With the intensification
of accession negotiations, the need for European Industry to play
an active role in the enlargement process is emerging. The Industry
Council recognises this and has set as an objective the creation
of an Industrial Forum on Enlargement to allow industry to begin
discussion on some important topics.
Amongst other issues Quality was
considered a key topic for Industry in both the EU and candidate
countries. Fourteen experts from the EU and candidate countries
were invited by the European Commission (DG Enterprise) to participate
to the three working meetings on Quality. The group met between
June and December 1999 with the objective of drafting three main
recommendations to be presented to the Industrial Forum.
In order to build the recommendations
on a wider consensus the working group decided to validate the
results of each meeting with a questionnaire, which was sent to
representatives of industry from both sides.
The first
step was to identify the scenario through the classification
of major perceived strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
(of the enlargement process both for EU and candidate countries
The results of this first survey
were encouraging. A total of 296 questionnaires from industries
and industrial organizations of both EU and candidate countries
were received involving 27 countries (11 EU and EFTA member states,
10 applicant countries and 6 other countries).
A clear message emerged in response:
“Enlargement challenges induce a positive
pressure which can be enhanced building on existing trade and
business relationships between EU and applicant countries.”
The second step correlated strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
with the current changes in the environment (such as the impact
of the information society, globalisation, increased requirements
on environmental aspect and on corporate social responsibility).
At the end of this exercise the working group proposed ten
draft recommendations ranging from company to industrial policies.
The third
step was to rank the 10 recommendations and to identify the
three most important according to the results of the second questionnaire.
The first recommendation is:
communication in both directions and exchange of best practice,
taking into consideration the diversities existing in different
countries
The second recommendation is: establishing
and keeping improving co-operation among governments, R&D
organisations and industry.
What kind of co-operation and how
to develop it was discussed widely in the working group. Strengthening
the links existing among government bodies, universities, European
Quality organizations and Business Support Organizations such
as Industrial associations, Chambers of Commerce and Euro Info
Centres seems to be the most successful way to follow.
The third recommendation is: revealing and applying the most effective
ways for innovation, promotion and dissemination of knowledge
about quality and techniques.
How to ensure such dissemination
in the most effective way is a critical point. Much progress has
been achieved in candidate countries to align their quality infrastructure
to the Quality models, but a wide gap still exists for the implementation
of quality concepts and techniques.
The first chapter describes
the context in which the industrial Forum on Enlargement was created.
The second chapter describes the overall scenario focusing on
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The third chapter
is dedicated to the deployment of the scenario in order to build
the recommendations. The fourth chapter presents the three most
important recommendations as a final result of the investigation
process.
1 Industrial Forum on the Enlargement:
strengthening the dialogue between all parties.
1.1 Context
The intensification of negotiations
on accession shows a need for European industry to take a more
active part in the enlargement process. Thus during the Industry
Council which took place in Brussels on 16 November 1998 with
the participation of Ministers of Industry of the European Union
and of the CEEC applicant countries, a decision was taken to create
an Industrial Forum on Enlargement. The Council decision confirmed
the conclusions reached during the 5 October meeting, between
representatives of Industry of both the EU and the applicant countries
concerning the need for such a Forum.
The objective of this
Forum, which was a permanent and flexible instrument for dialogue
between EU and applicant countries, was to involve Industry in
the Enlargement process in order to:
1.
exchange information on industrial aspects of the pre-accession
strategy (monitoring of the implementation of EU legislation,
restructuring and privatisation process, …);
2.
make proposals to national authorities and to the European Commission
in order to solve current problems linked to the Enlargement process.
1.2 Structure and Topics
Three working groups were created
around three topics allowing a real dialogue between partners
of both sides:
3.
- Industry and Enlargement: the example of telecommunications
and the Information Society.
4.
- Impact of Enlargement on Industry and the Environment.
5.
- Quality policy: a global objective for Member States and Applicant
countries.
Their findings will be presented
during a conference organised by the European Commission
gathering top industrialists of both sides. The European Commission
will invite representatives of Industry to prepare recommendations
on these specific topics which will be forwarded to the political
authorities.
The objectives and the specific questions,
which will be tackled by the Quality policy-working group as far
as we are concerned, are defined as follows:
1.3 Quality policy group
The specific objectives of
this particular working group are listed hereafter.
