Integrated Management Systems diffusion models in South European countries

Purpose – This paper dissects the diffusion of Integrated Management Systems (IMSs) encompassing the ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSMS 18001 standards in the South European countries. Design/methodology/approach – Data concerning the evolution of the amount of IMSs in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain were collected for the time period between 1999 and 2015. The behaviour of the evolution of the number of IMSs over the years was studied adopting both the Gompertz and the Logistic models. The results obtained with these two models were compared and analysed in order to provide a forecast for the next years. Findings – The diffusion throughout the years of the number of IMSs follows an S- shaped behaviour. The evolution of the amount of IMSs in countries with a lower saturation level are better fitted by the Gompertz model while the Logistic model fits better when considering countries with a larger saturation level. Research limitations/implications – For some of the analysed countries, the data related to early years are not available. In order to perform the analysis using both the Gompertz and the Logistic models, missing data have been extrapolated from the dataset provided by the annual ISO survey. Practical implications – The obtained results provide a cross-section of the diffusion of IMSs certifications in the South European countries and enable a forecast for the trend in the next years. Originality/value – This study aims, for the first time as we were able to find out, at the analysis of the diffusion of IMSs throughout the years.