ABSTRACT
Quality is an elusive concept and topic. Much has been said and done in the name of quality, but the underlying features of quality are yet to generate universal agreement.
Philip Crosby, a major contributor to the quality management movement, asserted that ‘quality is free’. His book with the same title published in 1979 made a strong case for doing it right the first time. The idea is simple: if you do things right in the first place, you will not need to pay to fix them, or be forced to re-do them later which would lead to added costs and the loss of reputation and hard-earned trust. The case for getting things right from the outset is compelling, as recent recalls of cars and the grounding of new fleets of aeroplanes demonstrate.
