In deciding on the most suitable methodfor collecting the required data, it is important to note that based on the literature reviewit was clear that the majority of research about ISO 9000 has been conducted viaquantitative approaches, predominantly through postal questionnaires (see Table II) tocover various issues such as the value of the standard (Mezher et al., 2004; Chang and Lo,2005; Bhuiyan and Alam, 2005; Van der Wiele et al., 2005); reasons for seekingcertification, perceived degree of difficulty of ISO 9000: 2000 (McAdam and Jackson,2002; Mezheret al., 2004; Bhuiyan and Alam, 2005), Questionnaires are popular withinthe various studies on ISO 9000 due to the fact that they are stable, consistent and

uniform statistical measure, provide less opportunity for bias or error than interviews,provide greater assurance of anonymity and can be completed at the participantsconvenience (Kumar, 2000). Denscombe (1999) indicated that the postal questionnaire isthe best-known research method, involving sending self-completion questionnairesthrough the post. This generally implies that postal questionnaires can cover widergeographical areas than interviews (Rileyet al., 2000), and enable researchers to obtain alarge amount of data inexpensively (Sarantakos, 1998). Questionnaires were chosen forthis study, partly because of the popularity of this method in quality managementresearch (Bavagnoli and Perona, 2000; Liker et al., 1998). Questionnaires have been usedto study quality management techniques in different countries or regions, as in the caseof Taiwan (Chang and Lu, 1995). Further, quality management questionnaires areutilized to also focus on a specific companys size, or a sector, as in the present study.

The questionnaire was developed based on an extensive review of the literature inorder to have large statements related to the various driving forces, benefits, andbarriers other researchers (e.g., Escancianoet al., 2001; Pan, 2003; Van Der Wieleet al.,2000; McAdam and Fulton, 2002; Chow-Chuaet al., 2003; Lee, 2004; Calisiret al., 2001)have utilized in their studies. The design of the questionnaire relied upon closed andscale questions. Closed questions were chosen to provide the researcher withstandardized data and can be presented in an appropriate format that lends itself tobeing quantified and compared. Also it is utilized in providing pre-coded data, whichcan be analyzed easily and the gathered data tend to be reliable and valid. Scalequestions were utilized to identify the management perceptions through the use of

Authors Research method utilized Sample targeted Responserate (%)

Bhuiyan and Alam (2004 Questionnaires 200 102 52Bhuiyan and Alam (2004, 2005) Questionnaires 138 30 22Ruzeviciuset al. (2004) Questionnaires 125 40 24Gulbroet al. (2000) Questionnaires 200 70 35Beaumont and Sohal (1999) Questionnaires 252 59 23Salaheldin (2003) Questionnaires 200 83 41.5

Table II.Overview of similar

research studies on thefield of ISO 9000/quality

management


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Likert Style rating scale. The researcher chose the use of Likert style rating scalebecause it communicates interval properties to respondents, and therefore to producedata that can be assumed to be related to an interval scale. The data collected from theLikert scale can be evaluated easily through standard techniques. Closed ended and

scale questions were used in the questionnaire to obtain different types of information.This information can be classified into factual information, achieved throughclassification questions 1-5 to gain information industry type, organizational size,certification status, awareness of ISO 9001:2000, and relevance of ISO 9001:2000.Perceptions, attitudes, and thoughts achieved through attitudinal questions 6-8 to gaininformation on the extent of agreement/disagreement of participants regarding thedriving forces (14 statements), benefits (19 statements) and barriers (11 statements) ofISO 9001:2000 implementation.

It was decided that the questionnaire would be sent to a target of 200 manufacturingorganizations in Egypt and this chosen sample of 200 would be justified because mostresearch in the field of quality management/ISO 9000 tends to use 100-200 as anappropriate sample size (see Table II). Further, because of the time and cost constraintsinvolved in the research, the researcher felt that 200 was an appropriate sample size,compared well with relevant past studies and enough statistical information can begained from it. A covering letter accompanied the questionnaire, which explained thenature of the study, asked the participants to fill in and return the questionnaire in theself-addressed enveloped provided, and explicitly requested completion of thequestionnaire by the managing director (MD) or owner of the business, rather than aperson with the title of quality manager or equivalent. This was as MDs have anoverview of the entire organization and they are more likely to provide objective view.A total of 70 questionnaires were returned representing a response rate of 35 per cent.The response rate (35 per cent) is quite reasonable compared with other studies in thefield of quality management (Dissanayakaet al., 2001). Following the data collection

stage, the responses were coded to enable them to be computer processed. Theresearcher used the software package referred to as Statistical Package for the SocialSciences (SPSS).

