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In focusing on tight management of direct costs many businesses are overlooking the savings and increased profitability to be made by unravelling complexity, says Clive Jeanes.

As European division managing director of Milliken, Clive Jeanes was at the forefront of the industrial fabric maker's development of quality management for 22 years until his retirement in 1995. He led Milliken Europe to the European Quality Award (EQA) in 1993, four years after its US parent had been presented with a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Explains how companies such as Milliken, have turned their minds to quality. Discusses how the inability to change basic assumptions guiding a company, helps explain why so many quality initiatives fail. Asserts the mindset challenge is to shift the focus of change from the manipulation of systems and structures to seeing the world from the customer′s perspective, and implementing programmes to meet these new requirements. Describes one organization that is meeting the challenge and how the company has changed. Concludes that everyone working for the company understands that their success in business depends on totally satisfying the customers.

Describes how Milliken’s European Division became a customer‐focused, total quality driven management business. Highlights changes in management and organizational culture since 1981. The company now sees quality management as the responsibility of all staff. It has developed a flatter organization, with correspondingly larger spans of control and responsibility and authority exercised at much less senior levels. There are stronger relationships with both customers and suppliers, with a much smaller supplier base. Just‐in‐time manufacturing has been adopted to respond quickly to short‐term changes in demand while keeping work‐in‐progress stocks at the lowest possible level. The company encourages a culture of continuous improvement and, above all, of understanding and then meeting the needs of the customer.

Assesses current views on the validity of benchmarking. Outlines the creation of the European Foundation for Quality Management and the European Quality Award. Finds that there is a growing realization that the promotion of successful companies and the sharing of information is mutually beneficial.

In an age when everything is moving at a faster pace and change has become the order of the day, companies large and small have to be more alert to the opportunities and threats that could make or break them. British Steel has raised the business awareness of all its employees and is nurturing a learning culture by placing great emphasis on education and training. However, stand‐alone training programmes, to be fully effective, have to be part of an integrated strategy for quality improvement. Outlines the efforts of one part of British Steel, the Coated Products group of works within the Strip Products portfolio, which has developed and implemented a co‐ordinated multifaceted approach to continuous improvement through its people.

Many companies are spending large sums of money and considerable management effort in pursuit of one or more of the recognized quality awards. There are, however, critics who question whether it is all worthwhile. Reviews the experiences of speakers at the BPICS Conference, relating their approaches to and rewards from, BS 5750, the Baldrige Award, the European Quality Award and the UK Best Factory Awards to determine whether the payback justifies the effort. While winning awards is a measure of success, it is recognized as no substitute for achieving both profit and delighted customers. However, it appears that the process of taking part does deliver worthwhile benefits to the companies.

Like it or not, change is inevitable if you are to survive. Far better to instigate change than allow other people to inflict it on you. To anticipate the future has to be good to allow time to implement change rather than having to react to it. This appears quite simple, but is it? This special themed issue of Management Decision contains a number of examples of how organizations have managed change. Lessons can be learned from other industries than your own with regard to best practice and basic principles which can then be applied to your own organization..

In an increasingly global and competitive environment, an organization’s long‐term survival may depend on improved quality, productivity and customer service. The pressing need to improve competitiveness has resulted in a number of transnational and national quality awards. In broad terms, these awards stress the importance of management process, customer satisfaction, people and total quality to the attainment of superior competitive position. Describes, compares and highlights the key strengths and weaknesses of the following four major national and transnational quality awards: the Deming Application Prize; the European Quality Award (EQA); the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award (Baldrige Award); and the Australian Quality Award (AQA). Discusses the key requirements of each award and their underlying assumptions and impacts. The awards reviewed represent one of the principal devices used to encourage adoption of self‐assessment, total quality concepts, and external focus in four different continents. To spread good total quality practice the awards publicly recognize the achievements of the organizations which have successfully adopted the concepts of total quality management. The winners serve as useful role models for other organizations intent on adopting total quality management practices. The quality awards reviewed are arguably the premier award in their respective continents.