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Canadian survey points tocontinued growth ofISO 9000, ISO 14000 andQS-9000

“While ISO 9000, ISO 14000 andQS-9000 have been widely ac-cepted around the world, they’vealso come in for their share of criti-cism,” states the executive sum-mary of, Management SystemStandards: The Story So Far, astudy of Canada’s experience withthe three standards, commissionedby the Standards Council ofCanada (SCC)1). “Some observers

In brief

Following is a detailed review of Management System Standards:The Story So Far, a study of Canada’s experience of the ISO 9000,ISO 14000 and QS-9000 management system standards based onover 3 000 telephone interviews with Canadian private-sector busi-nesses, carried out on behalf of the Standards Council of Canada(SCC).

Despite some observers suggesting that “implementing and regis-tering to the standards is too time-consuming and costly”, and thatthey provide “no real benefit to users, their clients or the public”, thesurvey analysts conclude that ISO 9000, ISO 14000 and QS-9000“are widely recognized, accepted and respected, (and) they providegenuine benefits to the organizations that use them”. The surveyreveals that small companies, making up the majority of non-certi-fied respondents, had concerns not shared by the much more positivelarge organizations that formed the greater proportion of certifiedrespondents.

The survey makes interesting comparisons between the threestandards, with ISO 9000 being perceived of significantly greatervalue than QS-9000 as a tool for accessing the European market,while both are seen to help organizations compete globally. And QS-9000-certified organizations were found to be “almost three times aslikely to be planning to certify to ISO 14000” than non-QS-9000entities, mainly because of an announcement by Ford and GeneralMotors that ISO 14000 certification or implementation would be-come a supplier requirement.

Pointing to the survey results and the increases in ISO 9000 andISO 14000 certifications in Canada, the document predicts continuedgrowth in the use of the standards in the country.

1) Management System Standards:The Story So Far, ISBN 0-920360-37-8,68 pages, price CAD 49,95, publishedOctober 2000, is available from theStandards Council of Canada (SCC),270 Albert Street, Suite 200, Ottawa,Ontario KIP 6N7, Canada.Tel. + 1 613 238 3222.Fax + 1 613 569 7808.E-mail info@scc.caWeb www.scc.ca

Certified organizationswere described as

having ‘a highlypositive attitude

toward ISO 9000’

have suggested that implementingand registering to the standards istoo time consuming and costly;that they provide no real benefit tousers, their clients or the public; orthat they are suitable for large cor-porations, but not for small or me-dium enterprises.”

However, the survey results, re-viewed here in some detail by TheNews, presented a much morepositive picture. The documentconcluded that the ISO 9000, ISO14000 and QS-9000 managementsystem standards “are widely rec-ognized, accepted and respected,that they provide genuine benefitsto the organizations that use them,and that their implementation andregistration is, despite the costs in-volved, generally a positive expe-rience for all concerned”.

Described as a landmark study,the work is intended to provide anobjective, statistically representa-tive review of all aspects of Cana-dian firms’ relationship with ISO9000, ISO 14000 and QS-9000,based on the Canadian standardscommunity’s need to know “howwell founded and pervasive theseconcerns were, and to understandCanada’s experience to date withthe standards”.

Methodology

Published in October 2000, thestudy was the result of over 3 000telephone interviews with Cana-dian private-sector businesses con-ducted between November 1998and January 1999 by PerformanceNetwork Management Inc., andfunded by Industry Canada. It in-cluded 1 005 Canadian firms certi-fied to an ISO 9000 standard, 34to ISO 14000, 186 to QS-9000, and1 906 uncertified businesses.

The 68-page spiral bound docu-ment is arranged in five key sec-tions in addition to the ExecutiveSummary, Introduction, Method-ology and Conclusion, three ofwhich review each standard andthe corresponding survey resultsunder common headings: Profile;Knowledge, information and expe-rience; Motivation; Processes; Re-sults; Attitudes. The remainingtwo sections provide a compara-

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tive analysis of ISO 9000-certifiedversus ISO 14000-certified, and ofISO 9000-certified versus QS9000-certified respondents.