It is interesting to note that the majority (70 percent) of the respondents participatedin the study were from engineering, electronics, pharmaceutical and chemicalsorganizations (see Table III). This may be due to the fact that these sectors are exposedto a highly competitive market and forced to implement quality tools/techniques.Therefore, they are more willing to participate in studies related to quality to gainknowledge on how to improve quality in order to compete in todays competitiveenvironment. With respect to the number of employees in the surveyed organizations,the percentages of the employees distribution in the manufacturing sector are shownin Table III. In this study, most of the participants came from large companies with

more than 249 employees representing 60 percent, while the responses formedium-sized enterprises (between 50-249 employees) and small firms (Less than 50employees) were 30 percent and 10 percent respectively. However in terms of ISOcertification (see Table III), the majority (50 percent) of the surveyed organizationswere found to be either in the process of acquiring ISO certification or were planning topursue it, and 20 percent were still undecided about certification. While 30 percent ofthe surveyed manufacturing organizations were found to be certified which, representsa satisfactory rate of certification within a developing country.

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Findings and discussionAwareness and relevance of ISO 9001:2000The respondents were asked to state their level of awareness of ISO 9001:2000. Thevast majority (70 percent) of the respondents reported that they were familiar to at leastsome degree with the ISO 9001:2000 (see Table III). Their understanding andawareness of the ISO 9001:2000 to some degree referred to the fact that the respondentswere not aware of all the new components within the ISO 9001:2000, and their level offamiliarity was judged based on the eight quality management principles thatcontained within the ISO: 9001:2000 and they are customer focused organizations,leadership, involvement of people, process approach, system approach to management,continual improvement, factual approach to decision making and mutually beneficial

supplier relationships. The researcher selected these eight quality managementprinciples as they are the principles used to revise the standard and produced the mainfour management requirement for ISO 9001:2000 and they are:

(1) management responsibility;

(2) resource management;

(3) product realization and measurement; and

(4) analysis and improvement.

Category No of participants % of participants

IndustryPharmaceutical and chemicals 21 30

Foods and drinks 7 10Engineering and electronics 28 40Textiles 7 10Instruments and related products 7 10

Number of employees1-49 (small) 7 1050-249 (medium) 21 30249 and above (large) 42 60

Certification statusIn the process of acquiring certification 21 30Planning to pursue it 14 20Undecided 14 20

Certified 21 30Awareness of ISO 9001:2000Very well 28 40Quite well 21 30Only slight 14 20Very little 7 10

Relevance of ISO 9001:2000More relevant 49 70Less relevant 14 20Neutral 7 10

Table III.Profile of surveyed

manufacturingorganizations (n 70)


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The participants were asked whether the 2000 revisions made ISO 9000 a morerelevant system for their organizations? The majority of the participants providedpositive feedback, as 70 percent of the surveyed sample reported that they thought thenew standard is more relevant than the old standard (see Table III).

Driving forces for seeking certificationThe literature has suggested many reasons as to why companies seek ISO certification(Buttle, 1997; Dissanayakaet al., 2001; Magd, 2004). These reasons from the literaturewere condensed to 14 reasons in the survey (see Table II), the driving forces wereadapted from a similar study performed on an African country by Magd (2004).Participants were asked to rate the importance of these reasons on a five-point scale.Table IV presents the driving forces as identified by the participants in terms of meanscore and standard deviation. It also presents rank ordered responses. It is clear thatfrom Table IV that the most important driving forces for seeking ISO 9001:2000certification are to improve the efficiency of the quality system; to achieve customer

satisfaction; pressures from competitors/foreign partners; to maintain/increase marketshare; avoid potential export barrier and to meet government demands requirements orpressure.

Improving the efficiency of the quality system and achieving customer satisfactionappear to be the leading driving forces for seeking ISO 9001:2000. It is clear thatEgyptian managers recognized that the standard is geared towards quality systemefficiency and customer satisfaction rather than achieving quality improvementranked seventh place. Seeking ISO 9001:2000 as a step towards Total QualityManagement (TQM) was not a significantly important driving force for seekingcertification. This is an interesting observation, as it reflects the Egyptianmanufacturing companies level of ambition with regard to quality as well as theirawareness and understanding of the possibilities of using the standard as a tool for

Rank Driving forces (adapted from Magd, 2004) M SDb

1 To improve the efficiency of the quality system 4.71 0.422 To achieve customer satisfaction 4.68 0.483 Pressures from competitors/foreign partners 4.64 0.494 To maintain/increase market share 4.62 0.505 Avoid potential export barrier 4.60 0.576 To meet government demands, requirements or pressure 4.56 0.607 To achieve quality improvement 3.71 1.028 To market products in the international arena 3.64 1.109 To use ISO as a marketing/promotional tool 3.47 1.42

10 To be a step towards TQM 3.29 1.30

11 To achieve cost reduction 3.19 1.2712 To meet corporate objectives 2.24 1.2013 To improve employees relations 2.17 1.1814 Capturing workers knowledge 2.14 1.09

Notes: The mean score is based on participants level of agreement with each statement on a scale of1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree; a mean score above 4 indicates high, between 3 and 4indicates moderate and a score of less than 3 indicates a low level of agreement; bSD StandardDeviation

