Comparison of TQM and ISO 9000 effects in company performance: an empirical study in spanish companies

Abstract

The effect of Total Quality Management (TQM) and ISO 9000 on performance has been extensively analysed by researchers, but this sort of research has usually been developed in separated cells. However, there are few articles analysing the effect of both systems within the same sample of companies. Our paper analyses both the effect of a TQM system and the ISO 9000 implementation in company performance. A structured questionnaire using the Flynn et al. (1994) scale for measuring TQM has been used to get the data. A postal survey to nearly 3000 industrial Spanish companies with more than 100 employees was sent. This questionnaire was answered by 713 quality managers. The results show a positive relationship between TQM application and hard and soft results while only an improvement in hard results after the ISO 9000 implementation has been found.