The automotive industry has always shown a particular interest in quality management systems, which resulted in the development of several different specific standards. As a result of this, by the mid-1980s, automotive suppliers were subject to numerous national and customer-specific regulations. The proliferation of these standards and the need to create a single reference model led to Technical Specification (TS) 16949, an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) technical specification aimed at representing a comprehensive quality management system for the global automotive industry. Since its early introduction, TS 16949 has encountered a certain success thanks to its feature of unifying and harmonizing the already existing standards. This paper studies the global evolution and diffusion of this technical specification, observing its impact on local economies. The findings are supported by empirical data.
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