2009

DeBoer-Moran, Jason

Concordia University - St. Paul, MN 8/30/2009

CUSTOMER-DRIVEN QUALITY

Customer Driven Quality 2Running head: CUSTOMER DRIVEN QUALITYCustomer Driven QualityJason DeBoer-MoranOLC 605, Cohort MA264Professor Randy CarlsonAugust 30, 2009

Customer Driven Quality 3Customer Driven QualityThe failure to deliver products or services that the customer considers valuable is one of the greatest downfalls that can happen to corporations today. It is possible for companies todeliver excellent products only to fail at serving the customer. As a result, it is important todetermine what the customer values and where constant improvement can occur in order toincrease the customer’s perceived value. Deming, who famously brought the concepts of qualityimprovement to post-war Japan, indicates that improvements in quality lead towards lower costs,which translate into higher productivity, which leads towards increased market share (Meredith& Shafer, 2007, p. 129). Repeating this continuously in a constant state of improvement will leadtowards greater customer satisfaction. Customers who experience a great deal of quality willbecome return customers. The return customer who continues to find value in the experience of doing business will become evangelists for the corporation and invite their colleagues andfriends to partake in the quality experience. It is imperative that the company understand therelationship that they are entering into by doing business with the customer. The commitment torelationship between company and customer requires understanding that the customer drivesquality. It is essential for the corporation to mix their internal definitions of quality with thedefinitions provided by their customers. Corporations should also look to institute a solid reviewsystem to determine how they are performing over time and to gauge their improvement.

Producer’s Definition of Quality

The producer’s definition of quality primarily deals with the areas of quality undercontrol of the corporation. This is where great strides were made by post-war Japan under therecommendations and guidance of W. Edwards Deming. “According to Deming the major causeof poor quality is variation. Thus, a key tenet of Deming’s approach is to reduce variability in the