Monday, September 30, 2013

Sustaining High Quality and Excellence - Journey Vs Destination

Perseverance, sustenance, leadership etc., are some of the key attributes of any successful company.  Today's world is going through  economic recessions  and an unpredictable business environment. For example, a company that was a world leader 10 years before is no more in existence.  Another company that was started just a year before is a Top 3 leader in that segment.  Also, there are companies which are several decades old and are still are the segment leaders.  We are seeing all these business scenarios today.  What makes companies sustain their high quality and excellence skills and capabilities is the question asked by Paul.  He also asks the question, do companies perceive high quality and excellence as a journey or a destination?

Successful companies focus on fundamentals of business: continuous improvement, sound quality practices, planning for tomorrow, promote the culture of new ideas and innovation and ensure effective communication across stakeholders.  To remain competitive, while companies adhere to its traditional corporate culture, they also has to keep itself differentiated from current and upcoming competition.  In today's world, one cannot clearly predict who is the real competitor - because the real one may still be on the making.

The Corning Glass case study is an example of a great company that looks at excellence as a journey, which started almost three centuries before.  Business transformations, innovation, focus on performance excellence and a good use of quality tools seems to be key success mantra for Corning Glass.

There are pioneers and leaders of the past who, unfortunately, are not present in the business map today - examples are Netscape, Hollywood Videos and Blockbuster.  It is to be noted that Netscape pioneered the Internet browser while Blockbuster started and had the world's largest video rental business.  Other companies such as Borders, Harry & David, Nokia and BlackBerry are not doing well in business today.  Few years back, all these companies offered good quality products and services, but could not sustain the journey of excellence.

Modern companies such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple are continuously working on their product and service innovations and differentiating themselves from others.  They are at the Top right now and envisioning the journey to sustain excellence and high quality.

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