If Japan Can…Why Can’t We? Back to NBC

In June 1980 the broadcast of the NBC White Paper If Japan Can…Why Can’t We? sent major U.S. corporations looking for W. Edwards Deming in his Washington, DC, basement office. They wanted to know what he taught the Japanese. In the 9-minute segment of the documentary about the statistician’s visits to Japan beginning in the 1940’s Dr. Deming snorted, “They want to copy the Japanese, but they don’t know what to copy!”

Dr. Deming challenged American companies in this documentary with questions that continue to be widely ignored or misunderstood thirty years later. The need for continual improvement. A systemic view of the company including customers and suppliers. Dealing with rapid change, growing complexity, and global competition.

DVD copies of the documentary will soon be available from NBC Universal. When it becomes available, we will display a link to the NBC web site.