IMPACT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ON OPERATING COST FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS AFFILIATED TO A PURCHASING GROUP

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to ask one question. How the implementation of the requirements of ISO 9001 system affects the costs of running the business? Design/methodology/approach - The research covered time from 2006 to 2011 and was an attempt to assess the impact of the maintenance of the ISO 9001 Quality Management System on the costs of small and medium sized business organizations. The main objective was the selection of right research subjects that would allow the formulation of the most reliable and statistically valid conclusions. For this purpose we obtained permissions to conduct research in organizations characterized by comparable futures such as size, industry, type of business and strategy. Findings - The study shows that the costs associated with the implementation and maintenance of the Quality Management System standard is still too high, and effectively discourages representatives of small and medium-sized commercial organizations from implementing ISO 9001 system.