When I began writing about green business, about 20 years ago, quality — or, more specificially, "total quality management" — popularized by American statistician W. Edwards Deming, was the rage. There were books, magazines, conferences, and untold experts making the rounds, preaching the gospel of kaizen, quality circles, and other business practices. Inevitably, it ran its course.

When TQM faded from the limelight and the business world turned its collective gaze elsewhere, quality didn’t go away; companies didn’t revert to their old, inefficient ways. Quality became part of the fabric, eventually showing up in the form of Six Sigma, lean manufacturing, just-in-time inventory, and other business processes and strategies.

That's long been my analogy for green business, whenever anyone suggests its a fad that will eventually go away. It won't, much as quality hasn't. It's a fundamental change in how business is done.

Now, the two ideas — quality and green — are merging, as we report this week. IBM is aiming its consulting services in that direction, with a new service it calls Green Sigma. It involves a five-step approach: establish performanceindicators, determine which practices to measure, monitor, analyzeresults and identify new areas for improvement.

The morphing of quality and green makes perfect sense. Both have to do with minimizing waste and being more efficient. Both involve continuously measuring and improving one's performance, then doing it all over again.

How is your company managing quality. Does it see green in all that Sigma?

— Joel Makower, Executive Editor

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Please join us for a panel, reception and executive roundtable discussion about California's Green Economy. Hanson Bridgett's Sustainable Business Leadership Forum will provide an investment outlook, explore emerging policies and the economic growth opportunities that are impacting California industry including cleantech, smart transport, green building and sustainable development.