“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.” — Steve JobsReport by Phillip Chichoni
When mega-projects take off, such as the Mbada diamonds mining or the expected Ziscosteel revival, hundreds of firms are needed in the supply chain.
These may include construction firms, electrical suppliers and engineers, metal fabricators, architects, designers, IT firms, road contractors, drillers and tools and component suppliers.
It’s sad when most of the contracts go to foreign and international firms, when hundreds of local SMEs have the capability to do the jobs.
Speaking at the BusinessLink networking breakfast meeting last Friday, the Director of Quality Assurance at the Standards Association of Zimbabwe, Sebastian Zuze, pointed out that every serious business must have quality management systems in place. This is because supply chains are getting bigger and more complex as projects become bigger and bigger.
No single firm is capable of undertaking a big project on its own. Firms need to form strategic alliances in order to tackle the bigger projects while feeding their own growth. The opening up of regional economic groupings, such as Comesa and Sadc, avails even more opportunities for expansion and thus the need for greater co-operation by firms across borders.
When different firms decide to work together, the issue of quality and consistency arises. Competitiveness is determined not on price and capability alone, but on the ability to deliver expected quality continuously and consistently.
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Your partners and customers need some form of assurance in order to have confidence in your product. This is where standards come in.
The Standards Association of Zimbabwe is a statutory body, a member of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), which certifies that firms meet and comply with the various standards.
The ISO 9000 family of standards relates to quality management systems and is designed to help organisations ensure they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders while meeting statutory and regulatory regulations related their products.
With the planned coming up of the National Quality Regulatory Authority, which will enforce quality standards on goods and services in Zimbabwe, all firms will have to take the issue of standards seriously.
Quality is not expensive For SMEs struggling just to survive, having standards certification may seem like an extra burden. The cost of engaging consultants to develop the systems and applying for certification may seem to make the process not economically worthwhile for SMEs.
But that is hardly the truth. Quality is a basic tenet that will ensure your business’ survival and growth. Customers don’t like poor quality products or services. Some might buy initially out of curiosity, but if they are not satisfied with the quality, you will never see them again.
Worse still, if you are in alliance with other firms and you fail to meet expected standards, you may lose your payment, be sued for damages and get kicked out of the alliance. With a ruined reputation it will be difficult to get new work.
ISO 9001 is one of the most widely used management tools in the world today.
Most major purchasers require their suppliers to hold ISO 9001 certification.
In addition to several stakeholders’ benefits, a number of studies have identified significant financial benefits for organisations certified to ISO.
A 2011 survey from the British Assessment Bureau showed 44% of their certified clients had won new business. Corbett et al. showed that certified organisations achieved superior return on assets compared to otherwise similar organisations without certification.
Heras et al. found similar superior performance and demonstrated that this was statistically significant and not a function of organisation size. Rajan and Tamimi (2003) showed that ISO certification resulted in superior stock market performance and suggested that shareholders were richly rewarded for the investment in an ISO system.
Local entrepreneur, Divine Ndhlukula, strived to make her company, Securico, ISO-certified and the results are telling in the massive increase in new business the firm is gaining and the numerous awards she is getting from Africa and international organisations.
A quality management system will ensure that your firm operates as efficiently as possible, produces high-quality products and consistently. Because all your processes will be documented, everyone in your team will know what to do and the results expected from each team member.
This guarantees your deliverables all the time, whether you the business owner are there or away on holiday, attending a seminar or working on your MBA. In addition, when you bid for new business locally and regionally, standards certification will automatically give you a competitive advantage.
- Phillip Chichoni is a business planning and financial management consultant who works with entrepreneurs and growing businesses. You may contact him by email on [email protected].
