W. Edwards Deming Quotes

To succeed in business you need to be original, but you also need to understand what your customers want.

I think that size is not the key to innovation. Scale doesn't confirm an innovation advantage.

When [competitors are] in the shower in the morning, they're thinking about how they're going to get ahead of one of their top competitors. Here in the shower, we're thinking about how we are going to invent something on behalf of a customer.

I think there's a need for somewhat of a mindset change. We need to have a consistent external focus. We've always had the research labs. We've always had the resources to be innovative, and we've been innovative in a number of businesses. But, in any big company, you have to constantly push people to look at markets and customers, rather than look internally at themselves.

Every day were saying, 'How can we keep this customer happy?' How can we get ahead in innovation by doing this, because if we don't, somebody else will.

No other area offers richer opportunities for successful innovation than the unexpected success.

A company's best advantage should be a quality product offered at the right price. That fair competition is what drives innovation.

Most of what we've done at SurveyMonkey is create a market, which I would say is much harder than trying to enter a market that already exists. But if you get it right, it can become a great business.

Management innovation is going to be the most enduring source of competitive advantage. There will be lots of rewards for firms in the vanguard.

To ensure we are meeting the demands of existing customers while also attracting new users, we remain focused on building cutting-edge technology and introducing new and innovative product offerings.

If you're competitor-focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor doing something. Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering.

No nation has embraced Total Quality Management, e-commerce and e-government with greater enthusiasm than Dubai. Such innovations have given Dubai a competitive edge and an accelerated growth rate that few could match.

I was determined to make Renaissance Man Food Services and Herschel's Famous 34 major players in a very tough industry.

We've had three big ideas at Amazon that we've stuck with for 18 years, and they're the reason we're successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient.

The way to be successful in the software world is to come up with breakthrough software, and so whether it's Microsoft Office or Windows, its pushing that forward. New ideas, surprising the marketplace, so good engineering and good business are one in the same.

In 17 years, we have built a business that has revolutionized the industry, with innovation at its core. I am confident that the partnership between Getty Images and the Carlyle Group will see the company's success continue.

In the bar and restaurant industry, you're always one idea away from your next quarter-million.

'First to market' is simply a demarcation on a calendar. It really doesn't mean anything.

A. T. Stewart started life with a dollar and fifty cents. This merchant prince began by calling at the doors of houses in order to sell needles, thread and buttons. He soon found the people did not want them, and his small stock was thrown back on his hands. Then he said wisely, "I'll not buy any more of these goods, but I'll go and ask people what they do want." Thereafter he studied the needs and desires of people, found out just what they most wanted, endeavored to meet those wants, and became the greatest business man of his time.

Market leaders inevitably slip into decline when they tell the people what they want instead of giving the people what they want.

Any business that does not innovate will fail over time.

We need to move from comparative advantage to perpetual advantage.

A successful business must have a sound knowledge of its market and work on how its product or service will be different, stand out and improve people's lives. If you can ensure it responds to a real need in the market place, your business can punch well above its weight.

Companies that build scale for the benefit of their customers and shareholders more often succeed over time.

You need to spend all of your time and energy on creating something that actually brings value to the people you're asking for money!