Strategic global standards management: a new imperative in technology management

Abstract

Summary form only given, as follows. Globalization of markets, manufacturing, technology and information and intensifying competition accompanied by increased outsourcing, corporate interrelationships, technology convergence and a push toward harmonized standards demand sophisticated and strategic standards management. Once viewed only as the purview of engineers and lawyers, standards management is increasingly recognized as a competitive tool requiring understanding and active input from across the organization and coordination across the supply chain. Yet few appropriate training materials and exist and little has been done to compile cases and tools for corporate and school use in implementing related initiatives. The Kellogg Graduate School of Management in collaboration with the MATI Consortium of 17 leading firms, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), several other schools, and with partial support from the US Department of Education, is launching a project to address this gap. This paper reports on the issues and challenges involved and what is being learned from best-in-class firms.