Table IV.Driving forces for seekingISO 9001:2000certification

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organizational development. Furthermore, Egyptian manufacturing companies aremoving towards achieving organizational success and focusing on growth as astrategy by seeking certification, this is evident from the fact that maintaining andincreasing market share ranked in fourth place as one of the important driving forces

for seeking certification.It is clear that Egyptian manufacturing companies considered internal

improvement of the organizations products and processes and external pressure toobtain the certificate as the main driving forces for seeking certification. Comparingthese findings to other studies, Tang and Kam (1999), Pan (2003), Torre et al. (2001),Escancianoet al. (2001) and Buttle (1997) investigated the reasons why organizationssought ISO 9000 certification. These studies were similar to the present study and theysuggested that the most important driving forces for seeking certification weregovernment pressures, customer pressures, to improve market share, improveefficiency and achieve quality improvement. The order of these reasons varies amongstudies. Moreover, Magd (2004), Brown and Van der wiele (1995) and Vloeberghs and

Bellens (1996) concluded that improving the efficiency of the quality system was veryimportant, which is consistent with the present study. Therefore, it can be concludedthat the results of the present study are strongly supported and consistent with thefindings of previous studies.

A cross tabulation and t-tests were performed, classifying the participantorganizations into their respective size, in order to determine whether the drivingforces for seeking ISO 9001:2000 certification differed within each category (seeTable V). As a result, it was furthered established that large manufacturingorganizations are significantly more likely to seek certification as a part of a TQMprogram and to improve the efficiency of the quality system than are medium-sizedenterprises. This can be explained due to the fact that large manufacturing companies

ISO 9001:2000 driving forces

Small andmedium sized

enterprises(mean)

(n 28)

Largeorganizations

(mean)(n 42)

t-test(p-value)

To improve the efficiency of the quality system 4.50 4.99 0.04 *

To achieve customer satisfaction 4.60 4.8 0.636Pressures from competitors/foreign partners 4.61 4.7 0.342To maintain/increase market share 4.6 4.65 0.765Avoid potential export barrier 4.6 4.6 0.878To meet government demands, requirements or pressure 4.55 4.58 0.277To achieve quality improvement 3.1 3.9 0.849

To market products in the international arena 3.55 3.8 0.478To use ISO as a marketing/promotional tool 3.4 3.61 0.472To be a step towards TQM 3.15 3.51 0.05 *

To achieve cost reduction 3.12 3.32 0.059To meet corporate objectives 1.9 2.9 0.047To improve employees relations 1.85 2.75 0.933Capturing workers knowledge 1.88 2.64 0.067

Note: * pvalue denotes significant at 0.05 (two-tailed)

Table V.Driving forces for seeking

ISO 9001:2000certification among small,

medium and largemanufacturing

organizations


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are concerned about quality issues in both the short and long term. Also largeorganizations might focus on certification more than small and medium sizedorganizations depending of the type of customer which might be demandingcertification and large organizations have the capital to invest in certification.

Benefits of certificationSubjective assessments were undertaken to identify the perceived benefits fromimplementing ISO 9001:2000 in Egyptian manufacturing organizations. It is often verydifficult to quantify such benefits due to their nature, whether tangible or intangible.Table VI reveals the number of benefits extracted from the literature to undertake thisstudy. The various benefits were adapted from similar studies undertaken by Magd(2004), Chow-Chuaet al.(2003) and Van der Wieleet al.(2005). It is understood that themost important perceived benefits from implementing ISO 9001:2000 in Egyptianmanufacturing organizations are improves documentation; improves the efficiency ofthe quality system; clearer work instruction/procedures and job responsibilities; helps

supplier selection; improves product/service quality; helps develop qualitymanagement; and promotional tool. Improving the documentation and the efficiencyof the quality system appear to be the leading benefits for implementing ISO 9001:2000in Egyptian manufacturing organizations with the highest mean score and the loweststandard deviation. Similar positive responses were indicated relative to clearer workinstructions/procedures/and job responsibilities and supplier selection. It is clear that

RankPerceived benefits (adapted from Magd, 2004; Chow-Chuaet al., 2003 andVan der Wiele et al., 2005) M SDb

1 Improves documentation 4.51 0.472 Improves the efficiency of the quality system 4.48 0.49

3 Clearer work instructions/procedures/and job responsibilities 4.46 0.594 Helps supplier selection 4.45 0.665 Improves product/service quality 4.40 0.716 Helps develop quality management 4.30 0.777 Promotional tool 4.21 0.858 Improves export potential 3.95 0.909 Improves profitability 3.84 0.93

10 Expansion to international markets 3.74 0.9611 Customer satisfaction 3.70 0.9612 Increase quality awareness 3.63 0.9913 Improves employee relations 3.59 0.9914 Improves employee motivation 3.51 1.0115 Improves employee productivity 3.41 1.0916 Reduces costs 2.23 1.19

