Quality and its importance

• Quality should not be confused with excellence
• Quality is defined as fitness for a particular purpose
• This refers to the product’s features and characteristics and their ability to meet consumer needs and wants
• It is divided into quality of design and quality of conformance
• The former refers to the product meeting customer’s expectations
• The later refers to the product meeting laid down specifications
• Quality is important because:
  1. It allows the business to compete with its competitors in the market i.e. it gives allows the business to stay competitive
  2. It fosters customer loyalty as rational customers value quality
  3. Boosts the image of the business and creates reputation which results in even more loyalty and sales
  4. It allows the business to comply with regulations and specifications laid down by authorities and regulators
  5. Reduces production costs
  6. Reduces recall costs
  7. Results in improved production methods and techniques
  8. Results in more effective advertisement and marketing
  9. Results in increased sales
• Quality assurance-the maintenance of a desired level of quality in a service or product, especially by means of attention to every stage of the process of delivery or production.
• Quality control-a system of maintaining standards in manufactured products by testing a sample of the output against the specification.
• Quality control is that part of quality assurance concerned with detecting and measuring aspects of quality assurance, comparing this against standards and taking corrective action

To access more topics go to the O Level Business Notes