Survey questions

According to the document, thestudy was designed to examine theexperience of both certified andnon-certified businesses in sectorslikely to have an interest in thestandards. These ranged widelyacross manufacturing, wholesale,retail, construction, transportationand warehousing, utilities, andservices including professional,scientific and technical. For the au-tomotive industry-specific qualityrequirement QS-9000, the over-whelming majority of respondentsrepresented the metal productsmanufacturing sector.

• How well does the registrationprocess serve the needs of theorganizations that undertakeit?

• What effects do businesses ex-perience as a result of their useof, or certification to, the stand-ards?

• What attitudes do certified andnon-certified businesses holdtowards the standards?

Key findings

Key findings, given in substan-tial detail throughout the book, aresummarized below under the com-mon headings, together with a se-lection from the numerous barcharts illustrating percentageagreement per question.

ISO 9000

Profile

The 1 005 organizations ques-tioned that were certified to anISO 9000 quality management sys-tem standard tended to be me-dium-sized firms engaged mainlyin manufacturing, with locations inand outside Canada, and export-ing to Europe, USA and else-where. Non-certified organiza-tions (1 328 sampled) tended to be

small firms in the non-manufactur-ing or service sector with one Ca-nadian location and little or no ex-port business.

Knowledge, information andexperience

Certified participants reportedlittle difficulty finding informationon the standards from a variety ofsources including literature andpromotional materials, workshopsand conferences, registrars, con-sultants, customers and the Inter-net. Most had used a formal qualitymanagement system (QMS) priorto implementing ISO 9000.

Only about a third of the non-certified respondents describedthemselves as familiar with thestandards, although about two-thirds had no difficulty finding theinformation they needed. Nearlytwo-thirds were using some type ofgenerally informal in-house QMS.

Motivation

Certified firms were most likelyto have implemented ISO 9000 asa result of factors relating to cus-tomers, or for internal reasons.The study stated that it was possi-ble to apply ISO 9000 standardswithout certifying to them, how-ever, it found that about three-quarters of the non-certified firmsdid not intend to use ISO 9000 dur-ing the next two years. Over halfdid not feel that ISO 9000 was nec-essary for their organization whilemany of those intending to certifyin future identified cost and lack oftime as the major barriers.

Processes

Certified organizations citedoverall attitude and expertiseamong key reasons for choosingan auditor or registrar, and mostexpressed satisfaction with the cer-tification process.

Results

Most certified organizations re-ported that using or certifying tothe standards had resulted in inter-nal benefits – chiefly, greater qual-ity awareness, self discipline, im-proved management practice andbetter quality products or services– and externally in improved rela-tionships with customers, and ad-vantages over competition. Most(99,5 %) intended to maintaintheir certification. Figure 10 (asnumbered in the Canadian study),lists all benefits mentioned interms of importance.

Management System Standards:The Story So Far presents theresults of a study of Canada’sexperience with ISO 9000, ISO14000 and QS-9000.

The telephone interviewssought answers to a number ofquestions, including:

• Which types of businesses areusing and certifying to thestandards, and which are not?

• How informed are businessesabout the standards? Where dothey obtain information? Arethey satisfied with the informa-tion they obtain from thosesources?

• What factors motivate busi-nesses to use or certify to thestandards, or not to do so?

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Attitudes

Certified organizationswere described as having“a highly positive attitudetoward ISO 9000”, and asignificant majority werereported as feeling that thestandard made organizationsbetter global competitors.Figure 11 indicates the keyperceived benefits, disadvan-tages and other attitudes ex-pressed by certified and non-certified respondents.

Non-certified firms famil-iar with the standard had “amoderately positive attitudetoward ISO 9000”, mostagreed that it could help or-ganizations compete glo-bally, and two-thirds wouldencourage other organiza-tions to use ISO 9000 even ifthey did not seek certifica-tion.

