Improving Quality of Corporate Governance
Quality Times, July 2001

Quality has long been understood to be a discipline that satisfies customer expectations. Phil Crosby defines it as conformance to requirement. This definition is a legacy of industrial economy. In the warp speed economy of today the role of quality is not so much as conformance to customer requirements but anticipating and exceeding customer requirements.

Who are Corporation’s Customers?
The question is who are company’s customers. Employees have already been recognized as the company’s internal customers. It is now universally accepted that satisfaction of external customers largely depends on the satisfaction of internal customers. With globalization of economies, it is time that this definition is broadened to include investors, shareholders, creditors and vendors as well.
The ultimate role of quality is to add value for the customer. In the new economy the value addition caused by improvement in quality of product is increasingly facing the law of diminishing returns, Wispy entities such as information, entertainment securities & derivatives have become far more important value creators than tangible goods like steel, construction, automobiles or food products.