17 Reduces production time 2.08 1.2118 Greater staff retention 1.91 1.2619 Product development tool 1.62 1.29

Average mean score 3.58

Notes: The mean score is based on participants level of agreement with each statement on a scale of1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree; a mean score above 4 indicates high, between 3 and 4indicates moderate and a score of less than 3 indicates a low level of agreement; b SD StandardDeviation

Table VI.Perceived benefits of ISO9001:2000 in Egyptianmanufacturingorganizations

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Egyptian managers recognized the standard as a tool for achieving quality systemefficiency rather than achieving quality products/services. The two leading benefitsare tangible direct effects since ISO 9001:2000 includes mainly requirements for abetter quality system. However, improving product/service quality ranked fifth among

all the benefits, which was reasonable rank since ISO 9001:2000, is not designed toaddress the quality but the efficiency of the quality system. Pinar et al. (2000)supported this further by his conclusion based on a sample from Turkey that qualitysystem focuses on achieving efficiency rather than quality.

Implementation of the standard was perceived to assist in the development ofquality management. This is evident from the fact that, as organizations improvedocumentation of products and processes, new potential for quality improvement maybecome apparent. As these possibilities are identified, changes that might improvequality can be further investigated. ISO 9001:2000 certification is definitely perceivedas a positive promotional marketing tool. This is because of the internationalrecognition of the standard. The participants agreed that the implementation of thestandard has other positive outcomes (see Table VI), but these benefits were notperceived as positive as the above seven outcomes, which achieved a mean score above4. However, it is clear that the majority of ISO 9001:2000 benefits (see Table VI) areperceived applicable in the manufacturing industry in Egypt. While Issues related tocost reduction were not perceived as positive as other benefits, and this may be a resultof increased documentation of processes that results in reduced variability in theproduction operations, yielding greater output per input and translating into reducedcost. The lowest perceived benefit in this study was in response to ISO 9001:2000 as aproduct development tool. This can be explained by the fact that the increasedemphasis on documentation can be viewed as a potential drawback to the research anddevelopment process, and innovation.

Comparing the findings on the main positive outcomes of implementing ISO in

Egyptian manufacturing organizations to other studies on ISO 9000: 1994, Magd(2004), Magd and Curry (2003); Dissanayaka et al. (2001), Ragothaman and Korte(1999), Van Der Wiele et al. (2000), Yahya and Goh (2001), Tang and Kam (1999),Escancianoet al. (2001), Stevenson and Barnes (2001), Dicket al.(2001) and McAdamand Fulton (2002) investigated the main benefits of implementing ISO in Egypt, HongKong, the USA, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, Spain, the UK, and TheRepublic of Ireland. These studies were similar to the present study, and it should bemade clear that the methodology is different, but the results are comparable with thepresent study. They suggested that the most important benefits occurring fromimplementing the standard were: Improves documentation; improves the efficiency ofthe quality system; clearer work instruction/procedures and job responsibilities; helpssupplier selection; improves product/service quality; helps develop quality

management; promotional tool; improves export potential; improves profitability;expansion to international markets; customer satisfaction; increase quality awareness;improves employee relations; improves employee motivation; and improves employeeproductivity. The order of these reasons varies within the studies on ISO 9000: 1994and this is clearly illustrated in Table VII, while Magd (2004), Brown and Van der wiele(1995) and Vloeberghs and Bellens (1996) concluded that improving the efficiency ofthe quality system was a very important benefit of ISO implementation, which isconsistent with the present study and also it demonstrated that the internal perceived


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ISO9000:1994Benefits

Presentstudy

Chow-Chuaetal.(2003)

Pinaretal.(2000)

Escancianoetal.(2001

)

Ruzeviciusetal.(2004)Magdand

Curry(2003)

