ABSTRACT
In recent years the value of formal quality management systems has been widely questioned and it is small wonder. In some countries government policy has been to simply mandate certification against the ISO 9000 family of standards on Quality Management Systems for all government suppliers. Consequently, some company managements saw the need to obtain certification as simply part of getting onto government tender lists and, hence, primarily as a marketing problem. In many cases, where senior management gave the issue scant attention, marketing and/or other managers hired a consultant to develop a compliant system.
