Measuring & Identifying Quality Problems (AQA GCSE Business)

Revision Note

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Lisa Eades

Written by: Lisa Eades

Reviewed by: Steve Vorster

Measuring Quality

  • Businesses can measure how well they have met quality targets in a variety of ways

Common Measures of Quality


Reject Rates


Product Returns


Product Recalls

  • The percentage of output considered not fit for sale 

  • The percentage of items returned by unsatisfied customers

  • Incidents of products brought back to be corrected

  • In addition, factors such as customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and market share can provide useful indications of customer experiences and perceptions of quality

    • Customers satisfied with quality are less likely to make complaints and are more likely to give positive feedback in surveys

    • High quality can drive repeat purchases

    • Increased market share may demonstrate satisfaction with quality over that offered by rival products/services

  • Failure to meet quality expectations can cause a range of problems, including:

    • Recalling, replacing or refunding customers for faulty goods increases business costs

    • Unhappy customers are unlikely to purchase from the business in future, reducing revenue

    • Legal issues if poor quality issues cause harm to customers, affecting a businesses reputation

    • Increased waste as poor quality products need to be disposed-of

Identifying Quality Problems

Customer views on quality

  • Businesses can identify quality problems by finding out the views of customers

    • Customer satisfaction surveys or market research activities

    • Reviews of complaints received

    • Findings from online survey tools, such as Trustpilot

Mystery shopping

  • Some businesses use mystery shoppers to test and review aspects such as customer service, the appearance of business premises and product range

    • Their detailed feedback can be used to measure performance against quality targets

Quality assurance and control

  • Within a business, the approach to identifying quality problems falls into one of two categories

    • Quality control involves inspecting the quality of output at the end of the production process

      • Workers focus on maximising output

      • Products that do not meet standards are rejected before they are released for sale

    • Quality assurance involves inspecting the quality of production throughout the process

      • Workers check their own work and, sometimes, the work of others at various stages of production 

      • Some business take a whole business approach to quality assurance with systems such as quality circles, benchmarking and Total Quality Management (TQM)

An Evaluation of Approaches to Quality Management


Method


Benefits 


Drawbacks

Quality Control

  • Quality specialists are employed to check standards

  • An inexpensive and simple way to check that the output is fit for purpose

  • The rejection of finished goods is a significant waste of resources 

  • There is little focus on the cause of defects

Quality Assurance

  • Quality issues are identified early so products may be reworked rather than rejected

  • The cause of defects is the focus so future quality issues may be prevented

  • Staff training and a skilled workforce is required so labour costs may be increased

  • Reworking may lengthen the production process

Examiner Tips and Tricks

Make sure that you can distinguish between quality control and quality assurance, as they are frequently the topic of multiple-choice questions.

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Lisa Eades

Author: Lisa Eades

Expertise: Business Content Creator

Lisa has taught A Level, GCSE, BTEC and IBDP Business for over 20 years and is a senior Examiner for Edexcel. Lisa has been a successful Head of Department in Kent and has offered private Business tuition to students across the UK. Lisa loves to create imaginative and accessible resources which engage learners and build their passion for the subject.

Steve Vorster

Author: Steve Vorster

Expertise: Economics & Business Subject Lead

Steve has taught A Level, GCSE, IGCSE Business and Economics - as well as IBDP Economics and Business Management. He is an IBDP Examiner and IGCSE textbook author. His students regularly achieve 90-100% in their final exams. Steve has been the Assistant Head of Sixth Form for a school in Devon, and Head of Economics at the world's largest International school in Singapore. He loves to create resources which speed up student learning and are easily accessible by all.