The survey indicated thatsmall firms made up the ma-jority of the non-certifiedsample, and concluded thatfor such organizations, thecost of implementing or cer-tifying to ISO 9000 was seenas “overly time consumingor expensive”. However, it

Figure 10: ISO 9000 certifiedorganizations – benefitsobserved due to useor certification

Figure 11: Attitudes towardISO 9000

referenced the ISO handbook,ISO 9000 for Small Businesses(ISBN 92-67-10238-9), designed tomake life easier for small organi-zations implementing ISO 9000.

ISO 14000

Profile

The 34 ISO 14000-certified or-ganizations sampled in Manage-ment System Standards: The StorySo Far were mostly large (averageover 1 900 employees) export-ori-ented firms in the manufacturingsector with several locations in andoutside Canada. Some 578 non-certified organizations were inter-viewed, generally small firms withmore than one location, mostly inCanada, mainly in manufacturing,sales or service with about half ex-porting their goods and services.

However, it was pointed out thatISO 14000 had only been in printfor two years at the time of thesurvey and that since “the stand-

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ards were at an early point in theirevolution, future surveys mayshow significantly different re-sults”. In view of the small samplesize, sample reliability was esti-mated at ± 5,5 %, compared with astatistical accuracy of ± 2.8 % forthe ISO 9000-certified results.

Knowledge, information andexperience

Registrars were the most fre-quently cited source of informa-tion among certified organizations,although over one-third indicateddifficulties in finding informationabout ISO 14000, and in interpret-ing or understanding the informa-tion. The relative newness of ISO14000 was considered to be an im-portant factor in the results.

The decision to certify

About two-thirds of the non-cer-tified respondents familiar withISO 14000 were stated to be usingother standards, or felt that ISO14000 was not applicable to them.Those using the standard did sofor essentially the same reasons ascertified firms, but once again,those planning to certify in future“noted cost and a lack of time andhuman resources as potential bar-riers”.

Processes

“Previous ex-perience” (gen-erally with ISO9000) was themost prominentreason given forchoosing a reg-istrar, and cer-tified organiza-tions were des-cribed as satis-fied with mostaspects of thecer t i f i ca t ionprocess.

Results

The studyrevealed thatnearly all the certified organiza-tions had experienced improvedenvironmental awareness and per-formance as a result of implement-ing ISO 14000, and all intended tomaintain their certification. Asshown in Figure 21 from the studydocument, over 90 % of respond-ents also reported a better envi-ronmental image as perceived bytheir customers, and 75 % claimeda competitive advantage from cer-tification.

Attitudes

“Certified organizations had avery positive attitude toward ISO14000,” the document reported,and strongly agreed with state-ments about its benefits. The no-tion that organizations do not ben-efit from adopting ISO 14000 “wasunanimously rejected”. It revealedthat non-certified firms familiarwith the standard had a generallypositive attitude toward ISO 14000and they agreed that ISO 14000enabled organizations to competebetter globally.

However, there were signifi-cantly different attitudes ex-pressed by certified and non-certi-fied organizations towards the cost

and necessity of ISO 14000 certifi-cation, but it was concluded thatthe “somewhat less positive atti-tude of the smaller organizationswas grounded in reality”, sincethey formed the majority of thenon-certified sample.

Comparative analysis:ISO 9000-certified versusISO 14000-certified

Profile

ISO 9000-certified organizationssampled were generally medium-sized (100-500 employees) whilethe majority certified to ISO 14000were very large firms (over 500employees), the SCC documentconfirmed. Metal and wood prod-uct manufacturing organizationsmade up the majority of bothgroups and ISO 14000-certified or-ganizations were the more likelyto export to the United States, Eu-rope and other foreign markets.

Certifiedorganizationsimplemented

ISO 14000primarily...to improve

environmentalperformance,

corporate policy, butalso to enhance

competitiveadvantage

Figure 21: Certifiedorganizations – benefits observeddue to ISO 14000 use orcertification

The findings revealed that mostof the certified firms were also ISO9000-certified, but that only about athird had used a formal environ-mental management system (EMS)before implementing ISO 14000.About two-thirds of the non-certi-fied organizations were using sometype of informal, internal EMS.

