Reasons for technology-based companies contemplated by the first company program to seek ISO 9001: 2008 certification

The search for implementation of Quality Management Systems aims to continuously improve their results. Thus, for the services and/or products offered to convey trust and credibility, they must be designed within appropriate norms and standards. In this sense, this study seeks to assess the reasons that induce incubated technology-based companies to seek adequacy of their quality management system to the NBR ISO 9001:2008 standard. Through an exploratory survey in twenty-six incubated technology-based companies, a twelve-question questionnaire proposed by Bhuiyan and Alam (2005) was applied. After analyzing the data, it is concluded that the reasons for adequacy of QMS to the NBR ISO 9001:2008 standard are: competitive advantage over competitors; consultant´s approach for implementation; improvement in product quality; and government funding for ISO 9001 certification. It is found that the consultant´s approach stands out as a strong reason for seeking the adequacy of QMS to the NBR ISO 9001 standard