Reputations for poor quality last for a long time and good or

CHAPTER 1: Understanding bad reputations can become national or international. Yet the
management of quality can be learned and used to improve
quality reputation. For any organization, there are several aspects of
reputation which are important:
1. It is built upon the competitive elements of being ‘On-
QUALITY, COMPETITIVENESS AND CUSTOMERS
Quality; On-Time; On-Cost’.
2. Once an organization acquires a poor reputation for product
or service quality or reliability, it takes a very long time to
Good quality performance has always been a key strategic change it.
factor for business success but it is now more than ever required to 3. Reputations, good or bad, can quickly become national
compete successfully in the global markets of the twenty-first reputations.
century. Many organizations have adopted a range of improvement 4. The management of the competitive weapons, such as
approaches in response to these forces. We have seen the growing quality, can be learned like any other skill and used to turn
adoption of a range of quality and management systems standards, round a poor reputation.
the emergence of total quality management (TQM), business
process re-engineering (BPR), business excellence, performance Before anyone will buy the idea that quality is an important
excellence, Lean thinking, Six Sigma, statistical process control, consideration, they would have to know what was meant by it.
etc, etc. The battle weary could be excused from taking a rather
jaundiced view of this ever-lengthening list of ‘quality’ offers but,
by and large, they share many of the principles and elements that
are found in TQM.
Whatever type of organization you work in these days – a bank,
a hospital, a university, an airline, an insurance company, local
government, a factory – competition is rife: competition for
customers, for students, for patients, for resources, for funds. Any
organization basically competes on its reputation – for quality,
reliability, price and delivery – and most people now recognize that
quality is the key to achieving sustained competitive advantage. If
you doubt that, just look at the way some organizations, even
whole industries in certain countries, have used quality
strategically to win customers, obtain business resources or
funding and be competitive. Moreover, this sort of attention to
quality improves performance in reliability, delivery and price.
What is quality? • ‘Quality should be aimed at the needs of the
Quality starts with understanding customer needs and consumer, present and future’ – Deming, another
ends when those needs are satisfied. ‘Is this a quality early doyen of quality management.
watch?’ Pointing to my wrist, I ask this question of a • ‘The total composite product and service
class of students – undergraduates, postgraduates, characteristics of marketing, engineering,
experienced managers – it matters not who. The answers manufacture and maintenance through which the
vary: product and service in use will meet the
expectation by the customer’ – Feigenbaum, the
• ‘No, it’s made in Japan.’ first man to publish a book with ‘Total Quality’ in the
• ‘No, it’s cheap.’ title.
• ‘No, the face is scratched.’ • ‘Conformance to requirements’ – Crosby, an
• ‘How reliable is it?’ American consultant famous in the 1980s.
• ‘I wouldn’t wear it.’ • ‘Degree to which a set of inherent characteristics
Quality is often used to signify ‘excellence’ of a product fulfils requirements’ – ISO (EN) 9000:2000 Quality
or service – people talk about ‘Rolls-Royce quality’ and Management Systems – Fundamentals and
‘top quality’. If we are to define quality in a way that is Vocabulary.
useful in its management, then we must recognize the Reliability is the ability to function satisfactorily over a
need to include in the assessment of quality the true period of time and it is this aspect of performance. It is
requirements of the ‘customer’ – the needs and the ability of the product or service to continue to meet
expectations. the customer requirements. Reliability ranks with quality
