Standards and Standardization Practices: Does Organization Size Matter?

Abstract

Increments in economic efficiency resulting from the application of standards generate economic benefits for both producers and consumers. As a result, it is of the utmost importance for organizations to be aware of the benefits that standards bring to their operations. This paper deals with specific categories of standardization effects that organizations can achieve in the processes of formal standardization. The goal was to rank organizations by size, based on the effects that they can gain by getting involved in formal standardization. The data gathered from a survey of experts from the Institute for Standardization of Serbia form the basis of our multicriteria analysis of standardization indicators for micro, small, medium-sized, and large organizations. The final ranking for determining the achievement of standardization effects in different-sized organizations was performed using the PROMETHEE-GAIA method. Our analysis showed that micro organizations were the best performers since they are more flexible than the other size categories of organizations. In contrast, the other types of organizations have lower significant preferences concerning all the criteria. Finally, one of the conclusions is that all observed organizations have the potential to achieve the effects of standardization, although they may differ.