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One of the main criteria in any buying decision is quality. How often do you return to a supplier that provides a sub-standard service? Will you return to a restaurant if the service was poor? Often the problem is not even about the initial product, but the service provided when the product is returned under warranty. Quality is important for any business - the quality of the product, the quality of the service and the quality of the after-sales service.

The traditional thinking was that a business could compete either as a cost or quality leader. But there has been a major paradigm shift over the course of the last thirty years. In the twenty-first century quality counts. A business that sells low quality goods or services is generally doomed to failure. Quality in business is supremely important.

W Edwards Demmings was a key influence in transforming the manufacturing processes and standards. His methods helped Japanese industry to transform itself into a dominant world player. The methods used promoted more efficient processes coupled with statistical controls that by and large eliminated manufacturing defects and their cause as and when they occurred. A Japanese car was delivered to the customer at lower cost and with fewer defects than the US or European equivalent. This was a recipe for success and the west was forced to follow suit. The old division between quality or cost became a thing of the past. Now it was possible to be both a cost and quality leader.

The production methods and process controls introduced by Demmings and other management gurus have resulted in huge gains in efficiency and the elimination of defects. Electronic goods are produced to high standards and sold at ever decreasing prices. The world's cheapest car - the Tata Nano - is produced to high standards at the price of a toy.

Quality is measured not only by the absence of defects but by the overall finish of the product, its durability and reliability. Although many low cost goods are of a high quality, there are often more expensive goods that have additional features, more luxury and so on. A Toyota Corolla is a high quality car, but the Lexus offers much more in terms of luxury, features and status.

The days of buying 'cheap rubbish' as opposed to buying a quality product are almost gone. A business that markets inferior products is unlikely to stay in business for long. There is too much competition for that to happen. A failure in quality can often mean a

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