Abstract:

ISO 9000 for quality is one of the most applicable strategies by businesses all over the world. ISO 9000 has been one of important issues in many developing countries including Turkey. Up to now less study is published on the successful use of ISO 9000 Quality Management System, critical success factors and application problems in SME's. The purpose of this study is to investigate the critical success factors for the effective implementation of ISO 9000 standard in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME's) operating in the manufacturing sector in Turkey. This empirical study has been carried out with a sample of 246 ISO 9000-certified SME's selected from enterprises operating in manufacturing sector in Turkey. Data were obtained by a questionnaire survey of the managers responsible for quality in each of the sample SME's. Critical success factors for the effective implementation of ISO 9000 were assessed for importance by simple descriptive statistics. This study provides practical guidance for SME's operating in manufacturing sector and seeking to implement the ISO 9000 standard effectively.

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