Studies investigating the benefits of standards for industrial sectors indicate the significant contribution of standards to business performance in terms of profit, growth, or both. Here are a few examples.
Increased annual profits According to the Canberra-based Centre of International Economics, in Australia, a sampling of standards in the mining industry generated annual profits of between AUD 24 million and AUD 100 million.
Link: http://www.standardsinfo.net/info/benefits/benefits_s1.html#SA
Accelerating technology transfer Prof. Junijiro and partners at the University of Tokyo have stated that standards contributed, in a decisive way, to the development of the modern optical storage industry in the mid-to-late 1990s. The availability of open, international specifications accelerated the technology transfer of finished products. This led to a much faster market expansion based on a more efficient division of labour between companies from newly industrialized economies in Asia, and companies with more developed economies. As a result, the market, such as that for DVD devices, increased in size by nearly 20 times between 1998 and 2004 (from USD 1 billion to over 19 billion).
Link: http://www.standardsinfo.net/info/benefits/benefits_s1.html#JISC
Total gross benefit contribution A study on the global automotive industry, conducted in 2009 by Roland Berger Consultants, identified and quantified around 80 specific impacts resulting from standards. The total gross contribution of standards on the three core business functions (engineering, procurement and production) for auto manufacturers and part suppliers, was estimated to be in the range of 1.3% to 1.8% of total sales. To give a better appreciation of the scale of the impact of standards, the above estimate was projected onto the total industry revenues for 2008. As a result, the total contributing impact factor for standards was estimated to be between USD 38 billion and 55 billion.
Link: http://www.standardsinfo.net/info/benefits/benefits_s1.html#AFNOR