Improvesdocumentation

Clearerwork

instructions/procedures

Effec

tivenessof

qualitysystem

Betterunderstandingo

f

process/responsibilities

Betterknowledgeof

dutiesandobligations

Improves

documentation

Improvestheefficiencyo

f

thequalitysystem

ClearerjobresponsibilitiesCommunication

amon

g

departments

Employeesbecome

morequalityaware

Reducednumberof

defects

Improves

the

efficiency

ofthe

qualitysy

stem

Clearerwork

instructions/procedures/a

nd

jobresponsibilities

Bettercorporateimage

Effec

tivenessof

topm

anagement

Improvedemployee

training

Increasedclients

reliance

Helpssup

plier

selection

Helpssupplierselection

Betterdocumentation

procedures

Personnel

motivation

Improved

product/servicequality

Reducedcomplaints

fromclients

Improves

product/service

quality

Improvesproduct/service

quality

Elimination

redundancy/reduce

unnecessarywork

Expo

rtsales

Reductionoflevelof

failures

Improved

communication

betweenemployees

Helpsdev

elopquality

management

Helpsdevelopquality

management

Enableeasyaccessible,

traceableandauditable

workprocedure

Domesticsales

Improvedcustomer

satisfaction

WontendersforordersPromotion

altool

Promotionaltool

GreaterqualityawarenessProfitability

Betterknowledgeof

customerexpectations

Improves

export

potential

Improvesexportpotentia

l

Greatercompetitive

advantage

Productivityand

efficiency

Increasedworkforce

motivation

Improves

public

relations

Improvesprofitability

Improvecustomer

satisfaction

Redu

cedcosts

Mutualco-operation

withsuppliers

Customer

satisfaction

Expansiontointernational

markets

Helpedincontinual

improvement

Redu

cedwaste

andscraperate

Greateradvantageof

timeandresources

Increases

quality

awareness

Customersatisfaction

Bettercustomerservice

Redu

cedcustomer

comp

laints

Internalcustomer

orientation

Improves

employee

productivity

Increasequalityawarene

ss

Reductioninwasterand

inefficiency

Redu

ceddefective

products

Increasedproductivity

Improves

employee

motivation

Improvesemployee

relations

Improveprofitability

Improvementofwork

environment

Improves

employee

relations

(continued)

Table VII.Comparative analysis ofthe present study and ISO9000:1994 benefits

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Presentstudy

Chow-Chuaetal.(2003)

Pinaretal.(2000)

Escancianoetal.(2001

)

Ruzeviciusetal.(2004)Magdand

Curry(2003)

Improvesemployee

motivation

Increasemarketshare

Increasedemployee

satisfactions

Reducesc

osts

Improvesemployee

productivity

Greaterstaffretention

Increasedemployee

participation

Reducesp

roduction

time

Reducescosts

Expansiontointernational

market

Betterrelations

management/employee

s

Reducesproductiontime

Greateropportunityfor

export

Improvedprofitability


Costreduction

Productdevelopmenttoo

l

Reducedqualityaudits

bycustomers

Table VII.


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benefits were highly appreciated and presented. Therefore, it can be concluded that theresults of the present study are strongly supported and consistent with the findings ofprevious studies on ISO 9000: 1994.

Based on the competitive analysis data of the present study and ISO 9000: 1994

benefits, it was evident that the perceived benefits are very similar, and they seem tofollow similar patterns. One of the possible reasons for such similarity is that thisempirical study is based on pervious studies, which were focused on the benefits of theold version of the standard. Therefore, the present study may had some bias in thedesign of the survey, focusing on the aspects that are more important for the oldversion of the standard rather than focusing on the new version. Another contributingreasons was that organizations with negative experiences in implementing the ISO9000: 1994 may perceived the old version negatively and that could be reflected on thenew version of the standard. Moreover, the similarity is that the lack of knowledge andexperience leads organizations through a more difficult process of implementation,which means more time, more cost and fewer benefits perceived. Furthermore, thesurveyed organizations seem to be in the process of certification or just acquired thecertification and this indicate that these organizations lacks the experience with thestandard in terms of benefits, and therefore the time factor is quite important as acontributing factor. This is supported further by Brecka (1994) who suggested that thelonger the organization is certified, the higher the perceived benefits.

Its also remarkable that the results of the previous ISO 9000: 1994 standards arecomparable with those for ISO 9001:2000, and in illustrating this further a comparativeanalysis between the present study and other studies on ISO 9001:2000, are shown inTable VIII it must be taken into consideration that the order of the perceived benefitsvaries due to the extent of participants level of understanding and experiences with thestandard.

A cross-tabulation and t-tests were performed, classifying the participant

organizations into their respective size (see Table IX), in order to determine whetherthe main benefits derived from implementing ISO 9000: 2000 differed within eachcategory. As a result, it was furthered established that small and medium sized had astronger belief that the implementation of the standard results in an increase in exportpotential and cost reduction than did large organizations. This can be explained by thefact that small and medium sized organizations tend to use ISO 9001:2000 to identifyexisting production processes with a resulting cost reduction because of improvedknowledge of the production process. Ferguson (1994) and Ragothaman and Korte(1999) support this.

In order to condense the number of perceived benefits and group them into factorsand identify any existing relationship between factors in each group. Factor analysis ofthe benefits of ISO 9001:2000 was performed through the principal component

approach with varimax rotation procedure with a criterion cut off factor score of 0.5was applied to select the benefits factors which are shown in Table X. Factor analysiswas utilized to consolidate the benefits and barriers of ISO certification, as factoranalysis is viewed as consisting of a broad set of techniques (models) that encompassseveral related procedures such as principal components, principal factor analysis,image factor analysis, and maximum likelihood factor methods. The immediateobjective of factor analysis is to reduce a set of inter-correlated responses (thevariables) or alternatively, a set of respondents (the individuals), to a smaller set of

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Presentstudy

BhuiyanandAla

m(2005)

VanderWieleetal.(2005)

CasadesusandK

arapetrovic

(2005)

