american firms began to take serious notice of TQM around 1980, when some U.S. POLICY observers argued that JAPANESE manufacturing quality had equaled or exceeded u.s. standards,and warned that japanese productivity would soon surpass that of american firms.
Productivity trends supported these assertions, leading some opinion leaders to predict that
- barring a radical change in american management practices
- japan and other asian countries would soon dominate world trade and manufacturing, relegating the U.S. to second-tier economic status
in particular, these analysts dec