Motivation

According to the survey, certi-fied organizations implementedISO 14000 primarily for internalreasons to improve environmentalperformance, corporate policy,but also to enhance competitiveadvantage. Although the analysissuggested that having an EMS inplace may help to safeguard a com-pany against liability claims in theevent of an environmental mis-hap” such legal issues did not ap-pear to have been a major consid-eration for certified participants.

Organizationsfamiliar with bothISO 9000 and ISO14000 believed bothseries to be highlycompatible

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Motivation

While factors influencing an or-ganization to adopt either stand-ard were quite similar, externalfactors such as the actions of com-petitors, access to export marketsand customer demand were moreinfluential in the case of ISO 9000.

Results

Both groups of organizationssaw significant benefits from certi-fication, although “reduction inthe number of complaints” was al-most three times as likely to be

quality management systems weremost likely to be integrated withan environmental managementsystem. They were also the mostchallenging to integrate. Despitesome problems, organizations fa-miliar with both ISO 9000 and ISO14000 believed both series to behighly compatible.

QS-9000

Profile

The survey sample of 186 or-ganizations certified to the auto-motive industry-specific qualitymanagement standard QS-9000consisted generally of large firms(average 750 employees) with sev-eral locations in and outsideCanada, with most belonging tothe metal products manufacturingsector. Almost all exported to theUnited States, which was consid-ered not surprising “given thecross-border nature of the NorthAmerican automotive industry”.The majority also exported to Eu-rope and other regions, although

these sales were described as“much less significant to their bot-tom lines”.

Knowledge, information andexperience

Respondents found informationon QS-9000 widely available andmost reported having no difficultyfinding the information theysought. The majority had used oneor more types of QMS beforeadopting the automotive industryspecific QS-9000.

Motivation

“QS-9000 was developed by theNorth American automotive in-dustry as a means of ensuring con-sistent quality from its suppliers,”the survey document stated.Therefore it was considered notsurprising that customer demandwas cited as the most importantreason for using or certifying tothe standards. Corporate policy,improved product and manage-ment quality and competitive ad-vantage were also major factors.

Most certifiedorganizations

reported that usingor certifying to

(ISO 9000) hadresulted in...greaterqualityawareness...

improved managementpractice...better

quality products orservices and improved

relationships withcustomers

cited as an ISO 9000 benefit. How-ever, in view of its greater influ-ence over goods and services, thiswas considered a not unexpectedresult. Similarly, ISO 14000 trailedbehind ISO 9000 in its influenceover market share, customer de-mand and access to export mar-kets. Figure 29 from the study il-lustrates the key differences well.

Attitudes

According to the document,both groups had “very positive at-titudes toward the standards”,with “significant majorities believ-ing they enable organizations tocompete better internationally,and that all organizations wouldbenefit by applying them”.

Compatibility

The findings revealed that or-ganizations familiar with both ISO9000 and ISO 14000 believed bothto be highly compatible, although

Figure 29: Reported differences in benefits betweenISO 9000 and ISO 14000

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Comparative analysis:ISO 9000-certified versusQS-9000-certified

Profile

Sampled ISO 9000-certified or-ganizations were generally smallerthan those certified to QS-9000,the survey document confirmed,with exports being particularly im-portant to the automotive-specificQS-9000 certified companies.

Knowledge, information andexperience

While the information sourcesused by ISO 9000 and QS-9000-certified organizations were simi-lar, the latter were significantlymore likely to have had a QMS inplace before implementing thecurrent system.

Motivation

Although motivating factorswere “fairly similar” between thetwo sets of organizations, it wasreported that customers and com-petitors consistently represented astronger influence in the case ofQS-9000.

