Chinese organizations are embracing management systems faster than the
rest of the world in a bid to boost reputation and customer satisfaction,
research revealed in London yesterday.
The research conducted for Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) said the
surge of investment in management systems is driven by a desire to overcome
perceptions in the developed world that quality and social and environmental
standards are lower in emerging markets such as China.
The desire for improved reputation, customer satisfaction and improved
quality of products and services is the driving force behind the change in
management systems, the report said.
"It's not for nothing that China now leads the world with its near
exponential adoption of management systems. Who's to say that China will not
ultimately embrace social and governance processes with a similar fervor in due
course?" said Andrew Kakabadse, professor of international management at the
Cranfield School of Management in Britain.
The report said 54 percent of respondents think environmental standards are
lower in emerging markets than in the developed world, 47 percent think health
and safety standards are lower in emerging markets, and 41 percent think
management systems are less rigorously assessed in these markets.
"China's response has been to recognize the upside of having robust, assessed
systems and the positive impact it has on reputation and customer satisfaction,"
said Ian Hodgskinson, director of management systems at the LRQA.
Starting years ago, systems dedicated to managing quality control have now
spread to many other areas of business operations, and have become key tools for
managing organizational performance and behavior.
The LRQA is a leading business assurance company providing verification,
certification and training services to a wide range of organizations around the
world.