Quality Management System and Firm Performance in an Emerging Economy: The Case of Colombian Manufacturing Industries*

Quality Management System and Firm Performance in an Emerging Economy: 

The Case of Colombian Manufacturing Industries*



Juan Miguel Gallego

(Corresponding author)

Department of economics, Universidad del Rosario 

Calle 12c #4-59, Bogotá Colombia

Luis H. Gutiérrez

Department of economics, Universidad del Rosario 

Calle 12c #4-59, Bogotá Colombia



Abstract

A Quality Management System (QMS) that conforms to ISO 9001 certification has  been adopted by over one million firms around the world in 2015 and recent figures show that certifications have rapidly increased in emerging economies. This paper takes advantage of unique data on the status of certified and non-certified manufacturing firms in Colombia and matches it with firm performance. In 2006,the Colombian government launched policies to reduce the cost of adopting 

certification. We use this change to implement a difference-in-differences specification on certified and non-certified firms by matching samples at the year 2003, three years before the policy change. Our findings suggest that firms that adopt 

ISO 9001 certification increase labor productivity by 12 percent, sales and wages by 8 percent. The potential mechanism to explain these gains is human capital capabilities because, prior to the changes, firms with more temporary workers could 

not take full advantage of certification. 


JEL codes: L15, D22, O31

Key words: ISO 9001, Quality Certification, Sales, Wages, Temporary Workers