QUALITY AND GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS

PART 1 Power—and sometimes even justice—flows from the muzzle of a gun. Global competitiveness does not. We are witness today of two lumbering giants, the Soviet Union and the U.S., crossing the finishing line of an historic ideological contest, only to find that global attention has been drawn to a vastly different competitive area. The visceral survival issues implicit in the arms race have been preempted by the race for global market position. It is a contest, not for life, but lifestyle. It is a contest, not for nation‐state sovereignty, but for appeals made to sovereign consumers. The scramble for world‐class trade position depends, critically, on the capacity to produce world‐class products. We have won the cold war. We are losing, because of the neglect of quality, the cold peace.