in importance, since it is a key factor in many purchasing
Quality then is simply meeting the customer requirements decisions where alternatives are being considered.
and this has been expressed in many ways by other authors:
It is important to realize that the ‘meeting the
• ‘Fitness for purpose or use’ – Juran customer requirements’ definition of quality is not
• ‘The totality of features and characteristics of a restrictive to the functional characteristics of products or
product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy services.
stated or implied needs’ – BS 4778. 1987 (ISO By consistently meeting customer requirements, we
8402, 1986) Quality Vocabulary; Part 1, can move to a different plane of satisfaction – delighting
International Terms. the customer. There is no doubt that many organizations
 have so well ordered their capability to meet their to feed the early morning travelers on the short domestic
customers’ requirements, time and time again, that this flight into an international airport, she was not thinking of
has created a reputation for ‘excellence’. A development quality problems. Having stopped at the row of seats
of this thinking regarding customers and their satisfaction marked 1ABC, she passed the first tray onto the lap of the
is customer loyalty, an important variable in an man sitting by the window. By the time the second tray
organization’s success. had reached the lady beside him, the first tray was on its
way back to the hostess with a complaint that the bread
Research shows that focus on customer loyalty can
roll and jam were missing. She calmly replaced it in her
provide several commercial advantages:
trolley and reached for another – which also had no roll
• Customers cost less to retain than acquire. and jam.
• The longer the relationship with the customer, the The calm exterior of the girl began to evaporate as she
higher the profitability. discovered two more trays without a complete breakfast.
• A loyal customer will commit more spend to its Then she found a good one and, thankfully, passed it
chosen supplier. over. This search for complete breakfast trays continued
• About half of new customers come through referrals down the aeroplane, causing inevitable delays, so much
from existing clients (indirectly reducing acquisition so that several passengers did not receive their breakfasts
costs). until the plane had begun its descent. At the rear of the
Many companies use measures of customer loyalty to plane could be heard the mutterings of discontent. ‘Aren’t
identify customers which are ‘completely satisfied’, they slow with breakfast this morning?’ ‘What is she
would ‘definitely recommend’ and would ‘definitely doing with those trays?’ ‘We will have indigestion by the
repurchase’. time we’ve landed.’
The problem was perceived by many on the aeroplane
to be one of delivery or service. They could smell food
UNDERSTANDING AND BUILDING THE QUALITY CHAINS
but they weren’t getting any of it, and they were getting
really wound up! The air hostess, who had suffered the
embarrassment of being the purveyor of defective product
The ability to meet the customer requirements is vital, and service, was quite wound up and flushed herself, as
not only between two separate organizations, but within she returned to the curtain and almost ripped it from the
the same organization. hooks in her haste to hide.
When the air stewardess pulled back the curtain A problem of quality? Yes, of course, requirements
across the aisle and set off with a trolley full of breakfasts not being met, but where? The passengers or customers
suffered from it on the aircraft, but in part of another quality PA service. Does the air steward receive from the
organization there was a man whose job it was to supplier to the airline the correct food trays in the right
assemble the breakfast trays. On this day the system had quantity, at the right time?
broken down – perhaps he ran out of bread rolls, perhaps
he was called away to refuel the aircraft perhaps he didn’t
know or understand, perhaps he didn’t care.

