I don't buy it. The example of ISO9000 for instance. Customers value it because it's cheaper and easier than researching a companie's business practices to see if they're stable and predictably repeatable. When it sucks innovation out of a company long term, that company gradually loses business and control of capital until it goes under. The market effeciently reallocates resources to those who provide the greatest value for least amount of consumed resources. Of course it's not efficient at keeping every company alive and healthy, no matter how wasteful and worthless its products.