Product quality is one of the leading positioning tools used by marketers for the promotion of their product. Constantly improving the quality of your product and services is essential to remain competitive. While the level of competition in the US, as well as the global industry, has increased a lot, companies have also renewed their focus on quality to maintain the demand for their products and services.
Japanese companies have beenpracticing TQM (Total Quality Management)for a long time and it is an important factor that turned Japan into an economic powerhouse. However, managing quality is not as simple and requires dedication and continued focus on quality improvement.
David A Garvin, a Harvard Business School Professor and a thought leader in the area of organizational learning, emphasized the importance of understanding quality and its various dimensions for business managers in his 1987 research article published in HBR titled,Competing on The Eight Dimensions of Quality.
Garvin noted that it was not until competition from the Japanese and European firms intensified that the US-based companies started focusing on quality seriously.
According to him, the business managers needed to adopt a new way of thinking for Strategic Quality management which was to understand how customers looked at things or a conceptual bridge to the consumers’ vantage point. Managers also needed to seequalityas a business strategy and break it into understandable and manageable parts. Only then could they define the quality niches in which to compete.
Garvin proposed eight critical dimensions of quality, some of which were mutually reinforcing and some not. A product or service could rank high on one dimension of quality and low on the other. Some dimensions were not mutually reinforcing meant that improvement in one dimension could be experienced only at the expense of another.
However, this interplay of dimensions made strategic quality management possible and the only challenge before the managers was to select the dimensions on which they wanted their product or service to compete.
Garvin’s Eight Quality Dimensions:
Performance:
Performance is one of the leading dimensions of quality and most customers judge the product’s quality based upon performance. For example, if you want a television set, you will be looking for factors like sound, picture clarity, colors, etc. This is what performance means in the case of a television set.
However, in thecase of an automobile, there are other factors that help youmeasure performance. Acceleration, mileage, handling, convenience, etc mean performance for an automobile. Nobody likes to buy a noisy car and so low noise is also a sign of quality for an automobile.
In the services industry, for example, the hospitality industry, performance often means prompt and courteous service. Since the performance dimension of quality mainly involved measurable attributes, ranking brands based on these attributes is not very difficult. Developing overall performance rankings is difficult because a product may involve benefits that matter for one segment of consumers but not for the other. Moreover, each benefit does not weigh equally for all groups of consumers.
Features:
Features are the second dimension of quality and often regarded as the second aspect of performance. Features are the characteristics supporting the basic performance of a product or service. For example, by adding free drinks flight services providers improve the appeal of their services.
Automatic updates or automatic light adjustment in a smartphone improves its appeal to users. Separating ‘features’ from ‘performance’ is difficult because drawing a clear line between the two is generally not possible.
The crucial thing is that features involve objective and measurable attributes. For many customers, superior quality means that they have a larger number of options. Furniture stores often offer several varieties in terms of color and fabric quality.
Reliability:
This dimension of quality is also related to the functioning of the product and how likely it is to fail or malfunction during a specific time period. Garvin has highlighted three measures of reliability which are:
- The mean time to the first failure
- The mean time between failures
- The failure rate per unit time
Now, these measures of reliability require a product to stay functional for a given time period and therefore they apply mainly to durable goods instead of the products that are consumed instantly.
If downtime and maintenance are expensive, reliability becomes even important for the customers. For example, hosting services for websites and blogs. The hosts with the least downtime are considered the most reliable and apart from it the ones which provide free CDN services likeKinstaare rated higher in terms of reliability.
Computers, printers and copiersalso compete on this basis as well as farm equipment. Even in the case of automobiles, reliability has become an important product attribute making products more or less attractive in the eyes of the buyer.
Conformance:
Conformance means the ability to meet established standards. The degree to which the design and operating characteristics of a product meet the established quality standards is called conformance.
