The lessons we can learn from Japan when it comes to getting value for money - Nick Palmer

Our challenge in the UK is that global economic impetus is shifting East and we do not understand how to compete with those economies.

My holiday lunch offers some clues.

Last month I visited Japan to learn how the Japanese deliver such superior customer satisfaction and quality.

In the middle of one of the largest cities on earth, I found a sensational lunch that cost about £4. This wasn’t any old meal deal, this was poached salmon fillet, with fresh and pickled vegetables, rice and condiments. It was nutritious, delicious and modestly priced.

To find the equivalent quality in the UK relies on a few specific premium retailers, or an independent. Even if you happened to be near one such retailer, I doubt you could find the equivalent nutritional and taste quality for as little as £4. You might struggle at twice or three times that price.

I did not ‘get lucky’ on a single occasion. This quality and price was available to me everyday in different locations.

At the time of my visit, there was a national crisis in rice supply. That is a big deal in a society like Japan. In those circumstances, how can the Japanese deliver a pre-cooked, rice-based meal in the city centre for such a favourable price?

The answer lies in a relentless desire to improve processes and offer value for money.

Through necessity, the Japanese have developed a customer-satisfaction mindset in every activity they undertake. This discipline is known as Total Quality Management.

Japanese organisations are often designed around collective problem solving and constant improvement to ensure that the customer enjoys outstanding choice and quality. I spent two weeks observing companies that anticipate, research and deliver customer satisfaction to a world class standard.

There are UK businesses that understand this excellence, and who can compete on quality in a global market place. But they are atypical and our economy suffers as a result.

Britain has not had the same necessity to evolve this customer focus as did Japan. We prefer to inspect for quality, rather than design for it. There is a cost difference.

One feature of Total Quality Management is the ability to engage every employee in the organisation. In my experience, British employers struggle to achieve Total Employee Involvement.

Japanese culture is well-suited to this collective endeavour. But to assume that we in the West cannot match Japan simply because of culture is a mistake.

Our society has plenty of world class performers despite not being Japanese. We have Olympic gold medallists living lives of total quality management every day.

If we want lower taxes and an improved quality of living, we could do worse than take quality more seriously in our everyday activities. It is a sobering thought that the competition has a 50 year head start.

Nick Palmer is head of quality management and continuous improvement at bizenko.