Including coverage of topics such as diversity, cycle time, creativity, learning organizations and the Internet, this work on quality and competitiveness contains exercises and case studies.

“He who stops getting better has stopped being good. ” Hans Schneider, General Manager of the Siemens Amberg Electronics Factory, Industrial Excellence Award overall winner 2007 There is a general perception that inflexible labor markets and high labor costs are contributing to a massive displacement of manufacturing jobs and investment from Western Europe to Eastern Europe and Asia. The debate in Western Europe is highly charged, but sometimes ill-informed. It is true that some low-skilled jobs are moving into low labor cost countries. On the other hand, many more highly skilled jobs are actually being created in the highly developed countries. The total impact on Western economies is much more complicated, and there is some evidence of important benefits. In this book, we showcase examples of excellent industrial management that has managed to create substantial job growth in manufacturing. This book is based on 14 years’ observation of the Industrial Excellence Award (IEA) in Germany and France, the first ten years of which we summarized in our previous book, Industrial Excellence (Springer 2003), and on an additional five years of obser- tion between 2002 and 2007. We have seen that management’s first and noble responsibility to society is to achieve competitiveness. Competitive organizations create growth and jobs, even in Western Europe. Competitiveness requires clearly articulated strategic positioning, together with excellent execution, and mobili- tion of all employees to apply their abilities and to pull in one direction.

What does "excellent manufacturing management" mean? Management texts to date have emphasized that it is, above methods such as SPC or TQM, a matter of "intangibles" and "culture". This book takes the myth out of management excellence; it can be learned and practiced. First, manage the three core processes, strategy deployment, product and process development, and the supply chain. And secondly, pay attention to the dimension of management quality, direction setting, integration and delegation, communication, participation, measurement, and employee development. This book explains management quality and demonstrates how it is implemented, with ten plant tours through world-class factories from different industries.

Case study research conducted in 1981 in nine US companies and seven Japanese companies.

Quality should be treated as a culture of success in the market. Enterprises focused on quality will survive in the long term in this new environment because quality is what may create a real and robust link between a company and its clients, and these clients should always be considered the heart of any business; without them, there is neither option nor sense to continue any activity in a company. Quality Management for Competitive Advantage in Global Markets is an essential reference source that discusses the importance of quality practices and global market practices. With research that allows practitioners to improve their understanding of the strategic role of quality in the information and knowledge society, it focuses on describing a global economy formed by networks, organizations, teams, workgroups, information systems, and finally, actors in networked environments. Featuring research on topics such as consumer satisfaction, human capital, and quality management, the target audience of this book is composed of professionals and researchers working in the field of information and knowledge management in various disciplines including library, information and communication sciences, administrative sciences and management, education, adult education, sociology, computer science, and information technology. Moreover, the book provides insights and supports executives concerned with the management of expertise, knowledge, information, and organizational development in different types of work communities and environments.

This book examines the ways in which quality management methods, tools, and practices help improve an organization’s performance and achieve sustainable competitive advantages. This volume includes quality techniques and tools such as the EFQM Model, SERVPERF model, E-S-Qual scale and the ISO 9001 certification and provide a wide variety of empirical studies in different economic sectors. In the current economic environment, characterized by economic turmoil and fierce competition, quality management has become a key strategy for organizations to overcome today’s challenges. Organizations benefits from implementing quality management systems by following two approaches. First, they implement quality practices aimed at ensuring customer satisfaction by considering consumer expectations and establishing strategies accordingly. Second, organizations improve processes by establishing efficient and effective process management systems that improve productivity, lower costs, reduce unnecessary expenses, eliminate all non-value added activities, and ultimately maximize excellence and customer satisfaction. Quality management thereby provides tools, techniques, and methods for continuous process improvement in both the professional and academic worlds, which, when implemented by organizations in times of crisis, enable more effective administration of activities undertaken by managers. Containing contributions from various academics and scholars, this new book provides cutting edge research, methods and techniques providing a reference manual for academics, scholars, practitioners and policy-makers.