Do you recognize the situation? Does it not happen

every day of the week – possibly every minute
somewhere in manufacturing or the service industries? Is
it any different in banking, insurance, health services?
The inquisition of checkers and testers is the last bastion
of desperate systems trying in vain to catch mistakes, stop
defectives, hold lousy materials, before they reach the
external customer – and woe betide the idiot who lets
them pass through!
Two everyday incidents, but why are events like these Throughout and beyond all organizations, whether they be
so common? The answer is the acceptance of one thing – manufacturing concerns, banks, retail stores, universities,
failure. Not doing it right the first time at every stage of hospitals or hotels, there is a series of quality chains of
the process. customers and suppliers (Figure 1.1) that may be broken at any
Why do we accept failure in the production of point by one person or one piece of equipment not meeting the
artefacts, the provision of a service, or even the transfer requirements of the customer, internal or external. The
of information? In many walks of life we do not accept it. interesting point is that this failure usually finds its way to the
We do not say, ‘Well, the nurse is bound to drop the odd interface between the organization and its outside customers,
baby in a thousand – it’s just going to happen’. We do not and the people who operate at that interface – like the air hostess
accept that! – usually experience the ramifications. The concept of internal
In each department, each office, even each household, and external customers-suppliers forms the core of total
there are a series of suppliers and customers. The PA is a quality management.
supplier to the boss. Are the requirements being met?
Does the boss receive error-free information set out as it A great deal is written and spoken about employee motivations as
is wanted, when it is wanted? If so, then we have a a separate issue.
In fact the key to motivation and quality is for everyone in the Meeting the requirements
organization to have well-defined customers – an extension of If quality is meeting the customer requirements, then this has
the word beyond the outsider that actually purchases or uses the wide implications. The requirements may include availability,
ultimate product or service to anyone to whom an individual delivery, reliability, maintainability and cost-effectiveness,
gives a part, a service, information – in other words the results among many other features. The first item on the list of things to
of his or her work. do is find out what the requirements are. If we are dealing with
customer-supplier relationship crossing two organizations, then
Quality has to be managed – it will not just happen. Clearly the supplier must establish a ‘marketing’ activity or process
it must involve everyone in the process and be applied charged with this task.
throughout the organization. Many people in the support
functions of organizations never see, experience or touch the Marketing processes establish the true requirements for the
products or services that their organizations buy or provide, but product or service. These must be communicated properly
they do handle or produce things like purchase orders or throughout the organization in the form of specifications.
invoices. If every fourth invoice carries at least one error, what
image of quality is transmitted to customers? The marketing process must of course understand not only the
needs of the customer but also the ability of their own
organization to meet them.
Failure to meet the requirements in any part of a quality chain
has a way of multiplying and a failure in one part of the system Internal supplier-customer relationships are often the most
creates problems elsewhere, leading to yet more failure, more difficult to manage in terms of establishing the requirements. To
problems and so on. The price of quality is the continual achieve quality throughout an organization, each person in the
examination of the requirements and our ability to meet them. quality chain must interrogate every interface as follows:
This alone will lead to a ‘continuing improvement’ philosophy. Customers
The benefits of making sure the requirements are met at every • Who are my immediate customers?
stage, every time, are truly enormous in terms of increased • What are their true requirements?