This dimension of quality owes the most to the traditional approaches to quality that the experts like Professor Joseph M Juran pioneered. Juran’sQuality Management Trilogyhas become the basis for most of the quality management best practices used globally.
There are specifications of some kind related to all products and services. When new designs or models are developed, standards are set for the purity of the raw material and dimensions are set for the parts used. These specifications can be understood as the target standards or centers and deviance from the target or the center is permitted within a specified range only.
Since this approach to conformance implies that good quality means operating within the tolerance range, there is not much interest in whether targets or specifications are exactly met.
However, there is also one drawback of this approach which is the tolerance stack up. If there are two or more parts to be fit together, it is the size of their tolerance that determines how well they will match. In case one of the parts falls within the lower limit of its specifications and the other in the higher limit, the chances of a tight fit are lower. However, Japanese Statistician,Genichi Taguchihas offered an approach to solve this problem.
Durability:
Durability, another dimension of product quality is a measure of product life. It has both economic and technical dimensions. Technically, you can define durability as the amount of use you get from a product before it deteriorates. Take a bulb for example. After prolonged use, the filament of a bulb burns and fails. It is now time to replace it.
Repairing the bulb is not possible. In other cases, the customers need to weigh the expected cost of future repairs, in terms of dollars and personal inconvenience against the price and operating costs of a newer more reliable model. In that case, Durability can be defined as the amount of use you get from a product before it breaks and replacement is better than continued repair.
There are two important implications of this approach to durability. The first important implication is that it suggests that there is a close link between durability and reliability.
A product that fails more often is more likely to be trashed earlier than the one that is less likely to fail or one which is more reliable. A product that often fails will increase your repair costs and there the purchase of a competitive brand is more desirable in such a situation.
Due to this link between reliability and durability companies sometimes also often lifetime guarantee on their products. Here are some great examples of products carrying alifetime warranty. Second, this approach also implies that the durability figures need to be studied and interpreted with care.
However, an increase in product life is not always a result of technical improvements or the use of raw materials with longer lives but rather there may be a change in the economic conditions behind this improvement. For example, an increase in gasoline prices leads to an increase in theproduct life of automobilessince a weak economy and high gasoline prices can lead to a fall in the number of miles driven per year.
Durability varies from brand to brand also. Products of one brand are considered more durable than others. Duracell is considered a more durable product due to higher life than normal batteries. This applies to home appliances also and the wide dispersion inproduct life or durability suggests that there is a higher scope for product differentiation in this area.
Serviceability:
The sixth dimension of quality is serviceability which simply implies the ease of service or repair. However, apart from the ease of repair, speed, courtesy, and competence also matter. The consumer’s concern is what if the product breaks and how much time will it take to restore the services.
Other concerns of the consumer include the timeliness of the service appointments and if the service personnel will keep the appointment and do the servicing in a timely manner as well as the frequency with which repairs fail to correct the problem. If the company fails to provide repair and maintenance services in a timely manner, this will also affect the customer’s perception of the product or services.
Even if a repair restores the service, it is not a guarantee of complete satisfaction. How the company handles complaints is important for its reputation. The approaches used by companies with regard to handling this element of quality vary widely. While some companies do their best to handle complaints, the others try various methods to rebuff the customers.
However, leading companies have recognized that their ability to handle complaints can have a significant impact on their reputation and therefore they offer various channels from which customers can register complaints and get their problems resolved. Leading technology andFMCG companiesuse email,social media channels, websites as well as toll-free numbers to address consumer complaints.
Aesthetics:
The last two dimensions of quality are the most subjective. Aesthetics are a matter of personal judgment and individual preference. How much a customer likes the look, feel, sound, taste or smell ofa product is all a matter of individual preference.
Someone likes a small and quiet car, and another one wants a big car with a loud engine. Since not all people prefer the same flavor or color, companies need to search for a niche. It is impossible to please everyone on this dimension of quality.
