Adoption of industry-specific quality management system standards: determinants for auto component firms in India

Abstract

Leading international buyer-firms stipulate advanced quality management system (QMS) standards. The industry/sector-specific QMS standards have been developed beyond the ISO-9000 for certain sectors where the quality issues are critical. These standards seem to play a quality signalling function. However, the adoption of industry-specific QMS Standards has been hardly analysed at firm-level. This study explores the inter-firm variations in holding the 'automotive industry specific harmonised QMS standard' ISO/TS-16949 accredit for 466 auto component producers in India. Alternatively, we examine the holding of 'ISO/TS-16949 and/or (earlier widely accepted) QS-9000' accredit(s) in terms of the firm-specific variables. The logistic regressions indicate considerably higher probabilities for bigger and pure-technical collaboration enterprises. For holding the ISO/TS-16949 Accredit, also the foreign financial collaboration has a favourable influence on SMEs; however, overall the foreign ownership, even the majority foreign equity, has negligible impact on large firms. We suggest preparatory cum financial assistance for the ISO/TS-16949 certification.