Differences of Quality measures for firms offering service and that of a Firm Producing a Real Product

Service providers want to know what customers (internal or external) care about. Service quality is a good guess. Price, and to a minor degree product quality, also count. But for service providers, customers care most about service quality.

The five service quality dimensions are:

• TANGIBLES: Under this service quality dimension, service providers need to consider the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials. For example in the catering industry like hotels, the facilities need to look impressive, clean and meeting customer expectations.
• RELIABILITY: Service providers should ensure the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. For example, if a service provider promises to offer a service to a large group of people, they need to have the capacity to deliver the service to expectation.
• RESPONSIVENESS: This refers to the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service when they need it. The service providers should provide the customer moment of satisfaction where they get the service promptly at the right time, place and price.
• ASSURANCE: This is the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence to the clients. Customers need to feel assured that they will receive the service requested.
• EMPATHY: This refers to the caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers.

Defining quality in manufacturing organizations is often different from that of services. Manufacturing organizations produce a tangible product that can be seen, touched, and directly measured. The most common quality definitions in manufacturing are:

PERFORMANCE – This refers to the basic operating characteristics of a product. A product needs to meet the performance levels that it has been touted to achieve.

CONFORMANCE: This refers to the degree to which a product characteristic meets present standards.

FEATURES: These are all the things that are included beyond the basic characteristics of a product.

RELIABILITY: This is the expected feature that the product will function as expected without failure.

DURABILITY: The product that has been developed is expected operational during the life of the product.

SERVICEABILITY: This refers to how readily a product can be repaired in the eventuality that it breaks down or stops working.