He studied Japanese quality management practices and organizations in the 1980s as a Ph.D. candidate in Tokyo. After a stint as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group he returned to academia in 1992 focussing on the Japanese software industry. In 1999 he finished a study on the application of information and communication technology in business processes developing methods for IT-assessment. He has worked closely with several companies, particularly in the software, telecom, retailing, and airline industries.
Information quality is the essential mechanism connecting IT with business performance.
While quality engineering is focused on repetitive operations, services are dominated by routines, which would benefit from a deeper theoretical understanding.