It is expected that the negative effects of disadvantages or barriers
on a company’s adoption decision may be less if the benefits
are greater. The perceived benefits are greater for ISO 9000 certi-
fied companies which progress towards total quality management
(TQM) (Escanciano, Fernández, & Vázquez, 2001). This can be taken
to mean that enterprises progressing in that direction may be more
committed certification adopters than those companies that simply
maintain their certification and do not plan any further quality-related
actions in the future. The main barriers for small
enterprises progressing to TQM may be grouped into three categories
(Kontogeorgos & Semos, 2006; Noci, 1995; Noci & Toletti,
1998): (a) investments in quality improvement require an estimate
of their efficiency, (b) the main attributes of small enterprises and
quality programs requisitions, and (c) lack of the appropriate
methodological tools for making relevant choices, when quality
decisions are made