Comparative Analysis on an International Survey of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 Certification

The fast evolution of these two management systems standards (ISO 9000 and ISO 14000) worldwide, from virtually unknown entities in the early 1990s’ to well-established and often required management practices, represents but another facet of the increasingly global marketplace many firms operate in. Over 400,000 firms in over 150 countries have adopted ISO 9000 since it was introduced in 1986. Its successor, ISO 14000, was introduced in 1996 and has already been adopted by over 30,000 firms in over 100 countries. This paper reports on the results of a global ISO 9000/14000 mail survey, administered in fifteen different countries including U.S., Canada, France, Sweden, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand to explore and compare the similarities and differences of motivations, implementations and certification benefits among these countries. Survey data have been analyzed using the multivariate statistical methods and techniques such as factor analysis, cluster analysis, Kruskal-Wallis test, etc. Several conclusions and managerial implications are made based on the statistical analysis results.