Crosby’s (1972) assertion that “quality is free” is based on the assumption that, for most firms, an increase in prevention costs will be more than offset by a decrease in failure costs. Basically, the logic underlying the cost of quality literature is that for a given set of organizational conditions there is an optimal level of quality. The cost of quality is a measure of the extra cost incurred by the organization because it is either under- or over-performing. It is commonly argued that this can be as much as 20 per cent of net sales (Campanella and Corcoran, 1983).