Measuring & Identifying Quality Problems (AQA GCSE Business)

Revision Note

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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 Tip

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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