competitiveness and market share, reduced costs, improved • How do or can I find out what the requirements are?
productivity and delivery performance, and the elimination of • How can I measure my ability to meet the
waste. requirements?
• Do I have the necessary capability to meet the
requirements?
 (If not, then what must change to improve the Quality of design
capability?) We are all familiar with the old story of the tree swing (Figure 1.2),
• Do I continually meet the requirements? but in how many places in how many organizations is this chain of
(If not, then what prevents this from happening, activities taking place? To discuss the quality of – say – a chair it is
when the capability exists?) necessary to describe its purpose. What it is to be used for? If it is to
• How do I monitor changes in the requirements? be used for watching TV for 3 hours at a stretch, then the typical
office chair will not meet this requirement. The difference between
Suppliers the quality of the TV chair and the office chair is not a function of
• Who are my immediate suppliers? how it was manufactured, but its design.
• What are my true requirements? Quality of design is a measure of how well the product or service is
• How do I communicate my requirements? designed to achieve the agreed requirements. The beautifully
• How do I, or they, measure their ability to meet the presented gourmet meal will not necessarily please the recipient if
requirements? he or she is travelling on the motorway and has stopped for a quick
• Do my suppliers have the capability to meet the bite to eat. The most important feature of the design, with regard to
requirements? achieving quality, is the specification. Specifications must also exist
• Do my suppliers continually meet the requirements? at the internal supplier-customer interfaces if one is to achieve a
• How do I inform them of changes in the total quality performance. For example, the company lawyer asked
requirements? to draw up a contract by the sales manager requires a specification
The measurement of capability is extremely important as to its content:
if the quality chains are to be formed within and without
an organization. Each person in the organization must
also realize that the supplier’s needs and expectations
must be respected if the requirements are to be fully
satisfied.
To understand how quality may be built into a
product or service, at any stage, it is necessary to examine
the two distinct, but interrelated aspects of quality:
• Quality of design
• Quality of conformance to design.
 foreign exchange fluctuations do not cripple the
company’s finances. The business of sitting down and
agreeing a specification at every interface will clarify the
true requirements and capabilities. It is the vital first stage
for a successful total-quality effort.

Quality of conformance to design

This is the extent to which the product or service achieves
the quality of design. What the customer actually receives
should conform to the design, and operating costs are tied
firmly to the level of conformance achieved. Quality
cannot be inspected into products or services; the
customer satisfaction must be designed into the whole
system. The conformance check then makes sure that
things go according to plan.
 A high level of inspection or checking at the end
is often indicative of attempts to inspect in
Figure 1.2 quality. This may well result in spiraling costs and
Quality of design decreasing viability.
 The area of conformance to design is concerned
largely with the quality performance of the actual
operations. It may be salutary for organizations to
1. Is it a sales, processing or consulting type of contract? use the simple matrix of Figure 1.3 to assess how
2. Who are the contracting parties? much time they spend doing the right things right.
3. In which countries are the parties located? A lot of people, often through no fault of their
4. What are the products involved (if any)? own, spend a good proportion of the available
5. What is the volume? time doing the right things wrong. There are
6. What are the financial aspects, e.g. price escalation? people (and organizations) who spend time doing
the wrong things very well, and even those who
The financial controller must issue a specification of
the information he or she needs, and when, to ensure that
 occupy themselves doing the wrong things wrong,
The things we do
which can be very confusing!
Right Wrong

