In everything we do in this world, we have our advantages and our disadvantages which make it difficult for people to choose options since they know that every option may have its advantages and disadvantages.

Even the choice of gender sometimes results in controversy since being a man or woman may have its own advantages and disadvantages. I have had some occasions to ask my students whether being a man or woman has its own advantages and whether given the opportunity, they would prefer to come into the world as men or women. This simple issue often resulted in heated debate between the male and female students to such an extent that they sometimes ended up shouting at each other to drum home their points to prove that being a man is preferrable to being a woman or vice-versa.

Male and female options

In such a situation, you find all the male students jumping in support of the male option, while all the ladies also make choices relating to coming into the world as female. Some advantages put up by some of the male for their choices are that first, they will never be found to be pregnant after having an affair with the opposite sex. Secondly, the male has the advantage of general dominance over female in this world. In the case of the female, some of them argue that they prefer to be women because women are always attractive and beautiful and that men will do all they can to pursue them and win their hearts to give them some favours. They argue also that most of the time, it is the men who struggle to cater for the women for which reason it is better to come into the world as a woman.

No matter how one looks at the issue, it is important to note that everything in this world has its advantages and disadvantages. For example, if a business organisation decides to go for accreditation, this will help the business entity concerned to expand business in both the local and international market and thereby make more money for itself and the workers who work there. The disadvantage, however, is that having made more money, they are likely to be put into a higher category for taxation purposes.

Importance of business accreditation

What this implies is that accreditation for business entities is important and must, therefore, be encouraged so that our business entities can perform creditably well and be able to offer fit-for-purpose goods and services to the satisfaction of customers. If this becomes the case, it is the customer who will ultimately come out as the final judge to influence purchases in the market and help the business company to grow from strength to strength.

Individuals and groups engage in business to be able to offer satisfactory services to consumers to make them happy with what they buy. For this reason, what is provided, be it goods and services, ought to be oriented towards satisfying the needs of the consumer, so as to help business growth even in situations where there are serious challenges.

Global village

Furthermore, the world has become a global village making it possible for products to be exported to other parts of the world as if such products are all produced from the same place or area in the world. Challenges in the world today, include stiff business competitions from various business actors of which each desires the best in terms of quality.

If each of these business entities and actors deserves what is best for themselves, then what this means is that business competition will continue to get stiffer and stiffer until those who are able to satisfy the consumer in the most desirable or best way, are able to distinguish themselves in the expected manner, resulting in a situation where they come on top of every business activity and for that reason capture the largest portion of the market for themselves.

Small business entities may begin their operations in a small and simple way but consistently expand and seek to improve their operations, capturing a chunk of the market for themselves. This is how business entities that began on a small scale were able to expand their activities to capture the local markets after which they also become successful and move into foreign markets. Any business entity that wants to expand beyond local and international borders, needs to sit up properly in an appropriate manner to meet the challenges ahead.

Confidence of consumers

One reliable way of overcoming business obstacles is to make it a point to ensure that the confidence of customers in your products keeps rising and rising beyond imaginable limits. When this happens, business expands and brings in the needed profits as required by any competent and efficient business entity.

This is why companies operating in small corners of the world are able to come out with quality products that are able to capture the taste and satisfaction of people in their locality as well as other people in the world today. Successful companies that are able to do this can expand their markets and make more money not only for themselves but also for their respective countries.

Confidence building

Accreditation ensures business growth in many ways. In the first place, as has been pointed out already, it helps to build confidence and trust on the part of both suppliers and consumers. Accredited companies are directed and guided to provide goods and services based on certain criterion that guarantees the output of quality products. This builds confidence on the part of customers who realise the need to deal with companies with accredited certifications, thereby leading to business expansion.

The second reason  accreditation is good and helps to promote business growth is that accreditation makes the suppliers realise the need to cut down certain costs that otherwise would have been included in the process of production. With the cutting down of costs, companies with accredited certifications are able to increase their profit margins, thereby facilitating easy growth and expansion in business.

Technical competence

A third reason accreditation is good is that it helps to demonstrate technical competence and expertise of the accredited conformity assessment body concerned. This means that, accredited conformity bodies have clear-cut technical knowledge as well as the desired expertise regarding what they engage in and, therefore, focus on what they ought to do to ensure quality tests/inspections, goods and services. The end result of all this is that the company with accredited certification will have a marketing advantage over those companies with no accredited certifications. It is this marketing advantage that will push the company into higher heights in any parts of the world.

Finally, accreditation ensures that the company is able to obtain more work from customers since they can prove that they are technically competent, and has the expertise and legitimacy to produce what is required. When a company gains accredited certification, it becomes ready for serious business in any part of the world. In other words, accreditation is not only good for business but also satisfies the requirements for tenders as well as demonstrates the criteria needed to join a list of suppliers which have been approved to be engaged in any envisaged serious business.

All these go to show the value of accreditation in the world of business today. In the light of all these, all companies, be they local or foreign, must endeavour to ensure that they obtain certification, testing or inspection services from only accredited conformity assessment bodies as a way of proving to the world that they have come of age and can deliver based on their technical competence and expertise.

By Dr Kofi Amponsah-Bediako