Results

According to the survey docu-ment, almost all respondents inboth groups noted internal ben-efits of greater quality awareness,greater self-discipline, improvedmanagement practice, and in-creased quality, and higher per-ceived quality by customers andenhanced competitive advantageas key external benefits.

Attitudes

The survey findings revealed apositive attitude toward both se-ries of standards by respondents,with “significant majorities” be-lieving that ISO 9000 and QS-9000help organizations to compete glo-bally, and that they are worthconsidering for any organization.

ISO 9000 was perceived to beof significantly greater value as atool for accessing the Europeanmarket “presumably because(QS-9000) is a North Americanstandard that is not necessarilyrecognized by European auto-makers”. The report commented

Nearly all the certifiedorganizations hadexperienced improvedenvironmentalawareness andperformance as aresult ofimplementingISO 14000

Processes

Survey findings confirmed thatcertified organizations were satis-fied with every aspect of the certi-fication process, “particularly withthe availability of materials in theirlanguage of choice and their rela-tionship with the registrar and au-ditor”.

Results

QS-9000-certified organizationsreported greater quality aware-ness, organizational self-disciplineand improved management prac-tice among employees as key ben-efits, and virtually all intended tomaintain their certification, de-spite some concerns with adminis-trative burden. Nearly 90 % ob-served higher perceived quality bytheir customers. Figure 40 fromthe Canadian survey documentlists percentage agreement witheach stated benefit.

Attitudes

The SCC study reported thatmost QS 9000-certified respondentorganizations as displaying a gen-erally positive attitude towards thestandard, and about three-quar-ters would encourage other Cana-dian organizations to use it. Thespan of attitudes can be seen fromFigure 41 of the survey document.

Figure 40: Benefits observed due to use of or certification to QS-9000

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that this might change with the in-ception of ISO/TS 16949 which isdesigned to harmonize QS-9000with similar European require-ments.

Figure 49, reproduced fromManagement System Standards:The Story So Far shows differencesin percentage of ISO 9000 andQS-9000-certified respondentsagreeing with some 20 attitudestatements:

Figure 49: Attitudes toward ISO 9000and QS-9000 Awareness of ISO 14000

among ISO 9000 and QS-9000-certified respondents

“Both ISO 9000 and QS-9000registered organizations tended tobe aware of ISO 14000, with aslightly higher level of awarenessamong the QS-9000 community.”Interestingly, the survey revealedthat QS-9000 organizations werealmost three times as likely to beplanning to certify to ISO 14000 –the probable reason being the an-nouncement by Ford and GeneralMotors that ISO 14000 certifica-tion or use would become a sup-plier requirement. The reportadded that DaimlerChrysler wereconsidering similar action.

Conclusions

SCC and PerformanceNetwork Managementanalysts concluded fromthe Canadian survey that“ISO 9000, ISO 14000 andQS-9000 appear to be ef-fective tools that can makea real contribution to im-proving a company’s prac-tices, performance andbottom line”. Respond-ents, whether certified oruncertified users of one ormore standards, were“very nearly unanimous”in declaring that the stand-ards had led to genuinebenefits. Users were ableto maintain or expand theircustomer base, saw im-provements in employeeawareness of quality andthe environment, in man-agement practices, and inthe quality of their prod-ucts and services. It foundthat almost all certified or-ganizations surveyed in-tended to maintain theircertification status.

In addition, the survey il-lustrated that “even whereuse of the standards is vir-tually mandatory, as is thecase for QS-9000 in the au-tomotive industry, firmsare almost as strongly mo-tivated by the internal ben-efits that can be achievedthrough registration asthey are by the demands oftheir customers”. And itsuggested that Canadianfirms not using the stand-ards recognize their poten-tial benefits, and were will-ing to recommend theiruse.

In terms of certification proc-esses and infrastructure, certifiedorganizations were described asexpressing a high degree of satis-faction with nearly all aspects ofthe process. Survey analystsclaimed that this indicated the ex-istence of a well-established imple-mentation and certification infra-structure in Canada. And theyfound that general information onall three sets of standards ap-peared to be widely available andeasy to obtain.

