The quality policy of the CERMAC Consortium aims to achieve the following primary objectives:
- Attaining the satisfaction of member companies in terms of the effectiveness of promotional activities aimed at market development, image enhancement, and international presence.
- Ensuring member company satisfaction regarding the services provided, emphasizing quality, cost efficiency, and accessibility of investments required for internationalization processes.
- Developing the Consortium's image and its base of member companies.
- Assisting member companies in growing on international markets through a conscious process, promoting the adoption of a structured and replicable methodology, and planning specialized training on internationalization skills and tools.
To achieve these goals, the CERMAC Consortium has considered the following reference elements:
- Defining, monitoring, and satisfying the needs of member companies.
- Competence and professionalism of its personnel.
- Managing internal knowledge and data confidentiality.
- Encouraging broad engagement and interaction with all member companies.
- Commitment to increasing the membership base (expanding the number of consortium companies), acting as a catalyst to facilitate the development of more ambitious and effective projects where the collaboration of associated SMEs can give them the strength and organization of larger companies.
- Commitment to creating annual promotional programs that combine feedback from consortium companies with constant assessments of the international economic context.
- Commitment to implementing the promotional programs as defined with the member base.
In particular, for the year 2020 and subsequent modifications, CERMAC aligns its programmatic strategy with a long-established project aimed at supporting its member companies in penetrating emerging and developing markets, as well as consolidating and enhancing the group's image as a specialist in horticultural technology in advanced markets. CERMAC aims to renew its commitment to directing the consortium's resources toward promoting the products of member companies and expanding international relations that have been initiated to date. The Consortium's strategic vision is also based on the awareness of the importance of:
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- Accompanying, whenever possible, participation in trade fairs with the organization of presentation workshops, market visits, and B2B events, which have been successful, especially in emerging and developing markets. This approach allows the collection of real-time valuable data and information for the development of future promotion projects and establishes the Consortium as a highly specialized chain of companies in the agri-food industry with a particular focus on pre- and post-harvest horticulture.
- Pioneering and exploring new markets as a group, especially emerging and developing markets, where group experimentation has been successful.
- Reaffirming promotional actions in geographically and economically related market areas, ensuring continuity in promotional efforts.
- Committing to giving maximum visibility to the Consortium's Quality Policy and its initiatives.
The CERMAC Consortium's Management commits to pursuing the above-mentioned objectives through the appropriate implementation of reference elements and continuously improving the efficiency of the management system. Specifically, regarding organizational growth, the Management aims to engage with companies operating in the Consortium's reference sectors, providing clear information for formalizing membership in the Consortium, operating impartially in managing memberships, and ensuring their continued affiliation.
The above-expressed framework serves as the structural basis for defining and reviewing quality objectives. The Management commits to involving the staff in quality management, providing attention and ensuring availability in this regard. It is the Management's responsibility to ensure that the staff has adequate knowledge of legal and regulatory requirements for services offered to meet the appropriate service delivery standards (e.g., Privacy). The staff should also be constantly trained, updated, and motivated in their interactions with consortium companies. Based on this policy, the Management sets quality objectives, programs, and resources annually, sharing them with the staff. The Management also reviews the quality policy, mandatory requirements, and reference elements at least annually, or as needed, to assess their suitability and make updates for improvement. The Management evaluates the achievement of defined objectives, the progress of promotional programs, any issues related to member management, and assesses opportunities for developing new initiatives and benefits for consortium companies.
Rev. 3 – Approved by the General Assembly of Members on 02-07-2020
Lastly, the Management commits, in general terms, to fulfill the requirements stipulated by the Advanced Level Regional Accreditation.