Since 2004 Shoji Shiba has been working with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to bring the methods of breakthrough management to the manufacturing industry in India. As part of that activity he and CII have been developing a program known as Visionary Leaders in Manufacturing (VLFM). CII also acted as publisher for this book in India, subsidized by Shoji Shiba so the book could be sold essentially for its cost of printing.
In the spring of 2008, Sarita Nagpal (Deputy Director General of CII), Shoji Shiba, and I agreed to try another experiment—an experiment in keeping with the “give-give” principle taught as part of VLFM. We offered to make the print files for this book available free of charge to quality organization throughout the world (members of the World Alliance for Quality and perhaps others). These organizations have the option of printing the book locally at a price matched to the local economy (or giving it away free) and keeping any profits to benefit the organization. Several quality organizations have accepted our offer; and we have great hopes that this experiment will help with the Alliance’s mission of having great impact on quality, broadly defined and world wide.
Since making our offer in 2008, five organizations have accepted our offer:
