George D. Tsiotras

The true motives behind ISO 9000 certification: Their effect on the overall certification benefits and long term contribution towards TQM

This paper tests and proves empirically the dramatic effect that an organisation’s true motives towards ISO 9000 certification may have on its future effectiveness and value to the certified companies. The paper reveals the true motives behind ISO 9000 certification for 85 large Greek companies and statistically tests their relationship with: after‐ISO performance and performance improvement in eight basic TQM categories; and the overall benefits gained from certification. The paper also reveals the real quantitative and qualitative “results” that these companies had from the standards implementation, addressing one main deficiency of the standards, which is the absence of requirements related to real “results” in the organisations. Finally, factor analysis is applied in both certification motives and benefits, revealing the main factors/categories of both, and their in‐between relationship.

An empirical study of the ISO 9000 standards’ contribution towards total quality management

This paper presents the results of an empirical study on the contribution of ISO 9000 standards towards total quality management (TQM). The paper is a continuation of the authors’ research on the ISO 9000 standards effectiveness and capability as an entry key to TQM. The literature review of the above issue revealed the need for a formal empirical study to resolve the existing debate about the standards’ long‐term contribution and true value to ISO 9000‐certified companies. For the purposes of this study, a TQM measurement instrument was developed and tested for its reliability and validity to measure TQM performance improvement in certified companies in Greek industry. This performance improvement was then used to test the basic research hypothesis: “Can ISO 9000 standards provide a good first step towards TQM?”. The results of the study are presented in eight basic TQM categories, showing the certified companies’ performance improvement in the basic elements of each category, and revealing their strengths and weaknesses on their way to TQM.

ISO 9000 as an entry key to TQM: the case of Greek industry

Observes that the development and use of quality assurance systems became wider with the use of ISO 9000 International Standards. The standards have become very popular and have stimulated the interest of many companies in their effort to enhance their competitive advantage. Examines ISO 9000 Standards’ contribution to Greek companies’ competitiveness, by analysing the internal and external benefits of their application, as well as the problems and difficulties that Greek companies experienced during their development. Summarizes common reasons for the possible failure of an ISO 9000 implementation and, finally, examines the ISO 9000 standards’ relation to the ultimate target of total quality management.

Measuring service quality in sport services

Abstract Conceptualization and measurement of quality in the field of sport-related services are still in a formative stage, underlining a certain degree of uncertainty or disagreement regarding the set of criteria or the conceptual model that can adequately describe them. This paper presents a literature review on the evaluation of quality of sport-related services. The results of this investigation provide some interesting findings: that the evaluation of service quality of sport and recreation organizations and installations is a multi-dimensional structure. It seems that these dimensions may vary from country to country and also among different service sectors. Given the centrality of service quality to the mission of sport and recreation centres, research toward a better understanding of the nature of service quality should be a primary concern to all organizations.

A longitudinal study of the ISO 9000 (1994) series' contribution towards TQM in Greek industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the effect of time on ISO 9000s contribution to total quality management and performance improvement.Design/methodology/approach – Initial empirical research was conducted in Greek certified companies to evaluate their motives for certification and the benefits gained from it across eight basic total quality management (TQM) categories. The results of the survey verify the hypothesis that ISO 9000 certification can serve as a good first step towards TQM, since performance improvement is statistically significant in all TQM‐related issues. However, in order for ISO 9000 certification to serve as a good first step towards TQM, performance improvement should continue to grow even after certification. For this reason, a second survey was carried out in the same companies after a three‐year period.Findings – The results prove that although the standards implementation helps companies to achieve an initial improvement in their quality performance, it cannot g...

Quality management: A new challenge for the Greek construction industry

This paper focuses on the meaning of quality and the structure of a quality assurance system in a very important business sector like the construction industry. Traditional quality control techniques seem today to be unable to ensure construction firms a competitive position in the emerging international market with the fierce competition and demanding customers. We present the results of a survey conducted among leading companies from the Greek construction industry. The survey examined the status of quality management and quality assurance system elements in these firms. The purpose of this examination was to investigate the main barriers that Greek managers and consultants face in their eff ort to introduce quality assurance successfully in this leading sector of the national economy in the context of the European market.

Environmental management systems: a new challenge for Greek industry

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implementation of environmental management systems as well as the critical factors for adapting ISO 14001 in Greek industry. The results were compared to a similar research conducted by Arthur D. Little among USA companies, and proved that the Greek companies consider implementation of IS0 14001 as being significant for the company’s success, with the most important factors being improving an organization’s image, reducing cost and improving quality, and showing care of the environment.

Mapping strategic groups: an international example

The Greek dairy industry, with more than 1,000 companies, is extremely dynamic and developing, and it is presumably attractive to some investors, usually big foreign companies. The question of great interest is which cluster of the industry should they compete with, and what changes will that potential entrance cause to the industry. Uses the strategic group theory to cluster firms in this industry into groups, as a first approach to investigate this industry. That provides a better approach of understanding and evaluating the industry’s potential as well as useful information of the current situation and the future changes.

Quality management in the global brewing industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to stimulate interest in the use of quality management methods and tools and to provide a basis and direction for further improvement in the global brewing industry. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology that is followed in the paper is based on the study of quality management tools and best practices in global brewing companies. Findings – From all evidence found by this research, the conclusion is that quality management can dramatically improve certain operations and reduce cost or increase profit as well. All of the global brewing companies examined in this paper have their quality policies and each one of them uses what fits best to its business profile. Research limitations/implications – This study refers to some of the largest brewing companies in the world. Future research could be addressed toward the analysis of other smaller brewing companies, which are characterized by the concepts of quality management. Practical implications – The analysis of q...

Critical success factors examined in ISO 9001:2008-certified Greek companies using multidimensional statistics

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the level of the importance and implementation of the critical success factors (CSFs) required for the appropriate function of a quality management system (QMS) in ISO 9001:2008-certified companies and the differences between the CSFs and the demographic variables of the companies. Design/methodology/approach – A research project was carried out in Greek companies from all business sectors using the questionnaire technique. The selected companies all implement a QMS in accordance with the ISO 9001:2008 standard. Correspondence analysis, a methodology from the multidimensional statistics field, was also used to identify significant differences between the importance and implementation levels of the CSFs of the QMS. Findings – The importance that quality assurance managers attribute to these CSFs was high enough in most categories, but there was a significant difference in the implementation level, which displayed much lower scores. The most important factor...