In ISO 9000, Standard vocabulary - Competitors , interested parties?

[qualprod]

Hi all
In 9000, Standard vocabulary,

in 3.2.3
interested party stakeholder
person or organization (3.2.1) that can affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a
decision or activity
EXAMPLE Customers (3.2.4), owners, people in an organization, providers (3.2.5), bankers, regulators,
unions, partners or society that can include competitors or ......
it mentions competitors as interested party.
How can be an interested party?
If the standard says, if we don't comply their expectations... understood cases, internal people, suppliers, regulators, all ok,
But don't see anything in competitors.
I can see them in context, as a risk.
Please share your viewpoint.
Thanks

 

[Sidney Vianna]

it mentions competitors as interested party.How can be an interested party?

Imagine a totally fictitious scenario where you have a global duopoly of wide body aircraft manufacturers. If one of the organizations has a quality system that is so bad and their airplanes crash and burn, at a high rate, killing passengers, the whole market, and by definition, the competitor will also suffer because the consumers will stop flying altogether.

Just one fictitious example.

Any time one of the competitors is so influential that they can seriously impact the whole industry, competitor(s) could be interested parties in that organization's QMS.

 

[qualprod]

Thanks Sidney, if I understand well, it fits in the next
: could affect or be affected...
And the requirement of this IP, that I have to comply in my organization, I guess , could be the next: to be loyal, to manage fair prices , to produce good quality products, Am I alright in my assumption?

 

[somashekar]

Hi all
In 9000, Standard vocabulary,

in 3.2.3
interested party stakeholder
person or organization (3.2.1) that can affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a
decision or activity
EXAMPLE Customers (3.2.4), owners, people in an organization, providers (3.2.5), bankers, regulators,
unions, partners or society that can include competitors or ......
it mentions competitors as interested party.
How can be an interested party?
If the standard says, if we don't comply their expectations... understood cases, internal people, suppliers, regulators, all ok,
But don't see anything in competitors.
I can see them in context, as a risk.
Please share your viewpoint.
Thanks

Competitor is your interested party and you are his interested party ... in the sense each are looking at the others market share, market penetration, technology advancement, expansion ...etc, in order to align the business suitably to be in the race and focus growth in respective niche area. It also gives you the focus to see how your knowledge wealth can be protected and prevented from reaching to competitors.

 

[qualprod]

Thanks somashekar
But don't you think that this thinking could fit best in Context as Risk? Or can be in both?
Thanks for clarify

 

[somashekar]

Thanks somashekar
But don't you think that this thinking could fit best in Context as Risk? Or can be in both?
Thanks for clarify

Yes, why not. And are they all not inter related. That is the essence of the QMS.....

 

[John C. Abnet]

Good day @qualprod;
As @somashekar has noted, your competitor can indeed be considered a risk and/or an opportunity. It is important to remember that "9000" is not an auditable document, but is simply a support document. For that reason it is certainly not required that you identify "competitor" as an interested party. I believe most organizations would, however, be wise to identify the "competitor".
Consider a scenario where your competitor is losing some business. Could this create an opportunity for your organization to secure that business? Conversely, consider a scenario where a new competitor arrives on the scene. Could this create a risk of your organization losing some existing or future business?
Hope this helps.
Be well.

 

[Umar Bilal]

I am totally agreed that Competitors are the interested parties and it can put great impact on the organization, via giving lesser prices, high quality /supreme products, timely delivery compare to the organization, this is impact on the organization by its competitors.... right
but in other hand how we will address their needs/expectation,, how and why we fulfill their needs and expectation... please explain if somebody can do so.

 

[tony s]

There are times that a competitor serves as a subcontractor, which has its own needs and expectations.

 

[Tagin]

I am totally agreed that Competitors are the interested parties and it can put great impact on the organization, via giving lesser prices, high quality /supreme products, timely delivery compare to the organization, this is impact on the organization by its competitors.... right
but in other hand how we will address their needs/expectation,, how and why we fulfill their needs and expectation... please explain if somebody can do so.

The example in 9000 states "partners or society that can include competitors or opposing pressure groups".

It seems to me a competitor might be a partner, if, for example, there is an industry organization that develops and maintains industry standards (e.g., automotive standard). In such a case, fulfilling the needs/expectations may include: participating in good faith in the joint standards development process, advocating for the standard, implementing the standard as expected, budgeting time/money for joint standards development meetings, etc.

Another example might be where competitors in the same industry are members of a trade organization whose purpose is to lobby/promote the industry's product/service for all members of the trade org, yet all these members are competing with each other.

Another might be more antagonist where there needs to be a respect to not get into a price war with a competitor, which ends up damaging both companies. Fulfilling needs/expectations is then maybe about using pricing models based on true costs and market trends (instead of focusing on parasitizing the competitor's customer base). This might also be a survival "don't poke the bear" strategy, where the company is small and the competitor is huge, but they won't squish us if we don't irritate them. This would be similar to the "opposing pressure groups" where fulfilling the needs/expectations is also about behavior in the market and operations (e.g., a lumber company has a replanting program to reforest areas after harvesting, to avoid protests and shutdowns of logging activity).