دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی یک مطالعه موردی ادغام همزمان در SME: تحلیل هزینه - امرالد 2017

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the simultaneous implementation of an integrated management system (IMS) in a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) and its impact on costs. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a case study, the paper presents and analyzes the implementation of the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 management system (MS) standards. The organization analyzed is an SME of the heating and air conditioning sector that had no MSs implemented (common in the sector) and decided to implement an IMS based on both function-specific MS standards (MSSs) and also achieving the separated certification. The analysis of expected and real costs is also presented. Findings – The results show that a simultaneous integration is possible and the cost analysis evidences the improvement of the organization’s efficiency. The certificates for both MSSs were also achieved. These findings help in confirming theoretical statement posed in the literature of the integration of MSs: integration strategy, methodology and level. The organization values this integrated implementation as very positive internally and externally, as this is one of the first organizations of the sector implementing and integrating the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. Originality/value – Although studies analyzing empirically the integration of MSs have been widely published in recent years, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first papers analyzing the implementation of an IMS directly and analyzing its costs. In addition, this paper provides evidence that those organizations implementing integration later than others, can learn from the beginners’ experience.

5. Conclusions

The aim of this paper was to analyze the simultaneous implementation of an IMS in a SME, together with the analysis of the costs incurred. The single case study presented allows posing the following conclusions, although they should be taken with caution because a single case was realized.

First, the results show that a simultaneous integration is possible (as proposed by Labodová, 2004), and more effective and efficient than implementing the MS standards sequentially. The organization decided to implement directly the IMS mainly for internal motivations and also because the experience of the external consultant helped them to learn from previous practices, implementing both MSs, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, at the same time and as a single system (see, e.g. Douglas and Glen, 2000; Llach et al., 2013).

In terms of the integration of MSs process, the sequence of implementing these two MSs could be considered as more than simultaneous, because it was integrated or implementing the IMS directly. This is one of the main contributions of this study because previous proposals, such as Karapetrovic and Willborn (1998a), proposed the implementation of MSs individually, even the simultaneous proposal was considering the implementation of both MSs at the same time, but not integratedly (see, e.g. Douglas and Glen, 2000; Karapetrovic et al., 2006; Salomone, 2008; Bernardo et al., 2009; Abad et al., 2014). In this paper, although it is only a case, it is proved that an IMS could be implemented and thus, adding a new option of implementation sequence. Labodová (2004) also proposed this type of implementation as an option and with the case presented in this paper, an evidence of this implementation has been provided.