Perceived Quality:
Consumers do not always have complete information regarding a product or service’s attributes. Therefore, they use indirect measures to make a comparison. One cannot directly observe durability but can infer it from the various tangible or intangible aspects of the product.
In such a situation, brand name, advertising, and images are critical to building the customers’ perception of quality. Reputation is the main basis for perceived quality. It affects people’s perception of a product deeply.
For example, ifSony makes great televisionsand walkmans, it makes good smartphones also. IfHonda makes great cars, its bikes are also good. It is a kind of unstated analogy where customers compare a new line of products by a company with its existing line of products.
FAQs
What are Garvin's 8 dimensions of quality examples? ›
Garvin proposes eight critical dimensions or categories of quality that can serve as a framework for strategic analysis: Performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics, and perceived quality.
What are the 8 dimensions of service quality with examples? ›The eight dimensions of quality help producers to meet these expectations. It is a strategic management tool that can be used as a framework to analyse characteristics of quality. The eight dimensions are performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics, and perceived quality.
What are the dimensions of quality performance examples? ›Eight dimensions of quality include performance, features, reliability,conformance, durability, serviceabilty, aesthetics, and perceived quality.
Which of the followings are examples of dimension of quality? ›Which of the following is a dimension of 'product quality'? Explanation: There are 9 dimensions of 'product quality'. The dimensions of product quality are performance, features, conformance, reliability, durability, serviceability, responsiveness, aesthetics, and reputation.
What is an example of durability quality? ›Durability. This is a measure of product life – how much use a customer gets from a product before it deteriorates, becomes redundant, or is no longer worth the cost of repair. A pair of beach shoes only needs to last a season, for example, but a piano should outlive its owner.
What are the 5 perspectives of quality by Garvin examples? ›Garvin describes five complementary approaches to defining quality: (1) the trans- cendent approach, (2) the product-based approach, (3) the user-based approach, (4) the manufacturing-based approach (which we will call the “production-based approach” in this article), and (5) the value-based approach.
What is service quality with example? ›Service quality is a measure of how an organization understands its users' needs and fulfills their expectations. Understanding how to improve the service quality of your product is the key step to growth for any organization. Measuring and improving service quality is a valuable art.
What is an example of quality of conformance? ›Quality of conformance is measured within an acceptable tolerance range. For example, if passengers expect a flight to leave within 10 minutes of its scheduled departure date, then any departure time within that time frame has a high quality of conformance, while any longer interval does not.
What are the dimensions of service quality in restaurant examples? ›These attributes represent five dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.
What are the two dimensions of product quality explain with examples? ›There are two basic dimensions of quality: Performance quality measures to what extent a product or service meets the expectations of the customer. Conformance quality measures if processes are carried out the way they were intended to be carried out.
What are the 9 dimensions of quality of a product example? ›
At Zeenea, we believe that the ideal compromise is to take into account nine Data Quality dimensions: completeness, accuracy, validity, uniqueness, consistency, timeliness, traceability, clarity, and availability.
What are the five dimensions of service quality explain with examples? ›| Dimension | Example |
|---|---|
| Responsiveness | The speed of helping customer online or by telephone |
| Assurance | The excellent reputation and high levels of trust based on previous experiences with the company |
| Empathy | Employees' high emphasis on customer requests to achieve higher satisfaction |
Reliability: Perform promised service dependably and accurately. Example: receive mail at same time each day. Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers promptly. Example: avoid keeping customers waiting for no apparent reason.
What are the 8 dimensions of data quality? ›Garvin has developed a framework encompassing eight dimensions of quality: performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics, and perceived quality (Garvin, 1988).
Which of the following is not one of Garvin's 8 dimensions of product quality? ›The correct answer is D) value. The eight dimensions of quality of a given product are as follows: Performance.
What is an example of reliability and durability? ›A durable product lasts a long time. A reliable product works as required. When I buy a shirt, I might be looking for a durable shirt. When I buy a car, I might look for a reliable (and durable) car.
