International Quality Standards

As a consumer, wouldn’t you like to know which companies ensure that their products meet quality specifications? Or maybe you want to know which companies take steps to protect the environment? Some consumers want to know which companies continuously improve their performance in both of these areas. At the same time, if you were a company doing a good job in these areas, wouldn’t you want potential customers to be aware of your achievements? It might also be worthwhile to find out whether your suppliers were being conscientious in these areas—and even your suppliers’ suppliers.

International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

Through the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), a nongovernmental agency based in Switzerland, it is possible to learn which companies are making efforts to comply with quality and environmental standards. The resources of this organization will enable you to identify those organizations that have people and processes in place for delivering products that satisfy customers’ quality requirements. You can also find out which organizations work to reduce the negative impact of their activities on the environment. Working with representatives from various countries, the organization has established the ISO 9000 family of international standards for quality management and the ISO 14000 family of international standards for environmental management.

ISO standards focus on the way a company does its work, not on its output (though there’s certainly a strong correlation between the way in which a business functions and the quality of its products). Compliance with ISO standards is voluntary, and the certification process is time-consuming and complex. Even so, hundreds of thousands of organizations around the world are ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certified.^[1] ISO certification has become an internationally recognized symbol of quality management and is increasingly essential to being competitive in the global marketplace.

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

Named for a former secretary of commerce, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award was established by the U.S. Congress in 1987 to recognize U.S. companies that offer goods and services of world-class quality. The award promotes awareness of quality and allows the business community to assess which quality control programs are most effective.

Administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST), the award’s most important criterion is a firm’s effectiveness at meeting customer expectations, as well as demonstrating that it offers quality goods and services. To qualify for the award, a company must also show continuous improvement in internal operations. Company leaders and employees must be active participants in the firm’s quality program, and they must respond quickly to data and analysis.

Organizations in a wide variety of industries have won the Baldrige Award since it was first presented in 1987. For example, the winners for 2021 were^[2]:

• The Charter School of San Diego, a school that provides free education from grades 6 through 12 through hybrid and online studies
• Mid-America Transplant, a nonprofit organization that organizes organ transplants and acts as an eye and tissue bank for Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas
• MidwayUSA, a family-owned online retailer specializing in hunting, fishing, and the outdoors

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