The Role of Standards in Building a Profession Securing the Market. Medieval guilds established quality and competency standards to consolidate their power and preserve their markets. Strategic use of standardization is a management tool as well as an instrument for developing a blueprint for the future. By using standardization to streamline processes and trim costs, businesses can secure a competitive advantage, and remain competitive in the face of national and global market changes. If I seem to be repeating myself, it's only a demonstration that, when it comes to setting standards, the lofty goals of protecting the consumer and building professionalism are only part of the story.
Standards make good business sense.
After all, a consumer of knowledge-based services must have some yardstick by which to understand the approach to the service. A process standard provides guidance about the knowledge, tools and techniques that are useful in the practice of the profession. It is quite literally right thought about how work should be done, expressed in the right language. As such it provides value to both professionals and their clients. Expressing Social Responsibility.