1.
To identify how industry from both sides could benefit from the
development of knowledge and culture about quality.
2.
To establish by which means and concrete actions, industry and
public authorities on both sides can together play a determining
role for the development of the as a factor for economic
integration, strengthening internal and external industrial competitiveness;
the convergence of markets towards high quality objectives
for the benefit of industry itself, citizens, consumers and society
as a whole.
A
draft working plan was also available:
3.
to establish the main differences in terms of quality culture
and developments, and quality-related technical environment, in
particular in the field of industrial activities, between applicant
countries and the EU;
4.
to evaluate the influence of these « distortions » within
the context of the enlargement process, in particular as regards
access to markets, industrial competitiveness and potential for
industrial co-operation between applicant countries and the EU;
5.
to identify short, medium and long term specific problems and
needs of industry on both side as regards quality, considering
the prospects and current and future challenges resulting from
the enlargement process;
6.
to establish quality policy principles, objectives as well as
concrete action lines arising from the analysis of the current
situation, the needs of industry, as well as from the opportunities
offered by the prospect for enlargement, in a win/win perspective
between EU and applicant countries industry;
7.
to specify the role and responsibilities of the different partners
and interested parties, in particular of industry itself, in their
capacities to define and implement effective schemes and mechanisms
within the framework of this policy.
These specific objectives were used as a starting point for the
working group in order to describe the scenario. What are the
strong and weak aspects of the use of quality policies as a strategic
tool for enlargement? In order to give some possible solutions,
representatives of industry were asked to take part in a SWOT
analysis to identify relevant strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats. During the first session of the Quality Policy Working
Group a questionnaire survey was prepared in order to build, with
a larger consensus, on the results of the SWOT analysis developed
during the meeting. The objectives and results of this questionnaire
are described in the following part.
2 Setting the scenario
2.1 First Working group:
SWOT Analysis
The WG carried out a SWOT Analysis
aiming at developing a scenario for quality matters in the context
of enlargement.
In order to carry out this
exercise, participants were invited to consider quality related
issues as regard both conformity and competitiveness challenges,
i.e.
1.
the implications and consequences for industry resulting from
the necessity to adapt to the Acquis Communautaire in candidate
countries in the field of the putting on the market and the free
circulation of industrial products
2.
the capacity of industry on both sides to compete and to win internally
and externally
2.2 Environment and Context
The WG intended to identify
those key features and conditions that characterise the environment
and the context in which the enlargement process takes place,
to be taken into account when formulating recommendations and
proposals for action.
These are as follow :
3.
Impact of ICT and information society
4.
Globalisation of markets and economy, world-wide competition
5.
Higher degree of achievement of the Internal market (compared
with previous EU enlargement)
6.
Increased society requirements on environmental and social issues
7.
Openness to EU and willingness to learn for change in candidate
countries
8.
Existing initiatives
2.3 First Questionnaire:
rationales
This questionnaire has been
designed in order to gain further insights from industry (EU +
EFTA member states and applicant countries) about the development
of quality in the context of the enlargement. The final results
will be used to draft three main recommendations, which will be
presented during the Industrial Forum on Enlargement (a copy of
the questionnaire is enclosed in annex I).
The attached questionnaire
was sent to major industrial economic actors dealing with quality
matters:
9.
Manufacturers, retailers and distributors
10.
Business organization (i.e. chambers of commerce, Euro Info Centers,
Trade Federations…)
Quality infrastructure bodies
(i.e. standardization, accreditation, conformity assessment and
metrology bodies). To this purpose three main networks were used
to diffuse the questionnaires both in the Union + EFTA and in
applicant countries: EOQ affiliate members, EFQM members and National
PRAQIII co-ordinators.
Several multinational companies as
well as SMEs and business support organizations have answered
to this questionnaire.
2.4 The diffusion of
the questionnaires
A total of 296 questionnaires
were received involving 27 countries:
11 EU and EFTA member states,
13 applicant countries
, 3 other countries-(Russia, Ukraine and Croatia).
Note:
during this first phase on the analysis only the opinion of EU
+EFTA and applicant countries was taken into consideration
2.5 The scores
The working group identified
21 statements, which provide a wide range of possible permutations
of different scenarios. Respondents were asked to choose among
them and to indicate their preference (high, low, no preference).
