Revision of literature and methodology

For the specific case of diffusion of management standards the literature is scarce. However, recently, two works have appeared which provide a descriptive analysis of the diffusion process of the ISO 9000 standard over time. On the one hand, Saraiva and Duarte (2003) present the first investigation aiming to predict how ISO 9000 certification will develop world-wide in the future. Similarly, a second investigation carried out by Franceschini et al, (2004) analyzes in detail some of the areas looked at by Saraiva and Duarte (2003).

Nevertheless, as far as this study is concerned, the studies carried out by Professor Corbett on the diffusion of theISO 9000and ISO 14000 standardsare of greater interest, although they all refer to the mechanisms of diffusion rather than to actual diffusion over time (Corbett and Kirsch, 1999). The results obtained in this investigation were later corroborated in Corbett and Kirsh (2001), not only from the analyses of the existing data they had used previously, but also from the impressions received during visits to several ISO 14000-registered companies around the world (Corbett and Kirsh, 2000). Later, Corbett himself (2003) analyzed the forces that explain the diffusion of these standards, basing his study on the Bass diffusion
model (Bass, 1969), and showing how it is carried out through the supply chain.

The first stage of our investigation will begin by analyzing if the model proposed by Franceschini et al, (2004) is only adaptable to a country’s ISO 9000 certifications, or whether similar models can also be used for their levels of ISO 14000certifications. A similarity in behavior would indicate to us that the diffusions of standards follow, in principle, similar parameters, although a certain temporal mismatch has already been detected (Figures 1).