There are often huge disparities in performance among rivals that are otherwise similar by the products and services they offer, the markets in which they compete.  Understanding and replicating the same phenomenon is the shared objective of lean, six sigma, TQM, process re engineering and the like.
The disparities in performance are across the board in [...]

I fear Professor Krugman (”The Austerity Debacle,” NY Times, Jan 29) overly simplifies cause and effect between fiscal policy and job growth.  Surely other factors matter in explaining the difference in experiences approximately 100 years apart.
For instance, the sovereign debt crisis affects the progress of economic recovery because of the major jolt of uncertainty and [...]

A question came in: How do we define a QI project for those new to the experience?
Answer:
I strongly encourage you all to look at continuous improvement and the achievement of exceptional performance as the result of a holistic approach to managing complex operating systems and not something achieved by QI projects or particular production control [...]

Harvard Pilgrim’s efforts to redirect patients to lower cost diagnostic tests (Boston Globe, December 20) can be a first step in having healthcare sourcing decisions made based on quality and cost. This depends on the insurer’s recommendations reflecting both quality of care and cost data.  On the other hand, merely rewarding providers who have negotiated [...]

The inability to maintain continuity with a firm’s efforts around continuous improvement, operational excellence, and broad based product and process innovation has to be tied, in part at least, to poor succession planning and process.
Be it the CEO or board, there must be some criteria of critical skills and capabilities that leadership candidates must posses [...]