premise: The slow development of the innovative universal home remote control system is rather surprising following high expectations this system has raised a decade ago when it was first presented. Whilst having a prototype ready that impressively controlled most of the home electrical appliances using a single, simple and user friendly device, when manufactured in a production line many faults have occurred that were not discovered by the manufacturer quality control systems. The result was devastating. Thousands of these systems were returned by furious clients who paid substantial sums only to find that this luxurious device fails to reliably operate designated appliances and some also activated the wrong electrical device resulting in serious damages. The disastrous launch of the product into the market was largely the fault of line managers who did not commit themselves to ensure the excellence and quality of their work as well as senior managers who have failed to closely monitor the production activities and have focused merely on marketing and P. R.
hypothesis: The initial product to reach the market was a reliable, simple and user-friendly device.