New information and communication technologies (ICTs) have empowered consumers to such a degree that social networks can be used to criticize a given product or service or warn others to avoid them. For firms that pride themselves on quality this represents a huge opportunity, while for others it has been a nightmare. The latter can no longer hide shortcomings and failings, with the only options being to improve or perish.

In a recent study by Ashwin Srinivasan and Bryan Kurey, discussed in the Harvard Business Review, researchers found that financial incentives were not sufficient to reduce failings. Instead, employees at companies must be made to feel passionate about quality, thus leading to a decline in errors and avoiding criticism. As for end consumers, a survey reported in the study showed that 26% of all those polled confirmed that they had used social networks to express dissatisfaction at some time. Looking at businesses (B2B), 75% of clients said that they had checked social networks and other media prior to choosing a provider.

But just as the margin for error has narrowed for companies as a result of growing consumer empowerment, paradoxically the chances of committing errors has also grown in all industries. This is largely because customers demand quick response times in the modern era. The old practices of "total quality" have been left behind. The study polled quality leaders at 60 multinational companies and a further 850 employees, finding that traditional methods of driving quality, such as financial incentives, training and promoting best practices, had failed to achieve any substantial improvement in production quality. Instead, the researchers found that companies that successfully excelled did so by establishing a culture of quality, in which each employee understands the fundamental importance of quality in the current competitive context and embraces quality by helping each other to improve performance. The study identified 4 actions that can help foster a genuine culture of quality. The first action requires leaders at the organization not only to preach the importance of quality but to lead by example, being the first to embrace excellence.

Secondly, senior management must convey credible messages on what a culture of quality means. Messages need to be creative and updated on a permanent basis. Circulating success stories within organizations will create an atmosphere that is conducive to ongoing improvement.

The third key action is to promote employee involvement in identifying best practices. Competitions between business units can help to raise awareness of a constant need for quality. Finally, firms need to empower employees and ensure that they feel supported when taking on responsibilities, particularly when procedures are not clearly delineated or when they may have to act at their discretion to avoid or handle problems.

By embracing quality as a distinguishing hallmark, firms will have a significant competitive advantage over their peers amid a climate of near zero tolerance for errors.