Read the case study, “The Evolution of Quality at Xerox”

The Evolution of Quality at Xerox
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Case Summary
In the earlier 1950s, up to the end of the 1970s, Xerox dominated the market by being the only corporation in the copier industry. The products from Xerox exhibited an excellent rating because their performance was excellent; therefore, they dominated the market. Xerox, however, started falling when Kodak and IBM joined the industry in the early 1980s, which saw the share of Xerox reduce by fifty percent, considering the market share in which the corporation was initially the dominant player. The enterprises that surfaced to compete with Xerox had to largely concentrate on quality and production of low volume copiers, whereas Xerox remained, performing its previous business process. This caused a lot of product inspection, rework, scrap, wastage, and customer product returns for Xerox.
Kodak and IBM, Xerox’s main competitors, focused largely on quality and production. This aspect caused Xerox to fall behind compared to its competitors, who addressed the manufacturing problems, majored on the larger workforce, and had a larger number of suppliers, unlike Xerox with redundant and complex businesses processes that impacted it with high chances of ceasing the operations (Kerr, 2001). Therefore, Xerox was driven to think of the immediate action to be utilized to recover its smooth operation and ensure competition and continuity in the market; this was meant to prevent Xerox from closing its operations.
Why did Xerox Face a Crisis?
During the 1970’s, Xerox faced a crisis because Kodak and IBM joined the copier business – Xerox’s main market. Additionally, various Japanese corporations launched premium low-volume copiers, a market that had been virtually disregarded by Xerox, and established a basis for shifting into the high-volume market. Furthermore, Xerox was accused by the Federal Trade Commission of unlawfully monopolizing the copier business. Xerox consented, after negotiations, to open ...