ISO 9000 series of standards: comparison of manufacturing and service organisations

Purpose – While manufacturing organisations were early adopters of ISO 9000, lately, many service sector organisations have also pursued adoption. The aim of this paper is to compare the experiences with the standard of the two sectors. Design/methodology/approach – The research collected data from 149 service and 160 manufacturing organisations using a common survey measurement instrument. Findings – Results show that there are no statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of time and cost of obtaining registration. Also, there are only small points of differences in motivation for registration and difficulties faced. There are greater differences between the groups in terms of benefits gained and management practices associated with the standard. Originality/value – These results provide interesting insights into how the two groups perceive and engage with the standard, how cross‐industry diffusion could be taking place, and the veracity of the claims made about the universal applicability of the standard. These findings imply that service organisations can learn from the experiences of the manufacturing sector, but copying carte blanche the implementation strategies is fraught with risks. Further, the standard is not universally applicable and may need industry‐specific tailoring.