A New Approach to Evaluate the Index of ISO 9001 Standard

The purpose of this study was to offer a new approach to evaluate the index of ISO 9001 standard, as so far countries are listed for the ISO 9001 standard based only on the number of ISO 9001 certificates issued for each country, and this perception does not correspond to reality, because some countries that are listed per alphabetic order on top, doesn’t enjoy the property of having a better ranking when it comes to rank countries per number of ISO 9001 certificates issues, or when it comes to rank countries about their weight on the issue. On the other side, listing countries simply by the number of ISO 9001 certificates issued, doesn’t reflect the real weight of countries on the issue, because this rank should be adjusted with the number of businesses of countries taken into consideration, better understanding of ranking models used. A new approach to ranking countries about this issue is needed, reflecting the issue of taking into consideration the number of ISO 9001 certificates issued in a country per number of businesses in that country, as a better way of evaluating the index of ISO 9001 standard. The methodology/method used to conduct this study were (1) the data collection on the number of ISO 9001 certificates issued per country, (2) the data collection on the number of businesses in each country, (3) the division of the number of ISO 9001 certificates issued with the number of businesses, (4) construction of a new ranking list of countries based on the ISO 9001 standard index, (5) inversing the list to give the right value/rank of countries, and graphics draw of the new approach for better visualization and understanding the issue. The main conclusion of this study is that a new approach is needed to evaluate the index of ISO 9001 standard as a more appropriate indicator for listing/ranking countries and this serves all those interested in the academic field, public administration, and the reports and studies of the national and international level of organizations, to create a better perception of doing business in general and on the aspects of quality management in particular, especially when it comes to making the most appropriate comparisons between countries on these issues, weighting them numerically and graphically, as well as helps on understanding, and for a better approaching of socio and economic issues related to ISO standards and continuous improvement of people and organizations.