Influences of the interaction of ISO 9000 certification and the Country of Origin effect on imported industrial purchases in Australia. Juan Caldera

Research Questions:

What is the relevance of foreign ISO 9000 certifications within the commercial relationship between Australian purchasers and overseas suppliers?

To what extent foreign ISO 9000 certifications are relevant within the commercial relationship with overseas suppliers in purchasing decisions?

Are there differences per region, product categories, type of supplier, size of company, and years of relationship?

Key transitions

Spekman (1998), Perry (2002)

ISO 9000 Certification

A series of standards. Models for Quality Assurance in Design/Development, Production, Installation and Servicing, Final inspection and test.

A Global Marketing brand/tool useful for exports?

Principles:

Customer focused organization

System/process approach to management

Commitment to Continual improvement

Factual approach to decision Making

Develop a culture of competence

Mutually beneficial supplier relationship

The country of origin (COO) effect

A multidimensional construct:

COO as a linkage between specific product categories and country image dimensions (Han and Terpstra, 1988; Roth and Romeo, 1992)

COO as familiarity with a product (Heimbach, 1989), product brand (Witt & Rao, 1992) and use of product information (Kieker and Duhan, 1992)

COO as an overall perception of a country (Nagashima, 1977; Wall & Heslop, 1986) without reference to product line.

Brand Image

COO as an assumption based on economic, political, and cultural characteristics of the product’s COO influencing the willingness to buy (Han, 1990).

COO as an halo effect always preceding brand/product familiarity. The more unified and consistent the country image across brands/products the higher the level of image crystallization. COO effect is a summary construct similar to a single brand image only when COO image is highly crystallized (Lampert & Jaffe, 1998).

COO as a perception of leadership in quality manufacturing (Ghadir, 1990) and Individualism/ Collectivism (Shaffer & O ’ Hara, 1995; Gurhan-canli & Maheswaran, 2000)

Methodology:

 37 Commercial relationship variables. Likert Scale.

Trust, ( Perry, Cavaye & Coote, 2002)

Commitment (Affective & Calculative), [Perry, Cavaye & Coote, 2002]

Equity/fairness, Conflict, Investment, Competence. (Perry, Cavaye & Coote, 2002)

Cooperation,(Campbell, 1998;Ellram, 1991; Gul Gudum & Alican Kavas, 1996; Love & Gunasekaran, 1999;Turnbull, 1985)

COO effect, (Dzever & Quester, 1999; Clarke, Owens & Ford, 2000)

Pilot test 30 Cases, Alpha Chronbach= 0.8822

Survey methodology: 1800 (AIPMM) B2B Purchasing Managers

Analysis looking for:

 Relationships, Patterns of perceptions between variables within the sample

Comparing groups, looking for differences

Information useful for a fine-tuning and monitoring of international supply chains

Information may enhance marketing practitioners’ abilities for integrating the appropriate country of origin effect into overall global marketing strategies.

FACTOR ANALYSIS:

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy = .853

Significance for Bartlett's Test of Sphericity = 0.000

FACTOR I. (20.5 %)

1)Our main foreign supplier is prepared to make a long-terminvestment

2) Works to develop long-term productive relationship

3) Seeks to be a long-term partner

4) Cooperates optimizing costs

5) Willing to make us a satisfied customer

FACTOR III (8.3 %)

1) ISO cert. from supplier reliable for Quality imports

2) ISO cert. enhances supplier’s competence

3) ISO cert. from supplier enables them to compete in global markets

4) ISO cert. from supplier equivalent in Australia

Supplier’s region: N

1. Germany, Switzerland, Finland 22

2. UK, NZ, Denmark, the Netherlands,

S Africa, Sweden 27

3. France, Italy, Austria, Turkey,

Belgium, Israel 22

4. USA, Canada 51

5. China, HK, Malaysia Singapore

India, Philippines, Indonesia 33

6. Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, S. Korea 25

MANOVA Commitment (Sub Factor I):

Wilks’ Lambda = 0.030, SIG = 0.000

Dep. Variable: Prepared to make a long-term investment

Supplier’s region: Mean

  • Germany, Switzerland, Finland 5.727
France, Italy, Austria, Turkey, Belgium, Israel 4.727

Dep. Variable:

Works to develop a long-term productive relationship

Supplier’s region: Mean

Germany, Switzerland, Finland 6.045

  • USA and Canada 5.627

4 = Neutral, 5=Mildly agree, 6 = Agree, 7 = Strongly agree

MANOVA. FACTOR III (COO ISO 9000 certification):

Wilks' Lambda = .033. Significance 0.00

Dep. Variable:

ISO cert. a reliable framework to ensure quality of imports

Region: Mean

  • Germany Switzerland Finland 5.682
  • China HK Malaysia Singapore India

Philippines Indonesia 4.909

Dep. Variable:

ISO cert. enhances supplier’s competence

Region: Mean

  • France, Italy, Austria, Turkey Belgium, Israel 5.364
  • China, HK, Malaysia, Singapore, India,

Philippines, Indonesia 4.515

4 = Neutral, 5=Mildly agree, 6 = Agree, 7 = Strongly agree