Many companies will adopt  a standardised quality management system (QMS), environmental management system (EMS) or occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) for one of two reasons:   firstly, their leaders have a genuine desire for the business to be well run, to avoid making mistakes which will jeopardise business and to have a good reputation with their customers for their quality and ethics; or secondly, because they supply to customers who have these credentials for quality, environmental and health and safety compliance and these customers have an expectation that their suppliers will do the same. It is even stated as a requirement for organisations to check their suppliers in the new versions of the standards. In the second case, the larger the customer, the more likely they will be looking for their supplier’s commitment to quality and the environment.

Consequently any company which has aspirations for selling in large volumes particularly in Europe – will inevitably be under pressure to adopt a standardised quality management system and an environmental management system .

Many of these companies ensure their QMS /EMS conforms to an international standard such as ISO 9001(for QMS) and ISO 14001(for EMS)  Other good system standards also exist.