The Total Quality Corporation: How 10 Major Companies Turned Quality and Environmental Challenges to Competitive Advantage in the 1990s - Hardcover

The premise of this compilation of company profiles rests on the assertion that companies can be more efficient, leaner, and more competitive not only by staying within the letter of the enviromental law but because of it. The companies highlighted by McInerny and White (Beating Japan, Plume, 1994), who have been monitoring performance in America, Japan, and Europe over the last 20 years, have all drawn the connection between waste and quality and have used waste reduction to remove inefficiencies in customer service. There are some surprising profiles, among them Exxon, which aside from the poor clean-up after the Valdez spill is applauded by the authors for keeping environmental and efficiency improvement closely connected. Touting the slogan "green is lean," the authors attempt to demonstrate a cause-and-effect link between high costs and excessive waste. They make a convincing argument throughout by consistently illustrating examples of how waste makes costs increase and how reduction in waste makes for a more efficient organization. Recommended for all libraries.?Randy Abbott, Univ. of Evansville Libs., Ind.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

McInerney and White (Beating Japan) set out to disprove the perception that pollution control is bad for business by tracing the increase in profitability of 10 corporations that took steps to reduce waste. A Nissan car-manufacturing plant in Tennessee eliminated disposable containers from its production process, reducing the amount of its garbage from 20 dumpster loads a day to only one, and developed a paint process that no longer sends solvents into the air. Exxon, saddled with an image problem after the Valdez oil spill in Alaska, began a waste-control program that takes by-products from its refineries and converts them to other uses. Buena Vista Wineries in California switched to organic farming methods. As the authors argue, biodegradable trash bags and compostable diapers are no longer enough; the challenge now is to fuse the desire for a clean environment and desire for profit.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.