Standardization is not a technical topic; it is a strategic business decision. It is a critical business issue with implications of market access, anti-trust, product liability, patent protection, new product development, health, safety, the environment, government reform policies, and even our quality of life. Strategic Standardization means that standards are too important in a business sense to be left to just the engineering or design department alone. Strategic Standardization is a discipline and its effective management can open new markets, reduce trade barriers, increase sales and ensure a company's competitiveness and profitability. We keep hearing the words "we could be competitive in the global market if they would just level the playing field." We can't engage in a level playing field, equal trade, open up markets and get rid of trade barriers unless we harmonize standards. The strategic value of standards to national economy is beyond doubt, and the pace of the development of international standards is accelerating.
Trends today show a growing emphasis on management, system based, standards applying to many sectors of government and industry. We can predict a stronger drive to participate in international standards development and testing and conformity assessment systems to promote worldwide trade and international competitiveness.
Most companies have embraced international standards as a key tool to open markets and remove trade barriers. The opportunity for international standards exists as a means to challenge national standards as being restrictive trade barriers and to provide business opportunities by unifying technical requirements and thereby unifying markets. There is a strong link between global trade and global production. Changing political, social and economic landscape has opened many new markets around the world. Emerging nations need to export to the rest of the world, but many lack standards, or have standards directed by a state bureaucracy rather than world trade. The standards may be obsolete, parochial or unnecessarily restrictive in their processes.
Standards today are recognized as much more than technical documents limited to a single industry or country. The ISO 9000 Quality Management Series, the ISO 14000 Environmental Management Series and the ISM Code (based on ISO 9002) have impacted the mainstream of corporate and strategic thinking as a way to improve performance and to establish an organization's credentials worldwide. With the focus of these series of standards on quality and environmental management systems, there is a foundation for safety and environmental assessment upon which proper appraisal of proposed rules could be made.
Market forces, including the forces on worldwide trade and the demand for new technologies and products, highlight the potential contribution of standards. A "good" standard can assist in the timely introduction of new products to the world markets; whereas, a "bad" standard can kill innovation by being too prescriptive. A standard can be an aid to trade and a marketing tool or it can pose a barrier to trade. That is the challenge which must be met.