“However, Canadian busi-nesses’ endorsement of the stand-ards is neither universal nor un-qualified,” stated the conclusion tothe survey document. Many non-registered organizations seemed

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Insuring the environment –Gerling recognized for ‘best inclass’ eco-managementby Aiko Bode and Joachim Ganse

Thinking beyond the presentand assessing the future with all itsrisks and opportunities is an eve-ryday job for an insurer like theGerling Group of Insurance Com-panies 1) – a leading German insur-ance organization with 11 300 em-ployees in over 30 countriesworldwide. We insure entrepre-neurs and companies and help

In brief

Thinking beyond the present and assessing future risks and oppor-tunities is an every day job for an insurer, according to Aiko Bodeand Joachim Ganse of the Gerling Group of Insurance Compa-nies, and co-authors of this article. But the corporate culture atGerling goes beyond insuring customers, it also wholeheartedlyembraces protection of the environment from damage or loss.

Gerling claims to be the first financial services provider to becertified to ISO 14001 and registered under EMAS, the EuropeanUnion’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme. This is the culmina-tion of over 30 years’ work by a risk management team focused on“reducing environmental losses and managing the adverse effectsof potentially hazardous economic activities”.

Employees have enthusiastically welcomed measures that con-tribute to a healthier working environment. For example, onlyorganic food is served in the canteen at the Cologne headquarters,and a bike pool and subsidised public transport tickets have led toreduced car use and fewer parking lots.

The Gerling Group’s commitment to the environmental cause ona global scale is demonstrated by its being a co-founder of theUnited Nations Environment Programme Insurance Industry Ini-tiative, and its membership of the World Business Council forSustainable Development and the UN Global Compact initiativeset up by Kofi Annan. Last year, Gerling was eco-rated as “best inclass” among 27 European insurance companies, and CEO Dr.Juergen Zech was earlier awarded the title of “eco-manager of theyear” by the World Wildlife Fund and the German business maga-zine Capital.

Aiko Bode (right)is Project Manager of GerlingSustainable DevelopmentProject GmbH.

Joachim Ganse (far right)is Head of CorporateEnvironmental Affairs andManaging Director ofGerling SustainableDevelopment Project GmbH

to believe that “these standardsdon’t apply to me”, citing cost,time and bureaucracy as potentialbarriers to certification. “It wasthe smaller firms who expressedthe most concern about these im-pacts”, the report suggested.

At the same time, the sectionmentioned other reports describ-ing the success of ISO 9000 certifi-cation among small service provid-ers such as dentists and architects,and referenced, “Little guys think-ing BIG with ISO 9000”, Consen-sus: Canada’s Newsmagazine ofStandardization, June/July/August1997, vol. 24, no. 4, p.18-20. ISSN0380-1314.

“Despite these misgivings, thesurvey paints a generally positivepicture of Canada’s experiencewith the standards. It shows thatthey are widely recognized, ac-cepted and respected, that theyprovide genuine benefits to the or-ganizations that use them, and thattheir implementation and registra-tion is, despite the costs involved,generally a positive experience forall concerned,” the survey docu-ment concluded.

It pointed to ISO’s annual sur-vey of certifications that showed a39 % increase in Canadian ISO9000 registrations between De-cember 1998 and December 1999,and a 165 % increase in ISO 14000registrations over the same period.“Based on these statistics, and onthe survey results, it appears thatthe use of the standards in Canadawill continue to grow.”

‘ISO 9000, ISO 14000and QS-9000 appear

to be effective toolsthat can make a real

contribution toimproving a

company’s practices,performance and

bottom line’

Q1) Gerling Group of InsuranceCompanies, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 7-9,D-50672 Cologne, Germany.Tel. + 49 221 144 50 12.Fax + 49 221 144 76 66.E-mail joachim.ganse@gerling.deE-mail aiko.bode@gerling.deWeb www.gerling.com/de