Quality of products and services remains a major concern among retail and business customers, particularly in the current economic environment. This includes initial quality as well as quality of after-sale customer service. It is critical to ensuring customer retention in an environment where competitive threats proliferate, seemingly at the speed of light.

As the American Society for Quality (ASQ) noted in its Future of Quality Study, perfect quality is not the outcome of chance. In the same way that a company deliberately plans for manufacturing circuit boards, managing call centers, or conducting financial operations, it must deliberately plan for managing quality. Companies must continually improve rather than thinking that they have arrived. The Toyota and Johnson & Johnson recalls have taught us that leaders must manage quality with relentless attention to detail.

This vigilance must be ongoing and must permeate the entire organization. Leaders need to address quality at each step of the process. Engineering must create designs that will result in fewer failures. Materials management must insist on standards of purity for raw materials. Purchasing must select suppliers that have stellar quality programs and performance, and then they must hold these suppliers accountable.

The companies that master the skills of pinpointing and addressing quality issues in each phase of product/service delivery will rise to the top and be able to compete in the years to come.