A study of ISO 9000 process, motivation and performance

The paper reports the results of a survey on the benefits front ISO and the impact of motivation and implementation process on the benefits from ISO i n Taiwan. The empirical result indicates that adopting ISO brings registere d Taiwanese enterprises significantly help in quality improvement, internat ional competitiveness, cost reduction, and sales increase. A regression mod el is used to test whether motivations and implementation processes determi ne performances. The effect of motivations and processes on benefits from I SO are also statistically significant. With more positive attitudes, more u se of computerized information system, and more involvement of all employee s, implementing ISO could give companies more help in enhancing product qua lity. With more positive and internationalizing attitudes and more degree o f implementing documentation through auditing, implementing ISO could give companies more help in enhancing international competitiveness. With more p ositive attitudes and more experiences in quality controlling activities be fore implementing ISO, implementing ISO could give companies more help in c ost reduction. With more internationalizing and passive attitudes, and more open organizational culture, implementing ISO could give companies more he lp in raising sales. And, the effects of a control variable, the percentage of overseas sales, on performances of enhancing international competitiven ess and raising sales are statistically significant. These results imply th at implementing ISO with total quality management philosophy may prove to b ring more benefits for many export-oriented firms in the developing countri es.