Improvesdocumentation

Improveddocum

entation

Continuousimprovement

Decreasingnonconformance

Improvestheefficiencyofthequalitysystem

Improvedquality

perception

Managem

entcontrol


Clearerworkinstructions/procedures/and

jobresponsibilities

Disciplinedwork

environment

Qualityfocus

Improvingsupplier

relationships

Helpssupplierselection

Consistencyacro

sstheorganization

Customer

satisfaction

Decreasingcusto

mer

complaints

Improvesproduct/service

quality

Improvedcustom

erconfidence

Efficiencyofprocesses

Teamparticipation

Helpsdevelopqualitymanagement


Qualityo

fproduct/service

Suggestionsystems

Promotionaltool

Improvedcustom

erservice

Effective

leadership

Healthandsafetyatwork

Improvesexportpotentia

l

Advertising/marketing

Brandim

age

Meetingthedeliv

erydate

Improvesprofitability

Abletostayinb

usiness/notexcludedfrom

tenders

Customer

loyalty/repeat

business

Customerloyalty

Expansiontointernationalmarkets

Improvedmarketshare

Teamwork

Worksatisfaction


Marketshare

Marketshare

Increasequalityawarene

ss

AttractionofnewcustomersIncreasingsales

Improvesemployeerelations

Rework

Returnoninvestment

Improvesemployeemotivation

Employeeturnover

Decreasingleadtime

Improvesemployeeproductivity

Employeeabsence

Decreasingcosts

Reducescosts

Increasinginventoryturnover

Reducesproductiontime

Increasingsalesperemployee


Reducingemploy

ee

absenteeism

Productdevelopmenttoo

l

Table VIII.Comparative analysis of

the present study and ISO9000:2000 benefits


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unobserved factors or latent variables which presumably give rise to the observed

data and correlation (covariance) metric (Rossiet al., 1983, pp. 269-70). Therefore, therational behind the selection of choosing factor analysis is to reduce multiplerelationships that may exist among variable statements, and to uncover commondimensions that link together the seemingly unrelated variables, providing insight intothe underlying structure of the data. For easier interpretation of the gathered data set,varimax rotation is used.

Based on the factor analysis performed, the benefits and barriers statements (seeTables X and XI) were reduced and produced fewer factors. Naming these factors isdone according to the statements included in every factor. For instance, factor 1 ofTable X is named internal focus because the question/variables under this groupinginclude issues such as documentation improvement, quality awareness, clearer workinstruction/procedures and job responsibilities, improvement in the efficiency of the

quality system, and the development of quality management. These issues areconsidered internal organizational issues, which are required in achieving ISOcertification. The value of the overall KMO[1] statistics for this factor analysis is 0.843.Based on the factor analysis of ISO 9001:2000 benefits in Table IV, four main factorswere then identified:

(1) Internal focus through documentation improvement; quality awareness clearerwork instruction/procedures and job responsibilities; improvement in theefficiency of the quality system; and the development of quality management.

ISO 9001:2000 benefits

Small andmedium sized

enterprises(mean)

(n 28)

Largeorganizations

(mean)(n 42)

t-test(p-value)

Improves documentation 4.5 4.52 0.477Improves the efficiency of the quality system 4.47 4.49 0.933Clearer work instructions/procedures/and jobresponsibilities 4.46 4.46 0.096Helps supplier selection 4.45 4.45 0.059Improves product/service quality 4.40 4.40 0.291Helps develop quality management 4.23 4.35 0.056Promotional tool 4.20 4.22 0.471Improves export potential 4.02 3.81 0.002 *

Improves profitability 3.83 3.86 0.047Expansion to international markets 3.71 3.79 0.921

Customer satisfaction 3.70 3.72 0.459Increase quality awareness 3.62 3.65 0.821Improves employee relations 3.58 3.60 0.471Improves employee motivation 3.49 3.54 0.056Improves employee productivity 3.37 3.49 0.298Reduces costs 2.0 2.40 0.000 *

Reduces production time 1.77 2.8 0.059Greater staff retention 1.56 2.6 0.057Product development tool 1.68 1.7 0.059

Note: * p value denotes significant at 0.05 (two-tailed)

Table IX.ISO 9001:2000 benefitsamong small, mediumand large manufacturingorganizations

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(2) External focus through customer satisfaction improvement; product/servicequality improvement; the use of ISO 9001:2000 as a marketing promotional tool;and the assistance in supplier selection.

(3) Results focus through profitability improvement; staff retention improvement;and costs reduction.

(4) Export focus through expansion to international market; and export potentialimprovement.

Varimax rotated loading

Composite factors/benefits itemsInternal

focusExternal

focusResults

focusExportfocus

1. Improves documentation 0.792. Increase quality awareness 0.713. Clearer work instruction/procedures and job

responsibilities 0.664. Improves the efficiency of the quality system 0.645. Helps quality management 0.596. Improves customer satisfaction 0.897. Improves product/service quality 0.718. Promotional tool 0.649. Helps supplier selection 0.61

10. Improves profitability 0.8111. Improves staff retention 0.7312. Reduces costs 0.57

13. Expansion to international markets 0.9114. Improves export potential 0.83Eigenvalue 8.791 2.347 1.737 1.271Cumulative variance explained 37.23 47.46 56.51 61.21

Table X.

