Showing papers on "Quality (business) published in 1990"

Relationship Quality in Services Selling: An Interpersonal Influence Perspective:

Abstract: Salespeople involved in the marketing of complex services often perform the role of “relationship manager.” It is, in part, the quality of the relationship between the salesperson and the customer ...

Uncertainty and Quality in Science for Policy

Abstract: Keywords: qualite ; theorie des erreurs Reference Record created on 2005-06-20, modified on 2016-08-08

The measurement of durable goods prices

Abstract: American business has recently been under fire, charged with inflated pricing and an inability to compete in the international marketplace. However, the evidence presented in this volume shows that the business community has been unfairly maligned official measures of inflation and the standard of living have failed to account for progress in the "quality" of business equipment and consumer goods. Businesses have actually achieved higher productivity at lower prices, and new goods are lighter, faster, more energy efficient, and more reliable than their predecessors. Robert J. Gordon has written the first full-scale work to treat the extent of quality changes over the entire range of durable goods, from autos to aircraft, computers to compressors, from televisions to tractors. He combines and extends existing methods of measurement, drawing data from industry sources, "Consumer Reports," and the venerable Sears catalog. Beyond his important finding that the American economy is more sound than officially recognized, Gordon providesa wealth of anecdotes tracing the postwar history of technological progress. Bolstering his argument that improved quality must be accurately measured, Gordon notes, for example, that today's mid-range personal computers outperform the multimillion-dollar mainframes of the 1970s. This remarkable book will be essential reading for economists and those in the business community."

Judging the quality of case study reports

Abstract: In this paper, the authors outline how quality can be judged in “the typical product of alternative paradigm inquiry,” the case report. Their earlier work has focused on judging the quality of the inquiry process; this paper focuses on the product. They propose and discuss four criteria: resonance, rhetoric, empowerment, and applicability.

Lodgserv: A Service Quality Index for the Lodging Industry:

Abstract: LODGSERV is a 26-item index (alpha = .92) designed to measure consumers' expectations for service quality in the hotel experience. The index confirms the five generic dimensions of service quality ...

Best Value, Price-Seeking, and Price Aversion: The Impact of Information and Learning on Consumer Choices:

Abstract: When information on product quality is not perfect, theories in the areas of consumer rationality, inference, and risk-aversion suggest at least three consumer choice strategies: best value, price-...

Time-based competition : the next battleground in American manufacturing

Abstract: Discover how time compression can reduce costs and improve quality in your firm. This important new book demonstrates how to eliminate wasted time from every function that affects the delivery of your products to your customers.

The Supplier Development Program: A Conceptual Model

Abstract: The Supplier Development Program: A Conceptual Model In order to compete effectively in the world market, a company must have a network of competent suppliers. A supplier development program is designed to create and maintain such a network--and to improve various suppliers capabilities that are necessary for the buying organization to meet its increasing competitive challenges. This article details a conceptual model that describes the organizational decision process associated with a supplier development program. The proposed decision model can serve as a guideline for designing a supplier development program that can link purchasing strategy with a firm's overall corporate competitive strategy. Empirical evidence drawn from the experience of several companies actively involved with such a program is used to validate the model. In recent years, purchasing and materials management activities in many U.S. companies have been getting close attention from top management with respect to their contributions to overall corporate performance. This increasingly sharp focus is a direct result of mounting pressures--internal and external--from sources such as rapidly rising material costs, high costs of capital, and increasing competition from foreign competitors. In response to these mounting pressures, some purchasing managers have upgraded their buying and management personnel through better selection and training. Many have also reexamined their existing materials management policies. The recent introduction of "just-in-time" production and purchasing has created an additional impetus to reconsider many traditional purchasing objectives and practices. One of the key areas under scrutiny involves supplier development programs. Traditionally, one of the most important objectives of the purchasing function has been the development of a network of competent suppliers. In the final analysis, a firm's ability to produce a quality product at a reasonable cost, and in a timely manner, is heavily influenced by its suppliers' capabilities. Consequently, without a competent supplier network, a firm's ability to compete effectively in the market can be hampered significantly. Yet, a careful review of existing textbooks and research articles appearing in the professional journals reveals that very little publication space has been devoted to the subject. In fact, most of the existing coverage of supplier development topics in purchasing texts tends to be brief and lacks specifics.[1] Moreover, a review of recent issues of the professional journals in the field identified only one research article directly addressing the supplier development issue. This article represents one step in filling that void. The basic purpose of the article is to conceptualize the supplier development program. Specifically, it proposes a conceptual model that describes the organizational decision process for creating and refining a supplier development program. The model can also facilitate implementation and future research into the subject area. Interwoven throughout the article is empirical evidence drawn from several companies that actively use supplier development programs; this evidence is used to validate the model. OBJECTIVES OF A SUPPLIER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM The basic objective of the purchasing function is to secure competent supply sources that will provide an uninterrupted flow of required materials at a reasonable cost. This involves first the selection of competent suppliers in terms of technological, quality, delivery, and cost capabilities--and second, it requires working with them to upgrade their capabilities. A supplier development program, then, can be defined as any systematic organizational effort to create and maintain a network of competent suppliers.[2] In a narrow sense, it involves the creation of new sources of supply when there are no adequate suppliers to meet the firm's requirements. …

By Design: Planning Research on Higher Education

Abstract: 1. Why Do Research On Higher Education? Many Questions, Many Options Our Philosophy of Research Design How This Book is Organized 2. What Are Your Questions? Why Are Research Questions So Important? Getting Specific Building on the Work of Others Correlation versus Causation The Wheel of Science 3. What Groups Do You Want to Study? Specifying the Target Population Where Should you Conduct the Study Selecting Your Sample More Than One Type of Respondent Nonresponse Bias 4. What Predictors Do You Want to Study? Types of Predictors The Important Role of Variation Other Reasons for Selecting Predictors The Integrity of Your Treatment Choosing Which Predictors to Study 5. Compared to What? Why Do You Need a Comparison Group? Randomized Control Groups: The Best Comparisons Requiring Informed Consent Volunteer Bias Comparison Groups without Random Assignment Retrospective Case-control Studies Design Effects Can Swamp Treatment Effects 6. What Are Your Outcomes? Different Kinds of Outcomes Will You Measure Status or Development Short-term versus Long-term Effects Are Your Measures Valid? 7. How Can You Improve Your Measures? What is Measurement Error? Reliability and Measurement Error Six Strategies for Improving Measurement Quality Looking at Measurement Quality 8. How Many People Should You Study? Why Is Sample Size So Important? What Size Effect Do You Want to Detect? What Type of Analysis Will You Use? Instruments Precision and Sample Size What If Students Drop Out? 9. Should You Try It out on a Small Scale? The Advantages of Pilot Studies Piloting Instruments Relational Studies Informal Small-scale Experiments Generalizing From a Small Study 10. Where Should You Go From Here? Getting Started Lessons From Our Seminar Decisions You Must Make Planning a Longer-term Research Program Reference Index

Attribute error and sensitivity analysis of map operations in geographical informations systems: suitability analysis

Abstract: The theory and methods for attribute error and sensitivity analysis associated with map-based suitability analysis are developed. In particular, this paper delineates the underlying types of sensitivities for suitability analysis and derives ways to measure these sensitivities. Additionally, it shows how to undertake geographical sensitivity analyses given a generic geographical information system. The uses of these methods include understanding the relationship of the attribute errors in the output map generated by errors in the input maps for a given geographical analysis. This information provides a means to assess the quality and reliability of conclusions inferred from the output map created by such an analysis.

MEASUREMENT OF HEALTH STATUS IN THE 1990s

Abstract: The use of health-related quality of life measures, especially those based on function, are likely to increase during the next decade. This increase, however, is most likely to occur in clinical research and clinical practice. Unless the necessary political will, resources, data, and policy researchers coexist, there will be relatively little advance in the use of health status measures for decision-making and policy. This prediction is based on the observation that policy research tends to rely on available national data, that currently these data provide limited information about health status, and that there appears to be insufficient interest and resources to broaden data collection or to develop methods that incorporate a broad spectrum of health outcomes (e.g. death, impairment, functional status, and perceptions) into a single instrument or measure of health on large populations and communities. This state of affairs is particularly unfortunate as we face a decade in which available health and medical care may become more limited and social inequity in access and health status may become more marked. The effect of social inequities and restrictions to health care on the health of the nation cannot continue to be determined with reference only to the structure and process of the health care system. Health and quality of life outcomes are what count. And, these outcomes cannot be determined without appropriate and inclusive measures of health-related quality of life. Of course, we hope our prediction is wrong and that the motivation and resources will be found to help resolve methodologic issues in the measurement of population health status and quality of life and to provide the necessary data. We hope that government agencies, employers, and private providers will begin to collect health-related quality of life data on the constituents and populations they serve. Even if these data are imperfect or primitive, the effects of improving accessibility and quality of health care can only be assessed adequately in terms of the health-related quality of life of the nation.

Determinants of Product Evaluation: Effects of the Time Interval between Knowledge of a Product's Country of Origin and Information about Its Specific Attributes

Abstract: Concepts related to country of origin can affect interpretation of information about specific product attributes However, these effects are likely to be pronounced only when country of origin is conveyed some time before attribute descriptions, allowing a separate concept of the product to be formed on the basis of it When country of origin and intrinsic attribute information were presented in the same experimental session, subjects perceived country of origin as simply another product attribute When presented the day before, however, country of origin not only had a greater influence on product evaluations but affected the interpretation of attribute descriptions

Anatomy of a decision

Abstract: THE QUALITY of medical care is determined by two main factors: the quality of the decisions that determine what actions are taken and the quality with which those actions are executed—what to do and how to do it. If the wrong actions are chosen, no matter how skillfully they are executed, the quality of care will suffer. Similarly, if the correct actions are chosen but the execution is flawed, the quality of care will suffer. The importance of ensuring the quality of execution is well understood. In contrast, the medical profession has done much less to develop and evaluate its decision-making processes. If decisions are considered the command post and actions are considered the troops in the field, we have spent much more energy training and equipping the troops than providing intelligence and decision support systems to the commanders. The place to begin is with the ingredients of a decision.

