Quality in Business Perspective

Individuals perceive quality in different ways. Some define it as freedom from

deficiencies and variations. Others view is as related to attributes or values while some may

ponder that quality is about the supremacy or excellence of a product or service. Nowadays,

organizations will agree that the main purpose to practice quality is to achieve customer

satisfaction. The American National Standard Institute (ANSI) and the American Society f or

Quality (ASQ) (as cited in Evans, J., 2014) defines quality as “the totality of features and

characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy given needs”. The

ISO 9001 (2015) specified that quality management system needs to show its ability to

constantly deliver products and services that meets the customers’ expectation and related

statutory and regulatory requirements. Evans (2014) said that managers had accepted that

the “quality of management” is as essential as the “management of quality”. The definition of

quality may vary depending on the position of an individual in the value chain. It depends

whether the perspective is on the customer, the product designer, or the manufacturer and

service provider.

There are many ways on how the customers perceive quality. Some are basing it on

popularity and some are basing it on the price. Shewhart (1931) initially defined quality as

the product goodness. This sight is referred to as transcendent or rising above beyond the

ordinary bounds. Prakash (2013) discussed that customer typically assume that a product

must be of exceptional quality. In this manner, it cannot be measured absolutely if a product

or service exceeds what is set to as the ordinary limit. This perspective relies on the

judgement of the direct user and consumer of the product or service. It is related to the

assessment of a product as a result of the marketing or branding created by the produce rs.

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The quality is being based on how the product was introduced and continuously presented

in the market.

Quality is also perceived by the customer to be related to price. In this perspective,

the consumers have the tendency to think that the higher price of a product or service is, the

higher its quality. This is typical on purchasing a car. Tesla cars are more expensive than

Toyota cars. If the buyer can afford to buy a Tesla car, the buyer would most likely prefer to

buy it over the Toyota car.

Prakash (2013) explained that each attribute or characteristic of a product which

defines one kind of article is a quality of that article. He further said that the more detailed

we make the description the more we will understand the purpose of the product and

differentiate it from other goods in the same class. There is a need for comparison of a

product or service in order to assess its quality.

On another note, consumers are also looking into the usefulness of the product or

service relative to a lower price. This means that a product or service with lower price and

with the same effectiveness, are deemed to have a higher quality than that of products or

services with higher prices. In the article of Prahalad and Hammond (2002) it was mentioned

that Hindustan Lever, a subsidiary of Uniliver introduced a new product for the market at a

low cost price. This is a confectionary product made of real sugar and fruits. At first, the

company did not expect that the product will produce marginal results. However, within the

span of six months, the candy became the quickest growing category in their product line.

They even estimated that the product has a potential to generate revenue of $200 million per

year. This can prove that some people are patronizing goods with cheaper price but can give

them the same satisfaction compared to expensive ones.

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 On the next perspective, the designer considers that individuals have different wants

and needs. Quality, therefore, is defined based not on its price nor on its image but on what

the customer will require. They are the ones who will state the description and requirements

that will later on be developed (Paraschivescu, 2014). The designer sees how a product or

service fits its intended use. Quality must not only be seen on the final result, it must be

included in the design processes (Paraschivescu, 2014). An example of this is when a

consumer buys a furniture for a studio unit condominium. Although larger furniture may have

higher performance and durability characteristics, the buyer will opt to purchase smaller

furniture that would fit in a studio unit.

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