These include the three most widely recognised - the European Quality Award, the Deming Prize, and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

According to Allan Lin, managing director of Xerox (HK), it was 'no accident' that along with the awards Xerox had garnered in other countries, it should set a precedent in Hong Kong by being the unanimous winner of the first competition.

Xerox played a seminal role in the field of Total Quality Management (TQM) by bringing the methodology of Japanese companies, which had introduced it to the workplace in the 1950s, to the global business community. Beginning in the 1970s with an unforeseen loss of profits to Japanese competitors, Xerox was the first US corporation to regain market share a decade later by using strategies that resembled rivals' models.

Emphasising greater customer feedback, reduced costs, greater employee involvement and competitive benchmarking the 'Leadership Through Quality' programme had become the prototype for other corporation's TQM programmes, Mr Lin said.

A Xerox veteran of 22 years, he has first-hand experience with the top-to-bottom philosophy of TQM in a number of international offices. After working in Canada, Sweden and London, Mr Lin took up his current position 18 months ago. 'Coming into this workplace, the effect of the award was most evident on the people in the company,' he said.

'More important than the prestige was the impact on our people, a feeling of pride. We leveraged it internally and have been moving forward ever since.' An unexpected effect of the award resulted in a money-making venture for Xerox. In the six years after it took top honours in the HKMA competition, local Xerox managers and executives were overwhelmed by requests for speeches and advice on how to implement TQM.

'Finally, we felt it was too much of a drain so we decided to take it out of the office,' Mr Lin said.

The result was The Quality Institute - a partnership and licensing agreement reached in late 1993 with the Hong Kong Productivity Council to deliver the Xerox copyrighted training to the local marketplace.

'The side business has been successful because, unlike consultants who read about it, we actually do it,' he said.

Mr Lin's advice to would-be HKMA Quality Award winners is simple and direct: 'Unless you're prepared to put in a lot of time, effort, dedication and 'stick- to-itiveness' don't bother. With the fast pace of business in Hong Kong, patience is not a broad streak and the pay-back of TQM is not immediate.'