[Index]
Quality assurance system for enhancing
competitiveness of
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
Geneva, 23 October 2001
On 25-26 October 2001, the United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe (UNECE) will organize an Expert Meeting on "Best
Practice in Creation of Quality Assurance Systems for Enhancing
Competitiveness of SMEs". Nearly 350 experts from 33 countries and 9
international organizations (ISO, ILO, ITC, UNIDO, WIPO, Euro-Asian Council
for Standardization, Metrology and Certification, European Organization for
Quality, EFQM and OECD) are gathering to discuss this question, which is one
of the key elements of enterprise competitiveness and world market access.
On the current world market, both manufacturers and
consumers require guarantees for the quality of products and services. Now it
is no longer sufficient to provide products and services that conform to
certain standards, but all manufacturers and service enterprises need to
demonstrate their capability to provide a continuous quality of their products
and services. This is why all businesses and public organizations need to set
up quality systems enabling them to guarantee that required quality is
obtained at appropriate cost, and also taking into consideration ecological
concerns.
The economic globalization has a dual impact on SMEs. For
some of them, globalization provides new opportunities for expansion and
growth through increased international marketing possibilities. These SMEs are
able to adapt and become internationally competitive. For the majority,
however, globalization brings the risk that they are unlikely to survive in
their present form without improving quality, competitiveness and management
practices.
The Expert Meeting on Best Practice in the Creation of
Quality Assurance Systems for Enhancing Competitiveness of Small and
Medium-sized Enterprises will allow government representatives, entrepreneurs,
SME business support institutions, quality consultants and auditing
organizations as well as academics to learn about the latest orientations in
quality assurance system worldwide.
The aims of the Meeting are the following:
to exchange experience in UNECE member States on the
various ways and approaches towards quality and quality management,
especially for SMEs;
to learn how to develop national supportive quality
policies, initiatives/programmes and actions to increase the quality
consciousness of SMEs in order to enhance their competitiveness;
to raise awareness about quality; and
to exchange experiences of SMEs in quality systems.
The Expert Meeting will present the best practices in
developing national quality policies and experiences of SMEs in creation of
quality systems. To promote the implementation of quality management systems,
the European Organization for Quality and the European Foundation for Quality
Management elaborated the excellence model, which assists SMEs to make
self-evaluation of their performance and set up goals for improvement. Several
winners of the European Quality Awards in 2000 and 2001 will present their
achievements, like the Operation Centre Zahnartzpraxis from
Switzerland, the Hungarian Burton-Apta Refractory Manufacturing Ltd. and COCO-MAT Company from Greece.
The Round Table Discussion on "The Problems and
Solutions of Creation of Quality Systems in Order to Prepare SMEs to Meet the
Challenges of the Globalization and Market Economy Requirements" will be
chaired by Dr. Rolf Jeker, Senior Executive Vice President of the SGS -
Société Générale de Surveillance S.A.
The Expert Meeting will draw conclusions and
recommendations for Governments, business communities and international
organizations to make common efforts in the field of improved quality
management.
For further information please contact:
Antal Szabó
Regional Adviser on Entrepreneurship and SMEs
Coordinating Unit for Operational Activities
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Palais des Nations, Office 440
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: + 41 22 917 2471
Telefax: + 41 22 917 0178
E-mail: [email protected]
Ref: ECE/OPA/01/09