ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that standardisation as a process of explicitly formulating general rules defining and regulating economic activity can be interpreted as a process of global ‘institution building’. Extending global supply chains, the still growing importance of transnational corporations and the emergence of more and more newly industrialised countries in Asia have contributed considerably to the creation of private standards and the diffusion of these standards across countries and industries. Europeans are particularly well represented in the global standards sector, both in number of organisations and involvement in international standardisation bodies. Generally speaking, firms adopt management metastandards to improve their internal practices and to acquire legitimacy with buyers and suppliers on international or even global markets. Coercive mechanisms refer to the effects of actors having the power to establish rules and manipulate sanctions. Participation in international management standards promises to be an easily accessible way to keep or to gain a place on a customer’s bid list.
