Quality in Business

I'm preparing a 20 minute informative presentation on the concept of
Quality as it relates to business, however I can't find enough
information on the general business concept of quality (I keep getting
irrelevant results- like online stores and manufacturers).

I would like to know some of the key points (4-6 points) that set the
basis for understanding quality as it relates to business practices.

Here are examples that I have come up with; defining quality,
long-term benefits of 'quality' to a business, challenges in
implementing quality, advantages.

So $20 for a crash course on quality: key points behind quality (as
related to business) and the information explaining those points. 
Hopefully a few different sources can be found out there that will get
through my noggin.

*I will be relating this to quality in the automotive industry,
comparing and contrasting the success or failure of
european/japanes/domestic manufacturers (please see my other
question).

*I need this information by the end of the business day if possible.

Thanks,
SteveM

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Request for Question Clarification by journalist-ga on 06 Jul 2004 08:04 PDT

Greetings Stevem9:

Is this the type of information you seek?

"The seven quality principles are as follows: 

Define education quality in terms of outcomes. 
Focus on the process of teaching and learning. 
Strive for coherence in curricula and educational process. 
Work collaboratively to achieve mutual involvement and support. 
Base decisions on facts wherever possible. 
Minimize controllable quality variation. 
Make continuous quality improvement a top priority."

The above is from a paper at
http://www.ugc.edu.hk/english/documents/reports/bangelor.html - it
concerns education but can easily be modified.

Best regards, 
journalist-ga

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Clarification of Question by stevem99-ga on 06 Jul 2004 09:03 PDT

journalist-ga,

That's close to the kind of information I'm trying to find in terms of
key points, but it needs to be geared to business with some
description for each of the points as well.

The author of that paper stated "the principles were distilled from
the business quality literature and then translated..."  So what I'm
looking for is something more along the lines of that type of business
quality literature that he is referencing.

Information out of a text book (or similar) might do the trick.

Thanks for your help so far,
-SteveM

From your question I suspect that what you need to explore is
"excellence" rather than "quality".

The word "quality" can be a major stumbling block when discussing
quality as the word has many meanings - often related to culture,
country in question etc.  It can also have a stigma associated with it
from overuse and from association with "quality accreditation" systems
such as ISO that are more to do with consistency than quality.

In your context a quality product is more likely to be produced by a
business that operates in well understood and well documented ways all
to do with leadership, use of data, focus on customers, people
management, etc.

Have a look at: 

www.efqm.org

for more information.

In relation to "quality" in the auto industry have you come across the
book "the Machine that Changed the World?" - essential reading.

Best wishes!

Don

Hello,

Have you looked at W.E Demings work? He taught14 principals ( amongst
other things) which you will find at the address below. Relates well
to quality in the motor industry also, as his principals were used in
Japan, then america by companies such as Toyota,Ford etc. Goodluck.
 
http://www.deming.org/theman/teachings02.html