What Is The Importance Of Knowledge Economy

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MGMT 1000 MIDTERM NOTES

Week 1
The Importance of Knowledge Economy

Introduction
Continuous learning is an absolute necessity!

Knowledge is Expanding at An Unprecedented Rate
It is changing the nature of society and all aspects of life
Knowledge information began to gain in pace with the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution
We are now living in a completely new world that is generating new modes of perception, communication, and relationship.
World with new rules of economics and social life
We are living in a knowledge economy where the key factors of production reside in the capacities and ingenuity of the human mind.

Week 5
Engaging Customers: Product and Services & The Importance of Quality

Introduction
Commitment to quality and continuous improvement can reduce costs, increase profits and create corporate cultures were continuous learning is the new way of life style.

The Quality Revolution
Continuous improvement is crucial for sustained success.
Quality Revolution: Businesses and services of all kinds can reduce costs and increase profits by improving the quality of products and services.

The Cost Versus Quality Paradox
Old logic: to increase the quality of a product or service, costs of production would have to increase because quality is expensive and difficult to achieve.
New Logic (Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran): when you focus on increasing the quality of a good or service, you can actually reduce costs of production because poor quality ends up being expensive.

Mastering the Paradox
Vicious Loop:
POOR QUALITY – LOW PRODUCTIVITY – DEFECTS AND WASTE MATERIALS – FAULTY UNDERPERFORMING PRODUCTS - CUSTOMERS ANNOYED – DISSATISFIED CUSTOMERS SPREAD THE WORD – NEW CUSTOMERS ARE DISCOURAGED – BUSINESSES FAIL
Result: Low Quality and Poor Profitability
When businesses fail to master the cost versus quality challenge, another business with high quality comes and kicks them out of business.
On average, a satisfied customer is at least 8 times more profitable than a dissatisfied one.

A Caution
When quality gets buried in programs and statistical procedures, effectiveness can get lost.
Two Key Principles to overcome these problems:
1. The pursuit of quality and continuous improvement has to be a core value mindset, not just a program or technique.
2. Pursuit of quality has to break bureaucratic, professional and technical boundaries. It cannot be pursued in isolated pockets.
Quality As a Mindset and Core Value
You have to make the pursuit of quality a core value
You can’t achieve quality just by adopting the latest program or technique; it has to be something deeper because quality knows no compromise.
People have to care, and want to put themselves and their abilities into what they do.
Individuals and organizations achieve extraordinary results when they are driven by the intrinsic value of their work, not just by the push and pull of external circumstances.
EXAMPLES
“Pulling the Cord” at Toyota
After a crisis that put the company close to bankruptcy, a special contract was made with the employees.
Lifetime employment was guaranteed in exchange for a solid commitment to the company.
Any workers that spots a production problem is allowed to “pull a cord” that stops the line creating a way to collaborate and find ways of fixing the problem.
Problem solutions drive continuous learning and innovation.
When quality is the priority, “the cord” is pulled less but the power to pull it always remains.
The Honda Way
Way of doing business based on trust, continuous learning, and open exchange of information.
Founder, Soichiro Honda, encouraged the philosophy: people are always expected to drive to the source of problems, wherever they may be, and fix them on the spot.
Honda employees are valued for their production expertise.
BP Principle: “Best Position…Best Productivity…Best Product…Best Price…Best Partners”
People from Honda partner with