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Abstract
The actual emphasis on quality corresponds to two types of tendencies, which are different and, to a certain extent, contradictory : on the one hand requirements are increasing as concerns the intrinsic quality of products ; on the other hand, production and organization methods are going through a deep transformation process. While traditional measures of performances don't take quality explicitly into account, it has of course been necessary to consider both demand and supply of diffrences and of diversity. Differentiation strategies are likely to be conducive to rents. From a practical point of view, the traditionnal compromise giving priority to low price over quality is questioned, to the extent that production techniques and organizational modalities make it possible for those variables to be (more) convergent Parallel to this, demand for quality is more and more a demand for adaptation of the product to the specific needs or requirements of the client or user (customization), so that the service relation is becoming decisive.