From Quality to Innovation: Evidence from Two French Employer Surveys

In this article we investigate the relationship between quality system and innovation performance using the method of selective matching. We use two French microeconomic surveys, “Changement Organisationnel et Informatisation” (COI 1997) and “Enquête Communautaire sur l’Innovation” (CIS3 1998-2000). We highlight in a first hypothesis a positive relationship between quality (ISO 9000) and innovation but only for certain area of innovation performances, due we explain contradiction in the literature about their relationship. Furthermore, the second hypothesis indicates that innovation performance of firms with Top Quality Level is higher than that of Medium Quality Level firms for certain innovation activities. On the other side, we found that that there is low-impact difference on innovation performance between firms with Medium and Low quality levels. This induces that for great innovation performance improvement well established quality system is needed inside the firm. JEL Code. L15, O31, Q55 Key-words. Quality, Innovation, ISO certification, Selective Matching 1 Burgundy School of Business (ESC Dijon), France CEREN Research Center on Enterprises Management Department; Université Panthéon-Assas Paris II ERMES-UMR 7181-CNRS. [email protected] 2 Corresponding author. Centre d'Etudes de l'Emploi and Université de Marne-la-Vallée (OEP), « Le Descartes I » 29, Promenade Michel Simon, 93166 Noisy -Le -Grand Cedex, Tel. 0033 (0)145926973, [email protected]