ME 518, ARTICLE 2Competing on the Eight Dimensions of Quality- David A. Garvin ANIZ ALI anizali@bu.eduQuality is not simply a problem to be solved, it is a competitive opportunity.The article proposes eight dimensions of quality that can serve as a framework for strategic analysis: performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics and perceived quality. It highlights the significance of each one and how it moulds the decision making of managers regarding a certain product.Following are four key points that have been elucidated in the article: Quality difference is a subject of customer needs.Often, choice is quality.

What may be good for one buyer may not be for another. Customer needs vary and quality for a particular customer is the best product available in the market that most satiates his requirements. For example, one person might want a bright room, so he goes for a more powerful bulb. Another might require a dimmer environment, so the powerful bulb has a lesser quality standard for him. It very difficult for a company to match up to every customer needs with a certain product.

Product design and manufacturing may require compensation of one aspect of quality for another.If a supercomputer doesnt fail every month, it wasnt built for maximum speed.

It is very difficult for a company to achieve high standards on all eight dimensions of quality simultaneously. In some cases, a product can be improved in one dimension of quality only if it becomes deteriorates in another. Pursuing every dimension of quality result in unreasonably high prices and technological limitations may impose a further constraint.

Identifying the quality dimensions that are critical to customers is important.Managers have to stop thinking about quality as an effort to gain control of the production process, and start thinking more about consumers need and preferences.A common error that a company makes is to introduce dimensions of quality that are unimportant to the consumers. This is a result of poor market research which leads to neglect of actual customer requirements. Companies should also upgrade their quality measures as the environment changes to keep up with the current trends of market.