MANAGING QUALITY
Thewaywedothem
Right

Every day two men who work in a certain factory

scrutinize the results of the examination of the previous
day’s production, and begin the ritual battle over whether
the material is suitable for dispatch to the customer. One Wrong
is called the production manager, the other the quality
control manager. They argue and debate the evidence
Figure 1.3
before them, the rights and wrongs of the specification, How much time is
and each tries to convince the other of the validity of his spent doing the right
argument. Sometimes they nearly start fighting. things right?
This ritual is associated with trying to answer the
question, ‘Have we done the job correctly?’, correctly
being a flexible word, depending on the interpretation
given to the specification on that particular day. This is
not quality control, it is detection – wasteful detection of
bad product before it hits the customer. There is still a
belief in some quarters that to achieve quality we must
check, test, inspect or measure – the ritual pouring on of
quality at the end of the process. This is nonsense, but it
is frequently practiced. In the office one finds staff
checking other people’s work because they expect errors,
validating computer data, checking invoices, word
processing etc. There is also quite a lot of looking for
things, chasing why things are late, apologizing to
customers for lateness and so on. Waste, waste, waste!
 To get away from the natural tendency to rush into the Once we have established that our process is capable of
detection mode, it is necessary to ask different questions meeting the requirements, we can address the next question,
in the first place. We should not ask whether the job has ‘Do we continue to do the job correctly?’ which brings a
been done correctly, we should ask first ‘Are we capable requirement to monitor the process and the controls on it. If
of doing the job correctly?’ we now re-examine the first question, ‘Have we done the job
correctly?’ we can see that, if we have been able to answer
Quality and processes the other two questions with a yes, we must have done the
job correctly. Any other outcome would be illogical. By
A process is the transformation of a set of inputs
asking the questions in the right order, we have moved the
into outputs that satisfy customer needs and expectations,
need to ask the ‘inspection’ question and replaced a strategy
in the form of products, information or services.
of detection with one of prevention. This concentrates
Everything we do is a process, so in each area or function
attention on the front end of any process – the inputs – and
of an organization there will be many processes taking
changes the emphasis to making sure the inputs are capable
place.
meeting the requirements of the process. This is a
The output from a process is that which is transferred
managerial responsibility and is discharged by efficiently
to somewhere or to someone – the customer. Clearly to
organizing the inputs and its resources and controlling the
produce an output that meets the requirements of the
processes.
customer, it is necessary to define, monitor and control
the inputs to the process, which in turn may be supplied
These ideas apply to every transformation process; they
as output from an earlier process. At every supplier-
all must be subject to the same scrutiny of the methods, the
customer interface then there resides a transformation
people, skills, equipment and so on to make sure they are
process (Figure 1.4), and every single task throughout an
correct for the job.
organization must be viewed as a process in this way.
In every organization there are some very large processes
– groups of smaller processes often called core business
The so-called ‘voice of the customer’ is a
processes- activities the organization must carry out
fundamental requirement to good process management
especially well if its mission and objectives are to be
and the ‘voice of the process’ provides key feedback to
achieved. It is crucial if the management of quality is to be
the supply side of the process equation:
integrated into the strategy for the organization.
right Suppliers + correct Inputs = correct Outputs +
satisfied Customers (SIPOC).
The control of quality can only take place at the point of
operation or production – where the letter is word-processed,
 the sales call made, the patient admitted or the chemical  The marketing processes of an organization must take
manufactured. The act of inspection is not quality control. the lead in establishing the true requirements for the
When the answer to ‘Have we done the job correctly?’ is product or service. Having determined the need, the
given indirectly by answering the questions of capability and organization should define the market sector and
control, then we have assured quality, and the activity of demand, to determine such product or service
checking becomes one of quality assurance – making sure features as grade, price, quality, timing, etc.
that the product or service represents the output from an  The organization will also need to establish customer
effective system to ensure capability and control. requirements by reviewing the market needs,
particularly in terms of unclear or unstated
Quality control then is essentially the activities and expectations or preconceived ideas held by
techniques employed to achieve and maintain the quality of a customers. It is central to identify the key
product, process, or service. It includes a monitoring activity, characteristics that determine the suitability of the
but is also concerned with finding and eliminating causes of product or service in the eyes of the customer. This
quality problems so that the requirements of the customer are may, of course, call for the use of market research
continually met. techniques, data gathering and analysis of customer
Quality assurance is broadly the prevention of quality complaints.
problems through planned and systematic activities  Excellent communication between customers and
(including documentation). These will include the suppliers is the key to a total quality performance; it
establishment of a good quality management system and the will eradicate the ‘demanding nuisance/idiot’ view of
assessment of its adequacy, the audit of the operation of the customers, which even now still pervades some
system and the review of the system itself. organizations. Poor communications often occur in
the supply chains between organizations, when
neither party realizes how poor they are.
 All the efforts devoted to finding the nature and
timing of the demand will be pointless if there are
failures in communicating the requirements
throughout the organization promptly, clearly and
accurately.
QUALITY STARTS WITH UNDERSTANDING THE NEEDS
 The marketing processes should be capable of producing a 4. Evidence that the organization is capable of meeting
formal statement or outline of the requirements for each product customer requirements.
or service. This constitutes a preliminary set of specifications,
which can be used as the basis for service or product design.
The information requirements include:
1. Characteristics of performance and reliability – An essential component of a ‘customer relationship
these must make reference to the conditions of use management’ system for the analysis of demand is that this
and any environmental factors that may be important. data is channeled quickly into the appropriate areas for
2. Aesthetic characteristics, such as style, colour, action and, if necessary, response.
smell, task, feel, etc. There are various techniques of research, which are
3. Any obligatory regulations or standards outside the scope of this book, but have been well
governing the nature of the product or service. documented elsewhere. It is worth listing some of the most
 The organization must also establish systems for common and useful general methods that should be
feedback of customer information and reaction, and considered, both externally and internally:
these systems should be designed on a continuous • Surveys – questionnaires, etc.
monitoring basis. Any information pertinent to the • Panel or focus group techniques
product or service should be collected and collated, • In-depth interviews
interpreted, analysed and communicated, to improve • Brainstorming and discussions
the response to customer experience and • Role rehearsal and reversal
expectations. • Interrogation of trade associations.

