The impressive growth of companies that apply ISO standards!
According to official surveys by the ISO Organization conducted in the Nordic countries (Menon Economics, 2018) and in the United Kingdom (DTI, 2005), they showed that the standards were responsible for 28% of the countries’ GDP growth. Also, another study conducted in France (AFNOR, 2009) showed that over 66% of companies surveyed (including SMEs) said that standards increase their profits and that 69% believe that the use of standards has a positive impact on their business.
During the same period, the Center for Economic and Business Research (CEBR UK) surveyed 527 companies in seven areas in the UK. The research examined the impact of standards on labor productivity, exports, innovation, supply chain relationships, overall productivity, and inter-firm competitiveness. He also asked about the experiences of companies involved in developing standards. The findings of these surveys showed that 48% of the companies reported a net benefit from the standardization and that in general, the companies found that the use of standards is related to:
- increased revenue (between 1.7% and 5.7% in all sectors examined),
- increased labor productivity (measured as gross value added) and
- increased exports.
More specifically, at the company level the main benefits of ISO are:
- Improved market access
- Better quality of the products/services they produce
- Reduced risk and improved risk management
- Improved interaction with public R&D organizations
- Increase the value of the company (this benefit is also related to the involvement of companies in the development of standards)
- Dissemination of innovation
- Improved compliance with competition rules
- Increased opportunities for international stock exchanges, especially increased exports.
