A COMPARISON OF QUALITY ATTITUDES IN THE USA AND JAPAN: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE.

This article presents a comparison of the quality attitudes of executives of American and Japanese firms. The authors note that the Japanese have been identified as achieving high levels of success in industries involving high volume repetitive manufacturing and have done so while maintaining superior quality. They note that one strategic measure that has helped the Japanese maintain this level of performance is just-in-time production. They discuss the distinction of management attitudes that assume quality is free and those who believe quality has a price. They test their idea that Japanese managers will favor the former notion while American managers will prescribe to the latter.