1.

Purpose of the research

2. Limitation of the research-your viewpoints

Purpose of the research study

The research addresses two pertinent questions- how does the quality of an
automobile change with its age and can firm level variables help explain the
difference in quality. JD Powers conducts annual Initial quality survey to examine
the problems experienced by people after 90 days of ownership. Similarly,
consumer reports publishes data on reliability of vehicles and reports on
reliability of vehicles in its publication every April. What is missing is a detailed
study on the relation between reliability of a vehicle and its age. Hence this
study bridges this gap by studying vehicles manufactured by US, Europen and
Japanese companies (since these companies account for 90% market share). The
study also examines the effect of the stock market crash in 2008-09. The
reliability of vehicles is examined in the decade preceding the stock market crash
and that after the market crash when the US based auto companies restructured
their operations by filing for bankruptcy or dropping their underperforming
brands.
The study addresses issues like whether the changes are constant across US,
European and Japanese companies or are there subtle differences? Does the
reliability changes vary in the pre market crash and post market crash periods?
The post crash restructuring of firms leads to the question that did broad product
variety impact reliability more in the pre crash period? At first, the factors that
impact automobile reliability are reviewed by studying the different management
practices across firms. The study discusses how the reliability measures used is
different and more informative than those used in previous automotive
researches.