Alireza Khakifirooz - Department of Cellulosic Materials & Packaging Research Group, Research Centre of Chemistry and Petrochemistry, Standard Research Institute, Karaj, Iran
Ali Tavakoli Golpaygani - Department of Biomedical Engineering, Standard Research Institute

International competitiveness is the key to Iran’s participation in global trade. Iran’s success in achieving the goals of economic diversification and trade competitiveness will correlate highly with the coherence of its national quality infrastructure. A well-functioning quality infrastructure in Iran that helps firms in priority sectors meet the requirements of export markets and supports them in demonstrating conformity with the requirements in a holistic manner, will act as a catalyst to improve the competitiveness of Iran’s economy, its ability to participate in global trade and increase the value of trade.The aim of this study is to introduce the Iran National Quality Infrastructure (NQI) and its position in the Global Quality Infrastructure Index (GQII) programme. The GQII plays as a good indicator to measure the growth and the performance of QI of any economy. It provides valuable data that can be used for different types of analysis by QI body representatives, policymakers and other leaders to informed business decisions making.In this paper, first, the concept and overall framework of a national quality system is mentioned; then the Iran NQI system framework is explained in detail. Finally, based on the International ranking of Iran in GQII, strengths and weaknesses of the Iran NQI system are pointed and the possible solutions for improvement on the overall construction and each element of it are proposed. The study would be very helpful for the government agencies, industry, academia, and enterprises for future decisions and policymaking related to strong and robust QI.

Quality Infrastructure, Ranking, Global, Iran