EURAS(European Academy for Standardisation)

& STANDARDS

10th MARS Group meeting12-14 September 2012

Doc. Ing. Marta Orviska, PhD.

Faculty of Economics, Matej Bel University, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia

Email: marta.orviska@umb.sk

Content

- EURAS

- Research and standardisation

- Conclusion

EURASEURAS,, the European Academy for Standardisation e.Vthe European Academy for Standardisation e.V : :

• Was founded in Hamburg in 1993 by researchers from various academic fields (i.e. economics, engineering, social sciences, law, and information sciences);

• It is a registered society under German civil law, and a non-profit organization;

• The foundation of EURAS was prompted by a common desire to promote and achieve progress in the academic treatment of standardisation, involving the widest possible range of disciplines;

• There are members from all over Europe, North and South America, Australia, China, Korea, Japan, etc.

EURAS' objective is to promote research, education and EURAS' objective is to promote research, education and publication in the field of standardisationpublication in the field of standardisation

The focus is on: a critical evaluation of, and interest in, scientific education, improving opportunities to publish research results, promoting standardisation research, supporting the development and professionalization of standards education.

EURAS offers a platform for exchanging information, collaboration and dissemination.

It does so by organising annual EURAS conferences, publishing the conference proceedings, the EURAS Yearbook and other publications.

• The conference draw: - academic researchers with different disciplinary backgrounds, - representatives from national and regional standards bodies, - representatives from government agencies and company

representatives, who share an interest in standardisation. • Conference presentations can address any aspect and field of

standardisation

The EURAS Conference

17th EURAS Annual Standardisation Conference– Standards and Innovation 18 – 20 June 2012Košice, SlovakiaOrganised by the Faculty of Economics at Matej Bel

University in Banska Bystrica (UMB)the Faculty of Economics at the Technical University of

Košice (TUKE).

There is a mix of academics, people from industry and the national, EU and international standards boards.

The papers are a mix across disciplines.

The Mix is a good one

The non-academics bring experience of practice, from different perspectives of industry and the standards organisations.

The academic is more removed from the process, more able to take a detached and holistic view of an issue.

Academics, particularly economists, also bring a variety of sophisticated research tools to analyse data, and a theoretical basis and knowledge of the literature.

EURAS

is governed by a small Board who effectively decide what to do. Within this there are separate responsibility.

Initiatives for collaboration range from European projects on education (e.g. Asia-Link) and research, to writing articles which would otherwise have not been written.

• EURAS emphasizes the need for increased European co-operation, it is internationally oriented and welcomes the participation from and collaboration with colleagues from other regions.

• In the last months the key focus has been on the Educational White Paper.

WHITE PAPER: ACADEMIC STANDARDISATION WHITE PAPER: ACADEMIC STANDARDISATION EDUCATION IN EUROPEEDUCATION IN EUROPE

http://www.euras.org/uploads/files/EURAS%20White%20paper%202011-08-13.pdf

• This was basically written by Wilfried Hesser and Dr. Ir. Henk J. de Vries.

• The White Paper argues that Standardisation is a strategic asset at the level of companies, industry sectors, countries and regions, but that to take full advantage of standardisation proper education is needed.

Several Asian countries are increasingly implementing standardisation education programmes and that Europe is lagging behind:- the governments of the member countries of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) have decided to implement standardisation education in their countries 2006 – 2010;

- such a decision has not yet been taken at the European level;

- it is the official policy of the EC and European Parliament to promote the European standardisation system,

- current practice shows no more than fragmented standardisation education activities in the EU and hardly any programmes at the academic level.

Thus the White Paper calls for:

• A European Standardisation Education Agency

• This agency needs a steering group at the European level

• At the national level there should be parallel structures.

• EURAS is pushing for this by lobbying the European Standards Organisations (CEN, CENELEC and ETSI) and by organising workshops.

http://www.euras.org/uploads/files/Invitation20120629.pdf

• Event on Education about Standardisation:- in June 2012 CEN and CENELEC, with EURAS involvement, organised a

workshop in Brussels to open a dialogue with academia and industry on the Strategic importance of educating and training students and workers on standardisation.

• This follows on from the establishment of a by the three European Standards Organisations (CEN, CENELEC and ETSI).

CEN/CENELEC website goes on to say: The European Commission is yet another European institution that has recently showed its concern about increasing awareness about standardization.

• In its Communication on a Strategic vision for European Standards, (2011) the European Commission asked the European Standards Organisations, the Member States and other standardization bodies to improve awareness and education about standardization. Public knowledge about standardization should be increased by means of training, awareness-raising activities and targeted workshops.

• EURAS is co-operating with the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) in their 'Kaleidoscope' series of conferences.

• The 5th conference on "Building Sustainable Communities" will be held on the 22-24 April 2013 at Kyoto, Japan

• http://www.itu.int/ITU- T/uni/kaleidoscope/2013/(where EURAS is listed as a supporter)

Joint ITU-GISFI-DS-CTIF Standards Education Workshop, October 8-9, 2012, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.

