The Strategic Significance of Standardization 952787

The global economy, global competition, and the global customer are all factors driving change into the way companies manage their businesses. As the vision of a global economy becomes a reality, the utilization of standardization philosophies and techniques emerge as strategic priorities for companies desiring to gain and/or sustain global competitiveness.

This paper begins with an exploration of the literature that identifies the lack of standardization and standards as a strategic competitive weakness of American industry. The exploration culminates in a series of conclusions that lead to the development of a new strategic approach to standardization and the challenges facing American industry. This new approach is called Strategic Standardization Management™. The paper then outlines the benefits of standardization and describes a generic transformation process that a company can use to implement Strategic Standardization Management™. The paper concludes by identifying areas and issues that have a strategic standardization component, areas that need continuing action by American industry and have the potential to incease the global competitiveness of American industry.