Quality Control & Assurance (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Business)

The Importance of Quality

• Quality considers the characteristics and features of a product that satisfy the needs of customers

  • Businesses need to maintain a level of quality for several reasons

    • Attract and retain loyal customers

    • Build the reputation of the business or brand

    • Reduce wastage and returns from unsatisfied customers

• The quality of a businesses products can provide a  competitive advantage  

  • High quality and minimal defects lowers business costs allowing lower selling prices to better compete with rivals

  • High quality can be used in promotional activity and provide a unique selling point for businesses in competitive markets

  • Successfully developing a USP for quality can improve business reputation and ease expansion into new markets 

• If quality is not maintained then businesses may be at risk of

  • Losing their competitive advantage and customers to other brands who offer better quality goods/services

  • Experiencing higher costs due to having to replace faulty or defected goods

  • Gaining a poor reputation as customers spread poor reviews about the business to others

• Customer perceptions of quality are influenced by numerous factors

Diagram: factors that influence quality perception

• Customers may consider products or services to be of good quality if they

  • Look good and are sold by a reputable business or brand

  • Are reliable and durable

  • Are safe and fit for purpose

  • Receive good customer service, including after-sales service

• In some countries laws protect consumers so businesses need to ensure that the products it sells are free of faults or defects to avoid harming customers or their reputation

Quality Control

• Quality control is a traditional method of checking quality at the end of the production process using quality inspectors to find faults

• It is not possible to achieve perfection in every production process

  • E.g. There will always be some variation in terms of materials used, production skills applied, reliability of the finished product

Evaluating Quality Control

Quality Assurance

• Quality assurance involves employees checking quality standards throughout the production process

• It aims to achieve quality by organising every process to get the product 'right first time' and prevent mistakes happening

  • There is an emphasis on 'self-checking' rather than checking by inspectors at the end of the process

• Total Quality Management (TQM) is a specific approach to quality assurance that aims to develop a quality culture throughout the firm

  • TQM is the continuous improvement of products and processes by focusing on quality at every stage of production

  • It tries to get it right first time and achieve ‘zero defects’

Evaluating Quality Assurance