9th International Conference Standardization, Protypes And Quality: A Means Of

Balkan Countries' Collaboration October 5-6, 2012 Tirana.

SummarySummary

• EURAS has been a success with the annual conference, campaigning for educational research in the EU and its links with other organisations - providing a platform for people to communicate with each other it is also important, particularly bringing people from academia, industry and the standards organisations talking.

• It has it has recently started publishing its own books.

• The web site too has recently improved after several years

Research – examplesResearch – examples

• Focused on the take up of international standards by firms - this has resulted in a paper already published based on the countries in Central, Eastern Europe parts of Asia and a second currently submitted which looks at all countries in the world.

• There are differences

An Analysis of Firms’ Adoption of International Standards: One Size Fits All?

• We analyse the take-up by firms of internationally recognized standards such as ISO 9000 and ISO 14000.

• Based on an analysis of 11,668 firms in countries in Asia and Eastern Europe, we conclude that the probability of standard certification increases with firm size, is greatest in large cities and in manufacturing industries.

• There are other differences, including between countries.• Given these differences, we argue that single generic standards for

all firms may not be optimal and that there is a case for the simultaneous publication of differentiated standards targeted at different user characteristics.

Firms’ adoption of international standards: One size fits all?Journal of Policy Modeling. Available online 16 April 2012, forthcomingin hard copy.

Reasons for Reasons for standards adoptionstandards adoption::

• “Bowing” to institutional expectations. (Beck and Walgenbach, 2005).

• Managers want to be seen as modern and up to date.

• Economic view – based on the rationality standards adoption will increase the profits.

Differences in standard certification between Differences in standard certification between countriescountries

Albania Belarus Georgia Tajikistan Turkey Ukraine

Uzbekistan Russia Poland Romania Serbia Kazakhstan

Moldova Bosnia & Herz Azerbaijan Fyr Macedonia Armenia Kyrgyz Republic

Mongolia Estonia Kosovo Czech Republic Hungary Latvia

Lithuania Slovak Republic Slovenia Bulgaria Croatia Montenegro

De

nsity

ExplanationHistogram shows the proportions without a standard and then with

Figure 1: Firms with an international standard

The Adoption of International Standards in Developing Countries

• We analyse the take-up by firms of internationally recognized standards such as ISO 9000 and ISO 14000.

• Based on an analysis of firms in countries in Africa, central and South America and Asia, we conclude that the probability of standard certification increases with firm size and is linked with the firm being involved in exporting.

• There are also differences in the level of take-up between firms in services and manufacturing.

• The Internet has also played a critical part in stimulating standard certification.

• Importantly too our analysis suggests standards stimulate export activity and are not just a characteristic of exporting firms.

Paper presented at EURAS conference in Kosice, 2012

• Standardisation is positively linked with:• firms who use electronic communication to

communicate with clients. • firms export focus (linked by an inverse U

shaped function, peak usage by firms with some, but not total, export focus).

• age of the firm in both Africa and the Americas, but not significantly in Asia (where there is a smaller sample).

• size of firm and is also greater for group and foreign firms and for publicly listed firms.

• There is no strong linkage to:• whether an urban or rural location.

Regional aspect

Countries in Africa respond to both good qualitycourts and, negatively, to a poor qualitytransport system.

In the Americas access to finance, in the form ofbank credit is important.

Regional electronic communication is verysignificant in both the Americas and Africa.

Standardization impact on firm’s export orientation - regression results

Standardisation appears clearly to stimulate exportactivity.

Standardization and the European Standards Organisations [ESOs]

• Standardisation is a relatively neglected aspect of the EU regulatory process and yet it is fundamental to that process and arguably in recent years has been the key vehicle in making the single market an economic reality.

• Yet the key standardization bodies in the EU, the ESOs, are scarcely known to the public and are seldom discussed in the literature. In this article we redress this imbalance, in the process arguing that standardization and integration are closely related concepts.

Paper presented at EURAS conference in Kosice, 2012 and ECPRconference, Reykjavik, 2011.

• We examine the evolving relationship between theESOs the EU and the national standards bodies.

• We also argue that standardization and the growth ofthe ESOs has both facilitated and contributed to EU integration.

• Are speeding up and opening up the process of standardizationcompatible aims?

Paper presented at EURAS conference in Kosice, 2012 and ECPRconference, Reykjavik, 2011.

Standards: - harmonizing the European environment, - facilitate the development of a European identity and

integration. But work of the ESOs has gone far beyond this: - Many of the administrative costs and restrictions imposed

on business stem from EU standardization.

- Many of the factors which determine consumer’s rights stem from standardization.

- Many of the factors which determine an individual’s quality of life are impacted upon by standards.

- EU standards declining the role of the nation state is.

Questions to be discussed

Thank you for your attention. Thank you for your attention.