Showing papers on "Quality (business) published in 1972"

Consumer Expectations, Product Performance, and Perceived Product Quality:

Abstract: This study experimentally investigated the effects on product ratings of both overstatement and understatement of product quality. Results support common marketing practice in that overstatement re...

Quality Variation When Prices are Regulated

Abstract: Quality has been a neglected area of public utility regulation analysis. Many authors are uneasy about the quality levels that result from regulation but they frequently can only conclude that "it is uncertain whether consumers found this quality to be worth the price they paid."

Seeking health care from new resources.

Abstract: Middle-aged and elderly individuals using health care facilities from new resources provided information on the interpersonal network they employed in reaching such decisions. Specifically, we examined factors affecting the networks employed, their composition, the quality of ties that characterized the interaction within networks, and the effect that such networks had on decisions reached. The findings modify and extend earlier inquiries that focus on lay-referral systems and personal-influence networks as these relate to decision making.

Quality of group communication as a determinant of group product

Abstract: This study examined the relationship between quality of communication and the product of the small group. The purposes of the study were (1) to manipulate the quality of communication in problem‐solving groups, (2) to determine whether groups actually experienced communication of varying quality, and, if so, (3) to determine whether groups experiencing high quality communication produced a high quality product. Quality of communication was measured by the Leathers Feedback Rating Instrument. Quality of product was measured by a new Productivity Rating Instrument developed for this study. Results showed a strong, positive relationship between quality of communication and group product.

Planning Physical Distribution Operations with Dynamic Simulation

Abstract: Considerable management attention has focused on system redesign and operational improvement in traditional physical distribution practices. Management’s primary concern in this area has been the increased complexity, cost, and importance of quality customer service in modern marketing. (1) This article reviews a dynamic simulation model, LREPS (Long-range Environmental Planning Simulator), which is capable of simulating the physical distribution system of a manufacturing firm engaged in national distribution of packaged goods. The model’s purpose is to assist management in physical distribution system design.

The Effect of Unit-Pricing on Choices of Brand and Size in Economic Shopping

Abstract: M OST consumer research has been concerned with how knowledge of consumer behavior patterns can direct the firm in the development of marketing strategy and policies. However, relatively little research has investigated how policies of the firm can be beneficial to the consumer in his buying behavior.1 This article examines unitpricing as a potential aid to consumers. It reports a study designed to determine the effect of unit-pricing on the ability of consumers to choose the most economical brand and size in a product class. Unit-pricing, a retail pricing policy, is designed to aid primarily the economy-minded consumerthat consumer who is interested in minimizing the cost of a single purchase or set of purchases without regard to quality. Its benefits seem to exist primarily in the purchase of grocery items. When a good is unit-priced, its price is expressed in terms of the cost per unit of measure of the product in addition to its total price. For example, with unit-pricing a consumer would know that a ten-ounce container of instant coffee priced at $1.65 costs 16.5 per ounce. The numerous brands and sizes of grocery items now available to the consumer often make it difficult for her to determine the lowest unit-cost item in a product class. Therefore, unit-pricing should enable the value-conscious shopper to better determine the item with the lowest unit-price.

Service Quality Profile: Development of a Technique for Measuring Quality of Mental Health Services

Abstract: Mental health service quality is divided into nine variables. These are physical environment, administrative structure and procedures, staff training and qualifications, staff commitment and morale, patient integrity and safety, appropriateness of treatment, patient satisfaction, short-term outcome, and relative cost. The Service Quality Profile consists of an agency's scores for each of the variables. Work is in progress on appropriateness of treatment, patient satisfaction, and short-term outcome. Use of the Service Quality Profile can considerably strengthen the capability of public administrators and community representatives to allocate resources in a rational manner.

Managing the Quality of Reference/Information Service

Abstract: A brief review of measurements of reference/information service in libraries leads to the observation that few measures have dealt with the service product from the user's point of view. The late fifties saw the beginning of tests of reference efficiency. In the late sixties, unobtrusive (hidden) testing of the quality of service was begun. The majority of this paper is devoted to describing the method of such unobtrusive measurement. Findings are reported briefly as dramatic illustration of the need for further investigation. Finally, applications are proposed. The method can be seen as a quality control, with value both for the monitoring of service quality within a library and for establishing nationwide standards.

System for control of construction quality

Abstract: A methodology is proposed for defining and accomplishing the quality control tasks required on regulated heavy construction projects. The system receives input in the form of objectives of the owner, designer and constructor, together with social pressures in the form of building codes and construction permit stipulations. A quality control matrix is presented as a device for digesting and presenting these requirements. A linear responisbility chart is offered as a convenient technique for describing the delegation of resopnsibility and authority. Management tools in the form of a Quality Control Manual, procedures, inspection manuals, and subsystem flow diagrams are suggested for use in carrying out the day-to-day business of administering the quality control effort. The system seeks to present a method for determining the optimum approach for achieving a balanced total construction quality control effort.

Taste‐testing of beer for quality control*

Abstract: Although quality control relies increasingly on chemical and instrumental methods it will continue to rely critically upon taste testing. Tasting tests can be considered in three broad categories: discrimination tests, descriptive tests and preference tests (which are not relevant to quality control). Discrimination tests, including the 2-glass, 3-glass and duo-trio, are used very widely but have weaknesses that limit their value for quality control; with non-expert tasters a carefully-designed 2-glass drinking test seems to be advantageous. Among descriptive tests, the flavour profile method (sensory analysis) can give large amounts of quantitative information. Recent results illustrate the value of this information for the quality control of different batches of beer produced in the same brewery or in different breweries. Collaborative work is suggested to unify the development of the flavour profile method for beer. Knowledge obtained from flavour profiles has been used in devising a highly simplified system which is used by production staff for quality control on a day-to-day or hour-to-hour basis.

Fort Lewis Dining Facilities Consumer Survey

Abstract: : A survey of approximately 350 garrison and TOE troops from nine dining halls at Ft. Lewis, Washington was conducted in April 1971. The purpose of the survey was to identify those factors which have the potential for influencing or determining consumer attendance at the dining hall. In general, the results showed that the 'typical' soldier did not consider the quality of the Army's food-service system to be very good. Their most frequent complaints about the dining hall were food-related, i.e., poor quality, poor preparation, and lack of sufficient quantity. The conclusion could be made that an improvement of quality, preparation, and quantity of the food would be all that is necessary to draw the military customer back into the dining hall. The eating situation may well be an interactive one in which all factors, including attitude towards the Army, influence eating behavior.

A relationship between cognitive style and complex decision making; implications for business policy.

Abstract: Differences in quality among decisions have been explained using situational cognitive and motivational variables. This study was designed to explain quality differences in complex decisions by dif...

Measurement of computer systems: an introduction

Abstract: Computer systems have become indispensable to the advancement of management, science and technology They are widely employed by academic, business and governmental organizations Their contribution to today's world is significant in terms of both quantity and quality

Robots, productivity and quality

Abstract: There is a growing national need to increase the real productivity of our society, wherein “productivity” is redefined to include such major factors as the quality of life of workers and the quality of products, consistent with the desires and expectations of the general public. This paper proposed the development of automation technology designed to increase quality, in all its aspects, at an acceptable cost to society. The proposed program is divided into two phases. The first phase is designed to catalyze the potential resources of industrial concerns by developing two demonstrable systems that include general-purpose programmed manipulation and automated inspection. The second phase, with longer term objectives, would aim at devising techniques to broaden the utilization of programmed manipulators and sensors, to provide supervisory control of these systems by human speech, and to develop a capability for automatic manipulation of two or more sensor-controlled “hands” working cooperatively.