The analysis took into consideration the different entries. From
the results it appears that respondents
perceive quality more as an opportunity rather than a threat.
Scenario with the high-test
score:
11.
Building on existing trade and business relationships between
EU and applicant countries (Statement Q18- score 88 out 100)
12.
Existing young societies with willingness to learn and to improve
(Statement Q19- score 87 out of 100)
13.
In the EU several initiatives already exists in the field of Quality
(i.e. European Quality Policy, National Quality policies) and
several European Quality networks are today very active. Industry
of applicant countries could learn from the existing. (Statement
Q17- score 84 out of 100)
2.6 The SWOT analysis
Ranking the statements according the
results of the SWOT analysis provides the following results.
Strength
Q15-Enlargement challenges induce a positive pressure on companies
and push them to improve their performances
Opportunity
Q18- Build on existing trade and business
relationships between EU and applicant countries
Weakness
Q5-Lack of governmental financial
support for quality in applicant countries
Threat
Q10- Existing difficulties to convince
top management and to diffuse quality culture inside enterprises
of applicant countries
2.7 The regional
approach
The results provided so far
describe a scenario in which the opinion of EU + EFTA and the
one from applicant countries is added. Graph 2 provides a spread
that highlights the difference in opinion between EU + EFTA and
applicant countries.
The main difference among the
two regions is that the strongest statement for applicant is Q19
“existing young societies with willingness to learn and to improve”,
while for the EU + EFTA countries the strongest statement is Q
17 ‘…Industry could learn from the existing initiatives in the
quality field’. This difference reflects the idea that applicant
countries have a strong perception on their potential while EU
+ EFTA countries stress the importance of developing/improving
existing initiatives.
3 Deployment of the scenario
3.1 Second working group:
developing the recommendations
The discussion over the results lead the
WG to identified 4 points on which the WG should focus the attention
in order to answer to the needs of Industry:
14.
expanding success from the current existing trade and business
relationship and existing European Quality networks;
15.
taking advantage of enlargement challenges which induce companies
in applicant countries to improve their performances and building
on young societies willing to learn and improve;
16.
promoting effective quality strategies, quality culture within
firms, building on existing knowledge;
17.
Developing governmental quality policies and strategies and improve
the governmental support (financial, fiscal..) in order to implement
the required quality infrastructure.
The 4 conclusions were correlated
with the changes in the environment, identified during the previous
WG meetingThe WG members were asked to propose some recommendations,
which would answer at the same time on the results of the questionnaire
and the changes in the environment.
3.2. Identification of the
draft recommendations
The main recommendations, derived
from the previous exercise are listed below:
18. R1.Facilitating the transfer and exchange
of best experience/practice
19. R2. Improving National Quality Policies in
applicant countries
20.
R3. Further developing EU policies and programmes on quality
21 R4. Providing further training on quality
matters
22 R5. Enlarging the debate around quality
(i.e. stakeholder approach) to meet the requirements of society
as a whole
23. R6. Strengthening or developing cooperation
between universities and industry
24. R7. Pushing companies to apply quality
systems models
25.
R8. Developing measurement tools
26.
R9. Creating a virtual resource centre for quality (quality observatory)
27.
R10. Involving mass media for quality promotion and dissemination
A second questionnaire (see
Annex II) was sent out to the different networks in order to invite
Industry to rank the recommendations as well as to propose new
ones.
3.3. Definition of the
criteria to prioritize the recommendations
A set of criteria for the prioritisation
was proposed. The criteria are the following:
28.
Does the recommendation answer the weaknesses and threats, which
were identified in the first questionnaire?
29.
Is it cost effective (i.e. easy to implement)?
30.
Is the recommendation efficient?
31.
Is there a clear definition of the ownership in the implementation
of the recommendation?
32.
Are the results easy to measure?
These criteria will be used
to rank the final recommendations.
3.4 The second questionnaire:
validation
This questionnaire like the first
one has been designed in order to validate the recommendations
and was sent to the same target group. The objective of this second
questionnaire was to allow the Working Group to prepare 3 recommendations,
which will be presented to the Industrial Forum on Enlargement.
A total of 51 questionnaires were
received involving 8 countries.
