Effects of ISO 9000 on customer satisfaction

The purpose of this paper is to conduct an empirical study based on real data to better understand the relationships among ISO 9000 registration efforts, firm's manufacturing strategy and customer satisfaction. In this study, data was collected from ISO 9001-registered manufacturing companies operating in the USA with Standard Industrial Classification code 3600. This paper finds strong evidence that the ISO 9000 registration efforts enhance quality, cost reduction, flexibility and dependability. Furthermore, this study indicates that ISO 9000 does not have a direct positive relationship with customer satisfaction. Instead, this study suggests that ISO 9000 leads to improvement in quality and reduction in cost, which in turn helps to achieve customer satisfaction.