These are frameworks established by the International Standards Organisation, which enable assessment, auditing and certification of various activities which companies undertake. There are many standards covering detailed technical specifications and procedures but a few have achieved widespread adoption since they cover important generic aspects of business. The standard ISO9000 is actually broken down into a number of versions (9001, 9002, etc.) and basically provides a way of checking how far a company has implemented formal structures and routines for assuring that all of its processes conform to the principles of total quality management. This will usually require that the firm understands and can map/document its processes and then show — by a set of procedures, company manual, etc. — that it is assuring that the operation of these processes is of high quality. (The different versions refer to different kinds of business or processes — for example, design is different from manufacturing and manufacturing from services, so different ISO versions were written for them).
ISO9000 became important because it provided a way of demonstrating at least some awareness of the need for total quality approaches. Whilst it is possible to write documentation which secures ISO accreditation without necessarily creating a real culture of quality, it does provide a powerful aid to thinking about the issue. It diffused widely in the 1990s not least because of the requirement placed by major purchasers in public and private sector that all firms supplying to them had to be able to demonstrate their quality by having achieved ISO9000 or equivalent certification. (Many firms, like Ford with its Q101 programme) have long-operated in this way, approving suppliers only when they can demonstrate their ability to meet quality process standards).
The approach has been increasingly applied in the area of environmental management where another family of standards — ISO14000 — refers to procedures for ensuring sustainable and environmentally friendly operations.