In today’s fast-paced global economy, companies must embrace a new way of leveraging quality for it to stay globally competitive. Major challenges must be addressed such as increased speed, aggressiveness and quantity of global competition; rapid business cycles and fluctuations in national and international markets; customer demand of an increasingly higher standard of quality value; accelerated changes in processes for manufacturing, product development and customer service to meet these customer demands; and state of the art technology in a range of business activities – from global distribution and supply to computer-based (e-commerce) purchasing of products and services.

More and more companies are now making the quality as their language in conducting business. Quality leadership is now greatly expected by customers and they are now demanding as ever. Different technologies are now readily available to facilitate and streamline the conduct of business. Quality dictates a company to align all aspects of its operations – design, manufacture, distribution and service of products and services – in very specific customer value terms. Company processes must be focused, established, led and maintained to achieve customer-value based success.

Quality today has become a foundation for constant management innovation and leadership, which is integral in explaining the international growth of quality. For these companies to meet the demands of the international business environment and maintain their quality competitiveness, they must use their strength and leadership in five quality process areas: (1) more powerful practices to develop and launch new products by providing consistent customer value throughout the company’s global markets; (2) more effective management of suppliers and purchasing activities that address internationalization and outsourcing – which would not only limit to the suppliers but also in strategic partnership with competitors for them to be able to have a buying power and exchanges of expertise areas; (3) more consistent motivation of human resources to support quality initiatives and recognition of the importance of technology and how it emphasizes the roles and responsibilities everyone plays throughout the company; (4) a renewed emphasis on the economics of quality; and (5) development of new strategic and operational leadership of quality itself.

These emphasize on a higher and higher standard of quality value in products and services by these organizations – and the quality know-how on which this standard is based – is integral to economic, social and technological growth of today’s global economy.