Session 7

The Measurement of Quality

 What is quality?
• Traditionally viewed as “conformation to
customers requirement”
• Traditionally measured as the “gap”
between expectations and performance.
• Related to satisfaction and to price
• A relationship approach to marketing
suggests performance should exceed
expectations – and be above the line of
expectation on the price / quality matrix
 Baker’s Box
• Baker’s Box (named after Professor Tony Baker)
is an application of the perceptual mapping
technique applied to the relationship between
price and quality.
• It is based on the principle that the public
maintains strong perceptions as to this
relationship, broadly along a “line of expectation”
• Perceptions are not constant over time,
Japanese products for example have moved
from being perceived as “cheap and nasty” to
“cheap and cheerful”
• It can be used as a means of segmentation
 Baker’s Box
High Quality
Line Of

I Don’t Expectation
The Golden
Believe Triangle

IT
Credibility
Value Avis
Low Added Country High
Price Price
IT’S A
Cheap And Rip Off
Cheerful Gullibility

Cheap And
Nasty You Must
Be Joking

Low Quality
 Observations on Baker’s Box
• Do not intentionally cross the lines of
credibility or gullibility
• The most successful companies have
products and services above the line of
expectation
• Success can be at any and all points along
the line of expectation, using a variety of
brands (Skoda, Seat, VW, Audi and
Porsche)
 Why is quality increasingly
important?
• Increasingly high customer expectations
• Decisions being made more on quality
criteria
• Service process rather than technically
based
• Decisions being made on intangible rather
than tangible criteria
• Customers developing more sophisticated
ways of measuring quality.
 Bases of Competition
• General change from tangible / technical
to intangible / service process based.
Tangibility

Tangible Intangible
Technical

Service
Elements
Process
 Some dimensions of product
quality.
• Performance
• Durability
• Serviceability
• Features
• Reliability
• Design (Form not function as in fashion!)
• Congruity with specification (credibility)
 Service Characteristics
• Intangibility

• Inseperability of demand and production

• Perishability

• Heterogeneity

• Lack of ownership
 Service quality measurement:
SERVQUAL
• All services can be denominated along the
same FIVE dimensions:
• Responsiveness
• Assurance
• Tangibility
• Empathy
• Reliability
 SERVQUAL
• The five RATER dimensions are
measured as both “expectations” and
“performance” along a 7 point Likert scale
using a range of agreement phrases (23 in
total, 4 or 5 per dimension).
• Respondents are asked to weight the
various dimensions in terms of importance
relative to each other.
 Expectations & Performance
• Service Quality is NOT the same as
satisfaction
• When P = E there is no gap – and a
presumption of satisfaction
• If P is less than E there is dissatisfaction
• If P is greater than E there is delight

• Satisfaction = Service Quality + Price +

Image
 SERVQUAL Output
• Measure – either absolute or relative, of
service performance
• Measurement of service “gap” between
expectations and performance
• Understanding of which dimensions of
service are important to consumers
• Long term monitoring to introduce
remedial strategies and re-assessment.
 Critique of SERVQUAL
• Only measures “gap” – does not measure the
reason for the gap!
• Does not measure satisfaction – which is a
function of service quality, price and image
• Gives no indication as to how a defined gap is to
closed, or whether by doing so a new “gap” will
develop (health spending!)
• If you are “delighting” on one or more
dimensions, how can you reduce your offering /
should you reduce your level of service.
 SERVPERF
• Only measures performance – no relation
to expectations
• Cheaper and easier to administer
• As reliable as SERVQUAL
• Easier to adapt
• Used by many service providers for
tracking and competitor studies
 Summary
• Companies MUST monitor their service
provision regularly
• Competition is increasingly based not on
technical aspects of service provision but
on process aspects
• Customer retention is closely related to
superior service provision