Factor analysis of ISO9000:2000 benefits inEgyptian manufacturing

organizations

Varimax rotated loading

Composite factors/barriers itemsOrganizational

commitment Resources

Qualitysystem and

supplier

1. Top management commitment 0.861

2. Failure to define responsibility and authority forpersonnel 0.7513. Organizational resistance to change 0.7134. Difficulties in motivating staff participation 0.6795. Lack of financial resources 0.8146. Insufficient quality education and training 0.7147. Lack of qualified personnel 0.6548. Scratchy documentation, procedures and records 0.7659. Poor supplier involvement 0.751

Eigenvalue 3.546 3.021 3.005Cumulative variance explained 17.340 15.321 15.105

Table XI.Factor analysis of

ISO 9001:2000implementation barriers


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Barriers to ISO effective implementationSubjective assessments were performed to identify the perceived barriers which mightcontribute to the ineffective implementation of ISO 9001:2000 in Egyptianmanufacturing organizations. Table XII shows the number of barriers extracted

from the literature to perform this study. The participants were asked to rate thesebarriers on a five-point scale from strongly disagree 1 to strongly agree 5.Table XII indicates that there is a consensus among Egyptian manufacturingorganizations that top management commitment, lack of qualified personnel,insufficient quality education and training, lack of financial resources, and failuresto define responsibility and authority for personnel are regarded as barriers to effectiveimplementation of ISO 9001:2000. The most important barrier was perceived as topmanagement commitment and this due to the fact that without top managementcommitment, employees tend to put a low priority on the quality management systemand the quality management system becomes static. Moreover if top management doesnot show commitment to the importance of system continuously, employees will

prioritized other work activities over the quality management system and nothing willresults in terms of the effective implementation of the quality management system. Incomparison with other studies (Mezheret al., 2004; Ruzeviciuset al., 2004; Bhuiyan andAlam, 2005; Magd, 2004; Chow-Chua et al., 2003; Lee, 2004; Yahya and Goh, 2001;Calisir et al., 2001), these studies suggested the most important barriers to ISOimplementation are top management commitment, financial resources and trainingand education. It is clear that the present findings are consistent with previous studies,which focused on ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 9000: 1994, which confirmed that topmanagement commitment, financial resources and training and educations arereported as the main barriers for the effective implementation.

The findings are extremely significant for policy makers, whom can easily identifywhich barriers can be reduced or eliminated to produce an effective implementation of

ISO 9001:2000. Also factor analysis of the barriers of ISO 9001:2000 was performedthrough the principal component approach with varimax rotation procedure with acriterion cut off factor score of 0.5 was applied to select the benefits factors which areshown in Table XI. The value of the overall KMO statistics for this factor analysis is

Rank Barriers Mean

1. Top management commitment 4.522. Lack of qualified personnel 4.473. Insufficient quality education and training 4.394. Lack of financial resources 4.215. Failure to define responsibility and authority for personnel 4.11

6. Poor supplier involvement 3.977. Organizational resistance to change 3.878. Difficulties in motivating staff participation 3.699. Scratchy documentation, procedures and records 2.89

10. Lack of experience in establishing quality systems11. Deficient supplier control 2.62

Note: The mean score is based on participants level of agreement with each statement on a scale of1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree

Table XII.Barriers to ISO 9001:2000implementation

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0.822. Based on the data provided in Table XI, which suggests that there are threebarriers/factors identified and they are as follow:

(1) Organizational commitment through top management commitment; failure todefine responsibility and authority for personnel; organizational resistance tochange; and difficulties in motivating staff participation.

(2) Resources through lack of financial resources; insufficient quality educationand training; and lack of qualified personnel.

(3) Quality system and suppliers through scratchy documentation, procedures andrecords; and poor supplier involvement.

Conclusions and recommendationsDespite the number of publications and the amount of research into ISO 9000, theliterature review identified a gap with regard to the fact that there is a little researchhas been carried out in the Arab World and more specifically Egypt on ISO 9001:2000

and more specifically the new revised standard. On 15 December 2000, the EuropeanCommittee for Standardization approved the ISO 9000: 2000 series of standards. Therecent changes have highlighted the changing requirements of quality systems in themarket place. The new and improved version is aimed at making the standardbusiness oriented and friendly for current users and potential users. There is very littleknown about management attitudes/perceptions in Egypt towards the new revisedstandard (ISO 9001:2000). Therefore, the focus of the present study was to examinemanagement attitudes/perceptions of Egyptian manufacturing organizations towardISO 9001:2000 standard. To achieve the goal of this study, mail questionnaires weresent to 200 manufacturing companies throughout Egypt, randomly chosen from thoselisted in the Egyptian telecommunications directory. A total of 70 questionnaires werereturned representing a response rate of 35 per cent. The response rate is quite

reasonable compared with other studies in the field of total quality management(Dissanayakaet al., 2001).

