This article provides comparative histories of three countries regarding the formation and evolution of the support system for productivity/quality improvement. The countries covered are Japan, Singapore, and Tunisia, representing three modes of leadership: private sector, government, and aid donor, respectively. By comparing these three cases, we will illustrate different domestic conditions (historical backgrounds and subjective conditions), the modality and role of external assistance, and the interactions between them in the process of adaptation of imported ideas/schemes to local conditions. The important findings are as follows:

Japan

1. Domestic conditions: Experiences of corporate and academic activities from 1910s on regarding scientific management and the existence, at the end of the war, of awareness of the importance of productivity/quality improvement and of organizational capabilities to carry out the task in the process of corporate reconstruction and development.

2. External assistance: US government provided lecture series on quality control and corporate management, followed by initiatives by Japanese private organizations on the invitation of salient scholars (Drs. Deming and Juran) from US and on the dispatches of study groups to US.

3. Agent of adaptation: Private organizations played a central role in the adaptation of imported ideas and schemes to the conditions of Japanese businesses in the development and dissemination of TQC/TQM and QC circles.

Singapore

1. Domestic conditions: The government established clear strategies for industrial development and exerted effective leadership in the formation and restructuring of the support system for productivity/quality improvement.

2. External assistance: Received assistance from UN organizations over 1960s-70s and from Japan during the 1980s.

3. Agent of adaptation: The Singaporean authorities made judgements as to the relevance and adequacy of external assistance and made decisions and demands on adaptation.

Tunisia

1. Domestic conditions: The government lacks a clear policy on productivity/quality improvement and fails to provide adequate resources for the establishment of a support system

2. External assistance: Assistance on ISO from EU and on the establishment of a productivity/quality organization from Japan.

3. Agent of adaptation: External providers of assistance took leadership.

It is hoped that the above-mentioned three aspects in the formation and evolution of the support system for productivity/quality improvement would serve as a useful check list in the review and design of assistance in the area of productivity/quality improvement, as in JICA's on-going campaign for the promotion of KAIZEN as Japan Brand.