Abstract:

One of the elements in Japan's economic success following World War II was the introduction and development of Quality Control. The Japanese way of dealing with QC activities is unique in that it involves participation of all members of the organization. This paper examines the Japanese involvement with the recent trend of Customer Satisfaction and its relationship to Quality Control. A mail survey was conducted among major Japanese corporations on the level of their QC and CS activities and the integration of both, as well as the attitudes toward CS. Among the findings, the manufacturing industry is much more active in QC than the non-manufacturing industry. CS is being implemented independently in the non- manufacturing industry while in the manufacturing industry, it is being implemented as an extension of, or as an integral part of Total Quality Control. With respect to CS measurement, Japanese companies, while interested in CS, are for the most part applying the traditional Japanese market research approach of using their sales force to obtain the 'raw' voice of the customer, and this will most likely be the continuing trend for some time.