A Case Study on ISO 9001 Certification for an Automotive Company in Malaysia

ISO 9001 is an international quality standard that emphasized how an organization can apply a quality management approach to achieve sustained success. Since the automotive industry plays an important role in the economy of Malaysia and there has been little study on International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification and overall organizational performances for the automotive industry, this case study is conducted for a Malaysia automotive company (named as Company C) to investigate the awareness in terms of knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of their potential customers towards ISO 9001 certification in the automobile industrial. The relationship between ISO certification and overall organizational performances is also investigated. In conclusion, the results of the survey on the awareness of quality management standards indicate: about 93% respondents have good knowledge of ISO certification; 94.5% of the respondents show perception of quality influences their buying behavior; and 73.5% respondents have positive attitude towards ISO certified motorcycle. The potential customers possess greater levels of trust and confidence in ISO certified automobile, thus ISO certification creates higher potential business opportunities. Besides, the certification could be a good marketing tool for an automobile industry. However, ISO certification alone does not influence the overall organizational performances. A business needs a better quality strategic plan to be able to compete internationally.