This is a case study conducted to determine the non-economic benefits of standards. The enterprise chosen for the study is Shanghai Shuguang Hospital (Shuguang), one of the earliest traditional Chinese medicine and non-profit hospitals in China. Founded in 1906, and affiliated to the Shanghai Univer...

Using a rich panel dataset of small and medium scale manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) active in the manufacturing sector in Viet Nam, this paper investigates the drivers of firm productivity, focusing on the role played by international management standards certification. We test the hypothesis that...

In this paper we analyse the impact of a variety of private standards on worker empowerment in the horticultural export sector in Peru. Empowerment is defined as workers’ knowledge of their own rights and workers’ perceived agency to improve employment conditions. We use data from a company and a tw...

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the differences between the two most frequently used quality management approaches implemented by firms, ISO 9000 and EFQM, in terms of their impact on the adoption of innovative work organization practices. In order to accomplish this objective, we have selec...

At the start of the 21st century, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) seems to have great potential for innovating business practices with a positive impact on People, Planet and Profit. In this article the differences between the management systems approach of the nineties, and Corporate Social R...

This paper is based on the systematic literature review method and investigates the impacts of the EMS and ISO 14001 Standards towards corporate performance. Two units are considered through the methodology of research; firm size and market orientation. The evidence comes from the analysed dataset o...

The adoption of international standards for Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) has grown significantly over the last years. Following this successful path some other management standards which deal with environmental and energy management issues have been launched as well. This is the case of I...

Management system standards, also called meta‐standards, have been adopted by an increasing number of organizations across the world. Although these management system standards are based on the same type of management principles and institutional arrangements, the literature remains scattered, with ...

This chapter mainly focuses on the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) standards. Companies generally voluntarily adopt those in order to carry a "social" license to operate, as today it is the way to underline their good governance credentials. In transboundary trade t...

Voluntary environmental programs are codes of progressive environmental conduct that firms pledge to adopt. This paper investigates whether ISO 14001, a voluntary program with a weak sword—a weak monitoring and sanctioning mechanism—can mitigate shirking and improve participants' environmental perfo...

Coimbatore is one of the few centres in the country to manufacture pumpsets and had almost 70% share. However, it declined gradually and was 55% now. The manufacturers are forced to adopt innovative working methods, to invest on various technologies and on quality improvement programme. ISO 9000 is ...

As a result of increasing global awareness about the importance of the environment, depletion of natural resources and legal pressures for companies to manage their processes in a sustainable manner, ISO 14001 systems have been gaining increasingly more importance in the organizational scenario. The...

This paper tests whether adopting the international norm ISO 14001 significantly impacts environmental performance in Quebec's pulp and paper industry. Using monthly data collected from 37 plants between 1997 and 2003, we show that: (i) ISO certification does not lead to a reduction in total suspend...

The aim of this paper is to analyse the indirect effects of environmental management system implementation and certification. Specifically, the paper comprehensively assesses the effects of International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 14001 and European Union Eco‐Management and Auditing Sche...

The objective of this study was to determine the relationships between quality management dimensions and organisational performance in uncertain markets (transition conditions). The study was carried out in Serbia, using a sample of 160 certified organisations. The study was based on subjective esti...

The company chosen by the Colombian Institute for Technical Standards and Certification (ICONTEC), ''Gerfor'', is a Colombian multinational active in the plastics and synthetic fibres sector of the petrochemicals industry and a leader in the production and commercialization of PVC and CPVC piping an...

In this article, we respond to calls by previous researchers to clarify the function of decentralized institutions by analyzing the strategic motives of individual actors. We investigated an important type of decentralized institution, certified management standards, and theorized that firms use the...

Purpose - The research empirically investigates the firm-level impact of ISO 9000 certification on innovation propensity. The study aims to distinguish between manufacturing and service sectors and adopts different innovation definitions aimed at capturing the peculiarities of innovation in services...

Energy consumption in the industrial and commercial (service) sectors accounts for nearly 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing this energy consumption will be critical for countries to achieve their national greenhouse gas reduction commitments. The ISO 50001-Energy management standard p...

This is a case study conducted to determine the economic benefits. The enterprise chosen for the study, is Baltika Breweries, Russia's leading beer brand. It has a market share of 38.2 % and is one of the largest, fastest-moving consumer goods companies. The study focuses on five business functions:...