Standardization, Not Standards Matter

Abstract

It has been observed that standards (and implicitly, standardization) are a hallmark of an industrialized society, since standards provide the necessary interconnections to make things interoperate. As the world tends increasingly towards a “global economy,” just-in-time supply chains, and massive interdependencies, standards and standardization forms the infrastructure of these agreements. And yet, standardization is not well understood. This chapter explores standardization.