The Creation and Consolidation of the Argentine Quality Plan

This paper examines the Argentine Quality Plan (Plan Calidad Argentina, PCA), launched in 2016 as a policy experiment to address Argentina’s fragmented quality infrastructure and strengthen export competitiveness. PCA represented the first explicit alignment of the National Quality System with an ex...

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Autores principales: Hallak, Juan Carlos, Gutman , Matias
Formato: Artículo publishedVersion
Publicado: Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política (IIEP UBA-CONICET) 2025
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Acceso en línea:https://ojs.economicas.uba.ar/DT-IIEP/article/view/3495
https://repositoriouba.sisbi.uba.ar/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.cgi?a=d&c=dociiep&d=3495_oai
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spelling I28-R145-3495_oai2026-02-09 Hallak, Juan Carlos Gutman , Matias Hallak, Juan Carlos Gutman , Matias 2025-12-15 This paper examines the Argentine Quality Plan (Plan Calidad Argentina, PCA), launched in 2016 as a policy experiment to address Argentina’s fragmented quality infrastructure and strengthen export competitiveness. PCA represented the first explicit alignment of the National Quality System with an export development strategy, fostering coordination among stakeholders of the system, particularly its three pillars—metrology (INTI), standardization (IRAM), and accreditation (OAA)—, and promoting sectoral quality improvement initiatives. Using a historical-institutional approach, the paper describes PCA’s creation and consolidation, as well as its continuity through successive governments. PCA enhanced coordination, expanded accreditation and certification capacities, and positioned quality policy as a tool for international insertion. However, political turnover, fiscal constraints, and weak high-level support constrained its sustainability. The Argentine experience highlights the importance of bottom-up policy design, trust-building among stakeholders, and resilient governance mechanisms to strengthen national quality policy. More broadly, it illustrates how coordinated quality systems can become a driver of competitiveness in developing countries. Este trabajo examina el Plan Calidad Argentina (PCA), lanzado en 2016 como un experimento de política pública para abordar la infraestructura de la calidad fragmentada del país y fortalecer la competitividad exportadora. El PCA representó el primer alineamiento explícito del Sistema Nacional de la Calidad con una estrategia de desarrollo exportador, fomentando la coordinación entre los actores del sistema, particularmente sus tres pilares —metrología (INTI), normalización (IRAM) y acreditación (OAA)—, y promoviendo iniciativas sectoriales de mejora de la calidad. Utilizando un enfoque histórico-institucional, el artículo describe la creación y consolidación del PCA, así como su continuidad a través de gobiernos sucesivos. El PCA mejoró la coordinación, amplió las capacidades de acreditación y certificación, y posicionó la política de calidad como una herramienta para la inserción internacional. Sin embargo, el recambio político, las restricciones fiscales y el débil apoyo de alto nivel limitaron su sostenibilidad. La experiencia argentina destaca la importancia del diseño de políticas “de abajo hacia arriba”, la construcción de confianza entre los actores y mecanismos de gobernanza resilientes para fortalecer la política nacional de calidad. En términos más amplios, ilustra cómo los sistemas de calidad coordinados pueden convertirse en un impulsor de competitividad en países en desarrollo. https://ojs.economicas.uba.ar/DT-IIEP/article/view/3495 Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política (IIEP UBA-CONICET) Derechos de autor 2025 Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.es Documentos de trabajo del Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política; Vol. 1 Núm. 108 (2025): La creación y consolidación del Plan Calidad Argentina; 24 Working Papers series at Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política; Vol. 1 No. 108 (2025): The Creation and Consolidation of the Argentine Quality Plan; 24 2451-5728 Quality infrastructure quality policy coordination Plan Calidad Argentina Infraestructura de calidad política de calidad coordinación Plan Calidad Argentina The Creation and Consolidation of the Argentine Quality Plan La creación y consolidación del Plan Calidad Argentina info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion https://repositoriouba.sisbi.uba.ar/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.cgi?a=d&c=dociiep&d=3495_oai
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-145
collection Repositorio Digital de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA)
topic Quality infrastructure
quality policy
coordination
Plan Calidad Argentina
Infraestructura de calidad
política de calidad
coordinación
Plan Calidad Argentina
spellingShingle Quality infrastructure
quality policy
coordination
Plan Calidad Argentina
Infraestructura de calidad
política de calidad
coordinación
Plan Calidad Argentina
Hallak, Juan Carlos
Gutman , Matias
Hallak, Juan Carlos
Gutman , Matias
The Creation and Consolidation of the Argentine Quality Plan
topic_facet Quality infrastructure
quality policy
coordination
Plan Calidad Argentina
Infraestructura de calidad
política de calidad
coordinación
Plan Calidad Argentina
description This paper examines the Argentine Quality Plan (Plan Calidad Argentina, PCA), launched in 2016 as a policy experiment to address Argentina’s fragmented quality infrastructure and strengthen export competitiveness. PCA represented the first explicit alignment of the National Quality System with an export development strategy, fostering coordination among stakeholders of the system, particularly its three pillars—metrology (INTI), standardization (IRAM), and accreditation (OAA)—, and promoting sectoral quality improvement initiatives. Using a historical-institutional approach, the paper describes PCA’s creation and consolidation, as well as its continuity through successive governments. PCA enhanced coordination, expanded accreditation and certification capacities, and positioned quality policy as a tool for international insertion. However, political turnover, fiscal constraints, and weak high-level support constrained its sustainability. The Argentine experience highlights the importance of bottom-up policy design, trust-building among stakeholders, and resilient governance mechanisms to strengthen national quality policy. More broadly, it illustrates how coordinated quality systems can become a driver of competitiveness in developing countries.
format Artículo
publishedVersion
author Hallak, Juan Carlos
Gutman , Matias
Hallak, Juan Carlos
Gutman , Matias
author_facet Hallak, Juan Carlos
Gutman , Matias
Hallak, Juan Carlos
Gutman , Matias
author_sort Hallak, Juan Carlos
title The Creation and Consolidation of the Argentine Quality Plan
title_short The Creation and Consolidation of the Argentine Quality Plan
title_full The Creation and Consolidation of the Argentine Quality Plan
title_fullStr The Creation and Consolidation of the Argentine Quality Plan
title_full_unstemmed The Creation and Consolidation of the Argentine Quality Plan
title_sort creation and consolidation of the argentine quality plan
publisher Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política (IIEP UBA-CONICET)
publishDate 2025
url https://ojs.economicas.uba.ar/DT-IIEP/article/view/3495
https://repositoriouba.sisbi.uba.ar/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.cgi?a=d&c=dociiep&d=3495_oai
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