ISO 9000 (and its subsequent series of numbers) is the successor to total quality management. It promises better quality products and more satisfied customers. Most governments and large organizations now demand that their suppliers are ‘ISO9000 certified’ before they will deal with them. However, it has a reputation for being bureaucratic and lacking practical application as it imposes rigid standards (‘one size fits all’ models) not just on product development but also on a company’s business management processes. But, as this paper explains, this leads to managers ‘ticking boxes’ rather than embedding quality into their process management culture.