One aspect of the analysis of market demand that extends

back into the organization is the review of market readiness of a QUALITY IN ALL FUNCTIONS
new product or service. Items that require some attention include
assessment of:
1. The suitability of the distribution and customer-service For an organization to be truly effective, each
processes. component of it must work properly together. Each part,
2. Training of personnel in the ‘field’. each activity, each person in the organization affects and
3. Availability of ‘spare parts’ or support staff. is in turn affected by others. Errors have a way of
multiplying, and failure to meet the requirements in one
part or area creates problems elsewhere, leading to yet Managements that rely heavily on exhortation of the
more errors, yet more problems and so on. The benefits workforce to ‘do the right job right the first time’, or
of getting it right first time everywhere are enormous. ‘accept that quality is your responsibility’, will not only
Quality, the way we have defined it as meeting the fail to achieve quality but may create division and
customer requirements, gives people in different conflict. These calls for improvement infer that faults are
functions of an organization a common language for caused only by the workforce and that problems are
improvement. It enables all the people, with different departmental or functional when, in fact, the opposite is
abilities and priorities, to communicate readily with one true – most problems are interdepartmental. The
another, in pursuit of a common goal. When business and commitment of all members of an organization is a
industry were local, the craftsman could manage more or requirement of ‘organization-wide quality improvement’.
less on his own. Everyone must work together at every interface to
Some of the most exciting applications of TQM have achieve improved performance and that can only happen
materialized from groups of people that could see little if the top management is really committed.
relevance when first introduced to its concepts. Following
training, many different parts of organizations can show
the usefulness of the techniques. Sales staff can monitor
and increase successful sales calls, office staff have used BIBLIOGRAPHY
TQM methods to prevent errors in word-processing and
improve inputting to computers, customer-service people
have monitored and reduced complaints, distribution has Beckford, J., Quality, A Critical Introduction (3rd edn),
controlled lateness and disruption in deliveries.
Routledge, London, 2007.
It is worthy of mention that the first points of contact
Crosby, P.B., Quality is Free, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1979.
for some outside customers are the telephone operator,
Crosby, P.B., Quality Without Tears, McGraw-Hill, New York,
the security people at the gate or the person in reception.
1984.
Equally the e-business, paperwork and support services
Dale, B.G. (ed.), Managing Quality (5th edn), Philip Alan, Hemel
associated with the product, such as websites, invoices
and sales literature and their handlers, must match the Hempstead, 2007.
needs of the customer. Clearly TQM cannot be restricted Dahlgaard, J.J., Khanji, G.K. and Kristensen, K., Fundamentals of
to the ‘production’ or ‘operations’ areas without losing Total Quality Management, Taylor & Francis, Oxford, 2007.
great opportunities to gain maximum benefit. Deming, W.E., Out of the Crisis, MIT, Cambridge, Mass., 1982.
Deming, W.E., The New Economies, MIT, Cambridge, Mass., • Reputations for poor quality last for a long time, and good or
1993. bad reputations can become national or international. The
Feigenbaum, A.V., Total Quality Control (4th edn), McGraw-Hill, management of quality can be learned and used to improve
New York, 2004. reputation.
Garvin, D.A., Managing Quality: The Strategic Competitive Edge, • Quality is meeting the customer requirements, and this is not
The Free Press (Macmillan), New York, 1988. restricted to the functional characteristics of the product or
Ishikawa, K. (translated by D.J. Lu), What is Total Quality service.
Control? The Japanese Way, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, • Reliability is the ability of the product or service to continue
NJ, 1985. to meet the customer requirements over time.
Juran, J.M. and DeFeo, J.A., Juran’s Quality Handbook, • Organizations ‘delight’ the customer by consistently meeting
McGraw-Hill, New York, 2010. customer requirements, and then achieve a reputation of
Kehoe, D.F., The Fundamentals of Quality Management, Springer ‘excellence’ and customer loyalty.
(Chapman & Hall), London, 1996.
Murphy, J.A., Quality in Practice (3rd edn), Gill and MacMillan, Understanding and building the quality chains
Dublin, 2000. • Throughout all organizations there are a series of internal
Price, F., Right Every Time, Gower, Aldershot, 1990. suppliers and customers. These form the so-called ‘quality
Stahl, M.J. (ed), Perspectives in Total Quality, Quality Press, chains’, the core of ‘company-wide quality improvement’.
Milwaukee, 1999. • The internal customer/supplier relationships must be
managed by interrogation, i.e. using a set of questions at
every interface. Measurement of capability is vital.
• There are two distinct but interrelated aspects of quality,
design and conformance to design. Quality of design is a
measure of how well the product or service is designed to
CHAPTER HIGHLIGHTS achieve the agreed requirements. Quality of conformance
to design is the extent to
which the product or service achieves the design.
Quality, competitiveness and customers Organizations should assess how much time they spend doing
• The reputation enjoyed by an organization is built by quality, the right things right.
reliability, delivery and price. Quality is perhaps the most
important of these competitive weapons.
Managing quality Quality in all functions
• Asking the question ‘Have we done the job correctly?’ • All members of an organization need to work together on
should be replaced by asking ‘Are we capable of doing the organization-wide quality improvement. The co-operation
job correctly?’ and ‘Do we continue to do the job correctly?’ of everyone at every interface is necessary to achieve
• Asking the questions in the right order replaces a strategy of improvements in performance, which can only happen if
detection with one of prevention. the top management is really committed.
• Everything we do is a process, which is the transformation
of a set of inputs into the desired outputs.
• In every organization there are some core business processes
that must be performed especially well if the mission and
objectives are to be achieved. They are defined by SIPOC –
suppliers-inputs-process-outputs-customers.
• Inspection is not quality control. The latter is the
employment of activities and techniques to achieve and
maintain the quality of a product, process or service.
• Quality assurance is the prevention of quality problems
through planned and systematic activities.

Quality starts with understanding the needs

• Marketing processes establish the true requirements for the
product or service. These must be communicated properly
throughout the organization in the form of specifications.
• Excellent communications between customers and
suppliers is the key to a total quality performance – the
organization must establish feedback systems, such as
CRM, to gather customer information.
• Appropriate research techniques should be used to
understand the ‘market’ and keep close to customers and
maintain the external perspective.