Quality Wars: The Triumphs and Defeats of American Business

What is quality? How can we achieve and sustain it? In this impressive study, Main, formerly a Fortune magazine editor, focuses on total quality management's (TQM) quest for the ``holy grail.'' Main's coverage of the need for TQM is intriguing. As American corporations grew bigger and older, they became self-destructive, he notes. Studying some key TQM corporations and leaders (Roger Milliken; Motorola's Robert Galvin) in depth, he also examines ways in which TQM can be harnessed by government and the professions. ``Fumblers'' (corporations that ``have been trying for quality for years without succeeding'') are also profiled. Main, weaving a rich tapestry free of statistics and math, has provided a sophisticated view of TQM. (May)