Eight dimensions of quality

Eight dimensions of quality were delineated by David A. Garvin, formerly C. Roland Christensen Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and may be used at a strategic level to analyze product quality characteristics. Garvin, who died on 30 April 2017, was posthumously honored with the prestigious award for 'Outstanding Contribution to the Case Method' on 4 March 2018. Some of the dimensions are mutually reinforcing, whereas others are not: improvement in one may be at the expense of others. Understanding the trade-offs desired by customers among these dimensions can help build a competitive advantage. Garvin's eight dimensions can be summarized as follows: Performance: Brands can usually be ranked objectively on individual aspects of performance. Features: Features are additional characteristics that enhance the appeal of the product or service to the user. Reliability: This is a key element for users who need the product to work without fail. Conformance: Is the product made exactly as the designer intended. Customers usually associate high quality with a product that exactly meets its requirements. Durability: Durability measures the length of a product’s life. When the product can be repaired, estimating durability is more complicated. The item will be used until it is no longer economical to operate it. This happens when the repair rate and the associated costs increase significantly. Serviceability: Serviceability is the speed with which the product can be put into service when it breaks down, as well as the competence and the behavior of the service person. Aesthetics: This is the usual appeal of the product, often taking into account factors such as style, colour,packing alternative and other sensory features. i.e.Those that have features the basic performance of the competition. Perceived Quality: Perceived Quality is the quality attributed to a good or service based on indirect measures. Performance refers to a product's primary operating characteristics.