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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| Formato: | Artículo publishedVersion |
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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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| Sumario: | 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. |
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