The study suggested that improving the efficiency of the quality system andachieving customer satisfaction appear to the leading motivations for seeking ISO9001:2000. it is clear that the standard is perceived to be a tool geared towards qualitysystem efficiency and customer satisfaction rather than achieving qualityimprovement as a direct outcome. The surveyed sample indicated a high level ofambition with regard to quality as well as their awareness and understanding of thepossibilities of using the standard as a tool for organizational development. Thisobservation was evident from the fact that the participants did not seek ISO 9001:2000as a step towards total quality management. Moreover Egyptian manufacturingorganizations are moving towards achieving organizational success and focusing on

growth as a strategy by seeking certification, this is evident from the fact thatmaintaining and increasing market share ranked high on the agenda as one of theimportant motivations for seeking certification.

With regard to the expected benefits from ISO 9001:2000 implementation,improving the documentation and the efficiency of the quality system appear to be theleading benefits in Egyptian manufacturing organizations. These two benefits wereconsidered to be tangible direct effects since ISO includes mainly requirements for abetter quality system. Moreover, the implementation of the standard was perceived to


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assist in the development of quality management. This is evident as organizationsimprove documentation of products and processes, new potential for qualityimprovement may become apparent. Furthermore, ISO 9001:2000 was not perceived asa product development tool, and this can be explained by the fact that the increased

emphasis on documentation can be viewed as a potential drawback to the research anddevelopment process.

The surveyed participants agreed that top management commitment, lack ofqualified personnel, insufficient quality education and training, lack of financialresources, and failures to define responsibility and authority for personnel are regardedas barriers to effective implementation of the ISO 9001:2000. These findings areextremely significant for policy makers, whom can easily identify which barriers canbe reduced or eliminated to produce an effective implementation of ISO 9001:2000.

The findings presented in this article have possible implications of Egyptianmanagers. Implementation of the ISO 9001:2000 will likely improve the documentationof products and processes within the firm. This enhanced documentation and

processes will probably produced benefits such as customer satisfaction andmarketing organizational products in the international arena. Implementation of ISO9001:2000 is a tool for understanding products and processes, but by itself it will notsolve existing problems or guarantee quality. However, in order to achieve the truevalue associated with it, it should be made consistent with organizations strategicdirections, should not stop at ISO 9001:2000 and also the identified barriers shouldreduced or eliminated in order to have an effective implementation and in turn willresults in the expected outcome in time. Also in enhancing the level of the true value ofthe standard and effective implementation, the author strongly recommends thatorganizations need to focus on recei ving training by professionalorganizations/institutions on the true meaning of the standard and the new changesand how these changes can impact organizations.

In order for developing countries to have access to international standards andincrease their participation in international standardization and conformityassessment activities to benefit organizational and countries economic growth, theresearcher recommends that ISO Central Secretariat should consider various issueswithin their action plan for developing countries and these issues include thedissemination of the results of the present study across developing countries to shareexperiences in order to achieve consistency and avoid making mistakes. Thedissemination of the results of the present study will enable other developing countriesto understand the benefits achieved from implementing ISO 9001:2000 and the barrierswhich can be used as a focal point in ensuring the effective implementation. Throughthe dissemination of the present study results by the ISO Central Secretariat, it will

lead to the knowledge transfer and cooperative partnership among developingcountries in order to achieve standardization.

Note

1. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test (KMO) is an indicator of how well suited the sample data is forsuch analysis and its value is less than 1. The acceptable value should be between 0.5 and0.99.

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Further reading

Agus, A., Krishnan, S.K. and Kadir, S.L.S. (2000), The structural impact of total qualitymanagement on financial performance relative to competitors through customersatisfaction: a study of Malaysian manufacturing companies, Total Quality

Management, Vol. 11 Nos 4-6, pp. S808-19.Chan, A.P.C. and Tam, C.M. (2000), Factors affecting the quality of building projects in Hong

Kong, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 17 Nos 4-5,pp. 423-41.

Russell, S. (2000), ISO 9000: 2000 and the EFQM excellence model: competition or co-operation,Total Quality Management, Vol. 11 Nos 4-6, pp. S657-65.

Singh, J.P., Feng, M. and Smith, A. (2006), ISO 9000 series of standards: comparisons ofmanufacturing and service organizations, International Journal of Quality & Reliability


Tsim, C.Y., Yeung, S.W.V. and Leung, E. (2001), An adaptation to ISO 9001:2000 for certifiedorganizations,Integrated Management: Proceedings of the 6th International Conferenceon ISO 9000 and TQM, pp. 93-100.

Zuckerman, A. (2001), ISO 9000: 2000 now official, World Trade, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 68-9.

Corresponding authorHesham A.E. Magd can be contacted at: [email protected]

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