n 1989, Florida Power & Light (FPL) became the first American company to win Japan’s prestigious Deming Prize for outstanding performance in quality control management. FPL had established a $4 million quality-improvement program in 1985 several years after its company’s chairman visited a Japanese utility company that won the Deming Prize in 1982. Although the award’s sponsor, the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE), opened competition to overseas companies in 1986, no foreign firms applied for the award until 1989 when FPL decided to “go for the gold.” According to FPL’s president at the time, Bob Tallon, applying for the Deming Prize provided FPL’s 14,000 employees with added incentive to accomplish needed quality goals (Kolody, 1989).