What is an example of durability of materials? ›Brick and stone may generally be regarded as durable materials which with a few exceptions do not require coating for protection. Coatings are more likely to be required for aesthetic reasons; this is especially the case internally where painting will also facilitate cleaning and improve lighting.
What is the durability of your product? ›A product is durable when its degradation takes longer than similar, comparable products (den Hollander et al., 2017).
What are the 5 definitions of quality by Garvin Harvey and Green? ›Garvin (1984) defined five approaches to quality: the transcendental approach; the product-oriented approach; the customer-oriented approach; the manufacturing-oriented approach; and the value for money approach.
What are the 8 perspectives? ›At this point in modern psychology, the varying viewpoints on human behavior have been split into eight different perspectives: biological, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, psychodynamic, sociocultural, evolutionary, and biopsychosocial.
What is an example of a quality? ›
Noun Honesty is a desirable quality. Stubbornness is one of his bad qualities. She has strong leadership qualities.
What is an example of functional quality? ›Functional quality: How the customer receives the service; the expressive nature of the service delivery (e.g. courtesy, attentiveness, promptness)
What is the example of product quality? ›A good product would always have proper finishing without rough edges or poor visual quality. As an example, Phones of good companies are often sleek in design and have good build quality and materials used as compared to low quality phones.
What is an example of cost of conformance? ›Costs of conformance can include activities such as process documentation, training, inspections, and audits. This is money spent to avoid failures. These activities each consume resource hours and thus need to be included in your project schedule, resource assignments, and cost estimates.
What is an example of cost of non conformance to quality? ›Some examples of costs of nonconformances include: Waste — performing unnecessary work because of internal errors, communication problems, and poor organization. Scrap — the cost of a defective product that can't be sold or reused.
What is conformance vs non conformance? ›Cost of Conformance – It is the cost incurred/spent during the project to avoid failures or to ensure quality. Cost of NonConformance – It is the cost incurred/spent during and after the project because of failures due to poor quality.
What are the dimensions of service quality list and briefly explain? ›The five dimensions were: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Tangibles represent the physical facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel. Reliability refers to the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.
What are the dimensions of quality in a product or services? ›The eight product quality dimensions are: performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics and perceived quality.
What is an example of product mix dimensions? ›The length of the product mix is the total number of products that the company is providing to the customers. For instance, if a company has four product lines, and has five products within each product line, then the length of the mix would be 20 (5*4).
What is an example of a product dimension? ›Example. A company sells denim jeans. The item, Jeans, uses the color and size product dimensions. The jeans are sold in three different colors and six different sizes.
Which of the following is an example of two dimensions? ›
A circle, triangle, square, rectangle, and pentagon are all examples of two-dimensional shapes.
What are the example of size dimensions? ›Examples: width, depth and height are dimensions. A line has one dimension (1D), a square has two dimensions (2D), and a cube has three dimensions (3D).
How do you show dimensions on a product? ›All box dimensions are written as length x width x height. For example, 14" x 11" x 4" means 14" (L) x 11" (W) x 4" (H)".
What are the dimensions of process quality explain? ›The two dimensions of process quality are efficiency and effectiveness. Process efficiency is a measure of the ratio of process outputs to inputs. Process effectiveness is a measure of how well a process achieves organizational strategy.
What are the 10 dimension of service quality? ›[24] proposed 10 dimensions for service quality: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, competence, courtesy, credibility, security, access, communication and understanding the customer.
How do businesses with good or excellent quality products and or services benefit? ›In fact, high quality produces a higher return on investment (ROI) for any given market share. Fewer defects or field failures result in lower manufacturing and service costs; as long as these gains exceed any increase in expenditures by the firm on defect prevention, profitability will improve.
Which value dimension is most important? ›The most important value dimension that shapes our sense of self is the individualism-collectivism value dimension. Individuals with an external locus of control tend to emphasize free will, individual motivation, and personal effort and responsibility.