Managing Suppliers: Incentive Systems in Japanese and U.S. Industry

Abstract: U.S. industry is changing. More work is being subcontracted; longer-tern relationships are being developed with fewer suppliers; suppliers are being given more design responsibilities; and there is more monitoring of suppliers' quality. These changes, moving U.S. business practices closer to Japanese business practices, recognize the indubitable success of Japanese methods of organizing production. This article examines the structure of incentives offered to supplier firms in Japan and compares them with U.S. practices.

Comparing representations with relational and EER models

Abstract: The diffusion of technology to end users who can now develop their own information systems raises issues concerning the cost, quality, efficiency, and accuracy of such systems

Product Quality: An Investigation into the Concept and How It Is Perceived by Consumers

Abstract: If having a customer orientation is central to marketing effectiveness, studying how consumers perceive the quality of products and services is undoubtedly important. This book, by a European author, investigates product quality as perceived by consumers and manufacturers, and in my opinion contributes significantly to marketing knowledge in the United States. In a broader context, this book may serve to sensitize us to search increasingly for European contributions to marketing knowledge. The book consists of 13 chapters, divided into four parts. In the first part, Steenkamp reviews the literature to consider the concept of product quality from four different perspectives: metaphysics, production management, economics, and consumer behavior. The first two approaches are discussed in Chapter 2. The metaphysical perspective considers quality in terms of innate excellence, as an unanalyzable property that can be recognized only through experience. It is interesting to see that the concept of quality already has been discussed by Aristotle as one of his "categories." The production management approach is concerned with objective determination of quality and, hence, the setting of specifications. Cost considerations associated with quality improvements and the notion that "quality is free" (Crosby 1979) enter into this perspective. The economic approach (Chapter 3) takes quality to be a competitive weapon. In reviewing the economic approach, the author critically discusses a wide range of economic theories pertaining to the supply side and the demand side of the market. Some theories consider the consumer to be perfectly informed; Lancaster's (1971) characteristics model and the hedonic approach (Rosen 1974) are probably the best known. More recently, economic theory has devoted attention to the notion that the consumer usually is imperfectly informed, which has given rise to an extensive body of literature on the "economics of information" and the validity of market signals of quality such as price and advertising. This literature is discussed in considerable detail.

Trading Places: Employees as Customers, Customers as Employees

Abstract: Offers a fresh outlook for managing the delicate interaction between the customer and the contact employee in the service environment. Emphasizes that the quality of the customer‐employee interfacehas a great effect on customers′ perceptions of the quality and value of the service, as well as on their satisfaction. Suggests a model of how companies can improve this interface by treating employees ascustomers and customers as employees, thus developing lower cost and higher quality services and also higher levels of satisfaction on the part of both customers and employees. Recommends various steps for management to take.

Taguchi approach to design optimization for quality and cost: an overview

Abstract: Calibrations to existing cost of doing business in space indicate that to establish human presence on the Moon and Mars with the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) will require resources, felt by many, to be more than the national budget can afford. In order for SEI to succeed, we must actually design and build space systems at lower cost this time, even with tremendous increases in quality and performance requirements, such as extremely high reliability. This implies that both government and industry must change the way they do business. Therefore, new philosophy and technology must be employed to design and produce reliable, high quality space systems at low cost. In recognizing the need to reduce cost and improve quality and productivity, Department of Defense (DoD) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have initiated Total Quality Management (TQM). TQM is a revolutionary management strategy in quality assurance and cost reduction. TQM requires complete management commitment, employee involvement, and use of statistical tools. The quality engineering methods of Dr. Taguchi, employing design of experiments (DOE), is one of the most important statistical tools of TQM for designing high quality systems at reduced cost. Taguchi methods provide an efficient and systematic way to optimize designs for performance, quality, and cost. Taguchi methods have been used successfully in Japan and the United States in designing reliable, high quality products at low cost in such areas as automobiles and consumer electronics. However, these methods are just beginning to see application in the aerospace industry. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the Taguchi methods for improving quality and reducing cost, describe the current state of applications and its role in identifying cost sensitive design parameters.

Employee Investment and Commitment: The Ties That Bind

Abstract: Government can no longer afford to be complacent about the recruitment and retention of high quality employees. Public service is at risk because it is losing some of its best people to alternative employment. Of course, many high quality and highly dedicated public employees remain. But recent patterns of turnover put government agencies at risk of dropping below a critical mass of dedicated, highly qualified employees.

Managing the Total Quality Transformation

Abstract: This unparalleled guide is based upon a successful quality plan developed under the guiding hand of quality prime mover Joseph M. Juran. Reviewed and approved by the American Society for Quality Control, it is modeled on a quality process created under the auspices of the first American Company to win the coveted Deming Prize. Replete with charts, examples, models, and summary checklists that help clarify major points and offer guidance every step of the way, it shows you: - How to prepare for total quality commitment - How to create a customer-focused corporate culture - How to initiate and sustain companywide involvement - How to enhance decision making - How to develop and manage quality teams