Customer-Oriented Quality Management in the Automotive Industry

Inhaltsangabe:Abstract: In times of severe competition, it is of crucial importance to create a competitive advantage to differentiate from the competitors and to sustain the business of the company. This thesis intends to show that a customer-focused quality management is one way to create a sustainable competitive advantage. Quality controls along the whole value chain -before, during and after production- leads to failure free products, which save costs on the one hand and have thus a positive influence on the company’s revenue. On the other hand failure free products that meet the customers’ expectations lead to satisfied customers who build up a brand loyalty and conduct retention sales, which have a positive influence on the company’s sales, market share as well as the overall image. Furthermore, this thesis points out that it is important to listen to ‘the voice of the customers’ and get an insight in the customer’s needs and wants. To fulfil or even exceed their expectations leads to customer satisfaction, which is a key to success in today’s business world. In addition, the customer demands in regard of quality are growing continuously and new technologies are appearing on the markets on a regular basis. Therefore the producers are forced to keep to the latest technology developments and to get hold on the changing customer needs. But even without this external pressure, quality improvement is justified from a cost point of view. The applicability of a customer-oriented quality management is shown in the practical part of this thesis, when the quality of the Saab models is analyzed from the customer’s perspective. Due to the arguments, outlined in this thesis, it can be summarized that a quality management with a focus on the needs of the customers in should become a core strategy of any company producing and selling products in order to create customer satisfaction and sustain the business. This thesis deals with the field of quality management in the context of customer satisfaction. To show the practical applicability of quality management, this thesis is looking at how quality management is conducted in the automotive industry, as we compare the Initial Quality Study (IQS) from the market research institute J. D. Power with a survey that was internally conducted at the Saab Automobile AB. Today’s business environment creates a growing need for quality management. Tougher competition leads to the demand for cost savings and higher [...]