Critical success factors and improvements in ISO 9000 maintenance / Roslina Ab Wahid and James Corner

The purpose of the ISO 9000 standards is to facilitate the multinational exchange of
products and services by providing a clear set of quality systems requirements. It is
also to assist organizations of all sectors and sizes to implement and operate an
effective quality management system (QMS). The generic nature of the standards
allows interested companies to determine the specifics of how the standards apply to
its organization. Registration or certification to the standards demonstrates to
customers that the supplying organization has achieved a basic level of quality
assurance by the formalization and documentation of its quality management system.
However, there is a lacking in the literature on the post-certification period as most of
the published work focuses on how to obtain certification and the impact of
certification on ISO 9000-certified companies. Thus, studies do not generally address
what happens after the companies have obtained their certification.