ng automobile manufacturers) considered energy costs unimportant. Energy efficient equipment, appliances and automobiles carried no intrinsic marketing value, and hence were not pursued. The oil embargo brought with it a change in that attitude: consumers at all levels suddenly were very concerned with energy efficiency, and the Japanese automakers were ready to take advantage of the opportunity (Magana-Campos, Aspinwall 427). During the same decade, American companies became aware of increasing competition from the Japanese in a number of markets, especially electronics. Japanese management strategies, including Quality Circles (QC) and Just-In-Time (JIT) manufacturing, were studied by American students on their way to obtaining business degrees, and by American executives trying to maintain market share.
What emerged from these studies was a strategy that encompassed more than just product testing. Every level of successful organizations--that is, organizations that exhibited a high degree of quality--was committed to quality. It was not merely enough to test for errors; each step of the manufacturing process was examined to ensure that errors and the potential for errors were minimized or eliminated. In some cases, that meant physically rearranging a shop floor. In other cases, the product itself might be redesigned. Managers of successful companies learned to seek the counsel of their line employees, and departments learned to communicate their problems and suggestions to each other.
When American students and executives first examined the Japanese commitment to quality, some suggested that the same strategies would not work in American companies: the cultures were too diverse to simply graft the Japanese strategies onto American workers. The Japanese culture emphasizes the needs of the group over the needs of the individual, while American society tends to place the emphasis on the individual. Japanese companies ...