The Motives for ISO 9000 Certification in the Malaysian Manufacturing Companies

This study was come to identify the real motives behind ISO 9000 Certification. Towards this goal, a survey of 300 ISO 9000 certified companies was carried out for the Malaysian Manufacturing Companies and to study the motives for ISO 9000 Certification. The survey also to determine the relationship between the motives and the improvement of seven basic Quality Management Practices such as leadership, information and analysis, strategic planning, human resource management of process quality, quality results and customer satisfaction. The survey was also design to determine the overall benefits gained from certification and the barriers faced during ISO 9000 Certification. The study revealed that other factors also can influence the performance of ISO 9000 Certification such as the period of time after the company has been certified and size 3 of company. Factor analysis was applied to identify the main factors in certification motives, benefits, barriers, and QM Practices, and their in-between relationship. The results indicate that companies which seek certification due to external pressure seem to gain fewer benefits from ISO 9000 Certification. While companies that seek certification for internal needs gain higher benefits through improvement of their human element and internal efficiency. The results also indicate that early certified companies have experienced greater benefits from ISO 9000 Certification than recently certified companies. There is no evidence that larger companies gain more benefits from ISO 9000 Certification than smaller ones.