It is one thing to seek and obtain ISO certification … it is another to maintain the protocols and uphold the practices to deliver consistent quality over time and in changing business and economic conditions. ESN would argue that a tough economy calls for even greater effort to produce quality products. And if managed well, it can also present an opportunity to boost competitive advantage.

1. Issue # 1 - 2014
In a tough economy, quality matters more than ever
When business is harder to come by and boardrooms are talking about cost-cutting and austerity
measures, the temptation to cut corners and save a few euros is high. Such short-term solutions place
undue pressure on quality systems which can have an impact on the company’s performance. Very
quickly this can undermine a company’s reputation and, ultimately, its brand and image as a supplier
of high-quality products or services.
It is one thing to seek and obtain ISO certification … it is another to maintain the protocols and
uphold the practices to deliver consistent quality over time and in changing business and economic
conditions. ESN would argue that a tough economy calls for even greater effort to produce quality
products. And if managed well, it can also present an opportunity to boost competitive advantage.
In this short White Paper, we develop some ideas on what quality means and how benchmarking
becomes all the more important in challenging times like these.
Competitive advantage
In a competition, someone wins and someone loses, but cooperation is win-win for everyone,
suggested William Edwards Deming – a quality management guru famous for his 14-point
management doctrine and many book titles including Out of the Crisis. He was also a major advocate
of the Shewhart Cycle – named after Walter A Shewhart – which is a four-step business management
method to control and continuously improve processes and products. The steps, usually expressed as
the acronym PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act), mean you should start by establishing the aims and
creating a plan, then implement the plan or do the work, including data collection so you can then
check that the results meet expectations, and if not, then you need to take corrective actions to
improve the process.
To ensure each step in the Cycle is respected, it is important to find and keep close those partners,
suppliers and staff who share your company’s quality management values. They should also be aware
and share your vision of not only exiting or surviving a crisis, but doing so stronger than ever and
with a distinct competitive advantage … leaner but hungrier for success.
To obtain this competitive advantage, it is important to carry out a thorough benchmarking
exercise. This means systematically comparing and analysing the overall performance of your
company against indicators (‘benchmarks’) from other – ideally more successful – firms in your line
of business, and sometimes beyond.
The value of this exercise during difficult economic times, in particular, has been documented in a
paper – Review of Applied Socio-Economic Research, Volume 4, Issue 2 – espousing the importance
of benchmarking to level out the consequences of economic crisis.
Engaging employees
Austerity measures can sometimes have a demotivating impact on staff. In companies, especially the
service sector, where employees are a major part of the business value proposition, this can have
consequences on performance and quality levels.
European Service Network
Galerie Ravenstein 4
B-1000 Brussels – Belgium
Phone: +32 (0)2 646 40 20
WHITE PAPER

2. It is vitally important to communicate often and openly about ongoing developments in the market
and how these are affecting business. And to engage and (re)build trust among employees who face
the challenge of often having to do more with less – maintaining (and improving) quality under
budgetary constraints.
Based on a survey of over 100 companies across a variety of industries, the ROI Communication
Benchmark Report suggests that “robust, effective employee communication … leads to better
financial performance”.
Every company has people whose opinions are regularly sought, but the ability to harness the
collective intelligence of a company, systematically consulting staff on matters ranging from
operational to strategic, is where a true competitive advantage can be found. This is echoed by Eric
Wolff, Quality Director at L'Oréal, in comments made on the Qualité Performance portal after his
cosmetics company won a prize for good practices in quality performance in 2013.
More integration
When the economy is tight, it is an ideal time to review processes and workflows, to see whether they
match the new realities, and where and how teams can deliver the same or better quality by working
in a different way or by engaging with other teams.
It builds on L'Oréal’s collective intelligence-gathering idea and transforms it into a collective effort to
improve everything from the internal network infrastructure and communication channels in your
company, to the external, client-facing services and operations. The end result should be more
integrated strategy taking into consideration quality from the beginning to the end of all production
processes.
A large-scale, company-wide effort is needed to streamline methodologies employed on different
products and promote awareness among all those involved (at every step) in the workflow. This
should be seen not only as a ‘reactive’ cost-cutting exercise, but also as a ‘proactive’ opportunity to
optimise processes with a view to continually improving quality.
What’s more, the results of the exercise should be well communicated – beyond usual statements that
your company has ‘ISO-approved’ methods – not only internally but also among trusted partners,
suppliers and customers.
The economic challenges of today are forcing companies to make tough decisions, but the key to
success is to ensure that these decisions leave you in a stronger position to compete in changing global
markets.
European Service Network (ESN) is a Brussels-based ISO-certified communications agency serving
major European institutions, national authorities and corporate clients in diverse sectors. If you are
interested to learn how a service-based organisation like ESN handles the very product and process-
driven ISO regime, get in touch with our quality assurance manager. www.esn.eu/contact