General Perspectives on the Leading International Management Standards

This paper provides a general review of the process of international dissemination of the two main global management standards: ISO 14001 and ISO 9001. An empirical analysis of the international dissemination of the two main global management standards is carried out, along with a review of the main empirical work that has been published from an International Business perspective. The work refers to the major level of dissemination achieved by these global management standards. Although, their unequal dissemination is also stressed, with there being a clear predominance of countries with disparate market structure and institutional environment, such as China, Italy and Spain. The conclusions drawn in the paper are of interest to both academic as well as professional spheres of activity.