THE EFFECT OF PRODUCT QUALITY CONTROL ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Nigeria’s manufacturing sector is now one of the major driving forces behind the country’s economic growth (KPMG, 2015). In light of the plunge in global oil prices during the period of mid-2014, this is even more significant for Nigeria. The West African countries are now the largest economy on the continent following the release of much-anticipated rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP) statistics during 2014 (KPMG, 2015). The pressure from globalization has made manufacturing firms to move towards three major competitive areas: quality, cost and responsiveness. Quality is a universal value and has hence become a global issue. In order to survive and be able to provide customers with good products, manufacturing organizations are required to ensure that their processes are continuously monitored and product quality is improved (Hairulliza et al, 2011). Gbadeyan and Adeoti (2005), defined quality as the degree to which a specific product conforms to a design or specification. A product is said to be high in quality if it is functioning as expected and reliable (Hairulliza et al, 2011).

According to Anyanwu (2013), quality is seen as all of the features and characteristic of a product or service that contributes to the satisfaction of a customer needs. These needs involved price, safety, available, maintainability, reliability and usability. The development of product quality management from 1950 onwards can be credited to the works of various American experts. Notable among them are Dr Edwards Deming, Dr Joseph Juran and Philip Crosby who have contributed significantly towards the continuous development of quality. The historical evolution of Product Quality Management has taken place in four stages: Quality Inspection; Quality Control; Quality Assurance; and Product Quality Management. There are seven quality control measures which are popularly referred to as “the seven Quality control tools” which were developed by Kaoru Ishikawa: Process flow charts; check sheets; Graphs; Pareto analysis; Cause and effect diagrams; Scatter diagrams; Control charts. Quality directly or indirectly affects productivity and cost of the product (Kumari et al., 2013).

A large body of literature highlights the positive impact of Quality Control practices on organization performance (Zu, 2009; Kaynak, 2003; Ahire, Golhar, and Waller, 1996; Kaynak and Hartley, 2005; Sila and Ebrahimpour, 2005; Anderson, Rungtusanatham, Schroeder, and Devaraj, 1995; Flynn, Schroeder, and Sakakibara, 1995; Ho, Duy, and Shih, 1999; Prajogo and Sohal, 2003; Terziovski and Samson, 1999; Choi and Eboch, 1998 ). Hairulliza et al., (2011) in their study found that the motivating factors for companies to apply quality control comes internally from the management and parent company or externally from customers .Kumari et al., (2013) also asserted that every nation wants to increase productivity and quality of products at lower price. For this they should reduce wastage of resources and must find other substitutes that will be environment-friendly. Izuagbe, (2013), made it clear that TQM does play a significant role in gluing the clients to the organization. This in eect resulted in the growth of the organization’s performance in terms of turnover and profitability. Form what was previously presented the researcher sees that the process of filling customer needs is one essential reason that created organizations and the one that keeps competition running as well as being responsible for surviving the market. That’s why organization always thrive to satisfy its clients on all service levels and the quality of their products. Quality has become the prototype for positioning and dierentiation; according to which, businesses are expected to deliver and will deliver a unique need satisfying offering that will enhance organizational performance and success in the global market space. In a classical survey of American businesses, Aaker (1989) reported that reputation for quality was the most frequently mentioned sustainable competitive advantage. More recent studies have also reported that quality has a positive impact on business performance (e.g., Almansour 2012; Carter, Lonial, and Raju 2010; Chin and Sofian 2011; Sousa and Voss 2002; Yusof and Aspinwall 2000). A primary reason fueling the drive for quality is that consumers around the globe are increasingly demanding better quality with lower prices.

1.2 Statement of the problem

The Nigerian market is being flooded with a lot of sub-standard products, despite efforts made by the Nigerian government in establishing an enabling Act number 56 of December 1971 known as Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON). One of its objectives is to make sure that manufacturing firms produce standard products, measurement, materials process and service among others (Marire, Nwankwo, and Sydney- Agbor, 2014). The aspect of quality of the outputs produced also remains an under-debated topic and the quality of these outputs produced is paramount and important because it directly or indirectly affects organizations continued existence in the business environment.