ABSTRACT
Quality is a concept that is very difficult to define. In practice, everyone understands what quality means, and can easily recognize products or services that are either of 'good' quality or of 'bad' quality. If 'quality' is to be applied only to services and products, then consideration must start with early trade. From the early beginning, W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran, both father figures of the American quality movement, developed a deep understanding of quality and the pursuit of perfection by applying quality principles and techniques to processes, and to the management of organizations. Japanese culture is poles apart to that of America. With a technology base that was culturally frozen in time and a burning desire to adopt anything alien from the West, it was not long before centuries of Western development were being consumed, analysed and adopted.
