Quality Is All About Customers' Perceptions

Like beauty and truth, quality is in the eye of the beholder, your customer.

"Perception is all there is..." says Tom Peters. "There is only one perceived reality, the way each of us chooses to perceive a communication, the value of a service, the value of a particular product feature, the quality of a product."

Customer Expectations

Customer is defined as anyone who receives that which is produced by the individual or organization that has value. Customer expectations are continuously increasing. Brand loyalty is a thing of the past. Customers seek out products and producers that are best able to satisfy their requirements. A product does not need to be rated highest by customers on all dimensions, only on those they think are important.

Balanced Organization: 5 Basic Elements

Corporate Culture (Earth):

• Customer-focused quality culture and continuous improvement culture established... More

Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is a critical component of profitability.

Customer loyalty is a major contributor to sustainable profit growth. To achieve success, you must make superior service second nature of your organization. A seamless integration of all components in the service-profit chain – employee satisfaction, value creation, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and profit and growth – links all the critical dynamics of top customer service.

Customer Intimacy Works

Customer intimacy starts with a commitment to deliver the best results to each customer. That's why it works.³ Today's customers refuse to be anonymous. They continue to raise the level of their requirements, but their range extends beyond best price and best product. Today's customers want exactly the right selection of products or services that will help them get exactly the total solution they have in mind. Now, more than ever, customers hunger for superior results from the products or services they use. And customer intimacy gives it to them.

Kaizen & Quality Control Circles

TQC is a management tool for improving total performance. TQC means organized Kaizen activities involving everyone in a company - managers and workers – in a totally systemic and integrated effort toward improving performance at every level. It is to lead to increased customer satisfaction through satisfying such corporate cross-functional goals as quality, cost, scheduling, manpower development, and new product development... More

 Case in Point  14 TQM Slogans at Pentel

Pentel is a Japanese firm manufacturing stationary products. The following is a list of 14 Pentel's slogans for explaining Total Quality Management (TQM) and Quick and Easy Kaizen philosophy to its employees.

1. Subscribe to the customer-first concept... More

References:

1. "Extreme Management", Mark Stevens,

2. "TQM - Creating a Continuously Improving Organisation", W.E. Cole and J.W. Mogab

3. "Customer Intimacy", Fred Wiersema