What is an example situation of reliability? ›For a test to be reliable, it also needs to be valid. For example, if your scale is off by 5 lbs, it reads your weight every day with an excess of 5lbs. The scale is reliable because it consistently reports the same weight every day, but it is not valid because it adds 5lbs to your true weight.
What is a simple example of reliability? ›If the same result can be consistently achieved by using the same methods under the same circumstances, the measurement is considered reliable. You measure the temperature of a liquid sample several times under identical conditions. The thermometer displays the same temperature every time, so the results are reliable.
What is an example of empathy in service quality? ›Put yourself in their shoes and imagine how they must be feeling. For example, agreeing with the customer and saying things like “That would frustrate me too”, and “I would be asking exactly the same questions as you are” can all help them to feel understood.
What are the eight 8 characteristics that define data quality? ›
We recommend measuring against these criteria—Accuracy, Validity, Uniqueness, Completeness, Consistency, Timeliness, Integrity, and Conformity. These criteria should also be set up as rules in your Data Quality Management system to maintain high-quality data at all times.
What is the 8 dimensions model? ›Swarbrick's '8 Dimensions' model has been used to craft an effective framework for the pursuit of wellness. In no particular order, these dimensions are: Physical, Spiritual, Social, Intellectual, Emotional/Mental, Occupational, Environmental, Financial.
What is an example of accuracy data quality? ›Data Quality Dimension #4: Accuracy
Accuracy is the degree to which data correctly reflects the real world object OR an event being described. Examples: Sales of the business unit are the real value. Address of an employee in the employee database is the real address.
4. Which one of these is not a component of quality? Explanation: There are 8 components of quality which include reliability, durability, and serviceability. Acceptance sampling is not one of them.
Is Garvin's multidimensional approach a step forward in improving our understanding of quality? ›Garvin's approach is definitely a step forward in improving our understanding of qualitybecause, as he says, “managers must first develop a clear vocabulary with which to discussquality” (Garvin, 1987).
What are the 8 data quality dimensions? ›Garvin has developed a framework encompassing eight dimensions of quality: performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics, and perceived quality (Garvin, 1988).
What are the eight dimensions of health how can each dimension be maintained? ›Wellness comprises of eight mutually co-dependence dimensions: emotional, physical, occupational, social, spiritual, intellectual, environmental, and financial. If any one of these dimensions is neglected over time, it will adversely affect one's health, well-being, and quality of life.
What is an example of serviceability in quality? ›Serviceability involves the consumer's ease of obtaining repair service (example: access to service centers and/or ease of self-service), the responsiveness of service personnel (example: ease of getting an appointment, willingness of repair personnel to listen to the customer), and the reliability of service (example: ...
What is data quality with example? ›Data that is deemed fit for its intended purpose is considered high quality data. Examples of data quality issues include duplicated data, incomplete data, inconsistent data, incorrect data, poorly defined data, poorly organized data, and poor data security.
What is an example of a quality product? ›A good product would always have proper finishing without rough edges or poor visual quality. As an example, Phones of good companies are often sleek in design and have good build quality and materials used as compared to low quality phones.
What is conformance quality vs performance quality? ›
There are two basic dimensions of quality: Performance quality measures to what extent a product or service meets the expectations of the customer. Conformance quality measures if processes are carried out the way they were intended to be carried out.
What are the 8 dimensions of wellness group activities? ›- Physical.
- Intellectual.
- Spiritual.
- Financial.
- Emotional.
- Environmental.
- Occupational.
- Social.
The Eight Dimensions of Wellness are: emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual.
Who identified the 8 dimensions of wellness? ›The Eight Dimensions of Wellness were developed by Dr. Peggy Swarbrick and include: Emotional—Coping effectively with life and creating satisfying relationships. Environmental—Good health by occupying pleasant, stimulating environments that support well-being.