ISO 9000: The answer for total quality management implementation? The Malaysian case

摘要

This paper describes the findings from a survey conducted on a sample of 100 Malaysian companies that have gained ISO 9000 certification. The survey mainly focused on whether achieving ISO 9000 status has been perceived as having contributed to the implementation of total quality management in these companies. Beside this, the perceived benefits of seeking certification, both for the different industrial sectors and for individual companies, were observed. Like their counterparts in the developed countries, most companies surveyed agreed that gaining certification did improve the quality process as well as the product quality. However, the study revealed a major difference, in that the reasons for seeking registration for these Malaysian companies are management-driven as opposed to demand from customers in developed countries.