Achieving quality through ISO 9001 - A case study of a non-certified Cyprus enterprise

ABSTRACT In pursuing business excellence, quality and its management have become key aspects of modern business and have a great impact on both industrial and service sector enterprises. Actually, during the past few years, quality has been elevated from the intangible concept of "I know it when I see it" to the centrepiece of good management. In this context, a continual and consistent approach to quality management will assist in enhancing overall operational performance and achieving customer's satisfaction. Perhaps, the most widely implemented quality management system nowadays is ISO 9001 and its contribution to modern business is extensively discussed in the literature. Among others, it is said to constitute a good first step towards TQM. A special case of ISO 9001 registration involves the adoption the scheme by food producers. The intend of this study, is to provide insights into the quality activities of a non certified Cypriot food organization, having as a target to point out whether the firm is eligible for applying for ISO 9001. Having this in mind, the research employs a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques in order to achieve its objectives. Particularly, data collection is a three-stage process that combines a questionnaire survey, which encompasses 32 of the most significant ISO 9001 requirements, with semi-structured interviews. In this way, more realistic and valuable information will be obtained. Following, a gap analysis is developed, based on the questionnaire's results, so that to disclose the gaps between the requirements of ISO 9001 and the case company's actual performance. It is discovered, that the case organization performs at quite adequate levels with more that half of the assessed attributes being rated as fully comprehensive. Nevertheless, quite poor performance is discovered in other sub-clauses, such as customer satisfaction and data and analysis. Moreover it is identified that there is direct linkage and overlapping between ISO 9001 and HACCP system for product safety and hygiene