It's called The Race To The Bottom, the bottom being The Bottom Line - for the next quarter, with quality spiraling down as The Bottom Line goes up, or at least stays the same.
Somewhere along the line some gnomes now referred to as Wall Street Analysts decide how much each business should make in profits over the next 90 days. If a business falls short of their projected / expected profits the business's stock price drops. Who these people are and how they got this economic power is a mystery. How they keep this power is also a mystery, given Enron etc.. And they've missed some really big ones - Charles Keating and his Savings & Loan Fiasco The Venerable Ronald Reagan Administration made possible. THAT ONE cost US taxpayers a HUGE chunk of change since S&L were Federaly Insured.
There was a time when people bought stock in a company for the annual dividends the stocks brought. Today it's more about speculation - read legalized gambling - that someone will pay more for the stock in the future than you paid to buy it. MicroSoft doesn't pay dividends - nor taxes for that matter - the latter having to do with "tax incentives" presumably intended to encourage "business" and written in to law by "our" representaives in Congress and the Senate.
The probelm with The Bottom Line is the Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned approach to making things. QC costs money - from The Bottom Line. So if buying crappy raw materials contributes to The Bottom Line - at least for the next quarter - then buy crappy raw materials. By the time the consumer discovers that the finished product is crappy - you've got his/her money and you've met The Wall Street Analysts' projected profits. Eventually you'll have to spend more money on advertising to try and persuade the consumer that you've got a New and Improved product - that's not as crappy as your competitors. And on, and on and on and on - to The Bottom.
(snapped the cast iron tool rest on my JET mini/midi lathe. took it to the woodworking show and held up the two parts in front of the JET rep - with a small crowd standing around watching. "My, that certainly shouldn't have happened. Take it back to where you bought it - along with your model number, serial number, receipt etc. and I'm sure they'll replace it - for free" he said. "How about if I just give you this one here and you give me the toolrest on this demo model JET mini/midi lathe so I DON"T HAVE TO SPEND MY TIME REPLACING YOUR DEFECTIVE PART WHICH HAS MADE THE JET PRODUCT I PAID FOR A USELESS, HEAVY, FLOOR SPACE WASTING CHUNK OF METAL!" - I "suggested". "I'm afraid I can't do that - sir. But I'm sure our distributor, from whom you purchased it, will be glad to replace it - at no charge." -said the rep, turning away to engage another potential customer, now retreating.)
charlie b