There is something to this, but Japan's national obsession with quality was apparent early in its post-war industrialisation, when it adopted the teachings of W. Edwards Deming, an American quality-control guru.
Bill Vogt and Robert Town conducted a comprehensive survey of the literature in 2006, and found that there is no apparent correlation between mergers and health-care quality.
Since then, many Labour politicians have come up with elaborate excuses to opt out of the comprehensive system as it became apparent that these new schools were not delivering the high-quality education that had been promised.